here we go again... another diabetic kitty :(

Hi. I'm new here, but not to feline diabetes, unfortunately. I had a cat named Slippers who lived with her insulin for 11 years, before passing at 17 in 2009. I was lucky with her, in that her diabetes was easily regulated. She was laid back and easy going. Giving her injections was a breeze, and taking her in to the vet no biggie.
Now we have three cats. Just 2 weeks ago our oldest, a 14 year old tabby male was diagnosed with diabetes. I knew it when I brought him in. All the classic signs were there. We didn’t actually see him drinking and urinating a lot, as he’s the private type, but he was going outside the box and leaving great big lakes. Mainly we noticed his weight drop rapidly even though he was voracious. We feed grain free low carb, high quality food that only the best high end store sells. Mainly we feed canned, but they have dry as well, but this guy stopped eating it all together.
His name is “M” for the enormous tabby M on his forehead when he was a kitten. However, it could stand for many things... “Monster” sadly being the best description. Let’s just say he’s never been an easy boy, and one often only his momma (me) could love.. He would hiss and growl at strangers (to him), particularly men, and hide for cat sitters when we went away. It took years to get him used to someone new. It even took him a long time toi accept my husband. We’ve been together 10 years. Routine trips to the vet are a huge ordeal. One time while getting his temp taken he got impatient and lost it, turning rapidly and biting my hand through the palm (I was holding his shoulders) It was so bad I needed antibiotics and tetanus. In order to cocmplete the exam the vet sedated him and we waited for the wild cat noises to subside. BTW, the other 2 cats are dreams that the vets adore when they go in. He’s never been abused. He’s just this way despite lots and lots of love and patience.
We changed vets and now go to a clinic with two great female vets and female techs (no offense to men, but better for him). Even so, getting the diagnosis for this cat in particular wasn’t easy, as it took three people to take his blood. The news was devastating. Luckily I have managed to do the injections, but testing is out. We brought him in for that on Friday and only the vet could do it. I’m sure they all think... Oh no, here comes that monster again! My vet even says “That’s ok, I’m not afraid of him” Brave woman. But I love him, even if he’s a terror and a bit of a momma’s boy. When he’s sweet, he’s so adorable. He is getting better, but not when it comes to handling.
After the first injection of 3 units, I woke up middle of the night to him vomiting. He was having a mild hypo episode. I got him to eat, and watched him improve. I called the vet in the morning and she dropped him to 2 units. Since then he has been ok, although getting harder to manage the injections as he’s getting fed up and will try to duck out and run away. Force is never a good answer with him either, as it makes him angry. Patience. I will try changing the site too.
However, just today he had another hypo episode. I fed him but it got worse. Very disoriented and not himself. So I broke out the honey and syrup, which he wouldn’t touch (did I mention he’s finicky?) so I rubbed it on his gums. No immediate change so I rushed him in. His blood sugar was very low. We’re dropping him to 1 unit. One can only hope he’s going into remission. They have him there now to monitor him. Worried and stressed beyond belief.
Does anyone else have a super difficult to manage cat? I really need some support from someone who can relate, as believe me, it’s night and day having a laid back cat and a hell cat.

 

Hi and welcome.

What insulin is M on? What food are you feeding him? I wonder if there is something that could calm your cat so home testing would be easier for you and him. Have you discussed options with your vet? You certainly have a challenge on your hands with your cat.

 

He is on Prozinc. They get Orijen dry and Merrick and Weruva (for the lamb), canned. So a variety of meat, with a preference for red - lamb and beef over fish and poultry. We used to feed Instinct but they went off it (good thing as it went up to almost $3 a can!). We do have to switch it up at times, but always read labels and get help from staff at Tisol. We are in BC Canada. He has always stressed about noise and change and pretty much everything, but is actually improving with age, at least in some ways. At one time we tried a herbal anti-anxiety from Pet Wellbeing, but he won't touch food with anything in it, and as you can imagine, medicating is a nightmare. We can't even clip his claws ourselves. So frustrating. I know most wouldn't believe any cat can possibly be this bad, but he is. After a difficult injection hubby tried to console him and he bit him. Home testing is not going to happen. Period. Not a hope in hell. This worries me as I read here how many do it like it's a piece of cake! Please don't tell me to give up, as this is what some who don't know say. Even my vets empathize and don't suggest it. They see my challenge. We are considering ourselves lucky that I can inject him, although it may mean boarding at the vet's when we go away. He hates going to the vet. It takes 2 to crate him with a top and front door carrier. Then his stress is so high it of course effects his levels. Feeling very overwhelmed.

