Tips for recruiting a friend to FDMB?

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hollybee

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Hi everyone! It's been quite awhile since I was on with my diabetic foster Alex Olivia and her civvie 'hubby' Donovan. She continues to do great and has been OTJ for over 4 months now! I follow some of your stories on the DCIN Facebook page, but still feel out of touch a bit ; (

I have a friend who's kitty went on insulin back in Dec for the first time. She lives in Rochester NY (Fairport area) and was visiting me one day last week on her way through Baltimore. I told her how much this group helped me with AO and how the support and knowledge is phenomenal. We talked about the feasibility of her working to get Dixie off insulin. She is very interested of course, but I fear it may be too overwhelming for her. She has a 3 year old, step-twins that are 10 and visit on weekends and during the week some, her hubby works full time, and she is very stressed at her full time job as a PE teacher. Needless to say they have their hands full. I guess I was curious on how to get her on board?

I have very little background on Dixie, except I know she went on insulin in Dec (not sure which one) and is being given 5 units (!!!) I believe that's one dose per day. Her vet talked to her about switching to wet food, but poor Dix has stomach issues on wet food. I am not sure what brands my friend has tried, but the stomach thing has been an issue for awhile so I think she has tried various kinds. Her vet said she wouldn't be able to get her on a wet food diet b/c of this, which of course put red flags up for me - I thought - no way! I bet the FDMB would disagree!!! Another friend who I met through this forum has suggested By Nature, Instinct 95% and Instinct raw medallions to try. Dixie's mom is headed back to NY today and only has a few weeks before school starts up.

I will actually be visiting her the last weekend in Aug......I guess I was hoping to maybe find a close buddy, or phone buddy for her if she's interested. My knowledge is soooooo little.....I got super lucky - AO was on insulin about 4-6 weeks and then went off. I learned a lot during the process, but it was only the basic stuff. I wouldn't be comfortable at all trying to coach her through, especially the insulin part. I told her there would be work up front, but that in the long run Dixie and the family will have SUCH a better quality of life!!

So, I guess I'm just looking for tips on how others have convinced people to get on here and to see if maybe there was someone willing to be her buddy. She isn't home testing, but she has become OK with giving shots, so the testing should come easy to her. Given their busy schedule she's not online a lot and I feel like getting on the forum everyday might be too overwhelming for her......I'm thinking a phone buddy would be better, although I haven't asked her yet......

Thanks for any help/tidbits etc anyone can offer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

holly (here for Beth and Dixie)
 
well, it would be good to know more details about why her kitty can't eat wet food.

www.catinfo.org is an excellent resource for Feline Nutrition published by a vet Dr. Lisa Pierson DVM who posts here sometimes.
This covers health issues that are food related as well as how to transition difficult cats.

Dr. Lisa may be available to consult with your friend's vet or directly with your friend if needed.

I transitioned my four cats to the low carb canned food that my diabetic needs to eat. I do have to be careful about brands and flavors -- one of my cats pukes every time I buy 9 LIVES or FRISKIES and another of my cats is allergic to fish.

So -- we currently feed B.G. Before Grain chicken, turkey and quail/chicken flavors with a little Fancy Feast chopped grill mixed in to jazz it up some.

Do you know which insulin? 5u in one shot is a lot
Did you show her how to test blood sugar?
 
hi Phoebe, thanks for your response! I don't have anymore details, as she was breezing through town for just one evening, but I can find all of that out. Yes, I agree that 5U is a lot and pretty scarey! She is not currently home testing, when I go there the end of Aug I was going to take my meter etc and show her.

Thanks for the site info about Dr. Lisa.......I think Dixie has a problem with throwing up a lot of the wet foods.....I'll go on and see what they have to say and recommend she contact Dr. Lisa. I also don't know that Dixie's BG's have been, she mentioned they had been 'high' and she took her back to the vet several times to 'get the dose right' - assuming maybe they did a curve on her? That's all the info I managed to get over dinner with 6 people and a toddler crawling all over her : )
 
great. Most people get enough from reading Dr. Lisa's website. Lots of tips and info including a recipe for making your own food at home.

One of my cats is a puker for no apparent reason. gotta go 4 now (at work) will come back and add more later
 
I was in petsmart last night and saw a woman with the dry food I used to feed Cedric (weight control) and spoke up to her that my boy did NOT lose weight on it. We got to talking and when I said that he was FD she told me that she has a friend whos cat was just dx'd. I told her about the site so she could tell her friend.

I have also referred my co=worker to thiis site, but that's the best you can do. I hope your friend is really open to listening to you about FDMB. I have a friend whos bengal has a sensitive stomach and she feeds the bengal all pate style food.
 
yeah, I love spreading the word about this resource......I know she's interested, I'm just afraid she'll be overwhelmed quite quickly......I was overwhelmed at first, however I don't have kids and my job at the time was very flexible, so I was able to leave at any time and run home to test, etc.....crossing my paws that Dixie can find a good wet food she can keep down, then perhaps we can move forward from there!
 
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