Diagnosed one week ago

Hi, I have 3 cats, siblings, 9 years old. The one in the photo, Lilly, was just diagnosed with FD last week. I took her to the vet for weight loss. She had lost 2 pounds of her original 8 (small to begin with). Anyway, her sugar was in the 400s and glucose but no ketones in her urine. She had been rejecting her dry food (smart kitty) even though she was starving and pigged out on the wet treat (Tiki Cat Chicken). The vet put her on ProZinc 1 unit every 12 hours and she immediately seemed better. My questions are : 1. Specific Food brand/type recommendations for long term feeding of all 3 cats. I have read and understand about no dry, yes low carb wet, but wonder about fat content and overall complete diet. 2. How do I get started with testing? I need to get a glucometer and strips and lancets and I don't know where to start. I do understand about insulin onset, peak, duration and blood sugar nadir, but want to follow these closely while insulin and diet are changing.

Thx
Rita

 

Welcome Rita and Lilly to FDMB! You have come to the right place for support. There are a lot of caring and experience folks here. You will be given a whole lot of information and at first, it will seem very overwhelming however in a couple of weeks, things will start falling into place. Lots of information here. From what part of the world are you from?

Good Reading: This is a must read. It is an excellent 18 page informative document that covers feline health and nutrition. Don't take short cuts and read it all. www.catinfo.org Also read other postings and their spreadsheets. You will learn a lot more from others.

Home Testing: Here, we all home test. It is mandatory to understand how your kitty is reacting to the insulin and the dose. You will want to test before each shot and some additional test in between the 12 hour cycle. Another reason to home test is to keep your kitty safe. Find a place in your home where you will always perform the test and give lots of hugs before and after testing. There are many videos showing you how to test. Hometesting Links and TipsHere is a picture of where you test on your kitty. http://s106.photobucket.com/user/chupie_2006/media/testingear/sweetspot.jpg.html

Here is another good link on Home Testing:http://www.felinediabetes.com/bg-home-test.htm

Meters: There are many meters. There is a pet meter called the Alpha Trak2 and human meters. Some use the pet meter because it is what the vets use so the numbers will match up. The meter and strips are expensive though. Most use human meters that can be purchased at any pharmacy. It typically reads a little lower than the pet meter but we have ways of compensating those lower numbers. Many use Walmart's brand, Relion Micro, Relion Prime or Relion Confirm. The Micro and Confirm only needs a tiny drop of blood but the strips are a little more expensive than the Prime. The Relion Prime meter needs a little more blood than Micro and Confirm. They cost around $15 and the strips are around 35 cents each.

Lancets: These are used to poke the ear to get blood. There are many different sizes (gauges). It is recommended when you are first starting out to use a 26-28 gauge. Also, it would be a good idea to pick up Neosporin WITH pain reliever to apply on the edge of the ears and don't forget to alternate ears.

Spreadsheets: Our spreadsheet instructions are here. If you look at the signatures of the members here, you will see a link to their kitty’s spreadsheets. We keep track of all our tests. This is basically a place to collect data and help you to determine patterns, doses, etc. It also aids those that may be helping you to better understand your kitty.

Food: There are many reasons why we are here but one is due to feeding dry cat food which is high in carbs. You will want to consider changing your food to wet, low carb food. It is recommended to feed food that is under 10% carbs. Here is a list of cat food to choose from food chartyou will note that the food with fish are lower in carbs however it is recommended that you only give fish once a week due to its mercury content. Many use Fancy Feast, 9 Lives, Friskies, etc. This list can also be found in www.catinfo.org If you are already giving insulin and you have not transitioned to wet, low carb cat food, be sure to test while you are transitioning. This is because by changing to low carb food, it could decrease your kitty’s number by 100 points or more. One last thing, many of us add water to the wet food so your kitty is getting plenty of water to flush out the toxins and to keep them hydrated.

Hypo Kit: Always good to be prepared for possible hypo events which means that your cat has reached dangerously low numbers. It can be fatal, hence, the importance of home testing and collecting data in a spreadsheet. In each of the Insulin Forums are stickie’s labeled Hypo Links. Here is one: How to Handle a Hypo. Please print and post on your refrigerator so everyone in your household is aware of hypo symptoms. You will want to create your hypo kit that would include and not limited to; extra testing strips, honey/karo/maple syrup, high carb food, medium carb food, vet information, etc.

Ketones: Diabetic cats are susceptible to diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). It is best to buy testing strips that will measure (if any) ketones in the urine. One brand is Ketostix which can be found at Walmart or any pharmacy. You will want to test periodically unless you continue to get high numbers, then it is suggested to test more frequently. Ketostix typically costs around $10.

