I am New-Two of my feline babies newly diagnosed...

Hi there to everyone here!!
I brought two of my four kitties to the local humane society health clinic this past Sunday. One of them was drinking a lot and the other I noticed was urinating in human quantities. After blood tests were performed on them both, I was given the diagnosis of diabetes for both. I was told their kidney function looked fine. The doctor gave me a script for Humulin N, needles and Hills w/d diet. They told me to return in 2 weeks for another blood test and then again in 2-3 weeks after that. They also said the insulin may run about $50 (minimum $105), the needles maybe around $10 (minimum $12). My options, I was told, were I could try and adopt my loved ones out to someone who could afford their care, figure this out or put them down. I am a single Mom on Social Security Disability, partially for PTSD. Although this fixed income has prevented me, myself, from affording my own co-pays to see my specialists for care....I cannot and will not even consider having the very ones that provide me comfort, put down because they have diabetes. My Grandfather has diabetes and I would not do that to him.
I am thankful to this vet at the humane society animal clinic for waiving their fees to an emergency fund to try & allow the $40 in pocket I have left this month to go towards something to help my babies.
The first step, after pricing the Humulin N insulin (YIKES) was to start with their food. After diligently for 4 hours straight reading online everything I could about feline diabetes, I quickly learned that the Hills w/d was completely unnecessary. That was a relief given the price of that stuff. I turned quickly to Fancy Feast chicken pate style. I will also be checking out Wellness chicken. I used to feed my loves Friskies Special Diet and was in between top shelf dry foods as a follow-up to their wet food. So to reiterate, 3 cats split 1 can in the morning & 1 at night. After each feeding they each got about 1/4 cp of dry. Since just Sunday cutting out the dry food and changing the wet food...the one baby is not peeing bricks in the box and the other is not trying to dive into the water bowl. I AM AMAZED!
Now my questions:
I read on this site that Humulin N is not helpful at all. What should I do since the dr prescribed this? Do I dare to call and ask for a different script? (lol)
Where can I get help to pay for this or any insulin? I havent't anywhere to cut from in my budget left. I am depending on food at this point from a food bank and have turned away my own scripts to do what I can.
I would appreciate any help or guidance anyone can offer.
Thank you!

 

Hello and welcome to you, Geena, and to your little ones. What are their names?

I am very sorry to hear you have PTSD. I am glad that your fur babies have been such a comfort to you. I'd be lost altogether without my Saoirse.

We do recommend home testing. First and foremost it will help keep your kitties safe, and secondly it will save you money on vet visits, etc., if you can regularly check BG and run your own curves to check how well the insulin is working. I'm assuming you're in the US. Most US members use Relion meters available from WalMart (Confirm or Micro, IIRC).

As you already know from your Grandfather, diabetes is a treatable condition (and there is the possibility of your kitties maybe becoming diet-controlled). The up-front costs for diabetes treatment are the worst bit. Thereafter, there is insulin and syringes (members here can advise you on where and how to buy to keep costs down), and meter test strips. I'm in the UK but I think lots of people here feed the low carb Fancy Feast foods and their cats do great on it. (Hills w/d is basically kitty cornflakes. Saoirse was initially prescribed it. I was less than happy and shortly after switched her to low carb, wet food.

Novolin is a short-acting, quite harsh insulin in cats. Better, longer-acting insulins for feline diabetics are PZI/Prozinc-type insulins, Lantus and Levemir. Some people here have recently been discussing free samples of one of the PZI insulins. Hopefully other stateside members will give you more information on this.

I understand only too well how even a little expense is a lot when one is on a limited income. I really feel for your predicament (been there). It might be worth your contacting Diabetic Cats In Need to see if they might help with the up-front costs (e.g. insulin, test kit). Also, check out the FDMB Supply Closet to see if there might be something there to help.

FDMB is a great place to learn and to get help with helping your little ones.

Edited to Add:

I have PTSD too, BTW. Not fun.

 

Before the long-acting insulins were available, folks did use N insulin. It often required shooting every 8 hours to get good glucose control.
You might, however, take a look at BCP PZI or ProZinc. Both of these last about 12 hours in the cat.

