Cat was recently diagnosed with diabetes- your favorite products that helped & advice needed please!

My favorite fur child, Lucas, was diagnosed with diabetes a few weeks ago. The doctors where I live are pitiful and we have made an appointment in a city near by on the first. I have switched his food to no grain high calorie wet food. I've read tons of material online and bought products from wellbeing to help with his blood sugar. He still is weak and isn't eating like he normally should. I've read about Vitamin E and other beneficial products but don't know which to get. Before I spend money trying products, I was hoping to get your feedback or advice on what worked for you and your fur babies. I have the BLOOD SUGAR GOLD from pet well being, but see no results. I thought I did at first, but he has become sluggish again, hardly eating, and has not gained proper weight. What foods, supplements, or products worked best for you guys? I appreciate the advice and responses so much.



Side note: If I were to buy vitamin E, I'm not sure what products would be best for a cat.

 

Hi there,
sorry about your kitty being Dxed. It is treatable condition though.

Your kitty needs to eat and he needs insulin doses.

What was your vet's treatment plan is like?

Wet low carbohydrate content food with some extra water mixed into it is what best for diabetic cat. You can try Friskie Pate or Fancy Feast Pate, economical and easily accessible.

 

We don't have access to the appointment until the first of August. I've been doing the fancy feast pate in the mean time. The vet was a total jerk and the outstanding vet isn't available until the 1st. So no plan yet.

 

No plan and no insulin?
@Lauren Rushing

 

both are worrying symptoms especially if the Blood Glucose (BG) levels are high.
Untreated it can turn bad before you are able to get an appointment.
Supplements or vitamins alone won't do. He, most likely needs insulin.
You start testing his blood glucose at home on your own using plain human glucometer from Walmart, very inexpensive.

How exactly the eating is? You said he ate some...?
Would you say he eats at least half of what is normal (how much?)?

 

Save your money....the Blood Sugar Gold is just another snake oil …...I did a lot of research on it when China was first diagnosed and although the "reviews" all make it sound like a miracle, when you really look into them, the people leaving the great reviews also changed their cat's diet to a low carb canned diet and started insulin....that's what worked, not the BSG

There really aren't any supplements that will help him much right now. Without insulin, the body can't use the food properly so a diabetic cat is basically starving to death even if they're eating

Did the vet that diagnosed Lucas not suggest insulin at all?

Also, we save the 911 prefix for medical emergencies like hypo's....it gives us a heart attack when we see it because a kitty's life is in danger. When you have questions that aren't life-threatening, it's better to use the ? prefix.

 

I agree that you need to start testing ASAP. Untreated diabetes can quickly turn into diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). This condition can be very serious and possibly deadly for a cat without any treatment. If you click on the link at the top of the Health forum, Dr. Pierson Food List http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/ you will find a list of cat foods with nutritional information. This is As Fed values and not the guaranteed values you see on the pet food labels. Look for canned food with 10% or less in carbs. Many of us feed our cats either Friskies or Fancy Feast canned foods. Pate flavors are usually lower in carbs than any food with gravy. If you are currently feeding dry food, try to switch your cat over to canned food. With some cats it is more difficult than others to make the switch, but we can help you if that is the case. The sooner you switch to a low carb canned food diet, the quicker the glucose levels will start to go down. You still may need to have to give insulin, but the diet change will help with getting the glucose levels under control.

Even though you do not want to go to the original vet, if you can get a prescription for insulin, we can help get you started. But you will need to also be home testing in order to do it. Insulins that work well for cats are Lantus, Levemir, ProZinc and BCP PZI. There are other insulins available, however they are shorter acting and can cause steep drops in glucose levels if home testing is not done to monitor the dose. Most cats do not respond well to these insulins and it is usually harder to regulate their glucose levels. With that said, every cat is different (ECID) in how it responds to the insulin type and dose.

 

As others have already stated, the only thing that will help besides starting insulin is proper diet. There are no products or supplements that will help treat diabetes .

 

I do not know if members and not moderators are allowed to post opinions, but as for the GOLD products, they are all snake oil....and they make a lot of them...and contain herbs which can be risky.

 

Hi lauren, I did respond to your post on the introduction board. I totally agree with the others here. What exactly did the vet say(I know you think he's,a jerk) but it would be helpful to know how high Lucas BG actually is. Sometimes diet change may be enough but most cats diagnosed with diabetes need insulin in order to control the sugar. This forum has helped me with my cat since I joined and now I only rely on the vet for other issues and for the insulin/syringes prescriptions. We have had huge improvements and are now very close to remission. Hope you'll respond and let us know how you and Lucas are doing.

 

Members are allowed to give their opinions! The moderators only step in when there's abusive or dangerous advice being given.

As you can see in my comment, I said the exact same thing about the BSG....nothing but snake oil.

