? Skruffies

Hi I'm new.

 

Hi Skruffies! Welcome. Have your person read all about feline diabetes here on FDMB. There is a bunch of info to help you feel better!

 

Hi Skruffies!

Glad you found us!

In your other post you wrote "two meals a day". Is that how much you are being fed a day or how much you think you should be fed a day?

Please tell us what food you are eating and if you're on insulin or not (if you are, what is the name of the insulin). Is someone testing your glucose levels at home?

Please give us more information so we can help you.

 

Welcome to FDMB, the best place you never wanted to be.

There are 4 things you'll need to manage your kitty's diabetes:
- You - without your commitment, the following won't work.
- Home blood glucose monitoring with an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart Relion Confirm or Target Up and Up (the pet ones will break your budget!). This saves you the cost of going to the vet for curves and done regularly, removes the need for a fructosamine test.
- Low carb over the counter canned or raw diet, such as many Friskies pates. See Cat Info for more info. If already on insulin, you must be home testing before changing the diet. Food changes should be gradual to avoid GI upsets - 20-25% different food each day until switched. There are 2 low carb, dry, over the counter foods in the US - Evo Cat and Kitten dry found at pet specialty stores and Young Again 0 Carb found online.
- A long-lasting insulin such as ProZinc, Lantus, BCP PZI, or Levemir. No insulin lasts 24 hours in the cat, so giving it every 12 hours is optimal for control.

 

Hi Skruffies is now on 2 meals a day with no snacks. Every 12 hours he gets 2 units of Prozinc insulin. He has a can of Fancy Feast and 1/4 cup of Purina cat chow for dinner and breakfast. I am bringing him in so they can watch and see how insulin is doing in about 3 weeks. I am going to buy machine then so I can test his blood when needed. Is Purina cat chow healthy for diabetes cat ?

 

Dry food has a lot more carbs in it. I would not eliminate it until you start home testing his blood sugars, as taking away the carbs can make his blood sugars go down a lot.

 

You need to buy a glucometer now since your cat is on insulin. Don't wait till you see the vet. We have lots of handy tips and videos for home testing.
Click on these handy links: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/testing-and-shooting-tips.85113/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

If you are in the U.S. many of us use an inexpensive glucometer like Walmart's Relion Micro or Confirm meter and strips. For lancets, starting out, we suggest using a size 26 . The glucometer kits like Relion come with 30 or 31 size lancets, which is harder to use in the beginning.

No need to bring in your cat for a glucose curve in 3 weeks. You can do that at home, save your cat needless stress at the vet, and save yourself money.

Vet glucose levels tend to be higher, often 100 points or more, especially with a stressed cat. That is why home testing is crucial. Correct dosing needs to be based on home testing glucose values, not vet values.

We have a terrific Prozinc forum here: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/prozinc-pzi.24/


When did you start insulin? Which Fancy Feast are you feeding? Dry food is not good for diabetic cats. Slowly transitioning them off and solely canned/wet food under 10% carbs is important. But you need to be home testing first.

Here's a chart to foods to select from. Look for under 10% carbs : http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf

And here's a handy guide for transitioning your kitty off dry food including "Transitioning Dry Food Addicts": http://catinfo.org/