Hello from Tom & Luigi

Hi everyone, our cat Luigi was recently diagnosed with diabetes. We have 5 cats, and before his diagnosis, feeding them was pretty low maintenance. In the morning they would all get Soulistic wet food, then at 5pm and bedtime they would get Royal Canin Urinary SO (Luigi and one other cat had issues with bladder crystals). They all liked the food, so we fed it to everyone. After his diagnosis however, it's become crazy trying to find the right food. Our vet put him on the Royal Canin Glycobalance, which I’ve since found out is terrible for a cat with diabetes as it has an excessive percentage of carbs. I did a lot of research and decided to try Tiki Cat wet food in the morning and dry food in the evening. While the dry food is still a bit high in carbs, it’s much better than the glycobalance. Unfortunately, I can’t find any flavors of the Tiki Cat wet food that are a hit with everyone.

So, after doing more research, I’m going to switch them all to the Young Again Mature Zero dry food, while continuing to try to find a flavor of Tiki Cat that they like. If anyone reading this has experience with the Young Again Mature Zero dry food, can you please share?

Luigi is currently on Lantus at 2 units, twice a day. I’ve been taking him to my vet for regular glucose curves, but am about to start home testing. Can someone please recommend a good glucometer? There are so many out there, I have no idea which ones are good, easy to use, easy to read, etc.

Thank you all for reading. I'm new at this and trying to help Luigi feel the best he can. Any advice would be so greatly appreciated.

Tom.

 

Hi and welcome Tom and Luigi. You already have your signature done, thank you very much, it's so helpful.

There are many very good glucometers on the market, human and pet meters. Many of our members use the ReliOn Prime glucometer and strips simply because they are affordable and available at Walmart. The most important thing is the testing, so that you can see if it's safe to inject, and to see how the insulin is affecting him.

Taking Luigi to the vet for the curves can really run up the vet bill, plus can raise the BG significantly because of travel and just being at the vet stress. You can do your own curves in the future, when you and Luigi get comfortable with the testing process.


I would like to suggest that you visit the Lantus forum and read the yellow tagged stickies at the top of the page. Lots of information on how Lantus works, etc.

You can post on the Main Health forum to get more input on testing supplies, the Young Again Zero mature dry food, and other canned wet food that might work better for your "pride". We can help with some tips and videos on testing, provide the links to the spreadsheet we use to track insulin and testing data, and offer the support you are looking for as a new diabetic cat parent.

A very good site to visit when you have the opportunity is www.catinfo.com, by Dr. Lisa Pierson, who has also complied a food chart listing many commercial canned wet food, breaking down components such as protein, calories, carbs....
We use the Food Chart often to see what canned foods to recommend to members, or check the carb % of what they are using.

Best wishes going forward!

 

Hi Lou, and thank you for your response. I'll read the forums you recommended. Luckily, I'm already familiar with catinfo.com. After Luigi had his bladder blockage about 6 years ago, I found that site. The info and food chart were extremely helpful.

I'll look at the ReliOn Prime glucometer and strips. I'll start with that one, and if it works well, I'll stick with it.

Thank you again for your response. I'm so glad I found this forum. There's so much information here, and people willing to help and share their experiences. I'm new at dealing with feline diabetes, but I'm climbing the learning curve.

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome to you. I use the relion meter,and strips as a lot of other members it works well and is affordable. FD has a very intense learning curve but you are well on your way and the folks here will help you along the way.