Sarah and Yardstick
Member Since 2023
Hi everyone! Happy 4th of July and apologies for interrupting your holiday.
I’m Sarah and Yardstick is my 5 (ish) year old tuxedo that was diagnosed with diabetes, among other things, on 4/27/23. There’s a lot of background info here so I’m sorry in advance for the long post.
A little bit about Yardstick: She was found by animal control in October of 2020 with some injuries, most notably an infected front right leg they think was due to bites from another stray cat. The infection was too far along to save the leg so it had to be amputated (hence the name Yardstick, because 3 feet in a yard lol), and they estimated her age to be about 2-3 years old. I adopted her in February of 2021 and she settled in almost immediately. She’s had almost no health problems in the 2.5 years I’ve had her, besides some skin allergies in November of 2022 that cleared up quickly with antibiotics and steroids.
In April of this year, I noticed that she was eating and drinking more, and peeing a lot more often so I took her to the vet. They diagnosed her with diabetes and she was severely dehydrated so they kept her overnight to give her fluids and in the morning they ran some blood tests. They found that she was very anemic (hematocrit of 9 and platelets were at like 0) so they referred her to the emergency vet hospital nearby for a blood transfusion. She stayed in the hospital for 6 days, was treated for DK (but not yet DKA), and received 2 blood transfusions to get her numbers up. She does not have an official diagnosis but the vets believe she has immune-mediated, nonregenerative anemia caused by some sort of bone cancer (x-rays revealed her bones are very brittle and appear “moth-eaten”). They prescribed her ~7 mg (1 and ½ of a 5 mg tablet) prednisolone once a day, 0.15 mL of cyclosporine (Atopica) twice a day, and 3 units of glargine insulin twice a day. Besides increased eating/drinking/peeing, she was otherwise acting completely normal, which shocked all of the vets because she was so severely anemic that she should not have been acting so bright and alert. They think it's been going on for a very long time so her body has adjusted.
Her diagnosis came about 2 weeks before I graduated college, and about a month before I moved out of the city she was being treated in. I tried to get her BG curve done before I moved away, but they couldn’t do the test on our first appointment, went back a week later and they placed a Free Style Libre which turned out to be defective, went back the next day and placed another which also turned out to be defective, and then the next day I moved out of my apartment. I took her to a new vet close to me the week after and got her BG curve done and the numbers were high so the vet recommended bumping her insulin up to 4 units. She also gave me weekly B12 injections (0.25 mL, unsure of the brand) and a supplement called Immune Plus by VetriScience (previously called Cell Advance 440). Her numbers at the vet after insulin at 9am: 447 at 10:15am, 464 at 12:15pm, 384 at 2:15pm, 411 at 4:15pm, and 407 at 5:30pm (mg/dl).
About a week after that I moved again to Charlotte, NC on 6/22/23 (this will be my permanent home for awhile so no more moving anytime soon) where I am now looking for a new vet to take Yardstick. I discovered this website a few days ago and cried tears of relief knowing there’s other people going through similar things and willing to help. I’ve been frustrated with the lack of communication from my previous vets, which is partially due to me moving around so much but even before then the vet hospital where she was initially admitted was very difficult to contact and did not do a great job of keeping me updated and telling me the next steps. After reading the info I found here, I feel much more confident in my ability to advocate for myself and for Yardstick at her new vet (and if anyone has any suggestions for vets in Charlotte, I would love some recommendations).
I got Yardstick a blood glucose monitor (Contour Next One) but have only been able to test her sporadically since I just started a new job and can’t be home with her all day. I have today off so I’m finally able to check her BG in regular intervals and I’m updating her spreadsheet as I do. The vets recommended she eat ~175 kcal per day, so I’ve been splitting a 5 oz can of Friskies seafood (136 kcal/can) between morning and night feedings. The vets said she should only have 2 meals per day, but she gets SO hungry within a couple hours of feeding so I’ve been giving her ~½ cup of dry food split over a couple hours in between meals. She used to be a free feeder with dry food available 24/7 and got a 3 oz can of wet food in the evenings but I no longer do this. Prior to all of this, Yardstick has had a normal but not excessive appetite and never really been interested in people food, but now she seems ravenous at all times and will even try to eat my food when she has never done this before. She also lost a significant amount of weight (she went from 11 lbs to 6 lbs and now is around 9 lbs) so I’ve been feeding her outside of her meal times to get her back to normal.
My main questions are mostly how to lower her blood sugar (every time she’s been tested in office and at home it’s been very high), I know the prednisolone can increase insulin resistance and the vets said we can hopefully taper her off soon. After reading how bad dry food is on this website, does anyone have any suggestions about how to feed her smaller meals during the day? Or should I not be giving her anything outside of her two meal times when she gets her insulin? Also, does anyone know if the B12 injections and VetriScience supplement are useful/safe (previously Cell Advance 440 but the new name also says canine formula so is it still okay for cats)? And of course I know this is a diabetes forum, but if anyone knows anything or has any tips to manage her anemia/cancer I would be so grateful. I’ve been so overwhelmed trying to help her while also going through major life transitions of my own and I’m unbelievably grateful I found this resource <3
Right now, it has been 2 hours since her morning meal and insulin, she has had no extra food but a couple of treats to coax her into letting me prick her ears, but I haven't been able to get enough blood for a reading yet :/ I've tried massaging and warming her ear but she barely tolerates it so I don't think it's been effective
Edit: Yardstick loves her wet food, but will only eat seafood flavors and the chunky kind in gravy. I read here that cats should not have too much fish flavored food, but she genuinely will not eat any other kind (she will be so hungry and I won't offer her other options but she refuses to eat ANY other flavor). Any ideas on what to do?
