Hello from Baxter!

Hello from Baxter

I'm a 10 year old tabby living in LA with my mama and pop (Karla and AJ) and my two sisters; Scarlett (a 9 year old siamese/tabby) and Isis (a 4 year old black domestic shorthair).

I gave my mama and pop quite a scare in January after losing 10lbs in a month and feeling pretty down. I was rushed to the vet and was kept in critial care for 5 days at a great hospital that cost my mama quite a bit.

I was diagnosed with diabetes and was sent home with a low dose of Lantus, Tumil-K and other meds to help. My mom forced fed me the first few days but finally got my appetite back after 3 days. Months went by and although I felt and looked fine, I had another crisis a two weeks ago.

Back to the hospital I went. Severly dehydrated and even after a few days of aggressive liquids and attention... I wasnt feeling better and there were talks about possibly putting me down. My ears perked up and saw mom really sad and crying as she held me close. I had tons of family and friends come to visit too. I was willing to do anything to be home with mom so I found the last bit of energy I had to show signs of improvement. I ate and drank water and finally got a green light from the Dr. to send me home.

This time they sent my mom home with a higher dose of Lantus (2 units), Clavamox, Cerenia, Tumil-K and some under-the-skin fluids. Mom was determined to do anything for me so she took a week off of work, bought a glucose meter and has been feeding me anything I want to keep my weight up.

Its been two weeks since I've been home and I'm happy! I've been to one checkup and they raised my Lantus dose to 3 units because my glucose was around 400-475 after an at-home 12hr curve.

Mom doesn't know what else to do to help regulate my numbers. I'd love to eventually be in remission but I think that's a long ways away. I'm currently eating DM wet food for breakfast and dinner and for lunch sometimes I get the purely fancy feast shredding chicken meals. The DM is starting to bore me though :/

I need to gain more weight (1-3 lbs would be great for my frame)! I need to get my glucose number down! Help!

Oh and my sisters are gaining weight now that they are eating the DM too. They're jealous of all the attention i'm getting from mom. *sigh*

 

Welcome Baxter, you are adorable! The DM wet food you're getting is fine, but the shredded Fancy Feast is usually higher in carbs than the classic Pates. If you're bored with the DM, my kitty wouldn't eat it after 2days, try the Fancy Feast. Classic Pates only. Make sure your mom keeps track of your glucose level especially when changing your food! How much weight do you need to gain? My cat, Colin had lost weight by the time he was diagnosed too, but he was overweight to begin with, so I only needed to get a couple pounds back on him. The Fancy Feast did that. It does take time to get regulated (Colin's still not there)and it's only been 2weeks since your setback, so tell your mom to take a deep breath and relax! Tell her to ask plenty questions, here and at your vets office. Education is your best weapon! I'm still new here and learning too! If you have more Questions about dosage and other health concerns you sometime get more responses on the health forum. Again, welcome!

 

Hello Baxter! You are a great story teller, and a wonderful typist with those paws of yours! Are you questions how your mama can help you gain weight and get your numbers down?

As far as the weight: check out catinfo.org It has tons of foods that are good for you (and your sisters). Mostly pates, the gravy food aren't great for a sugar kitty on a daily basis, but are great to help if your numbers drop too low. Do you have any other conditions that make it necessary to eat a prescription food?

Getting your number down, that will come in time.

OH! And welcome to Karla and AJ too!

 

Hi Baxter! My kitty, Moby, gets bored with DM, too. He does really enjoy the Fancy Feast Turkey & Giblets classic, and I keep a rotation of a few poultry-based pate' type foods in the pantry: grain-free Halo's Spot's Stew, Wellness Core grain-free turkey, and the Fancy Feast, a'course. He's pretty picky so finding a food he LIKES, plus in his diet... oi! You picky kitties!

Once he was more regulated, his appetite came back, too, so just keep plugging away. It sounds like your mama cares a lot about you - just be a good kitty and eat for her.