 

N/NPH insulin only work well for few cats. Also, you do not need a script for N/NPH in almost all place in the USA. You do need a script for the human Lantus and Levemire and and pet insulin ProZinc and BCP PZI. A script is also required for the pet insulin Vetsulin/Caninisulin. However this insulin is made fro dogs and works poorly in cats since it does not last ong enough
Novolin is the name for Novo Nordisk's family of insulins which included R (faster acting than N/NPH), N/NPH and combination of N/NPH and R. That is like for the Eli Lilly's family of Humulin insulins

 

Hi and welcome to FDMB. I can understand how you may be feeling right now. At one time I had two diabetic cats, a dog with epilepsy and was unemployed at the time. Caring for diabetic cats can be done economically.

I agree with everyone that you need a better insulin. If you get either Lantus or Levemir, ask for the prescription for pens instead of vials. With the vial, the insulin becomes ineffective long before you can use it all. You will end up throwing away a lot of insulin. With the pens, you should be able to use almost every drop. Also, to help spread out the cost, you can buy one pen at a time. Depending on your dose, one pack a pens can give enough insulin to last 8 months or more.

You are already on a good start with the diet. Many of us feed our cats Friskies or Fancy Feast canned foods. The pate flavors are lower in carbs than anything with gravy. Dry food is high in carbs and should be removed from their diet.

Hometesting will also save you money. Many of us use the Walmart Relion brand meters, either the Confirm or Micro. They are very inexpensive to use. By testing before every shot, you will know if it is safe to give insulin. Also, you will learn how well your dose is working. If an adjustment is needed, you only want to increase by 1/2 unit and wait at least a week before increasing it again. If you are testing, then this will also eliminate unnecessary trips to the vet just for testing.

The Relion brand syringes are also good and inexpensive.

 

Geena, I hope that you and your furries get the assistance you all require and deserve. Please make sure you take care of yourself, too, or you wont be able to look after your babies. Sounds like the kitties are off to a great start to being well.

 

Hi and welcome. I am sorry that you have had both kitties diagnosed.

First off the change to wet food should really help and this is easiest if done before starting insulin as it should reduce the amount they need (I assume you haven't started insulin yet??).

Re the blood glucose tests does your grandad have a spare meter and strips?

With regards affording treatment this link might give you some pointers. The insulin a lot of use with good success is called lantus and in the link you will see there is a lantus emergency fund......

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/financial-help-links.131190/

 

I thank you all so much for your information, replies and support! I know since you all have initially been in my shoes you can relate to the shock of the diagnosis of diabetes of our loved ones. As I mentioned previously, I did change my kitties over to a different wet food. I thought I had bought Fancy Feast classic chicken, but to my surprise (and with my glasses on, lol) I then realized looking at the can it was actually Sheba chicken pate. After returning to the store and reading & comparing the ingredients on the back of the two cans I decided to stick with the Sheba. The Fancy Feast's chicken classic has for its 5th ingredient fish, whereas the Sheba chicken pate has for its 11th ingredient fish oil...I felt since I have read that fish was a no-no that Sheba would be the better choice. I wanted to pass that along. I did verify with a vet via phone, who thankfully took my call for advice free of charge, that Humulin R is an insulin best prescribed for dogs - not cats. Now to get the humane society vet to change that script. Although my babies, by the way their names are Princeton and Sunshine, are doing much better since cutting out that small amount of dry they were getting and changing the wet food...back to normal urinating and drinking...I must feed them like I was told to eat by my doctor - mini meals throughout the day (every couple hours). My female woke me this morning at 4 a.m. to eat...oh baby, much too early to start the day. I did read about supplementing a couple of times a week with chicken gizzards on the site that brought me to this forum...is anyone doing that with their little ones? Love to hear from you!

 

Princeton and Sunshine are gorgeous!
My kitties won't touch any part of raw chicken. They don't seem to really like it cooked either.
Hope you managed to get back to sleep.

 

Hi Geena,

You have two very pretty kitties! Which one's which? I'm pleased to read that they're improving with the removal of dry food from their diet. That's good news.

