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Cgascon

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My kitty Reggie was diagnosed with diabetes on Saturday, the only symptoms he had at that time was the increased water and elimination. I immediately started to switch him to the recommended wet food, it was challenging as he has never liked it or would eat it, but I succeeded as of yesterday. For the past two days his water intake and elimination has went down a lot. Is it possible to see a change so quickly, I spoke to his vet and asked if we could try changing is diet for a week or two before we made a decision on insulin and she agreed as long as he didn't get worse. One last thing, has anyone tried Blood Sugar Gold? Is it a real help or just wishful thinking. Thank you !!
 
Hi and welcome!

I don't know if you have a previous thread, but are you home testing yet? Some cats get lucky and the elimination of dry food puts them into diet-controlled remission. The home tests can help give you idea on if this is occurring or if he is starting to come lower on his own.
 
CassAndGordy said:
Hi and welcome!

I don't know if you have a previous thread, but are you home testing yet? Some cats get lucky and the elimination of dry food puts them into diet-controlled remission. The home tests can help give you idea on if this is occurring or if he is starting to come lower on his own.
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No I have not done any testing, it all happened so fast, we had been waiting for his thyroid test before starting the insulin, which came back normal, initially it was planned for the vet to teach me about the injections, testing etc., today but in the mean time I worked on his diet, as due to my work schedule, it is not possible to adhere to a 12 hour interval for the shots, and I was trying desperately looking for options, the vet said it wasn't ideal and would be less likely to result in a well managed diabetic. I did have a previous thread, asking if anyone had managed their kitty with a constantly changing schedule.
 
Cgascon said:
No I have not done any testing, it all happened so fast, we had been waiting for his thyroid test before starting the insulin, which came back normal, initially it was planned for the vet to teach me about the injections, testing etc., today but in the mean time I worked on his diet, as due to my work schedule, it is not possible to adhere to a 12 hour interval for the shots, and I was trying desperately looking for options, the vet said it wasn't ideal and would be less likely to result in a well managed diabetic. I did have a previous thread, asking if anyone had managed their kitty with a constantly changing schedule.
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I would definitely see if you can get into the swing of things with testing at home. The diet change may have brought his numbers down to a good point -- it DOES happen. You can get a human meter and start testing even before you start any other treatments. It'll give you an idea as to what his numbers are without the meds. (A lot of us use the Relion Micro from Walmart -- the meter itself is pretty cheap and the stripes are fairly inexpensive as far as stripes go. Also used a small amount of blood, which is nice.) Its difficult at first, but once you get a system down, it will be like nothing.

I have a busy schedule too and it was super hard at the beginning. If you end up needing the insulin, the ones that may work best for the beginning would be Vetsulin or ProZinc as they are not depot insulins and the shot times can be varied a bit more. (Thought the 12hr/12hr schedule is still ideal for most.) ProZinc typically yields the most success BUT Vetsulin is less expensive and does do its job. Some kitties don't tend to get 12 hours of insulin release with it, but that could world better for your situation.
 
CassAndGordy said:
I would definitely see if you can get into the swing of things with testing at home. The diet change may have brought his numbers down to a good point -- it DOES happen. You can get a human meter and start testing even before you start any other treatments. It'll give you an idea as to what his numbers are without the meds. (A lot of us use the Relion Micro from Walmart -- the meter itself is pretty cheap and the stripes are fairly inexpensive as far as stripes go. Also used a small amount of blood, which is nice.) Its difficult at first, but once you get a system down, it will be like nothing.

I have a busy schedule too and it was super hard at the beginning. If you end up needing the insulin, the ones that may work best for the beginning would be Vetsulin or ProZinc as they are not depot insulins and the shot times can be varied a bit more. (Thought the 12hr/12hr schedule is still ideal for most.) ProZinc typically yields the most success BUT Vetsulin is less expensive and does do its job. Some kitties don't tend to get 12 hours of insulin release with it, but that could world better for your situation.
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Thank you so much for all the info, I will start researching the testing and see about starting it asap.
 
Cgascon said:
My kitty Reggie was diagnosed with diabetes on Saturday, the only symptoms he had at that time was the increased water and elimination. I immediately started to switch him to the recommended wet food, it was challenging as he has never liked it or would eat it, but I succeeded as of yesterday. For the past two days his water intake and elimination has went down a lot. Is it possible to see a change so quickly, I spoke to his vet and asked if we could try changing is diet for a week or two before we made a decision on insulin and she agreed as long as he didn't get worse. One last thing, has anyone tried Blood Sugar Gold? Is it a real help or just wishful thinking. Thank you !!
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First welcome although I'm sorry that your Kitty Reggie has been diagnosed with diabetes. You I'm sure are at the least concerned and maybe even a bit freaked out like I was! Take a few deep breaths....The good news is there are some very knowledgeable and supportive members here as well as great information to study and absorb. I've always felt the more knowledge you can arm yourself with the less intimidating it is to deal with a difficult situation.
Interesting because this is identical to my initial experience with my cat Sketch. I went the same way as you did with diet change to wet immediately and observed the same thing (symptoms lessened and almost disappeared in a couple days ). Sketch's BG numbers were still pretty high but the vet was good with letting it go a week or so to see if he might go into remission. Unfortunately he didn't although his BG numbers did drop some with diet change. After a week my vet thought it best to start him on a low dose of Lantus brand insulin and see how he progresses. I have also heard that the sooner they are put on an insulin the better chance for them to go into remission and of course less chance of associated illness and complications.
I was pretty apprehensive about the prospect of testing and giving insulin to Sketch whom at best is considered a difficult cat. But truly it has turned out to be relatively simple. I encourage you to get a meter and start home BG testing as cats when stressed being at the vet can display much higher numbers.

As for "Blood Sugar Gold" I have never used it but some others on this board might have experience with it. I would make sure to get your vets opinion on anything you decide to give Reggie prior to using it.

Finally if you get a chance go into your profile and set up your signature with info on Reggie. These will show when you make a post for members to see and possibly help answer your questions. Hang in there Reggie!
 
CassAndGordy said:
Vetsulin or ProZinc
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Welcome extra sweet Reggie and his hooman 'Bean'!

Insulin - of those 2 choices, ProZinc would be the better choice for kitty to begin. They work a lot the same but ProZinc has full cycle duration where Vetsulin all works at once and can complete it's cycle in less than 12 hours leaving some time not covered. ProZinc is still an 'in and out' (works then it's done) insulin but can last a full 12 hours and even a bit longer for some. With the situation you've got, if you DO need to start insulin, I think that's the best way to go.

Fingers crossed that he can be diet controlled instead! Testing isn't a big deal after the first couple of weeks...it's more Reggie getting used to something different.

HUGS and welcome again!
 
Noah & me said:
Best advice ever. Does it feel like the world just ended and then a truck backed over you? That was two cats and 100 years ago for us. It will get better, we've all been there and we can help.
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It feels exactly like that! I'm so overwhelmed and unprepared, but I'm trying really hard to do everything I can for Reggie, he is almost 14, my little buddy and the funniest, oddest kitty around. He has OCD if that's possible in a cat. Doesn't like anything to be changed, likes routines, I'm shocked that I got him to switch food this week, he never wanted anything to do with wet food. I really appreciate all the feedback and information from everyone.
 
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