Can a single person with a diabetic cat still have a life?

Hi there,

I just got word that my boy, Nigel is diabetic. He was drinking lots the water and peeing a lot so I took him to the vet. It seemed to coincide with changing his food. I tried to get him some food on New Years Eve and the place that I usually go for his food was closed, so I had to get him something different that wasn't grain free. About a week later scooping the cat box became a bigger chore than usual. He seems pretty normal otherwise.

Anyway, the vet says that I will have to give him insulin every twelve hours, more or less on the dot. So, I guess my best bet would be to get up at 6 every morning so that I can still have some semblance of a social life at night. I'm hoping that his diabetes is mild enough that he will go into remission fairly quickly, but who knows. I had plans this weekend that I am going to have to cancel. And generally this seems like much too big of a burden to ever ask friends to watch him. So, I'm wondering how people are able to have a life with a diabetic cat, if they don't have a significant other or a family to share the burden with?

-Grant

 

I'm single with a diabetic cat, but my preferred social life is sitting at home with my cats, haha.

If I do have a party or somewhere to go, I just leave after 5pm and make sure I'm back before 5am. If I'm out during the day, I just go out between shot times.

Sadly, it isn't always as simple as "give shot twice a day and you're done". You should also be home testing, feeding small meals throughout the day, and if your cat is testing too low one day, you of course should not go anywhere until he is in the clear.

I dunno, I care about my cat a great deal so I don't mind the new life changes. I'm worried out of my mind just leaving him for work most days, lol.

 

Welcome Grant and Nigel. I don't have an answer to your question about being single and having a life while managing feline diabetes treatment, sorry. Gave up my single life a century or so ago. If you were a single parent of a human child with diabetes you would find a way, right?
I do know this, we will all do our best to help you and support you while you are learning how to do it. There is a wealth of information here, many experienced and knowledgeable members that can help with dosing, educate you about the insulin do's and don'ts, and home testing. To begin, take a look at the FAQs forum..there is an Index to read through, and the very important Hypo information (just in case, I hope you never need it). Get educated and prepare yourself with knowledge, it's far more comfortable to know, than not.
We have members from all over the world, from all walks of life, varying ages, single, married or committed. We are all here because we care about our sugar cats, and we help each other.
Please post further questions, concerns or issues on the Main Health forum so that we can provide that support.

 

Grant I feel your pain! I'm about 6 weeks into this process and I worry about the same thing. I'm hoping that after this period of regulating my guys' numbers life will become a little simpler. Luckily this time of year is more quiet for me so I have the time to do the testing and hopefully get him more stable. I've read on here people suggest possibly asking techs at your Vet or some pet sitting services are trained in giving shots.... sounds expensive but in a pinch that's an option.

Good luck!
-Audrey

 

There are ways to have a "life" outside of your cat. A diabetic needs more care yes. Is that care requirement always at the right time...no. But if he is your furkid - then think of this a practice run for when you do have kids.

We can help with suggestion on feeders, adjusting dose time, what to watch for before leaving. It will become second nature before you know. Having a sugar kitty can be very rewarding as well.

 

Once you find a routine, gather some data (home testing) you will be able to tell when you can go about your day/night.

I know I have to be home and test 3-4 hrs after giving insulin. Depending on the test result I know if I have stay home or if I can go out. I'm usually home but I do work on Fridays.

 

Hello,

I am in the exact same situation with Gregory. He was diagnosed with diabetes a few weeks ago. I give him his shots at 5am and 5pm. If I am at a social event, I leave, go home and feed Greg and give him his shot, then go back. It's an adjustment but I have to accept that this is my life now. I love Gregory and he is my family.

-Debbie

 

I was on my own dealing with my girl and basically had exactly the same thoughts as you. I had to stay organized and plan ahead more than I normally would but in the big scheme of things, I only missed one important event during our 3+year long journey as a result of her diabetes. I managed to go out for lunches, dinners, to the theatre and to visit friends out of town for the day. I coach Special Olympics curling and attend out of town bonspiels that start early in the AM and I'd be gone over 12 hours in some cases. Sometimes that meant skipping one shot or extending two cycles out to 18 hours each to accommodate but with a little planning she was no worse for wear and I still got to do what I needed and wanted to do.

I also managed to find a friend that I trained to look after my girl so I was able to go away for some week long curling competitions and on a cruise. I agree you don't want to strain a friendship asking for help constantly, but a good friend who likes cats may very well be able to help you out when really needed.

