Spooky

[Susan E]

I've got a diabetic 13 year old tuxedo guy named Spooky. He got diagnosed 3 weeks ago and vet started him on 1 unit of Lantus twice a day, then upped that to 2 units last week. She also suggested Purina DM canned food, but Spooky doesn't like it, so I found a list of low carb foods online, and will try Fancy Feast Classics. I was so happy to find you all, and I know I'll help Spooky more, because e.g., I didn't know about home testing, so I'll have to bone up on that. Spook lives with his 2 friends here in Chattanooga, ChaCha and Fierce, both younger, and all indoor cats. Fierce is a Maine Coon with a heart condition that affects about 30% of Maine Coon cats, so he's on Benazapril daily and 1/4 baby aspirin every 3 days. It can be like a medical dispensary around here ...

 

[Sharon14]

Hi Susan welcome to you and Spooky. Fancy Feast Classics are a great food for our sugar cats. Hope Spooky likes it, but if not we have lots of other suggestions. Home testing is a very important part of getting Spooky regulated. It tells you how well the insulin is working as well as helps protect him from hypos. It's really easy to do and we'll be glad to help you learn. Here's some info to get you started
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

 

[BJM]

Welcome to the message board, the best place you never wanted to be.

There are 4 things you'll need to manage your kitty's diabetes:

- You - without your commitment, the following won't work.

- Home blood glucose monitoring with an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart Relion Confirm or Target Up and Up (the pet ones will break your budget!). This keeps your cat safe and saves you the cost of going to the vet for curves and done regularly, removes the need for a fructosamine test. All of our insulin guidelines use human glucometer numbers for reference. We record them on a grid; instructions are here. While you work on home testing, check out the Secondary Monitoring Tools in my signature link.

- Low carb over the counter canned or raw diet, such as many Friskies pates. See Cat Info for more info. If already on insulin, you must be home testing before changing the diet. Food changes should be gradual to avoid GI upsets - 20-25% different food each day until switched. There are 2 low carb, dry, over the counter foods in the US - Evo Cat and Kitten dry found at pet specialty stores and
Young Again 0 found online.

- A long-lasting insulin such as ProZinc, Lantus, BCP PZI, or Levemir. No insulin lasts 24 hours in the cat, so giving it every 12 hours is optimal for control.