I'm a Newbie

Hello All! I'm relatively (2 wks now) new at this. When does the anxiety and worry finally get better? Dealing with the unknowns are the worst. I have a number of questions and concerns and am looking forward to the support all of you seem to generate. My Chloe is 12 years old and a wee little girl. I would have expected a diabetes diagnosis for her brother, Charlie, and not her. He's a big boy at 20 pounds; Chloe is under 6 pounds. Oh my....

 

Hi and welcome to FDMB.

When we receive a diagnosis of feline diabetes it is often scary and overwhelming. But I want to assure you that FD is something that can be very managable with the proper diet, hometesting and insulin. Can you tell us more about Chloe?

What are you feeding her and Charlie?
Have you started Chloe on insulin yet? If so, which insulin and what dose?
Are you hometesting yet or want to learn?

A good diet is a low carb/high protein canned or raw food diet. You do not need to feed prescription food. Much of it is high in carbs and most cats stop eating it anyway. You also want to begin working towards removing any dry food from their diets. Both Chloe and Charlie will benefit from the same diet. Many of us feed our cats Fancy Feast or Friskies canned foods. The pate flavors are lower in carbs. You want to try to avoid any canned foods with gravy. By having both cats on the same low carb/high protein diet, it will make it easier to manage Chloe's diabetes and reduce the chance of Charlie developing it. However, if you are currently feeding dry, please tell us what insulin and dose are you using before you remove it from their diet. A diet change can easily drop a cat's glucose levels. You may also need to reduce your insulin dose to otherwise you risk hypoglycemia.

There a four insulins that work well in cats. Lantus and Levemir are human insulins. If your vet prescribes either one of these, ask for the prescription for the pens instead of vials. In the long run, it is actually cheaper to buy the pens because they last longer. Prozinc and PZI are pet insulins. You will buy this through your vet's office. All of these work well. With any insulin, you want to start at a low dose, 1 unit twice a day, and gradually over a period of weeks, increase it by only 1/2 unit to determine the dose that works best. This is where hometesting is beneficial.

Hometesting means using a glucose meter to test a small drop of blood before every shot. Most of us use human glucose meters to test. There are pet meters available, but they can be expensive to buy and use. The reason you test before every shot is to determine if the shot is needed. You do not want to give insulin if the blood glucose (BG) level is too low. That could cause hypoglycemia, which is very dangerous. For newbies we recommend using 200 as your don't shoot number. Anything below that reading, you will skip the shot. Also by testing before every shot, you can tell how well the dose is working and if an increase may be needed. Don't worry about this yet, we can help you learn how to determine it.

Ask any questions you may have. You have a lot of experience on this board and we are here to help you.

 

Lisa gave you a lot of great information so I will just answer your question of when the anxiety and worry get better? NEVER lol sorry to be so dramatic, it was partly a joke but mostly true. I am six months into this and still worry a lot about Bud but he isn't regulated yet. It's a lot of work taking care of a diabetic kitty, but it's worth it!