I’m Sarah and Yardstick is my 5 (ish) year old tuxedo that was diagnosed with diabetes, among other things, on 4/27/23. There’s a lot of background info here so I’m sorry in advance for the long post.
A little bit about Yardstick: She was found by animal control in October of 2020 with some injuries, most notably an infected front right leg they think was due to bites from another stray cat. The infection was too far along to save the leg so it had to be amputated (hence the name Yardstick, because 3 feet in a yard lol), and they estimated her age to be about 2-3 years old. I adopted her in February of 2021 and she settled in almost immediately. She’s had almost no health problems in the 2.5 years I’ve had her, besides some skin allergies in November of 2022 that cleared up quickly with antibiotics and steroids.
In April of this year, I noticed that she was eating and drinking more, and peeing a lot more often so I took her to the vet. They diagnosed her with diabetes and she was severely dehydrated so they kept her overnight to give her fluids and in the morning they ran some blood tests. They found that she was very anemic (hematocrit of 9 and platelets were at like 0) so they referred her to the emergency vet hospital nearby for a blood transfusion. She stayed in the hospital for 6 days, was treated for DK (but not yet DKA), and received 2 blood transfusions to get her numbers up. She does not have an official diagnosis but the vets believe she has immune-mediated, nonregenerative anemia caused by some sort of bone cancer (x-rays revealed her bones are very brittle and appear “moth-eaten”). They prescribed her ~7 mg (1 and ½ of a 5 mg tablet) prednisolone once a day, 0.15 mL of cyclosporine (Atopica) twice a day, and 3 units of glargine insulin twice a day. Besides increased eating/drinking/peeing, she was otherwise acting completely normal, which shocked all of the vets because she was so severely anemic that she should not have been acting so bright and alert. They think it's been going on for a very long time so her body has adjusted.
Her diagnosis came about 2 weeks before I graduated college, and about a month before I moved out of the city she was being treated in. I tried to get her BG curve done before I moved away, but they couldn’t do the test on our first appointment, went back a week later and they placed a Free Style Libre which turned out to be defective, went back the next day and placed another which also turned out to be defective, and then the next day I moved out of my apartment. I took her to a new vet close to me the week after and got her BG curve done and the numbers were high so the vet recommended bumping her insulin up to 4 units. She also gave me weekly B12 injections (0.25 mL, unsure of the brand) and a supplement called Immune Plus by VetriScience (previously called Cell Advance 440). Her numbers at the vet after insulin at 9am: 447 at 10:15am, 464 at 12:15pm, 384 at 2:15pm, 411 at 4:15pm, and 407 at 5:30pm (mg/dl).
About a week after that I moved again to Charlotte, NC on 6/22/23 (this will be my permanent home for awhile so no more moving anytime soon) where I am now looking for a new vet to take Yardstick. I discovered this website a few days ago and cried tears of relief knowing there’s other people going through similar things and willing to help. I’ve been frustrated with the lack of communication from my previous vets, which is partially due to me moving around so much but even before then the vet hospital where she was initially admitted was very difficult to contact and did not do a great job of keeping me updated and telling me the next steps. After reading the info I found here, I feel much more confident in my ability to advocate for myself and for Yardstick at her new vet (and if anyone has any suggestions for vets in Charlotte, I would love some recommendations).
I got Yardstick a blood glucose monitor (Contour Next One) but have only been able to test her sporadically since I just started a new job and can’t be home with her all day. I have today off so I’m finally able to check her BG in regular intervals and I’m updating her spreadsheet as I do. The vets recommended she eat ~175 kcal per day, so I’ve been splitting a 5 oz can of Friskies seafood (136 kcal/can) between morning and night feedings. The vets said she should only have 2 meals per day, but she gets SO hungry within a couple hours of feeding so I’ve been giving her ~½ cup of dry food split over a couple hours in between meals. She used to be a free feeder with dry food available 24/7 and got a 3 oz can of wet food in the evenings but I no longer do this. Prior to all of this, Yardstick has had a normal but not excessive appetite and never really been interested in people food, but now she seems ravenous at all times and will even try to eat my food when she has never done this before. She also lost a significant amount of weight (she went from 11 lbs to 6 lbs and now is around 9 lbs) so I’ve been feeding her outside of her meal times to get her back to normal.
My main questions are mostly how to lower her blood sugar (every time she’s been tested in office and at home it’s been very high), I know the prednisolone can increase insulin resistance and the vets said we can hopefully taper her off soon. After reading how bad dry food is on this website, does anyone have any suggestions about how to feed her smaller meals during the day? Or should I not be giving her anything outside of her two meal times when she gets her insulin? Also, does anyone know if the B12 injections and VetriScience supplement are useful/safe (previously Cell Advance 440 but the new name also says canine formula so is it still okay for cats)? And of course I know this is a diabetes forum, but if anyone knows anything or has any tips to manage her anemia/cancer I would be so grateful. I’ve been so overwhelmed trying to help her while also going through major life transitions of my own and I’m unbelievably grateful I found this resource <3
Right now, it has been 2 hours since her morning meal and insulin, she has had no extra food but a couple of treats to coax her into letting me prick her ears, but I haven't been able to get enough blood for a reading yet :/ I've tried massaging and warming her ear but she barely tolerates it so I don't think it's been effective
Edit: Yardstick loves her wet food, but will only eat seafood flavors and the chunky kind in gravy. I read here that cats should not have too much fish flavored food, but she genuinely will not eat any other kind (she will be so hungry and I won't offer her other options but she refuses to eat ANY other flavor). Any ideas on what to do?
Last edited:
the Friskies should be fine carb content wise, but the dry is certainly the issue right now.
If you start a new post here, with the title something like "info on anemia/bone cancer", you might get the attention of someone who does have experience. Similarly, you can start a new post titled something like "vet in Charlotte" to get ideas from people nearby.