Alice

Hi! My name is Cassandra and my diabetic cat is Alice. She is exactly 12 and half on the 16th of this month.

Alice began losing weight rapidly between September and October 2018 at which point she had lost over a pound and was down to 5.5 from 6.7. My vet checked her glucose and said it was high. We immediately switched her food to Purina DM (wet and dry both though I am pushing wet more now). We tried this for a couple of months with no improvement. I'm having some of the worst financial issues I've had, so we are trying to treat her as best as possible and finally decided to put her on Novolin N, 1 unit given twice daily with food. I'm waiting to get a glucometer because of budget issues. I waited too long to be able to afford that before starting her on insulin, so finally we just went ahead and started treating anyway. I'm missing valuable data by not being able to home test her right now though, I know. :\

I lost 2 of my 3 bunnies this year, and out of 4 cats, 2 were diagnosed with chronic/incurable illnesses this year as well. It's been a really rough year where I've had to face almost losing my home (which would have meant rehoming all my furbabies despite my commitment to never move them anywhere again ever).

I think Alice is gaining some weight and she feels a little better, I can tell. It's only been a couple of weeks on the insulin though and she is still drinking and urinating a LOT, and her stool is not of the best consistency. So I know we don't have everything worked out yet.

I bottle fed that girl. Her brother too. (He passed away suddenly at 7 years 5 months due to FIP.) She is my baby and my best friend!

(Photo: Alice when she was healthier and fatter.)

 

Indeed that is a rough year with several losses. I'm glad you found this group! We are here to help. You can save money by skipping the dm food. It's no better than grocery store foods. Most of us feed fancy feast classic or Friskies pate foods. There is a food chart in my signture that will help. Pick foods under 10 percent carb (under 7 is even better).

If you are struggling to get basic supplies you can see if Diabetic Cats in Need might help. I'll tag Chris who can give you more info on DCIN.

@Chris & China

 

Welcome to you and Alice. You will find a lot of support and great info here to help your baby.

 

Welcome to you and your lovely kitty. We can help and do contact DCIN as Janet mentioned above.

 

@JanetNJ that food list you have a link to is fantastic and just helped me so much. Thank you!!! I'm having trouble even getting Alice to eat as much as I am told she should eat before her shots, but if I can possibly just switch her to fancy feast or something it will solve a LOT. She's always been sensitive and picky! Thank you all for your responses.