Tobias aka Toby

[kimmonjure]

Hello! New to the board as my 10 yo cat was dx 3.5 weeks ago. I had noticed he was loosing weight, drinking out of fawcets, tubs, more frequent litter box changes and peeing in spots throughout my home. After $260 vet bill, including urinalysis and blood work to rule out organ failure, etc. Vet dx him with diabetes.

My cat's sugar level reading was 634 and vet said norm is 158-200. Was given Novolin N 5 units at vet and sent him home on Hills Prescription Diet MD, rx for urinalysis test strips and told to watch the strips for any changes and if so, give more or less insulin if needed. That night I tested his urine and it was in normal range so he said to give 4 units 2 times/day.

What brought me to this board was for the following questions:

1. Cat is still drinking alot of water and urinating alot.
2. Cat is eating ... alot!
3. After giving insulin shot, cat is licking and pulling his hair out at injection site. I read he may be allergic to either insulin or alcohol. Not sure.
4. Not clear on knowing when cat is in remission to be able to stop giving insulin.

By researching comments on this board I see that I should stop giving the expensive prescribed food. Good to know as I was fixing to buy another bag!

Then I read that I may possibly be giving too much insulin. If I test his blood, how will I know how much insulin to give him? As I mentioned, his urinalysis strip has been in the negative range since day one.

I know he isn't better yet since he is still drinking alot.

Also, I'm going on vacation tomorrow and have nobody to watch/administer Toby's 2nd insulin injection. Do you think he will be okay? It will only be one day he will miss a 2nd dose.

Thanks so much for any and all help!

Kim

 

[SweetAngel]

hi Kim,

So much info for new people, it feels overwhelming at first but everyone here is so supportive. I'll see if I can find links to everything that helped me...first off, novolin is not the best insulin for cats, in the US the recommended ones are Lantus, Levemir and Prozinc.
really good article on transitioning from high-low carb food and diabetes in cats in general
http://www.catinfo.org/?link=felinediabetes
Home testing
http://www.felinediabetes.com/bg-meter.htm
home testing, what numbers mean
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=121773&p=1267490&hilit=alphatrak#p1267490
Food (ideally looking for less than 10% carbs)
http://www.catinfo.org/docs/SortableCat ... -22-13.htm
Hypo guide, hopefully you will never need this but print it out just in case
http://www.felinediabetes.com/hypo-emergency.htm

Hopefully someone else will reply to your post too, my cat was only diagnosed end of May so I'm not an expert, but have learnt so much. Anything else you want to ask please do, and good luck. x

 

[BJM]

...
What brought me to this board was for the following questions:

1. Cat is still drinking a lot of water and urinating a lot.
2. Cat is eating ... a lot!
3. After giving insulin shot, cat is licking and pulling his hair out at injection site. I read he may be allergic to either insulin or alcohol. Not sure.
4. Not clear on knowing when cat is in remission to be able to stop giving insulin. ...

Kim

Welcome to FDMB.
1) That can be diabetes.
2) That can be diabetes.
3) Could be allergic to the insulin; it is possible. Your vet is out of date prescribing Novolin. Better choices are Prozinc, PZI, Levemir, and Lantus.
4) See my signature link Glucometer Notes to understand what the readings can mean.

 

[SweetAngel]

BJM made a great point, take him back, say he's allergic to the Novolin and you want another type of insulin. x

 

[BJM]

Since your vet is unfamiliar with depot insulins, I'd ask for ProZinc.

Avoid Vetsulin/Caninsulin. It generally lasts only 10 hours in the cat due to the cat's higher metabolism.