Diagnosed yesterday

My 9 year old cat, Louie, was diagnosed with diabetes yesterday. It came out of the blue and hit us like a ton of bricks. We had noticed that Louie had been laying down to eat for the past week and on Saturday noticed that his back legs were not functioning normally. They were kind of stiff, wobbly, and kept slipping to the sides a bit. It was at that time that I noticed his weight loss. I feel awful saying that. We should have noticed.
So yesterday I took him in where they ran a full blood test, xrays, the whole shebang. He is down to 11lbs and has lost muscle in his back legs. He was a fairly lean, but large cat, so the 11lbs is just his frame. After a while the vet came in and said "well, he has diabetes". She proceeded to give me an sheet of instructions, went over insulin shot schedule (2 units, 2X a day), showed me how to administer the shot, went over food (prescribed DM), and that was that. I left there in shock, to say the least.
After the advice of my vet and one of the nurses I took the prescription to Walmart, as it would be the cheapest there. I HATE Walmart. I never go there, but I sucked it up. I took it in, went back home (it will be ready in an hour, they say), go back to get it and about crapped my pants. $300 for the insulin and the syringes (Glargine). I told them no thank you and I would be calling my vet. I walked out of there, got in my car, and broke down. For Louie, for life as we knew it, etc.
My vet did recommend this site and I have been looking at it ever since. I called my vet this morning and they called the pharmacy and let me know that they had an over the counter insulin that we could try that was less than $30 (Novolin). After reading a few threads on the site, I picked up the Relion prime (and all of the other supplies needed to give injections) and Louie's favorite food (Friskies cans).
I am sure that I will be asking a ton of questions, but I am going to start with just a few:
1. What do you all do when you are not going to be home for a few days (we have two day camping trip in a few weeks)?
2. What side affects should I look for and be concerned about?
3. What else can you tell me that we make things a little better

Thanks in advance! I am glad my vet recommended this site!
Melissa
Lou Lou, the Stinker Poo's mom

 

Welcome to FDMB, the best place you never wanted to be.

There are 4 things you'll need to manage your kitty's diabetes:
- You - without your commitment, the following won't work
- Low carb over the counter canned or raw diet, such as Friskies pates. See Cat Info for more info,
- A long-lasting insulin such as ProZinc, Lantus, BCP PZI, or Levemir
- And home blood glucose monitoring with an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart Relion Confirm or Target Up and Up (the pet ones will break your budget!)

1) Take him with you or get a pet sitter or board him
2) If he feels better, he'll start doing the things he used to do. If he goes to low (hypoglycemia), you'll need to intervene with high carb food to keep him safe.
3) Breathe out. Breathe in. Slowly. This is a manageable condition and you can do it!

Note: NPH insulin is not recommended as it lasts about 6-8 hours in the cat. Check into either ProZinc or BCP PZI, or order the Lantus (pens, not vial) from Mark's Marine in Canada.

 

Hi there!
I'm fairly new to this site as well. My Tiggy was dx as of 4/14/15. When he was diagnosed, I too, was very shocked, frustrated, and overwhelmed.. To say the least! Everyone here is great and super supportive. I found that it does take a bit getting used to, but doing the blood glucose testing really helps. And so do low-carb treats! These work wonders getting Tiggy to allow me to do the blood glucose testing. And definitely, changing his diet really helped too. Welcome aboard!

 

Hello - I just received the news this AM that our 12 year old cat is diabetic. Last week I noticed he had lost weight and took him to the Vet on Saturday. Honestly, I was surprised at the diagnosis, as was his Vet. He really had no symptoms of diabetes and I thought the diagnosis would be hyperthyroidism. I have been trying for a couple of weeks to transition him to a canned food. I have tried several times over the years with no success. But, this time he does seem to be interested. I am feeding him Wellness Core no-grain. Our Vet has recommended Purina DM. As someone who homecooks the dog's food it goes against every grain of my being to feed a Purina product. I'm wondering if anyone else here has success with the Wellness. I have to stop by the Vet's later today for the Lantus Rx. She already warned me of the high cost. I'm a bit floored by it, but she said it is the insulin with the best rate of success. Any advice is welcome!

 

Michele,
I am still in the research phase of this whole thing, but in perusing the forums (along with feedback from others here) I am thinking of asking my Vet to switch Louie's insulin to Lantus. We have our 2 week follow up next week and I plan to bring it up to her. Mark's Marine Pharmacy has the Lantus pen for $133, which is a box of 5 pens (I haven't tried them yet, but I may). They also have the vials for $91.99. Expensive, but probably way cheaper than getting it from your pharmacy. As I said in my original post, my vet prescribed Glargine and when I went to pick it up from Walmart my total bill (including a $12 box of syringes) was $300!!! I switched to the cheaper insulin (Novolin) but after getting feedback here I have found that it is probably not the best for him
On the food note: thank god mine always had wet as a morning and night snack. The only one having the issue with not having dry food down all the time is my girl cat. On catfoodinfo.org they have a whole section on making your own food. If you are already doing that for your pup I say "Why not?". I am thinking of doing the same

 

Welcome. You`ll find lots of messages on this site that our American friends can mail order insulin much cheaper from up here (Canada).

 

Our food nutrition bible for cats:
Cat Info