Hello from Beck & Francis

Hello everyone,

My beautiful cat Francis was diagnosed about 2 weeks ago. It's been a bit stressful at times for both of us, juggling my job (shift work) injections and daily trips to the vet to check levels, but we're getting there.

At first I thought she was just getting to that age and she is. In the back of my mind I thought it was her kidneys giving out? Drinking like 600ml water a day. But my vet encouraged me to see it as a positive because diabetes is totally treatable, and besides the hypothyroidism/diabetes she is quite healthy for her age.

The injections have been easier than I thought they would be. I've made food part of her medication routine and it's working fine so far. She misses her biscuits like crazy, my vet said I can give her a very limited amount after she has finished her chicken. And we're both waiting very patiently for her diabetic biscuits to arrive at the vets later this week.

It's been a big change to both of our lives, but I'm very committed to getting Francis healthy again and I'm already seeing improvements.

This site has been great for all sorts of information, tips and support through the very moving posts I've read.

I live in a small country town in Australia and most people's attitude towards my situation isn't surprising really...but it's been comforting to read about other people in a similar situation to mine.

Thanks for listening

 

Welcome Beck and Francis. It is rather a shock to the system to get that diagnosis isn't it? I remember it well, and most of our members have gone through the same thing. There are two other members here that live in Australia that I know of, possibly more, and they should be able to help a bit with advice and supplies there in the land of OZ. I urge you to home test and save yourself the expense of vet visits, and Francis the stress, as well as knowing it is safe to shoot the insulin each time. Home testing allows you to know, in the moment, how the insulin is affecting Francis and helps prevent a hypo, which is a serious event and can be fatal. I am going to tag in the two members that live in Australia for input,
@Bron and Sheba @Tucker so that they can share experiences with testing and how important it is.
I applaud your resolve to help Francis feel better and be as healthy as possible. We all love our fur kids and will help as much as possible.

 

Welcome! She is beautiful.

 

Welcome! Glad you found this group. IMO: pet owners with healthy pets and certainly non pet owners do not understand the time, money, and commitment we put into our precious "needy" pets. The members on this board do.

 

Hi from across the pond. I live on the main island in our area . New Zealand Not a Kiwi . I'm British that emigrated. I live in a small semi-rural area here in NZ , the land that wants to eradicate any mammal seen as a pest.

Your Lady Francis is beautiful & a wonderful age. My old Ty may have had an eye for her in his day.

I have no idea what diabetic biscuits are at all. Here it is recommended that it is a wet food diet . Low carbs and for your cats age, good protein. We can all get into the whys and the wherefores later on .

Also , you will need to be home testing to keep your pusscat safe.

Lastly, it helps the wise owls here to help you if you can start a spreadsheet once you are home testing. You can see an example by clicking on the spreadsheet link in my signature.

Hop on over the the main health forum to get you up and running with assorted bits , bobs, foods, timing and then on down to the Cansulin hangout.

 

Hey, thanks so much for your reply and advice on home testing. The daily trips to the vet for the last 4 days have been for a glucose curve? They test her every hour all day for about 4 days at a time. Then we give her a break for the stress and start again the next week.

My vet said that I won't need to home test after her levels are stable. I then just need to take her for check ups once a month. My vet is also very reasonably priced.

I have been reading alot about home testing here and everyone seems very enthusiastic about it, everyone besides my vet. I will definitely mention it again to her, which will be next week.

Thanks again for your help and advice.

 

Thanks your Mia is quite stunning.

 

Hey there.

It's not about being enthusiastic. It is about keeping the pusscat safe. You will need to know on a daily basis what her BG levels are BEFORE giving her insulin.
This is no different to the way human diabetics have to monitor their diabetes. They would never give insulin blind.

It is great that your vet has done a curve. Perhaps you can get the results of that so you know where she is ATM. In the future you will be able to spare her the vet visit and do the curves at home. These will be around once a week to ascertain what dose she should be given.

Most all vets suggest as yours has. Hopefully your vet will work with you on this one.

edit....
you need a couple of these even if , like me, you are not too huggy.


Once you get into the swing of it all you will be fine.

 

Hey, thanks for the reply and kind words. I think my Francis would have been quite keen on your Ty back in the day also what a beautiful boy.

I'm buying a roast chicken every 3 days for her, she is mainly on shredded roast chicken breast, but is still very used to her biscuits. My vet has suggested poaching chicken breast and using the broth too. The roast chicken from Woolies is just convenient atm.

