Hi, scared and overwhelmed

Hello all!
I am a recently diagnosed diabetic cat mom. (See my avatar for my baby boy, his name is Bam.)
Bam was just diagnosed yesterday officially and I'm scared and nervous and breaking down a lot. Bam is about 10 years old and has lived with me ever since I rescued him from the wheel well of a friend's car.

Well, I've gone through the freaking out with vet visits and costs, and I haven't even been able to get his insulin yet. I'm overwhelmed and scared. I live alone, have awkward work hours and I'm barely paid above minimum wage. How do you all manage It? Bam has been prescribed Lantus and just calling around for pricing at my local pharmacies has my head spinning at the costs! So any help here would be wonderful!

I'm seeing a lot of posts that dry food, even the stuff my vet said I should feed him are no good, let alone expensive. Is it really better to switch him to an all wet diet?

Also, if any of you have any tips or tricks about how I might be able to get the caked on "boots" of litter off his back paws I would be forever grateful!

Please feel free to ask me any questions and I look forward to hopefully many helping tips and tricks from everyone here!!

 

Welcome! We can help. Please post this on the main health forum where more people will see it. Just to get you started:

• Lantus is very expensive in the US so many people order from a Canadian pharmacy, Marks Marine Pharmacy in Vancouver
• if Lantus is still too expensive you could try Vetsulin
• you can save a lot of money by learning to test your kitty’s blood glucose at home instead on paying for a curve at the vet clinic
• no need to buy expensive prescription food - many of us feed Friskies or Fancy Feast pates (all low enough in carbs)

 

Thanks for responding! I will share this on the main forum as well, just saw that this one was for introductions.

I simply feel very overwhelmed right now, prone to bouts of sobbing when I look at him. Seems like a darn good place I found here!

 

Best place ever for desperate owners of diabetic cats! We’ve all been where you are.

 

Oh! One thing I noticed on your original reply is the testing at home. My vet strongly encourages me to do this actually. That and giving him the shots are what I'm the least scared of doing believe it or not.

 

Hurray for you and your vet! Testing BG at home is the single best thing you can do to keep your kitty safe.

 

Welcome!

 

Hey.Just wishing to say hi.

 

Try not to worry too much, easier said than done I know. I think I cried everyday for the first month or so when Frank was just diagnosed. Still fairly new to all this as he was only diagnosed in September but with the advice in here and on the group I feel so much better and in control already. I barely slept for the first few weeks as I was paranoid he wasn't breathing or too sleepy etc, was always poking and prodding at him, poor scone! Changing to wet has been the best thing we have done so far, was a battle to start with and we worked out way through every brand before finding something the little diva would eat. His numbers are coming down since switching and he seems so much more alert. Please just take your time to take it all in though and don't beat yourself up if it takes a little longer than you hoped. Happy to chat if you need any advice or even just a shoulder to cry on xx

 

Just wanted to say hi to you and Bam from me and Whispy!

 

Hi and welcome! You've found an amazing place. I am relatively new as well, its been about 3 weeks for me and Dave. It's great that you aren't scared about home testing or giving shots. For me, home testing was and still is a stressful and learning process. But we are getting there! The tips and support from this group is absolutely incredible.

Try not to worry too much. You're doing a great thing by working towards treating your furbaby! Dave is on Vetsulin and it is a lot less expensive, I too would be nervous about the cost of it. I did buy the expensive prescription food, and now regret it. Dave much rather enjoys the fancy feast classics and friskies pates.

I'll second what someone said to me in my welcome post, NO question is too silly or stupid on this post. We've all been there, the stress, the million questions, etc.

Glad to have you here!!!