5 hour newbie and feeling extremely overwhelmed!

Hello all! My name is Erica. My husband and I have a 10 year old, Apollo, who was just diagnosed today. I've had cats all my life but never a diabetic cat. This is very new to us. At certain points I feel overwhelmed and uncertain but then I have a high moment and feel like "I got this". My husband is a Marine and is always confident but I, on the other hand, don't want to screw up our baby's life. I've read many online articles and have already purchased an inexpensive glucometer. Against my vets wishes. They tried to get me by buying from them. I'm fairly aware of insulin costs, needles, etc. So, I'm good to go there.

I do have a question regarding food. Apollo is an extremely picky eater. By picky I mean it took me 6 months to switch food with him. Although, that was his dry which will no longer be a concern. He does like fancy feast canned food but not the classic (patte) kind. He'll literally turn his nose up and walk away. Snob. I've read about the gravy kind and that it's not ideal but I know I'll never get him to eat the classic. Just tonight, he was so stressed from going to the vets that I tried 9 different kinds of wet food and 2 kinds of baby food, with nothing more than a lick to the seafood feast. Ugh! This is where the uncertainty comes in. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!

~Erica

 

Welcome.
Good insulin are the human Lantus and Levemir and the pet insulins ProZinc and BCP PZI. For those two human insulin it is best to get the 5 pack of 3 ml disposable pens via a 10 ml vial. Although per ml the vial is less expensive most cats will not use up a 10 ml vial before the insulin goes bad/becomes ineffective. The human insulin N/NPH is sometimes prescribed but only lasts 8-10 hours. Same for the pet insulin Vetsulin/Caninisulin.
It is good that yo purchased BG meter. What meter is it? We test before each shot and periodically between shots. We record our reading and other info in a spreadsheet. See:http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...te-a-ss-and-link-it-in-your-signature.130337/
Finding a food a can will eat can be hit-or-miss which seems you case. All y can do is try and find the lowest carb canned that Apollo will eat. Here is a list that shows the carbs in most canned food in the USA
http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf

Here is a link to home testing blood sugarshttp://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

 

Hey and Welcome to the best place you never wanted to be! And, thank your husband for his service! ( I am a Marine brat)
Larry gave you some info about started the SS and gave the link to the food chart. When you have a picky eater, it is frustrating for sure especially when they need to eat so you can dose them. Some other wet foods that some of us feed our cats are 9 Lives PATE, Wellness NO GRAIN. Check the food chart with you choose a new brand and flavor. You want to keep fish to a minimum, no more than 2 times a week because of the heavy metals. There are some tricks you can try to get him to eat:

Here are some ideas.
1) Chicken Broth or Beef Broth (no sugar added); could be made from bouillon cubes
2) Tuna or tuna broth/juice
3) Parmesan cheese sprinkled on food
4) Bonita Flakes sprinkled on food (get from Asian Market or possibly some local food stores)
5) Pepcid AC 1/4 tablet - may have to crush and syringe feed; wait 20 minutes and try feeding again
6) Boiled chicken shredded or pureed
7) Baked/broiled/boiled Salmon, White fish, etc.

Many of us use Forti Flora, (made by Purina and can be ordered online) a probiotic, and sprinkle it on the wet food like you are salting it. Most cats love it as it is has the same animal enzymes that the dry food manufacturers coat the dry food with. (that's why many of our sugar babies became dry food addicts)

When you get a chance, can you tell us what insulin did his vet RX for him. Also, so glad you are home-testing as it is so important to keep our kitties safe. You can click onto any of our signatures on SS to view the Spread Sheet. It looks complicated by it really isn't. Here is an explanation of how it works.

AMPS is the AM Pre-shot test (always test before shooting to make sure they're high enough to give insulin)...then the U column is for "Units" (how much you gave)

The +1, +2, +3, etc are for how many hours since shooting...so +2 is 2 hours after the AM shot, +9 is 9 hour after, etc.....Since we're all over the world here, saying "he was at 148 at 8pm" doesn't tell us anything...we need to know how long since his last shot

At the end of a 12 hour cycle, it's PMPS time! (PM Pre-shot) and the whole thing starts over

If you need any help, just yell.

PS you can try warming the food in the microwave just a bit to make it more aromatic for Apollo.

 

Thanks guys .. so much great information. My husband picked up the BG meter. (Which I wanted to do it but I think he felt he wanted to help and take some stress off of me.) He bought the rite aid brand. Of course when I tried a test strip last night it didn't turn on. So he's going back to the store today to either get a new battery or a new one all together. My vet prescribed NPH insulin. Which I'm reading that it's not the preferred choice, but I'm wondering if it's just because it's new to Apollo.