The diabetic biscuits are made by Royal Canin, and would be used as a top up to her chicken breast. Only a small amount.

We are trying to get her to put on a little weight, and the vet thinks the biscuits will help with that.

Thanks so much for your advice, it's really nice to see so many caring people on here. I really do appreciate it.

 

You find your way here, you find your way to a rather wonderful family with each and every one of them knowing so much about all aspects of feline diabetes. I received wonderful help & support with my Tyler which, being in New Zealand, wasn't quite the same on the ground. People thought I was a bit bonkers and I know my vet practice was rather in awe of what I was willing to do to help my Tyler. Most folks here would just not bother it iseemed to me.

Anyway, You are in the exact right place for the both of you .

Diabetes and hypothyroidism are totally treatable as your vet says. I emigrated with my two cats. Tyler and Hollycat. Hollycat was on thyroid meds for many years and lived a good long life. So did Ty .

 

Thanks for the hugs I think we'll get there, I tell Franky most days we make a great team and I'm so proud of her for being such a good cat.

I'm definitely going to do more research on home testing so I can be more informed next time I speak to my vet and I'm in the right place for that

 

Beck, I was just reading about you feeding Francis mostly roast chicken. Idjit is a roast chicken fan also, so I can empathize. But if it's seasoned it might not be as good for Francis as plain baked or boiled chicken. My main concern is that it isn't everything Francis needs, taurine for one, that is essential for feline health. Taurine is included in canned wet food, but not all canned wet food is good for our sugar cats. I know you are busy with work, life and taking care of Francis but when you can, please visit www.catinfo.org. Dr. Lisa has made a study of feline nutrition, and also compiled a chart of components of canned foods here in the States. I don't know what is available in Australia, that is nutritionally complete and low carb. Hopefully our other members will be able to help with that information.

 

Hi Beck and Francis I'm pretty new here too and have also found this site to be incredibly informative and supportive. My 16 year old, Boots, was just diagnosed last week so I'm still learning and don't have much advice yet, but I wanted to lend my support and say "welcome."

 

Hi Beck and Francis.....just seeing the tag now. Sorry I didn't reply earlier.
Welcome to the forum....you will find it a fabulous place for info help and support.

Where in Australia do you live? I live in Sydney. There are a few of us sprinkled around the country that post on the forum.

Great you have found us and that you are transitioning over to a low carb diet.
As @Idjit's mom said, chicken is not a complete food........itis fine for a couple of weeks while you get sorted out but cats need several other things in their diet to survive long term, such as taurine, calcium in the form of bone or a supplement plus vitamins and omega 3.
There are several wet canned food options here. There is no need to use expensive prescription foods from the vet.
Here is a link to some available in Australia. I also got an email from Petbarn yesterday that said they have TiKi cat food available now which is low carb. Scroll down the page til you get to the two Australian food lists. Also the top list by Lisa Pierson is fantastic.....itis for the US market but some are relevant to us.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/links-to-food-charts.174182/

If you would like to try feeding a home prepared raw or cooked diet I can help you or point you in the direction of a good link

I would DEFINITELY start home testing the blood sugar levels. Most vets do not encourage it as honestly they do not know a huge amount about feline diabetes. You do not need his permission. Francis ( who is just gorgeous by the way) is your cat and your responsibility and you pay the vet bills....so you make the final decisions. Most of us went through "should we, shouldn't we" but we all ended up testing the blood sugars. It does two very important things....it will keep Francis safe....and it will tell you how the insulin is working in her system so the dose can be adjusted safely. Getting tests at the vets does not do this. Cats get stressed at the vet and their blood sugar level (BSL) is almost always higher at the vets than at home. This means that the dose is based on an artificially high BSL which is not good. It will also mean you are not running back and forth to the vet and it will save money. Anyway think about it. Hereis the link to the home testing.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

If you decide to go ahead....and I hope you do....I will help you with buying a human meter here in Australia to test the BSL. It probably sounds scary but it is actually quite easy after the initial couple of tests. It doesn't hurt Francis and will keep her safe.

Am also surprised the vet started you on caninsulin.......most vets out here are now using glargine (Lantus) which is a longer lasting and gentler insulin and very suitable for cats..
Ask lots of questions. It is a steep learning curve in the beginning but you will soon feel very comfortable about it all....we all started off like you have.....scared, bewildered and wondering if we could cope!
As this is the welcome page, here is the main forum where there are many more people to see your posts and questions. Post over here from now on
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/feline-health-the-main-forum.28/
Looking forward to hearing back from you
Bron