Hey there!

Hey there! Just under a week ago I started fostering a diabetic cat named Sampson for the shelter where I vet assist at. He is the first adult cat I've ever fostered haha! We are currently experimenting with diets before starting insulin and I'm doing my best to push for raw as my own cats are raw fed. I'm looking forward to getting him fully regulated in the next couple of weeks!

 

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.
- Low carb over the counter canned or raw diet, such as Friskies pates. See Cat Info for more info. If already on insulin, you must be home testing before changing the diet.
- A long-lasting insulin such as ProZinc, Lantus, BCP PZI, or Levemir.
- And 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!).

 

I feel like I'm ahead of the game thus far as when I adopted my own teenaged cats as kittens I researched diet extensively and knows the ins and outs of feline nutrition pretty well. I'm hoping to feed Sampson raw food, as the comercial food that is locally prepared is even cheaper than Fancy Feast and the same price as Friskies. We've got a glucometer although the strips were $100 for 50 of them, so when it is time for me to buy strips on my own I will probably change meters. We also have Lantus, though we haven't poked him with it yet. Waiting to see what his glucose is when he's home and relaxed. I also wanted to show the vet the difference between the M/D that he's eating now and raw food so that she will be more on board with the diet. Some background on the shelter where I work, we are a non-profit limited intake shelter with a vet on staff. I'm the vet assistant and we also have a RVT (however she is out with a nasty cat bite at the moment!) While Sampson probably won't ever stay at the shelter as he will need feeding and/or insulin every 12 hours, I'm going to do everything I can to get him adopted. I feel as though having him on commercial raw food and less insulin will be easier to adopt out than having him on commercial food and more insulin and way easier than a prescription diet and even more insulin. Did the math and if we didn't get a deal from Science Diet the M/D would cost us $3.50/day to feed him.

 

And that is the 2nd reason we buy over the counter foods. The 1st reason is nutritional!