Fenway diagnosed today

Hi - my name is Karen and my 15 year old cat, Fenway was just diagnosed today. I am quickly learning things and figuring out how I am going to manage this for him, and my 4 other cats.

My biggest issue at the moment is how to manage feeding when I need to go away for just one night. I'd rather not pay my pet sitter to come in when I'd be gone less than 24 hours.

I noticed some people use an automatic feeder - which one do you like best?

I'm sure I will have lots of questions as I navigate this new territory.

 

Welcome Karen and extra sweet Fenway!

I'm my cat's 'automatic feeder' but lots of others use that mechanical kind... I'll let others answer that one.

Poke around, read then post in Feline Health with questions!

Glad you found us so quickly....

 

Hi Karen,

Most use the Petsafe 5 feeder. I believe petsmart has it on sale right now.

More importantly are you home testing, what kind of insulin is being used and how much?

 

Vet wants me to use Lantus. That is literally all I know so far. Fenway had blood work on Friday and doctor called me today. We talked a bit on the phone and then I took some time to process the info and plan how I was going to manage it all. I will talk to him tomorrow and gt the rest of the info. I found another thread that mentioned Marks Marine for buying Lantus so I will do that even though we will have to wait a week to start for the insulin to get here. I had a friend who had a diabetic cat and I took care of the cat and gave him insulin shots so I am fine with that - easier than giving meds orally haha!

 

Karen - we have a sub-forum specifically for Lantus and Levemir users. There's quite a few stickies with good info for the insulin you'll be using. Here's a link directly to that forum for your convenience:

Lantus and Levemir Support Group

So you already have at least shooting under your belt...how about testing? Humans don't give insulin without testing, our cats are no different. If you're not yet testing, there's all kinds of info here about getting started with that too...

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It is really important to home test even if your vet says other wise. Human meters are what most of use use. Wal-Mart Confirm or Micro are inexpensive and take the smallest blood drop.

Very recently there have been too very serious incidents and one whose baby did not pull through because they were not informed to home test and vet wasn't up to date on Lantus.

It would be helpful to obtain any records of tests your vet has done.

Like a human you wouldn't give insulin to your self before testing.

Please go to the Lantus forum here and read through the stickies. Great information. There are videos and people here to talk you through testing.

Please let us know when you will be starting. Prescription food is not necessary. Most use fancy feast pate only. Dry food is not the best, it is high in carbs.

 

I have been reading about home testing and I was going to ask the vet about it. Seems easy enough and I can see how it would be necessary. Vet already told me that I don't need prescription food- just need to get the cats used to eating 2 times a day instead of grazing all day. Overall it's better for all of them, anyway.

Thanks for all the advice - I'll check out the Lantus forum.

 

Actually, we've found that feeding several small meals or allowing the cat to graze puts less demand on the pancreas. The rule about feeding only twice a day was appropriate for shorter acting insulins like NPH, which wear off around + hours post-shot; you didn't free feed because as the insulin wore off, the cat would become very hungry and eat , causing the glucose to zoom (because insulin wasn't available any more).

 

While you're waiting for your insulin would be a good time to transition to a low carb wet or raw diet. BG often drops, sometimes dramatically, when high carb food is out of the picture. If you switch before starting insulin you'll have a better baseline to start with and probably won't need to use as much insulin.

 

You can feed more than 2 times a day. It's actually better if they do. A lot of people here do at least 4x day. My guy is fed every 3 hrs around the clock, or he vomits. I use an automatic feeder for the overnight and when I'm at work.

 

I feed Magellan 4 times a day though he is OTJ (off the juice) if he is not feed often he will bounce off his own insulin production. Hugs and welcome to the sugar dance many people here ok all love their fur children so you will fit in like a glove.

 

How do I make sure he is eating the right amount of food to work well with the insulin? I have 5 cats so I'm feeding them all at the same time. This morning I put out 5 bowls of 3oz of wet food each. They all ate ravenously but only for a short time and barely half the food is gone. I have left the bowls out, but there's no way to monitor who is eating what. Most days I have to feed and leave for work (I'm on vacation this week).

 

I have 3 and they eat from the same bowl. They don't eat the food all at once either. In fact, one Civvie appears to like halfway dried wet food better then when it comes out of the can. I can't tell most days for sure who is eating what. Honestly as long as I see Fern eating after he is fed even if it isn't the whole meal right then and his weight doesn't drop I don't worry too much. I have a baby scale I got from Amazon that I use (it was 50% of the price of a pet scale).

 

Pretty much as Jane said keep track of his weight and if he is making rapid movements either way then adjust as needed. Otherwise you really cannot make 100% sure trust me if he is being shorted he will let you know that he is still needing/wanting more food.