Arriving Home

Hi everyone,
I am Scheduled to bring my cat Crookshanks home tomorrow, which will be the first time that I’ll be responsible for feeding him and monitoring him since his diabetes diagnosis. We have two other cats, and I have always fed them all the same food. I know that this will be a new transitionary period, where I have to keep their food separate. Does anyone else have multiple cats, and do you have any suggestions for how to ensure they aren’t eating each other’s food? I know it’s a bit of an impossible scenario but I want to ensure that I am keeping everybody healthy.
Also, Does anyone have any tips and tricks that you think will be useful for me as we become adjusted? I am sure that the vet is going to review a lot of information with me tomorrow, but I’m just looking to be as prepared as possible to make sure that Crookshanks is getting the best care I can give him.
Thank you!

 

A lot of us feed all our cats the same thing if we have multiple cats, a lot feed fancy feast instead of the food vets recommend as fancy feast is low carb and doesn’t cost and arm and leg.

 

We all recommend home blood glucose testing and ketone testing, there a lot of great people on here who will help you, I’m fairly new myself. Once you get kitty home and settled there is a spreadsheet they like everyone to set up so whoever is helping you can look at and help I will give you a couple of links to look at when you have time
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-use-the-fdmb-the-basics.132260/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

 

I have three cats and feed them in separate rooms on a schedule. There's no free feeding. It allows me to feed one a hypoallergenic diet, enough to a second to keep him at a good weight instead of overweight and keep my diabetic eating low carb food.

I'll add my new member's handout to what Bellasmom has posted. Read it over a few times and ask a lot of questions. The learning curve is steep but we can help. you'll be amazed at how this all becomes routine!
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It would help us if you set up your signature (light grey text under a post). Here's how:

• click on your name in the upper right corner of this page
• click on "signature" in the men that drops down
• type the following in the box that opens: kitty's name/age/date of diabetes diagnosis/insulin you're using /glucose meter you're using/what he eats/any other meds or health issues he has.

Another thing that will help us help you now that you've started BG testing at home is to set up a spreadsheet like the one we use here. We can all see it and look at it before offering advice: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

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Here's the basic testing routine we recommend:

1. test every day AM and PM before feeding and injecting (no food at least 2 hours before) to see if the planned dose is safe
2. test at least once near mid cycle or at bedtime daily to see how low the BG goes
3. do extra tests on days off to fill in the response picture
4. if indicated by consistently high numbers on your spreadsheet, increase the dose by no more than 0.25 u at a time so you don't accidentally go right past a good dose
5. post here for advice whenever you're confused or unsure of what to do.

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Here's an explanation of what we call "bouncing". It explains why a kitty's BG can go from low to sky high:

1. BG goes low OR lower than usual OR drops too quickly.
2. Kitty's body panics and thinks there's danger (OMG! My BG is too low!).
3. Complex physiologic processes take glycogen stored in the liver (I think of it as "bounce fuel"), convert it to glucose and dump it into the bloodstream to counteract the perceived dangerously low BG.
4. These processes go into overdrive in kitties who are bounce prone and keep the BG propped up varying lengths of time (AKA bouncing).
5. Bounce prone kitty repeats this until his body learns that healthy low numbers are safe. Some kitties are slow learners.
6. Too high a dose of insulin can keep them bouncing over and over until the " bounce fuel" runs out and they crash - ie., have a hypo episode. That's why we worry so much about kitties that have had too high a starting dose prescribed by the vet and the owner isn't home testing.

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Here are some tips on how to do urine ketone testing (VERY important if BG is high and kitty isn't eating well!):

• put the end of the test strip right in his urine stream as he's peeing
• slip a shallow, long handled spoon under his backside to catch a little pee - you don't need much
• put a double layer of plastic wrap over his favourite part of the litter box and poke some depressions in it too catch pee.

Most test strips have to be dipped and allowed to develop for 15 seconds before viewing the colour change in very good light.

 

I too feed mine in separate rooms/areas.

 

Hi and welcome!

I have 4 cats and what I did is I changed them all to the low carb diet that my diabetic cat needed that way I don't have to worry about him getting something he shouldn't and actually is the best I could do for the non diabetic too, they actually started feeling better became more active and their coats started to look so much better.

 

I have six cats. They all eat fancy feast low carb food.

 

I have 3 cats that all eat the same food.....A lot less stressful when you don't have to worry if your sugarcat is eating the "wrong" food.....and the other 2 cats are a lot healthier and less likely to develop diabetes too!!

A lot of people with multi-cat houses just feed all their cats the same low carb canned food. I know one person with 17 cats....they all eat Friskies because it's low carb and affordable for that many cats.