Hey Everyone

Hi Guys,

New member here with my first diabetic cat. Buckley (12 y/o female) was diagnosed last week with diabetes after exhibiting strange signs and not eating the prior week. Her levels are in the low 400s right now, and finally getting to bring her home. Starting her out on a diet change to wet food (Hills W/D, but hoping to find something that will work just as well for her and not break the bank.) and 1 unit of Lantus insulin twice a day. She's also on antibiotics for a urinary tract infection. The doc says she's a work in progress, so I'll have to take her back next week for a day of monitoring. Any and all advice is helpful at this stage because I feel slightly ovewhelmed with the changes that will be made to both our daily schedule and the wallet. It doesn't help that I have a very irregular work schedule working in college athletics, and am sometimes working 16-18hr days or having to be at work at the times she is supposed to be getting fed and medicated. Still trying to figure out everything as I go along. Glad to have a place where I can relate to others in the same situation!

 

Hi and welcome! I'm new here too and it is a bit overwhelming. As far as food, a low carb canned food is best, most here feed either Fancy Feast classics or Friskies Pate. Just be sure not to get the kinds with gravy they are too high in carbs. You should also get a meter to monitor Buckley's glucose levels as a change in feeding as well as healing from the infection can lower the levels significantly. Welcome again and be sure to ask questions.

 

Thanks! I asked the vet about getting a glucometer and she said that they would just test the levels at the next few office visits and go from there, but I would honestly like to keep a daily record instead of weekly starting out in order to monitor her changes more closely. Luckily she doesn't even care about the shots.....the pills she's having to take right now are another story though lol

 

It's a good idea to home monitor, as levels can change quickly. Most of us just purchase a monitor from Walmart-Relion Confirm or Micro are popular models. As I said I'm new to all this, but have learned a lot. That's the most important thing- to educate yourself. That way you know what to ask you vet.

 

I'll have to check those out - where do you usually draw the blood from?

 

We usually prick the ear in the 'sweet spot'. But you can also use the paw pad.

 

Ah very nice! Thank You.....hopefully since she hasn't had much of a reaction to the shots, she won't have much of a reaction to those either....*fingers crossed*

 

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.

 

Hello, and welcome to you both.

Here is a link to a forum sticky with instructions on setting up a spreadsheet for your test results. The spreadsheet is an invaluable tool to help you monitor BG patterns and it will help you with both regulation as well as safe dosing. Sharing the spreadsheet will enable experienced members here give you better suggestions when you need help.

How to Set Up a Spreadsheet and Link it to Your FDMB Forum Signature

In addition to the spreadsheet link, it is helpful to include both of your names, your insulin and glucometer type, plus brief details of any other health issues/medications in your signature. Have a look at other members' signatures to get an idea of what to include.

In addition to home blood glucose monitoring, we also recommend using urine test strips to monitor regularly for ketones (e.g. Keto-Diastix). Monitoring of urine glucose levels is very crude, and does not help with gauging whether an insulin dose is safe.



Mogs
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Thanks everyone for your input....definitely helping to send me in the right direction. She has her first appointment for a 12 hour observation and testing again on Monday, so since I haven't gotten to test yet, I'll be interested to see if her levels have changed at all. Keeping my fingers crossed!