 

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.
- 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!). This saves you the cost of going to the vet for curves and done regularly, removes the need for a fructosamine test.
- Low carb over the counter canned or raw diet, such as many Friskies pates. See Cat Info for more info. If already on insulin, you must be home testing before changing the diet. Food changes should be gradual to avoid GI upsets - 20-25% different food each day until switched. There are 2 low carb, dry, over the counter foods in the US - Evo Cat and Kitten dry found at pet specialty stores and Young Again 0 Carb found online.
- A long-lasting insulin such as ProZinc, Lantus, BCP PZI, or Levemir. No insulin lasts 24 hours in the cat, so giving it every 12 hours is optimal for control.

 

But I love the gravy Sharon, it's my favorite!
Mom just ran out of DM so we're going to buy some Fancy Feast classics today. My backside is a little bony and (I'm on Tumil-K to help the neuropathy) I think 2-3 pounds would be a good start with weight. I'm currently around 9 pounds but I used to be 22 pounds before the first diabetes crisis.

Thank you for the welcome!!

 

Hi Shiloh and Rhonda!

After the first crisis in January, my parents didn't really understand the severity and manageability of the diabetes. They just thought they had to keep me on Lantus and take me in for checkups so between February and July I just kinda floated through everything. Now after my second crisis in August, mama is doing everything to educate and regulate me as much as possible. This is a new chapter!

I love the gravy and morsel type food so DM was great for the first few months but now I've been treated to all sorts of goodies. Over the years I've been on Fancy Feast, Halo, Wellness and they were all great. Mama thought Fancy Feast wasn't the greatest because of the animal by-products but there seem to be a lot of kitties on here that are on it. I currently don't have any other conditions that would make it necessary to eat prescription food. Mama is trying to find a cost efficient solution since the vet bills took a huge chunk out of our savings.

Mama and pop say hello!!

 

Hi Marciegee!

Oh I've tried all those foods and they are so yummy. My actually hungry ALL THE TIME! so mama feeds me a few times a day... which is also why my sisters are gaining pounds.

We're worried about changing food so much right now so we're trying to find a healthy, low-card, cost efficient solution for all three of us until we can get glucose numbers we are comfortable with. Even at 3units of Lantus, my numbers are in the low 400's.

Mama loves me so much! She says hello and thanks for the welcome!

 

I'm not familiar with Tumil-K. Colin is on Zobaline for his neuropathy, it's a form of B12. I just noticed you are eating dry food during the day. Is that Purina DM? It is pretty high in carbs too. You may want to begin decreasing that and eating all wet food. If you do, make sure your mom checks your glucose levels regularly! Cutting out those carbs can cause a big decrease in levels and you may need less insulin. It does sound like you could use a bit more weight, don't want that backbone sticking out! Sounds like you and my kitty Colin are about the same size. He was 18 pounds and went down to 10.5 and is now holding at 13.

 

Tumil-K is potassium gluconate as I have a potassium deficiency. I was really wobbly when I came home from the vet but I'm now walking around regularly and jumping from all sorts of places. I will ask my vet about the Zobaline as I see a bunch of kitties that are on it here.

I'm not eating as much as the DM dry food since I've been getting wet food 3-4 times a day. Mama puts out about 1-cup of DM dry between three bowls a day and there's always leftovers.

How many times do you suggest my mom check my glucose a day? I'm going to start on the Fancy Feast tonight, then maybe get some Wellness (~$40/24 cans) wet in a week or two... then maybe bring the DM (~$45/24 cans) back. I know it's not great to change out food a lot but we're trying to watch out monthly budget.

 

I understand about that budget! You may also look into the Friskies Pate and 9 Lives pate. Many people here use those as well. I do for my other cats (I have 15 total rescues) For dry food, there's Evo, and Young Again Zero Carb. As far as testing, always test before you feed and give insulin. Make sure there's no food for 2hours before test. It's also good to test around nadir, the time of peak insulin usually +5-+7 after shot, to see how low you go. Take a look at some of the members spreadsheets to get an idea. Then create one of your own so others can look at it and offer advice on dosing. If you need help with creating a spreadsheet, just ask and someone will help.

 

Hi Baxter! Welcome to FDMB I'm new here too. I just asked my sugarcat Ivana if she would donate some of her extra weight to you and she said yes, so here you go:

 

Here's looking at you, kid

 

Twins!!