Newly diagnosed

Sophie was diagnosed yesterday after a false negative diagnosis a few weeks ago. Starting her on twice daily vetsulin and hills W/d diet. I bought a bag of dry which she likes and one can of wet to try. Any advice is greatly appreciated, as my goal is getting her into remission. Vet isn't having me test her blood or urine at home (yet) but after reading posts here I am tempted to buy the alpha track. Is that the best one to use?

My schedule is usually consistent and I don't travel much, but my main concern is maintaining the 12 hour interval between injections. From what I can tell, this is really vital.

Sophie turned 10 today and I want to keep her around as long as possible while keeping my sanity and at least part of my paycheck

My vet bills for march were $779. I am pretty overwhelmed by that and all the new info to take in. I was trained today by a vet tech how to do the injections. I wish I had a better general understanding of the disease and monitoring it, especially given the amount of money I just forked over. I realize a lot of that research can be done here and I'm glad I found this resource!

Sophie is 10, 13.4 lbs (down a pound or so in last year), and her level was 500. I noticed increased water consumption and urine so we treated her for a UTI but that wasn't solving the problem. She has a healthy appetite and hasn't had any changes in personality or visible signs of illness. I'm cautiously optimistic that we caught it early can get this under control or maybe even remission.

What are some good treats for diabetic cats? Should I discontinue all regular treats? Vet did not mention this.

Any advice is appreciated as i continue to explore the site! Thanks!

 

W/d is not a good food for diabetic cats. It is very high in carbs, especially the dry. I would return it. You want a low carb WET food. This means pate style without gravy. Most of us feed fancy feast classic or Friskies pate foods.

I use the Alphatrak and like it a lot, however keep in mind that the strips are expensive at about $1 each. Although amazon has a sale right now for $46 for 50 strips. Still I find the cost worth it to have the same readings as my vet. Many here opt to use a human meter such as the relion micro. The cost is significantly less than the Alphatrak, and although readings are lower than what your vet will get it will still let you know if your cat is high or low.

The earlier caught the better, and with proper diet and home testing remission is sometimes possible.

Yes discontinue current treats. I used to give my cat lots of Temptations before I knew she was diagnosed.... Ugh! I realized just how bad they were when her numbers were low one day so I gave her 3-4 of them and within 15 min her bg shot up 100 points!

Treats you can give are freeze dried meat snacks, chicken, cold cuts without fillers, and catnip.

 

Welcome. Janet gave you some great advice. Not only is the w/d high carb, it's also expensive! The Friskies or Fancy Feast Pates are fine. If you do switch foods, make sure you are home testing Sophie's glucose because the switch can lower it significantly. Come over to the Main Health Forum and ask any questions you have, we'll be happy to help.

 

Welcome!
Your cute Sophie reminds me of a sweet little girl I had growing up . Lots of helpful and caring people here to help your kitty and YOU

 

Welcome! We all know how you feel with a newly diagnosed kitty. You've been given good info so far. Please post any other questions/concerns you have on the main health forum where more people will see them.

People will ask what dose of Vetsulin your vet prescribed and how the dose was determined.

 

Thanks everyone! I will grab some fancy feast classic today. She is getting 2 units twice a day and there was no explanation for why...this forum is giving me a better idea of the questions I should be asking.

 

Bah! My vet told me temptations were fine :/