As of this morning Apollo did not eat. Therefor, he did not get his shot. Ugh! He is doing way better than he was on Saturday! He actually took more interest in the food, licked the juices but not much. Apollo is a tough nut to crack. He's always had anxiety and if we change something in the house he will freak and stop eating. So we're use to him taking his time and working his way back to eating normal portions. But now, it's a whole new ball game. I'm freaking because he didn't get his shot and he didn't eat. But my husband is calm and collected. Reminding me of all the good things Apollo has done today. He's perkier, he's socializing with us - the other cat and two dogs, he's loud again, he was drinking, and he tried to eat. He was having none of this the last few days. We rarely saw him.

The overwhelming feeling returned when I called the vet's office, this morning, with an update. They keep telling me he needs to eat! No Sh*t! :::deep breath in, deep breath out::: We're going to have to force feed him tonight (according to them) but it's going to send him running for the hills. I know what needs to be done but it's somewhat up to Apollo or we're not going to get anywhere with him. If we keep pushing him he's going to push back.

So, that's my 24 hours in a nutshell.

 

I know how very overwhelming it can all be. Try some of the suggestions to help kittie eat. Glad hubby is your rock. And he is right, we do have to focus on the little good things while other not so good things, like eating are occurring.

 

Getting a cat to eat can be trying. However, Apollo has to eat and assist feeding (a better term than force feeding) seems to be necessary now. I have assist fed a few of my cats. I used a syringe.
Have you tried his old food? Dry food is better than no food.
Is the vet/you testing the urine for ketones? They can arise from high BGs and not eating and are life threatening. Yu can buy human urine ketone test strips fro a human pharmacy.

 

Personally, I would avoid assisted feeding unless absolutely necessary. Yes you want him on the low carb food but until he develops a taste for it, I'd try mixing some of the higher carb FF he will eat along with some of what you want him to eat. The carbs may be a little higher but he may just dig in and decide the new stuff ain't that bad if he is hungry! Then you'll be able to give him his shot and you can just keep decreasing the amount of higher carb food you are mixing in until he is eating the low carb only.

 

Thanks everyone ... will give it a go tonight!

 

If you take a peek in the health links/FAQ forum the last post there is about transitioning dry food junkies. There's also a whole lot of other useful information in there. It is most important that Apollo keep eating or he risks developing liver problems. I agree with Linda that, even if you have to continue with high carb for a while, it's best if he does it himself. There are a lot of changes happening for Apollo and with him being sensitive to change it would be best to take things slowly. If you do need to assist feed use a flavour of the FF classics that he hates already as kitties often develop an aversion to foods they are syringe fed. You could also look at a home made diet if you have the time and inclination, this would be the gold star food and Apollo may prefer something chewier.

It's so great that your husband is on board too, so much easier with two committed care givers to support each other. As you've already noticed it is a bit of a roller coaster ride to start with but you will get there, especially with the support of this board. Help is never far away

 

If he likes the gravy types, you might try adding warm water to the pates and making a gravy.

 

Update on Apollo ... We fed him last night with a low carb slurry using a syringe. Gave him his insulin. Repeated the process this morning. Checked his BG tonight and it was 145! Monday at the vets it was 473! Can this really be possible?! He's doing wonderful. Still being picky about eating on his own but he's definitely feeling much better. I feel more relaxed and very positive about his situation! Thank you everyone for all of your input! We're doing almost everything everyone is suggesting!

On a lighter note ... There were some chunks in his slurry tonight. While trying to get his syringe full, with no air, I pushed a little too hard and sprayed slurry all over my husband. I laughed so hard I was snorting and crying!

 

Did hubby laugh too? I darn near wet my drawers reading that!

 

Let's just say .... If looks could kill, I'd be dead. Haha!

 

How's Apollo doing with eating? Any better?

 

Apollo is doing wonderful, thank you for asking! He hasn't needed insulin since the beginning of last week. Testing his blood at home is working out great! He's finally back to eating on his own and is loving his wet food diet. He's not strictly pate's yet but we're working on it and monitoring him closely. He's back to normal and maybe even better. He's lost a little weight and I've seen him run up the stairs which I never thought would ever happen! All is well, thank you again everyone!

~my only concern is that his ears are white and I can see the small bruising from the lancet sticks. He's acts fine and even purrs when we do it but it bugs me. Ugh.

 

Great News! The little sore ears make us all winch. Have you tired Neosporin ointment with pain reliever? Or aloe vera sun gel works nicely too. The bruising does go away. Try not to squeeze to hard when you are tying to get the blood to stop.