 

Prozinc is a good insulin so that's a good start. We here at FDMB do not give up on our cats so please know that you're in the best place here. And we have many terrific members from BC.

Since home testing would be difficult, an option you could consider would be testing for glucose from urine. I don't think it would be as accurate as testing with a glucometer but it may be a viable alternative. Read info on doing that method here: http://www.felinediabetes.com/bg-pstrip.htm

Also very helpful is BJM's guide: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1r6ktdF7AMJCYHgPkVQWFUFy5Ag6OnbmfNfQqL3zX_88

The Keto Diastix measures for ketones and glucose in the urine. That might be an alternative to try.

Dry food is not recommended for diabetic cats. And it's not recommended for any cats as it is hard on their kidneys. Please see the link in the right hand side about Transitioning Dry Food Addicts to Canned Food: http://catinfo.org/

Please see the following link for cat food chart. You need to aim for low carb canned/wet food under 10%: http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf

 

Thanks for the support and info. I will check it all out. He's home and much better. OMG love him so much
Vet has said we'll try no insulin rather than down to 1 unit and see how it goes. Yeah for the insulin vacation! Fingers crossed!!!

 

Hi Deb,

I don't know whether this might help you in the attempt to regulate M with food only but beef can really drive up blood glucose levels in some cats. Might be worth excluding it from M's diet for the time being. If his levels improve a lot next time the vet tests, it might give you some small bit of a steer towards good food choices for him.

Nothing more to add right now except some . I feel for you over the treatment difficulties. My Saoirse is a dream to pill, test and inject but trying to get blood draws takes three of us at the vets. Even then she's not so much aggressive as tense.


Mogs
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Thanks for the tip about the beef. I didn't know that, but do see that it is not completely carb free, as it has a gravy, as opposed to the pate style we typically get. So we'll drop the beef. We tried it because we didn't want to feed fish all the time, and they are fussy about poultry (both chicken and turkey) and will just decide - nope, not today. (Actually, now they're picky with the salmon now). We've tried a variety of brands. Same goes for treats. We realize how bad Temptations are for them and stopped, but the food and treats that are good for them isn't what they consider a treat! So fussy! Of course some say to leave it out and they will eat it but with 3 cats, the biggest, least fussy, will just clean it all up! We need to find something they all like. We're even feeding M separate now, in a room with the door closed for a bit, so that he can eat undisturbed and we can better monitor exactly how much he is eating.

Anyway, no insulin since yesterday AM, as instructed, and he's doing well. Our fabulous cat sitter neighbours have checked on him since I had to return to work today. He was sociable and friendly. Happy to be home without poking and prodding.

I'm not overconfident that he will be a true honeymooner into remission, but one can hope. So if he needs even 1 unit to stay regulated, then so be it. But I sure am nervous about him going hypo again. That was too scary. I drove pretty fast to the vet thinking about all I've read/heard about brain damage and even death.

 

The gravy foods are good for coming out of hypos and steering low numbers but are a no-no for day-to-day feeding.

Glucometers can help with more than safety. Food trial mini-curves can be invaluable in spotting foods that spike individual cats' blood glucose levels. Alas, not much use in M's case.

Sounds like a good plan with the separate feeding. Secondary monitoring can be incredibly informative as well as helpful.

Saoirse only once showed signs of hypo after a huge drop from a Caninsulin dose when she was transitioning to wet food. Her blood glucose level was low but still in what some veterinary reference sources quote as the euglycaemic range (4.3/77) but she was fairly floppy and unresponsive when I went to check on her for her +3 test. It scared the living daylights out of me. I've only had to do one emergency dash to the vets like yours, but not for a hypo. One of my first two rescues got a urethra blockage. It didn't help that our vet was over 40 miles away. I may have set a new land speed record that night. I was frantic. I had just lost his sister only a few months earlier due to a urinary tract problem and carp advice from her vet at the time (after which I moved practices). Thankfully, this time our new vet managed to catheterize him and save him. I feel for you. All I had to do was wobble Psycho's carrier to make sure he was still with me during the journey. Lord knows what it must be like when time is even more of the essence and you're needing to keep carbs going in.


Mogs
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