Yes it's tough sometimes and some spur of the moment social outings may have to be skipped, but your welfare as caregiver is just as important as the welfare of your cat because your cat needs you so you just have to find a balance that allows you to still enjoy the things you need and like to do. Looking after a diabetic cat doesn't take much time but there will be some days when you will have to juggle priorities.

 

Yes you can have a life. I have been single for most of my life and have had 4 diabetic cats including 2 at the same time. Home testing is essential for you to be able to do it. By testing before every shot, ensures that it is safe to give the dose and stops the worrying if your cat is ok. Also with testing it will help if you have to adjust the times between doses.

 

If you are a bit off with the time it's not the end of the world. If you need more flexibility maybe ask about ProZinc insulin. It's still should be 12 hours but you can shoot an hour + - if you need to. (Be sure to test if you are shooting early though)

 

Thanks for all of the responses, comforting or not.

One other thing: my cat still seems totally normal. He never lost weight , though he needs to, and he’s the same cat that he’s always been. Did your cats actually seem sick when they were diagnosed? Mine was drinking a lot of water and peeing a lot, but that was it. That’s stopped too since changing his food.

 

The earliest symptoms are drinking a lot of water and peeing huge amounts. Weight loss soon follows. It's quite possible that you caught this early and I suppose if he was border line diabetic suddenly increasing the carbs in his food could have sent him into full blown diabetes. I presume you have now put him back on his regular diet, and if that is low carb (under 10% carbs) food, it's likely controlling the diabetes. Once a diabetic always a diabetic so it would be a good idea to get a glucometer and check his BG periodically so if he starts to fall out of remission (can happen with an infection or inflammation) you will be able to catch it quickly. And definitely keep him on a low carb diet, preferably wet food.
I would suggest if you do not have a glucometer, get the vet to recheck his BG and run another fructosamine test (I presume this was done to diagnose the diabetes) to make sure your kitty is in fact in remission.

 

Thanks @MrWorfMen's Mom!

This morning before eating or getting insulin he threw up a little bit and was breathing pretty quickly and looked a bit checked out. He’s back to normal now though. I called the vet to see if I should still give him his morning dose of insulin. They said see if he eats and give him a half dose if he only eats a little or none of he won’t eat. He ate a little and I gave a half dose (1/2 unit). I’m supposed to go in today to have a Freestyle Libre installed. Would that give me all of the info I need?

I asked the vet about the possibility of a misdiagnosis and they said that the blood test and the fact that there was sugar in his urine point to diabetes. Seems strange the drinking/peeing thing started with a food change and went back to normal when I changed it back before ever giving him insulin.

 

What insulin are you giving and at what dose? I take it you just started the insulin a few days ago?

PLEASE NOTE: I would keep a close eye on your cat today and make sure he eats something even if you have to syringe some watered down food into him. . A cat that looks "checked out" could potentially be experiencing low blood sugar which can become an emergency very quickly and to be honest, I would not have given some specific kinds of insulin if the cat was not interested in eating this morning.

The Freestyle Libre is Ok for temporary use but the practicality of using it long term is not good. Yes it will give you the data you need but the sensor will only stay in place so long and have to be replaced. While this works well for many humans, our cats are not as happy about having the device and can sometimes dislodge it with their activities.

I very strongly urge you to get a human glucometer (Walmart Prime is a good option that has reasonably priced strips) and begin testing your cat daily. It takes but a few seconds to do. We advocate testing BG before every shot and at much as possible, getting at least one test between shots in each 12 hour cycle. This is the ONLY way to keep kitty safe and make appropriate dose decisions. Some vets have you bring the cat into the clinic to run curves but this quite often results in kitty being overdosed because they are stressed out while at the vet and can have elevated BG as a result.

I'd check with the vet to see if the blood test they did to diagnose was a fructosamine which gives you a result that indicates if BG has been elevated over the previous 2 possibly 3 week period. If it was simply a Blood glucose it could have been elevated due to stress alone. Admittedly sugar in the urine would be unusual in a non-diabetic but not impossible if the cat was stressed enough.

 

FWIW, a recent study suggests that glucosuria (sugar in the urine) is not a definitive sign of diabetes.

 

Thanks! He’s back to his normal self now and has eaten more. He’s on Lantus.

I’ll ask about the test today.

Wouldn’t the Freestyle Libre give a pretty good indication of whether or not he’s actually diabetic? You think I need the glucometer right away or once the Freestyle Libre falls off or is removed?

 

@Tom & Thomas
Interesting article and good to know! Thx for posting.

 

Good to know @Tom & Thomas . Thanks for sharing!

