Hello from Chicago! Cole's joined the club

Hello, all! I'm Cole's mommy from Chicago. He's a 15 yr old very fluffy Maine Coon with lots of anxiety issues. He was diagnosed with diabetes on Nov 18th (so just a couple weeks ago). We noticed that he was drinking and peeing a TON of water, and that he seemed to be losing weight (although it's hard to tell by sight, because he's so fluffy!). When we took him in, his urinary blood glucose level was over 500, but he didn't have any ketones (yay for heading off ketoacidosis!). The vet said that, although he was definitely skinny, he wasn't alarmingly underweight (so that was good). We have started him on 2 units of prozinc 2x daily. He weighed 16 1/2 lbs when diagnosed (remember, he's a Maine Coon, so he's a BIG kitty -- def. not overweight). It seems to be making some difference, because the amount that he drinks and pees is definitely less than before (but still more than normal, I think). I'm glad for this forum -- I have questions! (he looks smaller than he is in the pic attached)

 

Hi Sara and Cole! Welcome

I'm Katie. Looks like we have similar stories! My Dave was diagnosed on 11/10/17, just a week before Cole. We took Dave in as a stray quite a few years ago, and he's always been on the bigger side. When we took him in, he weighed about 16 pounds. He topped out around 29, but lost quite a bit over the past few months before I really noticed and realized there was a problem (the constant urination, etc). He now weighs about 19, and has stayed steady around that weight since his diagnosis. We're on 2U of Vetsulin 2x a day.

Have you made any change to his diet in addition? I learned here that diet has a big effect on sugar numbers. Most people stick to fancy feast classics or friskies pates, as they are very low carb.

Feel free to ask all the questions you want. This has been an incredible forum that I stumbled upon, and I am so thankful for it. Everyone is super helpful, and I have learned a ton just in the past few weeks from members on here!

 

Welcome Sara and Cole!

 

Welcome! You will get lots of support and advice here. If you could take a few minutes to set up a signature to give us some basic info about Cole, that would keep you from having to restate everything each time you post. Hopefully, you are home testing. If not yet, you probably will decide to start before long. Once you are doing that, you can create a spreadsheet to track the test results and insulin doses given. You can put a link to it in your signature, and anytime you have questions or need advice, everyone can refer to it and will be better able to help you.

I see that you have already started posting questions on the health forum.. so you are off to a running start!

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome Sara (assuming that's your name, if not please correct me.. ) and extra sweet and extra cute Cole!

 

Hi Sara - welcome to the forum? Murphy has been diabetic for 2.5 years now - he was initially on prozinc.
this forum is truly amazing. You will learn so much
Where are you in Chicago? I also live in Chicago - north side.

 

Hi, Katie! I added the feeding info to the signature (thanks @FurBabiesMama !). He's a very particular eater (so surprising in a cat, I know! haha). So, we haven'ts switched his wet food yet. We did switch the dry food to the vet-recommended rx formula, and I feed him whichever he'll eat. (Because it's more important that he eats something!) I haven't started testing his blood glucose yet. The vet said that it's not nearly as important for kitties as it is for people (although I don't understand that...). I think they wanted to try him on this dose for a month, and then bring him back and see where he's at, and adjust based on that. So, we'll see... We're trying to switch from part-meal-based/part-free feed to all meal based now -- that''s been a little tricky.

 

Thanks for the tip about the signature! That's a good idea!

 

Hey there, fellow Chicagoan! I live in Hyde Park.

 

Sara it is -- thank you!

 

Thank you! What a cute fluff-ball you have!

 

The Friskies you are feeding is 25% carb.... So basically you're feeding him cookies. . The good news though is there is no need to buy expensive perscription food.... Most of us feed fancy feast classic or Friskies pate foods. No gravy.

No need to feed just twice a day, but you do want to feed at shot time. Most of us feed several times a day. Just no food 2 hours prior to the preshot test so the number is not food influenced.

Your vet is wrong about testing. It's just as important. It's dangerous to dose without testing and much harder to regulate. I have a video in my signature showing how I test my cat CC.

Of you want to learn to home test and want a shopping list, just let us know.

 

Hmm, interesting. Unfortunately, he refuses to eat any pate =(. Does anyone know of a non-pate wet food option that's lower carb?

 

Not really. If you make gravy by putting water in the pate it could help. Here's the food list. Pick foods about 8% and under in carbs.

http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

 

That's not so far -I'm by Wrigley Field (although am a Sox fan)
It's really a good idea to start home testing ASAP - there's no telling what 2 units of Prozinc are doing - especially as you switch to wet food - some kitties blood sugar can drop by 100 points by switching to wet - the dry foods (even the ones from the vet) are quite high in carbs -
what does your kitty like - shredded? If so, Tiki Cat makes very low carb food that is shredded

 

Diabetes is diabetes, insulin is insulin - why would testing be important for one and not the other? Mine didn't know how to test other than a vein draw. It's not hard, it's just different.

 

I had no idea how to test either. I will be the first to admit that I am still getting used to it and it sure does take some trial and error, but it gets easier over time.

Agreed about the food, that one that he is eating is very high in carbs, and could be affecting his number. Mine prefers kibble, but I have been trying to transition him to a solely wet food diet (the lower carb options). Good luck!!

 

Thanks he does have A LOT of hair.

Home testing is what makes the difference and it's really important, when people start getting too low they can speak and do something about it, if your kitty is low and you still shoot him can be very dangerous so testing at least before shooting ( idealy more ) is crucial.

A lot of vets say not to test supposedly to avoid you stress (mine also didn't knew how to test in the ear he always draws from the vein so I guess not being able to teach me how had something to do with suggesting not to), beats me why testing would be more stressing than knowing that I could cause him hypo for shooting blind.

 

Veronica- I see that Babu-chiri is OTJ - congratulations!!!

 

Thanks he's been OTJ since april and we are still celebrating!!

Dealing with CKD (that's new to us ) but so far so good

 

Sorry if this sounds like a silly question, but what is OTJ...off the juice? lol

 

Katie, that is exactly what it means. At first, I thought off the junk, which I personally like better. LOL