Forum for owners of diabetic cats in The Netherlands

Hello, my name is Jennie, but my forumname is the name of the country I am from in our own language: Nederland.
I am a moderator of one of the Dutch fora for owners of diabetic cats. We advise on the use of the insulins vetsulin (called caninsulin in our country) and lantus. And of course on food issues and all that accompanies the treatment of diabetes.
It is clear that the situation (vets with limited knowledge, home testing, etc) is the same in de US as in The Netherlands. Nice to see that we agree on everything (as far as I have been reading your topics), but it saddens me that a forum like this is necessary in both our countries for our diabetic cats ....
The reason I became a member of your forum is the following: recently ProZinc has been introduced on the market and vets are starting to prescribe it for diabetic cats. We still have very limited experience with ProZinc (4 cats) and are searching for info.
Ah, my diabetic cat passed away 18 months ago .... He was very ill, had dexamethason that kept him alive and ultimately gave him diabetes. In the end he also had HCM, wouldn't eat anymore, so we had to make the very difficult decision to let him go.

 

Hi Jennie and welcome to FDMB. It is indeed sad to know we share the same experience (limited vet knowledge, lack of support for home etc.) but good to know there are other support groups out there with the same goals as this board. There is a specific forum for ProZinc users. They are a very friendly group and I know everyone there will be delighted to share their combined experience and expertise with you.

I'm so sorry to hear about your cat. You obviously loved him and are honouring him by continuing to help other cats and their owners!

 

Welcome to FDMB. Many vets got limited training in feline diabetes and in nutrition.
For feline nutrition, we refer folks to Cat Info, written by veterinarian Dr Pierson. She tells you what to look for in food and has a recipe to make your own raw food if you wish.
We have a write up of guidelines for using ProZinc and PZI here.
To read posts from folks using it, and ideas they are trying, go here.

 

Thank you for the welcome. Yes, I loved my Balthazar dearly and continue to miss him. And I try to make sure that the cat that I have now, will never suffer from diabetes......
I had already found the site of catinfo. I am very pleased with it, because many members shie away from the idea that their vet does not know everything. It is good to be able to point them to a site of a actual vet that has studied nutrition for cats in stead of blindly following Hill's and RC. That may help our members believe what we say ....

I will go to the Prozinc board now, because I have some specific questions on ProZinc.