 

If the vet is going to install the Libre today that should give you what you need to make a determination of whether your kitty is or is not diabetic however even if he is found not to be diabetic, I personally would be inclined to grab a meter and test periodically just in case he is border line (given the events of late) and check periodically so you can catch it early. If he is diabetic you will definitely need a meter for home use going forward.

 

Glad to hear he's back to normal now and is eating but I'd still keep an eye on him given your observations earlier. The peak action for Lantus is roughly 4 to 7 hours post shot but can in some cats occur earlier or later. You didn't mention the dose. I hope it's 1u or less.
Should your cat start acting very hungry or show any further symptoms, do not hesitate to give him food. Many vets tell people to feed their cats two meals a day and that is not necessary. Most of us feed two meals and some snacks in between.

 

@MrWorfMen's Mom I gave him 0.5 unit this morning to be safe(r) but I was prescribed 1 unit. I feed him twice a day but he usually eats his food throughout the day. I just put him in front of his bowl now and he’s been eating for a couple of minutes.

 

Glad he is munching willingly. Maybe he was just having an off morning or still chasing a mouse from his dreams. It's just that some cats don't show overt symptoms of low BG so paying attention to even small changes in behaviour can avert an emergency. The dose of 1u is reasonable and the smaller dose today might help to a degree but Lantus is a depot insulin so some of the previous 1u shots are still at play in his system and could make this cycle much the same as those on the 1u dose.

 

There is a thread about the Libre in the general forum right now-go check it out if you haven't. You NEED a backup meter, immediately, because the Libre measures in a slightly different way(IIRC), and low values especially need to be confirmed. There is also no guarantee that the Libre sensor will stay in place. There have been instances that it has come off the day it was put on. If he happens to drop low at that point, you would have no way to test him. It doesn't tell you if he is diabetic or not, but it does add some conveniences.

 

@ majandra makes a good point. The Libre won't say if your cat is diabetic or not but will give you data over the period of time the device is in place. So it would currently tell you how well the current dose of insulin is working for your kitty and if BG is in normal range then a trial without insulin shots could be started. The only way you'd know definitively if your cat is in remission or possibly isn't diabetic would be to stop giving insulin while monitoring to see what the BG is over the course of a 2 week period without the addition of exogenous insulin.

 

Kinda wishing I just did that from the get go now, instead of ever giving him insulin since the extreme drinking/urinating thing went back to normal after changing his food.

 

There is no easy answer here. Perhaps reading through this thread will give you some food for thought. Seems the Libre sensors are quite expensive and only stay in place a max of 10 days if you are lucky. Even at the ridiculous price of strips here in Canada (more than double some US brands) it would be far more economical to just get a glucometer and learn how to manually test. I also wonder how much the vet is going to charge for reinstalling new sensors as it sounds like it takes some finesse to place it and a lot of luck to glue it on properly and getting an appt to have it reinstalled could cause a gap in data collection. While you can just download info from the sensor, you would still need to scan it before shots and during each cycle to be able to know how your cat is reacting to insulin as it happens rather than after the fact. Finding out about low BG events after the fact does nothing to keep your cat safe.

I would suggest getting a human glucometer and monitoring your cat yourself is the safest, easiest and likely the most economical way to go about determining your cat's status.

The fact that your cat is no longer drinking excess water or peeing copious amounts does not necessarily mean he is not diabetic. It could mean he is a well controlled insulin dependent diabetic cat. Given you are only in early days, it would be wise to take control of this situation ASAP as the odds of remission go down with time.

 

Just note that the study stated that all urine samples tested negative using the current urine dipsticks:

"Mean urine glucose concentration in euglycemic cats was 0.39 mmol/L (range, 0.10-1.67 mmol/L). Although all samples were negative on urine dipstick, the authors noted that 7% of samples would have been positive if the study had used a recently developed dipstick with a lower detection limit of 1.11 mmol/L."

 

Thanks, I already bought the Freestyle Libre. My vet has said that it was ultimately the cheapest option (time/money) given that otherwise he would need hourly check with a glucometer. Sounds like I should have both though. I guess what I don’t understand is why you would’nt try to track glucose levels first to confirm that insulin is required if the cat is generally seeming to be normal acting?