 

I know what you're going through and all I can do is share my own experience; keep in mind though that every situation is always a bit different.

Five years ago my then 13 year old cat, Elvis, was diagnosed with diabetes. My vet immediately started him on 2 doses a day of Prozinc, but Elvis wasn't improving after several days, so he increased it to 4. Each time I had to take him in for BG tests which in itself was highly stressful to us both [Elvis hated even going out the front door let alone to a vet, and just getting him in the carrier was like pulling teeth], until I asked if I could do this at home as many on this amazing forum had suggested and were doing with their kitties. At first he said it wouldn't be a good idea, but after awhile I insisted and he begrudgingly allowed it. (Not only did it save me tons of money, but ultimately I feel, Elvis' life.) So I purchased a ReliOn Prime gluometer and a box of test strips, and with the help of YouTube videos and the people on FDMB, was on my way to being highly proactive in Elvis' diabetic care.

After a week or so of handling things on my own and reporting daily to the vet, I noticed Elvis' numbers, although high but not as high as at the vets, were falling so the vet told me to reduce the dosage back to three; Elvis responded but was still very lethargic, not eating, and unhappy so, with the numbers better but still too high, we agreed to try two doses again. Elvis' effect and demeanor started to improve a bit, but still I could tell he wasn't a happy cat.

Then a small miracle happened, I learned from this board about YoungAgain Pet Food. (Elvis's diet had previously been, for 10 years because of a UTI he had at age 4, Hill's prescription Science Diet C/D, kibble [Elvis didn't like canned or wet foods]. Came to learn that high carb foods are a definite no for cats even without diabetes, and especially high was the C/D formula, 37% carbs!) So I called the wonderful people at Young Again, learned so much by talking with them and they took time and were patient. They sent me some samples and I ordered a bag of their Zero Mature.

At first it took some getting use to for Elvis to eat a no-carb food for the first time in his life, especially after eating one that was so high in carbs, but the transition eventually happened. Elvis's #s started to plummet and I was eventually able to lower his dosage to one per day. One month from the day he was first diagnosed with diabetes, and two weeks after starting him on YA, he was completely off insulin and never needed it again! And it was amazing to me how his final 4 years were like he literally was "young again;" jumping around, playing, getting into mischief... things I hadn't seen him do in years that I just chalked up to the aging process. (Elvis did finally cross the Rainbow Bridge 4 years later, but not from diabetes; he was 17 and a mass appeared on an xray near his spleen and it was cancerous; under the advice of my vet, the only humane thing to do was to put him down.)

Something to also note...through all this I also found out that Elvis suffered from what is called in people who have a fear of doctors, "white coat syndrome". We discovered this after early on when I was taking his #s at home, then bringing him to the vet for a comparison, and finding they were 'considerably' higher at the vet. This is what caused the vet to prescribe perhaps doses that were too-high and why Elvis wasn't initially improving but getting worse. My opinion, be careful of this. If I hadn't insisted on taking his #s at home, Elvis could very well have died then from insulin overdose.

Now this success story is not to say it will happen to every diabetic cat that switches to YoungAgain, but it's certainly worth at least a phone call to them just to talk. You can only buy YoungAgain from their website; check it out, it's around $54 (shipping free) for an 8 lb. bag, BUT it lasts three months! My 13-lb. 3-year-old, Sammy, now eats it and it lasts that long for him too. I also feed him a teaspoon of Fancy Feast twice a day, but just as a treat, not necessary, YA is loaded with all he needs. Here's their phone #, ask for Jennifer or Michael, they're very knowledgeable and hands on about cat diseases, especially diabetes.
800-311-6646

Good luck with Lucas.

 

@Lauren Rushing
Lauren, it would be nice to hear from you. I know that the postings you received are probably not what you wanted to hear from us but its the truth. There is no magic potion to cure your favorite fur child of diabetes but you can make Lucas feel better by following some of the advice you have received. We can help you every step of the way, you just need to decide that you want the help. Would appreciate a response even if it means that you don't want our help. I am, and I'm sure everyone who has responded to your post worried about your cat and would like to help you and Lucas get to a better place. I'm sure you are overwhelmed and stressed, as we all were at diagnosis, but diabetes is absolutely manageable. I count my lucky stars everyday that I stumbled across this fabulous forum and as a result Jerry is so much better and close to being OTJ (off the juice).

 

I have read here from so many knowledgeable folk that those GOLD products are utter bunk, so won't try them.

 

And a hearty yes to white coat syndrome, as well as all the other wisdom above: kitty is stressed at vet, so glucose levels are higher than at home. I test blood glucose, then give lantus (twice a day), feed fancy feast. To get off kibble, try feeding 90% kibble 10% wet food, raise % of wet food by 10% every week.T hanks for info re young again. We were lucky; M'row much preferred fancy feast to kibble..