? What if I can't give my cat insulin?

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karennoel

karennoel

Member Since 2018
My cat was just diagnosed. His numbers were in the 500s. I've had a diabetic cat before so I am somewhat aware of how things work.
My current cat, Zeus, I'm predicting will be next to impossible to give injections to. What is going to happen to him if I can't give him the insulin? I love him and he's my baby, he's only 6 years old. I'm picking up his insulin tomorrow. Please any advice is greatly appreciated!!!
 
Why do you predict you will not be able to give his injections? If his glucose cannot be controlled with diet alone, and you do not give him insulin, he will have a painful decline. :(
 
He's not an easy cat to handle. He's lovey until he knows you want to do something with/to him. I'm going to make every attempt possible but I fear it isn't going to go well. Are there any tips to make this easier for him to accept being poked with a needle twice a day? My previous cat that was diabetic was indoor/outdoor and after 3 months he got tired of it and ran away and unfortunately I know he ended up not making it due to being diabetic with no meds.
 
Special treats can also help... especially with glucose testing. If you have a special place where you always do the testing and/or shots, and you always give special treats and lots of love and praise, they usually come to associate it with a positive experience. Mia does not even have to have a treat anymore. She will jump up in her testing spot for me, and I test her and give her shot there before she jumps down and goes to her food bowl to eat. It is all very routine to her at this point. If there is a day when I do not test her as often or if I give them food without having tested her first, she seems to be a bit confused. Yesterday, I tested her a little earlier than when I fed her lunch. When I put her lunch down, she would not go to her food bowl without getting in her testing spot (in her tower) first. I had to 'pretend' to test her, then she jumped down to eat. It's really sweet. None of it is stressful to her at all at this point.
 
My vet hasn't mentioned being able to test at home, I know this is more ideal due to stress. Aren't there glucometers and strips I can buy myself to do this at home? Are there certain ones that work best for the kitties?
This is helpful, I will try to make everything as normal as possible to help everything go smooth. It's been a few years since I've had to give insulin so I'm a little nervous about doing it again.
 
I use an AlphaTrak2 pet meter. The strips are very expensive ($43 to $49 per 50), so most people use human meters. A lot of people here use ReliOn meters from Wal-Mart. I have seen that the Micro and Confirm take the smallest sample size while the Prime has the cheapest strips.
 
FurBabiesMama said:
Special treats can also help... especially with glucose testing. If you have a special place where you always do the testing and/or shots, and you always give special treats and lots of love and praise, they usually come to associate it with a positive experience. Mia does not even have to have a treat anymore. She will jump up in her testing spot for me, and I test her and give her shot there before she jumps down and goes to her food bowl to eat. It is all very routine to her at this point. If there is a day when I do not test her as often or if I give them food without having tested her first, she seems to be a bit confused.
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Yes, this has been my experience also. Pretty Girl runs to the testing spot several times throughout the day without me cause she associates it with getting treats.

I use the AlphaTrak2 pet meter. The strips are expensive as @FurBabiesMama said - but I didn't know anything about that part of it when I ordered what the vet told me to order. I like that my meter reads more similar to the meter the vets use.
 
Cleo gets a treat, an injection, and another treat. Then, we go to the kitchen for breakfast or dinner. We have a whole ritual, but she doesn't know she's being injected. She can't feel the needle and she's just thinking about treats anyway.

I use a Relion Confirm meter from Wal-Mart. It works well and I think it's a good choice if you decide to go with a human meter.
 
FurBabiesMama said:
Yesterday, I tested her a little earlier than when I fed her lunch. When I put her lunch down, she would not go to her food bowl without getting in her testing spot (in her tower) first. I had to 'pretend' to test her, then she jumped down to eat. It's really sweet. None of it is stressful to her at all at this point.
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That is way too cute :-)
 
If a diabetic cat doesn't get insulin, they die. It's as simple as that. Not to be dramatic but diabetes is deadly when not treated.

The needles used to administer insulin are so small and so sharp that the cat won't even feel it most of the time. So it's probably not the needle itself that bothers him, just the overall process. And this only gets better with repetition. Being that the needle is often undected by the cat the best time to do it is when they're distracted. While they're sleeping or while they're eating. Best thing to do is not make a big event out of it. Just stick them when they don't expect it.

Throughout the day I'd suggest just tugging at your cat's scruff (the thick folds of skin at their neck). This is the best place to give a shot. While you're petting just tug at it and pet it so he get's used to this area being handled. When you give the shot, you just pull up on this area to make a little tent, poke the needle (they're sharp so it hardly requires any force), push the plunger, give treats and head butts, done. It's really not a big deal, just practice.

If you associate this process with rewards, your cat will probably WANT to get his shot, because they want those treats. I had difficulty at the beginning with my cat. My first few attempts were fur shots (needle didn't go in because I panicked, insulin went into the fur). But by now, if I miss giving his shot at the usual time by anything like 10 minutes he'll come yell at me.
 
Butterball said:
If you associate this process with rewards, your cat will probably WANT to get his shot, because they want those treats. I had difficulty at the beginning with my cat. My first few attempts were fur shots (needle didn't go in because I panicked, insulin went into the fur). But by now, if I miss giving his shot at the usual time by anything like 10 minutes he'll come yell at me.
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Giving Pretty Girl treats after her shot has made the process about 1000% easier. She comes looking for me if I'm even 5 minutes late with her shot. She's looking for the treats (!!!) and if I give the shot while she's eating the treats it is easy peasy.
 
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karennoel said:
I appreciate everyone’s advice and tricks. I have him his first injection this morning. Fed him, waited and gave a little more food and gave the injection while he was eating. He never even knew it happened.
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As far home testing.... I have a video in my signature showing how I test my cat CC at home.
 
karennoel said:
I appreciate everyone’s advice and tricks. I have him his first injection this morning. Fed him, waited and gave a little more food and gave the injection while he was eating. He never even knew it happened.
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I was also going to suggest shooting while he’s eating. Worked for Jade. She never even knew I’d done it! Good job!!!
 
Ditto on injecting while eating. Sophie is the only female cat in our house of 4 cats and she has problems with her littlest brother (we adopted him in December and they do NOT get along, mostly on her end). The neutral zone is the kitchen, so that's when we do her injections. Sophie eats on a stool - as soon as she jumps up and we put her bowl down, we rub her neck, pull scruff, inject, and rub again - all while she's eating. She doesn't even flinch!
 
I am glad the situation has improved. I can totally understand that there are difficult cats out there. I have one. He simply does not want to get the injection, nor does he know why he is getting it.
He associates meal time with the injection. I am allowing Timmie to eat in peace, then get him later. Timmie will hide under tables, and other areas where he knows I can't get to him easily. This
is very frustrating. I can only check his glucose levels periodically. I have not come up with the magic bullet to make him come to me. The suggestions given on the forum have not worked .
He has regained about 4 pounds, eats well, interacts well as long as he is not getting insulin, and I am doing the best I can with him.

Also, another thread was referring which glucose strips can be used with Alpha Trak. Please let me know. There were so many abbreviations used for the names, I could not determine the name of
the strips. Better yet, recommeded meter and strips other than Alpha Trak, in case I switch.

Thank you for your advise.
 
I've been using the ReliOn Confirm meter and test strips ( a lot of people here use it). This is also the meter my vet (from a local cat Hospital) recommended too. The test strips (ReliOn Confirm - they must match the meter brand) cost around $35 for 100 strips. I don't remember the cost of the meter since I've had it for about 10 months now, but it wasn't too expensive either.. Walmart carries it and the strips. I haven't had any problem doing testing with it.
 
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