Anxious newbie trying to learn more about feline diabetes

Hello everyone!

My husband and I have two beautiful cats who have given us so much love throughout the years. Oscar is a 5 years old domestic short hair who has recently been diagnosed with diabetes. His diagnosis was not easy as he did not fit all normal symptoms of a diabetic cat. Originally we thought Oscar was acting different and not eating as much because of the heat we experienced this summer, a trip to the vets we found that he had a bad molar that needed taking out. His gum was not healing after this and many trips to the vets later, I asked that the vets take a full blood test as something just didn't seem normal with him. We found that his BG, ATL & chlolesterol was high. The vets also did a urine test and found ketones. We were so shocked as he was acting well and not seeming ill. Many tearful cuddles later, we said goodbye so that Oscar can be hospitalised to flush out the ketones.

At the moment, I struggle a lot with feeling so guilty and still trying to accept this illness he has! The vets even told us we should consider whether we can take care of him and I said 100% yes. We took him into our lives and are responsible for him no matter how busy our lives are. I feel a lot of grief and get very upset from people who keep telling me "Oh at least it's just a cat".

He's is now home with us on 50/50 his usual food and new low carb food. Although his BG numbers are high (30s and nadir is 10-15) and is BG is frequently bouncing, he has gotten his appetite back and is playful, loving again. He is currently on 2.5unites of Prozinc, the vet suggested he stays on this for another week before considering upping?

The vets advised us to feed him twice daily and take his food away to keep him from bouncing. We have read some conflicting opinions about this as Prozinc is a long lasting insulin. It would be great to hear what people think about feeding and whether I should take the food away?

I found that taking his food away dropped his BG numbers to around 10mmol by afternoon/evening which is not shootable for pm feeding. Yesterday we didn't shoot as per the vet's advice but found his BG went from 10mmol just before pm feeding to 30mmol 3 hours later. Today I decided to leave the food out but take it away 4 hours before his pm feeding to keep his BG in shootable range in the pm.

I am so glad that I've found this site and hope to share my journey

Many thanks from Nga and Oscar

 

Welcome Nga and Oscar! I'm sorry that you are going through this situation and the board is a good place to learn about Feline Diabetes and helping Oscar to feel better. First, will you please create a signature so that Oscar's pertinent information is appended to all your posts? Having that information immediately available is helpful in giving responses and advice. Here is a link on how to do that: SIGNATURE
It sounds like you are home testing and it would be very helpful to have the testing data, as well as the insulin times and dosage data, available for members to see and help you evaluate. We have a spreadsheet that we use to record and track this data, here is the link to instructions for the spreadsheet as well as understanding how it works: SPREADSHEET
After you have made the signature and the spreadsheet, I suggest you just copy the introduction post here and go over to the Health (Main) Forum
so that more members can read about Oscar and your concerns at this point. Just create a new thread and then paste the contents of the post. You may also want to visit the Prozinc Forum for more information on that insulin. I know it's a lot to begin with, I was fairly overwhelmed with information on top of the anxiety and worry just about the diabetes itself! But, take a deep breath, there is wonderful information here with a very supportive community that has many experienced knowledgeable members to help you. Some of the members have been caring for their sugar cats for many years and the level of expertise is phenomenal. We are here for you!

 

Welcome!

 

Thank you for your advise and encouragement!

 

Hi and welcome all to FDMB.
Take no notice of people who say it is just a cat.......... I feel sorry for people who don't have feelings for animals....they don't know what they are missing.
I've never heard that taking food away will stop bouncing! As long as you take the food away two hours before you test for the PM dose it should be fine. And if you are finding the PMPS test is too low to shoot, you may need to reduce the dose by 0.25 units so you can shoot both am and pm.
I am going to tag a few people who use Prozinc who will be able to help you.
@Djamila @Rachel @Kris & Teasel
Bron

 

So I was heading to bed last night when I saw this. I did reply earlier on your Prozinc thread, but I don't think I knew about the ketones there. I'm also confused because it doesn't look to me like you skipped any shots recently...when was this? If you want to pop over to Prozinc, I'll post this there too.