Chico - 2yr Old Recently diagnosed with Diabetes :(

Hi,

My 2 year old long haired cat Chico has recently been diagnosed with diabetes. He weighs 6.6kg, he's a big cat so isn't overweight.
On the 26th June 2015 he went through a major operation because he swallowed a foreign object which couldn't pass through his intestines and therefore underwent a gastro intestinal operation which luckily enough he recovered well from.
It was on this day that he had his first blood test and found his glucose level high + bad liver. Vet said it might be because of what he was going through being sick and that this had to be monitored in future.
Last Saturday 19th September 2015 I took Chico for his follow up blood test and results showed his liver is better but glucose is very high up to 20.1 mmol/L and range should be between 2.9-8.3 meaning his is more than double.
Vet recommended to start medicated food and gave me 2 types of canned food DM Purina and M/D Hills + dry food M/D Hills.
I started this food for him on Sunday but he doesn't seem to eat much of it and I am worried he will loose a lot of weight. Vet informed me he is to eat 2 cans and he is eating between half or 1 can or rarely a bit more. Today I gave him some dried food at least he eats something.
I need to take a sample of his urine in mid October so she can check glucose levels again but with this rate with him not eating medicated food I really doubt things will improve.
I can say he is stressed as we have another cat and they don't get along so we alternate them during the day to run around and I know stress won't help.
Any suggestions how i could move on as i am going crazy ?? Can I mix some chicken with his canned medicated food ?? or any suggestions I will appreciate.

Thanks
Tiziana

 

Hi Tiziana--I'm very new here myself, so advice I don't have except that you've come to the right place. People here are very knowledgeable are helpful. I am still figuring out the food thing with my skinny-minnie newly-diagnosed 12-year-old. So sorry your young boy has these challenges. Wishing you good luck getting him to eat. Nora and Kali

 

Hi Tiziana and Chico,
Welcome to FDMB.
You will probably find you are feeling overwhelmed with all that is happening. This is very normal.
Here are some of the things you can do to help Chico.

Home test the blood sugar levels. You will need to buy a blood glucose monitor...one that is used for humans. You should be able to buy them from the chemist or pharmacy. I see you live in Malta so I do not know what is available there. But ask questions if you are not sure. Here are tips on testing blood sugars.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/testing-and-shooting-tips.85113/

Here are some links to canned food. You need to be feeding a low carbohydrate wet canned food to Chico.
We do not recommend you give any dry food at all. Almost all of it is too high in carbs even the Hills MD.
You do not need to give the prescription canned food either. A lot of the canned foods in supermarkets are low carbs. Avoid gravy ones as they will be high carb. Most pate ones are OK. These are all cheaper than the prescription ones. Fancy Feast classic are all low carb.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/food-links.133016/#post-1493824

Once you are testing the blood sugar levels..if you could set up a spreadsheet and document the numbers....that will make it much easier for people to help you. Here is the link to do the SS. If you have trouble setting it up, just post for help and someone will help you.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

Ask lots of questions...everyone here is more than willing to help.
Can you tell us what insulin and dose Chico is having please.

If you could go to your signature section, which is up in the right hand corner of the page under your name....and put in a few details such as what insulin and dose Chico is on. Country. Any medical issues apart from diabetes. When diagnosed. All this helps people when looking at helping you.

Again welcome. Looking forward to hearing from you again. Ask lots of questions!

 

It does seem overwhelming at first, but follow the great advice here and you will soon be feeling more confident! Start with changing his food to low carb wet, home testing and setting up your spread sheet. Those three things will get you going in the right direction. Good luck and know that you are not alone in this!

 

Agree with all of the above. You don't need the prescription food. There's nothing magical about it. You just need to find a high protein, low carb wet food that your kitty enjoys eating. Also, as you probably already know, it's really important to make sure your kitty eats enough of something every day. Otherwise you can have problems with hepatic lipidosis.

 

What kind of liver issues, or do you know what the liver issues are due to?

 

Some of the options we suggest may depend on what country you are in, what insulin you are using, and so on. So, wen you have a moment, could you add a few tidbits to your signature? It will help us give you feedback.

Editing your Signature

In the upper right corner of the screen, within the dark blue bar, you will see ID, Inbox, and Alerts

Click on your ID.

On the left, under Settings, Click on Signature.
This is where you will put information that helps us give you feedback. You are limited to 2 hard returns, so separate pieces by | or -.
This is where you paste the link for your spreadsheet, once it is set up.
Add any other text, such as
your name | cat's name | date of Dx (diagnosis) | insulin | meter
general location (city and state/province)
any other pertinent issues like if there are any food issues, history of DKA, hepatic lipidosis, pancreatitis, allergies, IBD, etc.
Click the Save Changes button at the bottom.

Always click the Save Changes button at the bottom when you have changed anything.

 

HI

thanks all for replying and helping out.
i tried to enter a few details in my signature as suggested hope what i entered is ok.

apart from fancy feast/9 lives do you know of other brands that are low carb? still have to see if this brand is available here in Malta.

will be taking a urine sample to vet mid October to check if results have improved or not hoping that just changing diet will help.

 

Hi Tiziana! Your signature looks good. Another brand I give my cats that are low is Wellness. Make sure it is the ones that say "grain free" on the label. I am including a picture of three of the flavors I buy. To the right of Wellness on the label, you will see the yellow triangle with "Grain Free" these 3 flavors are 4-6 carbs depending on which flavor. They are on the food chart list. You only want to give fish once a week because of heavy metals.

 

thanks a lot i will check what i find on the market.

 

You can pick up KetoDiaStix or the generic equivalent at many pharmacies, or online, and test the urine yourself.
- If there are more than trace ketones, contact the vet asap. Ketones form as a by-product of fat breakdown for calories. This may happen if there isn't enough insulin to use the food eaten. Too many ketones may indicate diabetic ketoacidosis, an expensive to treat, potentially fatal complication of diabetes.
- If there is glucose in the urine, it means that since the previous void, the blood glucose was high enough to get filtered into the urine, so above 240 to 280 mg/dL or so.