 

Check out Cat Info and the food list there, to help you with shopping. You do want a few cans of high carb food available in case you need to help the glucose level come up some.

 

Hello and welcome. What a pair of cutie pies!

The large cans of Wellness chicken (or turkey) are economical and good low carb options. My kitties eat raw food, canned Wellness as a backup. I do give them occasional chicken gizzards to clean their teeth. I drop it briefly in boiling water to remove to remove any surface bacteria., then chop and serve. You can also boil a chicken breast and break it into pieces for a treat. If you do start home testing, you'll want to associate a good low carb treat with testing. Try rubbing their ears before giving them treats for the next while.

 

Thank you all again for your invaluable information. Btw, the gray black & white kitty is my boy Princeton. The short haired calico is Sunshine. These are the two that were diagnosed

I am attaching a picture of my other two kitties, both girls, Sweetie & Bear-Bear (my daughter named her before we knew she was a girl, lol). All of the babies I have were all taken into my family under rescue circumstances. Princeton and Bear-Bear have the same mother, but are from different litters. Their mom was a neighborhood cat that I was finally able to get fixed. She and Bear-Bear's twin Bella, unfortunately, have both passed away in the last couple of years. Sunshine was found in the bushes in front of my house at 4 weeks old just dumped or abandoned. And Sweetie...she was meowing & wandering around outside of my Mother's doctor's office and out of all the in & out traffic there, she attached herself to me. She followed us right into my vehicle, at one year old, and came home with me.

I am so afraid of some something bad happening to my babies while I try to work something out trying to get them their insulin. I need to have that prescription changed from the Humulin R, but also need to get some money together....at very least wait until my SSD check on the 3rd of March to see what, if anything, is left after paying my bills. I know I am doing all I can with diet, watching the closely, praying and loving them. I just want them to be okay.

 

Your photos are killing me they are all so cute.

Did you see my message a little way back in your thread where I linked ways of getting financial help?

Also this forum is where people post up stuff they no longer need.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/supply-closet-for-sale-or-free.15/

 

You initial post says " The doctor gave me a script for Humulin N, " R is only satisfactory for cats if you does it four times a day. It is faster acting/shorter duration that N insulin. It is not really good for dogs either.

 

Thank you so much for that information!

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! You have given me much information and some leads to follow-up on. My babies have been quite demanding, as you must know, since changing their diet. I'm guessing until their levels are truly known by testing once I have a meter...things will get better. Right now, I'm doing mini meals throughout the day..the scheduling reminds me of when I breastfed my daughter, lol. It looks as though they have both lost a little weight, which was something they needed to do...so I'm not concerned too much with that. I just don't want it to be where it's harsh on their systems though...too much, too soon.
[

OTE="phlika29, post: 1379996, member: 11275"]Your photos are killing me they are all so cute.

Did you see my message a little way back in your thread where I linked ways of getting financial help?

Also this forum is where people post up stuff they no longer need.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/supply-closet-for-sale-or-free.15/[/QUOTE]
Oh

 

Yes, thank you so very much!!

 

Thank you!!!

 

Thank you so much for the tips - I greatly appreciate all the information & guidance offered!!

 

I have heard a lot of negative things about carrageenan in human food and have been trying to avoid buy ANY foods with it it in the ingredient list. But I had no idea that along with contributing to digestive problems and cancer like I had heard...according to this link it also contributes to diabetes. Why are these companies being allowed to put such things in our food and our pets foods?? This is disturbing. I have heard some companies, when petitioned by consumers, are removing this - while others are refusing and denying any dangers of this ingredient. What do you guys think?? http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA401181/Is-Carrageenan-Safe.html

 

Thanks for posting that article, Geena. I found it very helpful. Saoirse has only had one bad pancreatitis flare (thankfully). I'm 99% certain it was triggered by a commercial food that contained carrageenan. It was the one and only time she has been given a food with carrageenan and none of the other ingredients were unusual to her diet.

I suspect that Saoirse may have IBD, and that IBD is the root cause of her pancreatitis. We're working towards a formal diagnosis at the moment. The above article is very helpful in that regard.