 

If the vet ran a fructosamine test and it showed the BG had been elevated over the previous 2 weeks or so, it would be a rational conclusion to think a cat drinking and peeing excessively was diabetic. Now that your cat has been on insulin for a few days, a fructosamine test would be influenced by the time on insulin so even if you stopped insulin today, it wouldn't be conclusive one way or another until at least 3 weeks from now.
Does the vet intend to stop insulin while getting the readings from the Libre? If so, they need to understand that insulin would have to be stopped for a few days to totally clear his system so you could see what his pancreas is doing on its own. Unfortunately, many vets are more familiar with in/out insulins than they are with the workings of a depot insulin like Lantus......specialist or not.
Tracking BG hour by hour is fine but with insulin on board, that's not really going to give you a definitive answer either unless of course they catch your cat's BG going too low which would lead to one of 2 conclusions again......might be in remission or need less insulin.
Wish I could give you an easy answer but there is no fast track to solving this mystery.

 

I’m sitting in the vets right now. They said it wasn’t a fructosamine test and basically said the same thing—that we can stop insulin for a few weeks and do that test or continue as planned. Not sure what to do...

 

Sorry I was out and offline until recently. Sounds like your vet MAY have jumped to a conclusion.
Did he install the Libre? If so, then don't give insulin, check the data and if the numbers are in normal range (50 to 120) then continue to monitor them until the device falls off to ensure he is staying in normal numbers without insulin. If you didn't get the Libre installed, then get a human glucometer and we'll help you learn how to test so you can monitor and figure this out based on his BG over the next two weeks.
I'm so sorry to hear this but is it not the first time I've seen it happen.
One final question.......your cat was never hospitalized when all this happened, correct? I'm just being extra cautious as a history of ketones or diabetic ketoacidosis would change my advice a bit.

 

The vet said that they don’t usually diagnose with a fructosamine test because of the added cost and the fact that they usually feel pretty confident in the diagnosis from clinical signs, the normal blood test and the urine test. From my understanding, it sounded like she thinks that the data from the Freestyle Libre should give dosing but should also make it apparent if no insulin is required. When I asked her how I would know if he has gone into remission without regular glucose tests, she basically said hypoglycemia. So yes, I think I should get a glucometer so I don’t need to learn that way.

No, there’s never been any hospitalization.

The vet installed the Freestyle Libre and didn’t charge me for it. I said that I read about how a lot of people said that they don’t stay on for a full 10 days and that I couldn’t afford to keep coming back to have it reinstalled. She said that even if it stays on for a few days, that would give us a lot of info. I think I’ll just stick with treatment and get a glucometer as well. Seems like the best chance at nipping this in the bud if there is a possibility of remission as well as keeping my cat safe, no?

 

I think that is an excellent decision for both your peace of mind and your cat's health.

It sounds like this vet has little experience with feline diabetes (sadly not uncommon even with specialists) because one BG and urine test even with the clinical signs is not sufficient to diagnose diabetes. Cats stress out at the vet and that can raise their BG as much as 200 points which would make any non-diabetic cat appear to possibly be diabetic. Even glucose in the urine can be found in a non-diabetic cat for a variety of reasons. The elevated BG and urine glucose should have led the vet to run the fructosamine test immediately to confirm or rule out diabetes because that is the only way to figure out if the BG has been elevated over a longer period sufficient to conclude the cat is diabetic.

I also don't agree that the cat going hypoglycemic would definitively tell you the cat is NOT diabetic. If you continue to give insulin, it would tell you the dose of insulin is too high and needs to be reduced but not that the cat no longer needs insulin.

Did she give you the receiver to be able to take random readings from the Libre or is she planning to just do a dump of all the data in a few days?

 

Yes, I have the receiver and I’m supposed to scan it every 8 hours and send her the data at the end of 10 days or when the sensor falls off.

She said that she doesn’t have tons of experience with feline diabetes but it is one of the bigger pet hospitals in my area with two offices and a 24 hour facility, so she said she has access to lots of historic information about treatments in their facilities.

I’m not sure that she thinks that hypoglycemia means he’s not diabetic, more that that would be grounds to have him tested again to see if he’s in remission.

 

Just did my first test with the FL and it said high at 308. Anyone know what that means?

 

That means your cat's BG is high, not horribly, but still high at the moment.

Since I just noticed we are still in the Welcome forum, this is not where we provide specific assistance (little traffic here and we like to keep all advice peer reviewed). I'm sure we can help you figure this out so I would really suggest we move this conversation over to the health forum HERE. If you can start a new thread there, I will look for you and we'll simply link this thread to the new one so the info we've exchanged so far is available for anyone offering assistance.

We can help you determine when to get readings from the Libre to ensure you are getting the best data to figure out what is going on with your kitty and whether insulin is ultimately needed and if so, how to adjust dosing to keep kitty safe and promote regulation and possibly remission.