Theodore "Teddy" & Barbara are joining this forum

[Barbara Lightner]

Five year old Tuxedo "Teddy" (AKA Villian...because of coat and aggressive personality towards other cats...he was LA City bottlefeeder who never did well when he weaned himself) was diagnosed with Diabetes 2 1/2 weeks ago. I wasin shock and denial as with a previous beloved cat, my vet told me not to worry when he had glucose's of 323 during illness. That was stress I was told.

Teddy is a stomatitis cat. It's believed he has steroid induced diabetes. Initial glucose was 178 (reported to my husband who couldn't remember what the vet said...just something that began with a G was elevated..globulin or something my hubby told me). I dropped off Teddy for dental with extractions a week or two later and found out the dental was not done...his blood glucose was in the mid 300's and a dx of DM was made. He is Rx'd Lantus 1 u BID.

I am so grateful I ran into Cindy at a local vet's who had www.felinediabetes.com across the hood of her car. I saw the web address and said "I have to meet this person". As I turned around to go back inside the vet, a woman and cat exited the door and headed straight for the car. Cindy was wonderful!

I've struggled with the BG monitoring, but finally have gotten a bead of blood twice at home...144 and 150, prior to giving the Lantus..and right after he's eaten. Teddy's not eating much right now, so I'm concerned. I guess if Lantus is long acting and doesn't peak, then it's okay.

Teddy's been on Clindamycin for his mouth, but vet switched him to Clavamox in case he has a UTI. Teddy has not tolerated Clavamox and has vomitted each time I gave it...so I switched him back on Clindamycin in case his mouth is too sore to eat. Any comments or suggestions?

 

[tuckers mom]

You met "Cindy and Mousie?" That's awesome, she's a great lady.

Your husband probably heard "glucose" was elevated.

That could be from the dental, the steroids or the antibiotics. I would continue to hometest, get some tests during the day too, but with a good diet and the stress of the bad teeth going away, and soon to be off antibiotics, I'd suggest you hometest a lot because your kitty may be a transient diabetic. Teddy may not need insulin once he's healed.

But, may I ask, what type of food do you feed? A diet low in carbs, high protein is recommended for FDs. Even if Teddy does go into remission, once a diabetic, it's best to keep the diet a good one to avoid becoming diabetic again.

 

[Hope + (((Baby)))GA]

Getting a dental done would possibly get him off insulin. Bed mouth not only hurts to eat but can raise glucose numbers from infections.

 

[Barbara Lightner]

Hi Jennifer and Tucker....

We feed what we can get the cats to eat.

Fortunately, Iook for quality. I'm allergic to cats and do very well if the food isn't grainy/cheap with by products and grains. A favorite of mine has been Fancy Feast wet (and I only buy the feasts that are on Dr. Lynne's list)...also Trader Joe's Tuna. And Wellness..cats like chicken, chicken and beef and turkey..but they seem to tire of the food.

And the Dry food for decades has been Nutro Max Cat Chicken...but the formula is different and our cats arent eating it. We still have dry around as I feed several ferals as well. We've always had dry foods in bowls at various locations...and give the cats all a big spoonful of wet food morning and night.

I was away from my home, DH, and animals for 7 months and a week...and DH shopped and took care of pets in my absence. A feral cat feeder told us that her cats like Friskie's Special Diets Ocean Fish and suggested we feed it too our cats that are having difficulty eating anything and only like food for a few days. She said her older cats liked it. So, we stocked up on it when it was on sale. However, when I came back, my husband was buying all kinds of Friskies shredded foods. UGH!

Because the cats won't eat the same thing everyday, I have a variety. I have one kitty severely allergic to foods and we're trying her on Instinct's rabbit and rabbit liver (dog food)...the cat food has chicken liver and she can't eat chicken anymore without being an inflamed scab of cat. Because of Sweetie's allergies, I've been finding new varieties of foods that are primarily meat based. They like a New Zealand food very much..and Evanger's Kosher food beef has been a favorite of Teddy's the past few days. With his stomatitis, it's very hard for him to eat anything.


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