Treats: It is always nice to have treats available for your kitty especially when testing or when they decide not to eat. I like using Pure Bites. I have found it at Petsmart and other pet stores. It is freeze dried and the only ingredient is the meat i.e. chicken, duck, etc. If your cat likes it, then I would go to the dog section where it is cheaper than the cat package. It is bigger chunks but no problem in breaking it up. Another option is to use Bonita Flakes. There is a link here somewhere that has a list of low carb treats but I don't have it right now.

Injections: Most folks here use one of these main insulins; Lantus, Levemir and Prozinc. Glad your vet prescribed to you Prozinc. Two hours prior to your insulin shot, you will not want your kitty to eat. Then you will test and then feed. It is best for your kitty to eat a little before your shoot. I shoot while he is eating. The reason why you do not want your kitty to eat two hours prior to your test is because food elevates BG numbers. So you do not want to dose based on a food influenced number. Here is a link on how to give injections.http://www.felinediabetes.com/injections.htm

Here is one more link and it is our Prozinc protocol. This is another very important document for Prozinc users. This link and other ones can be found at the top of this forum. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/protocol-for-prozinc-pzi.109077/

Just holler if you have any questions.

 

Welcome Rita and Lilly! Cindi has covered all the bases, so just wanted to say hello and good luck! You are off to a good start, this is the place to be, so many wonderful, helpful, kind and knowledgable people to guide you. Don't be afraid to ask questions and best of luck to you and Lilly!

 

Welcome! You are already doing so many things right. Nice mild insulin, good starting dose, changing to wet low carb and working on home testing.

Some ideas I can give you on testing. You might get some 25-27 gauge lancets (called alternate testing location lancets by some druggists). At first, some kitties need a larger hole, until their capillaries pump up. Usually the lancets sold for humans are 30/31 gauge and can be too small at first. Use a flashlight so you can see the vein running down the ear and the capillaries running off it - they are what you are aiming for.

If you think he will be skittish, you can condition him to the process:

It is all about conditioning the cat to expect a favorite treat. So first, find a treat he is crazy for. PureBites and Bonito flakes are popular at my house; other people bake some chicken without spices and cut it up into bite sized pieces and freeze. Decide where you want to test; some people use the kitchen counter, some between their legs, some on a towel on the floor, some on a couch or bed. Take him there, pet, praise, play with his ears, treat and release. After a while, add warming his ears, pet, praise, treat and release. The hope is that, by the time you add the poke, he will be so interested in the treat, he won't notice.

And I would add a caution. Until you are confident about home test, I'd be careful switching him completely over to wet. Sometimes it can make a drastic drop downward in the levels. With our Oliver, he dropped 100 points overnight. If he had given him our usual dose the next morning, he might have hypoed.

 

Welcome. It is very smart of you to get involved in Lilly's care. I had no idea when I started all this help and info was around. I was literally handed a 17 yr old cat, he is diabetes and gets insulin twice a day. 14 months later I started learning otherwise.

Kudos to!!!

 

Welcome Rita and Lilly! You've gotten to a great start already and gotten great info from everyone, so I just wanted to say hello!

 

Hi everyone, I really appreciate that this forum exists. A year ago when I signed up, my cat Lilly had just been diagnosed with diabetes. Before I figured out home testing, she did have a hypo glycemic event. One evening before feeding her, I noticed that she was basically unable to walk. I rushed her to the Animal hospital to find her sugar was in the 30s. I immediately started home testing. I had bought a human testing device. And her sugars were within normal limits (100s) even off her insulin. Her behavior was not normal though. She remained very hungry and thirsty. She was voiding tons of urine. And she was obviously still losing weight. I became very afraid one Sunday by her behavior and had no option but to take her back to the hospital. This time the problem was uncontrolled hyperglycemia with ketones, but thankfully she was not yet acidotic. She was, however, very sick and now under 5 pounds. She was in ICU for 5 days. I had no indication that she was near death, because using the human meter had given reasonable but FALSE blood sugar numbers. I had not been aware of the conversion from human to feline numbers to accurately evaluate her diabetes. Since last January when she came home she has been doing quite well. I have been using a pet meter and she has been changed from Prozinc to Lantus 1/2 unit twice a day. And she has gained all her weight back.

Anyway, until recently she was doing so well that I thought she might go into remission, but instead her blood sugars have started to creep up again. She was often in the 300s and never below 200, so the vet increased her to 1 unit of Lantus twice a day and then after a week she increased her dose to 2 units twice a day. She blood sugars remain in the 300s. I'm wondering if these increases are happening too fast. Ive checked a few midday blood sugars just to see if she is going too low and then rebounding, but it doesn't seem like it. It just seems odd that without a food change that her insulin needs would suddenly change so much.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Does anyone have and clues for me?

Thank you Rita

 

Hi Rita! Sorry to hear you've had such a tough time lately. We don't really have a lot of Lantus experience on here...you may want to post in the Lantus forum to see if they can help more. It does sound to me like you've increased too much, too fast, but the Lantus users can help you figure it out more.

 

Thank you, I will