Introduction

I'm Alannah - my friends call me Lana - and my diabetic kitty is 13-year-old Elliott. He was diagnosed on May 15 and is on Lantus.

He had gone from an obese 18 pounds to a scrawny 8.9 pounds in an alarmingly short period of time. I've lost beloved kitties to renal failure at ages anywhere from 5 to 15 - I've never had a cat who lived to be older than 15. So I took him for a complete geriatric panel with a heavy heart, expecting that verdict.

When the vet called and told me Elliott is diabetic, at first I was happy and relieved to not have heard the words "kidney disease." Then I started to freak out when I digested the fact that he would need insulin shots twice a day. My fears were calmed when a vet assistant showed me with saline how to give Elliott his injection, then she let me give him a real one. He hardly seemed to feel it! The injections are going well.

The hard part has turned out to be putting the kitties on a regulated feeding schedule. I have 2 civvies, 12-year-old Alannah Jr. (aka A.J.) and 11-year-old Jake. A.J. has pancreatitis, so all my cats get her prescription food - Hill's Feline I/D, both canned and dry. Fortunately, the vet said it's OK to keep Elliott on I/D as long as he does well on it. At first they were NOT happy about no longer being able to free-feed, but they're getting used to a schedule. I plan to slowly get away from the dry food and go primarily to the canned.

I took Elliott to have his glucose checked this past Monday. His blood sugar was at 463, so the vet upped the dose of Lantus from 1 unit to 2. He wants to check again in a couple of weeks.

I found this place the night Elliott was diagnosed, as I was Googling for info on feline diabetes. I'm so happy to be here. This place has already been more helpful and given me more info than Elliott's own vet. I'm very happy to be here!

 

Welcome Alannah, Yep feel the same way here..My Muse was diagnosed on May 25th. Everyone has been super helpful. Ask anything there seems to always be someone around at all hours willing to answer all questions...Including the stupid ones.

Mel & Muse

 

Hello and welcome! Sorry about Elliott's diagnosis, but it's honestly not as bad as it sounds! I'm almost two weeks into the same situation with my cat Pixie, and I must say the first week was very stressful and it took me to my limit. But things are calming down and everyone is getting used to their schedule (we have 5 cats 1 dog, so like you've already found out putting all animals on a feeding schedule when they are used to free-feeding can be daunting at first). My vet nearly killed my cat by prescribing his dose way too high, so I was very fortunate also to find this board and get very active in his treatment.

Diet is one of the most important things to know about as it is very special for a diabetic. It is optimal to transition to a canned food only diet. Read about proper diet here: http://www.felinediabetes.com/diet.htm
and learn health facts about the different brands of cat food here: http://www.felinediabetes.com/diabetic-cat-diets.htm

I see that you mentioned you took Elliott to the vet to have his glucose checked. Do you not do any home testing yet? Everyone here is going to recommend it.

There are detailed instructions right here on the feline diabetes website.

Here, let me get the link for you...

http://www.felinediabetes.com/bg-test.htm

You can also go to YouTube and find instructional videos (this was very helpful for me!).

One thing I'd like to point out to you (because it kept confusing me until I figured it out) is that if your vet is using a meter calibrated for animals they will read about 30 higher than your human meter does at home. Also keep in mind that your pet is more than likely very stressed when at the vet's so that will make their BG levels read higher quite often which is another reason home-testing is so crucial so that you can know where your pet's numbers are during a calm and relaxed state. Mouth infection can also make your cat read high (this happened to me... I discovered my cat was diabetic when I requested my vet test him for it when he was in for dental work).

Everyone's numbers that they talk about on these boards are gathered using home meters. So if your vet tells you that 70 is as low as your pet's glucose should be and you read 50-60 on your home meter, do not freak out, this is a normal number! Below 40 is typically when you want to start treating hypoglycemia (which you can read about here: http://www.felinediabetes.com/hypogly.htm). It is a very serious life-threatening state which is why you do not ever want to AIM for the 40's when you are treating your diabetic cat. That is too low and too dangerous of a number to play with. Sometimes too much insulin can make your pet's BG levels go too high also (called a Somogyi rebound, you can read about it here: http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Somogyi_rebound) so it's basically a delicate balance that you learn to maintain through trial and error over a period of time (cannot be done over a few days). Also be mindful that all glucometers (including your vet's) have a + or - 20% margin of error.

When I started home testing it opened up a whole new world and I felt so much better every time I injected him because I knew without a doubt where his numbers were at and I was more confident knowing his dose was closer to what it should be (closer than the outrageous 4 units of ProZinc my vet had him on!).

I suggest that you READ READ READ (I crammed for the first few days after I was told over the phone about his diagnosis and that I would not be taking him home for days) and it paid off being so prepared.

Never be afraid to ask questions here. Everyone is kind and understanding.

Just wanted to add my 2 cents to get you started. I am still very new here myself so that's all I will offer for now. You are in the right place, though! I'm pretty certain my Pixie puff would be dead or near it right now if not for this community.

Best of luck to you and Elliott! We're glad to have you here.

-Mike 'n' Pixie

 

Mel and Mike, thank you for the welcome!

Mike, thank you so much for all the links and detailed info. After I post this, I'm going to go check everything out. The first thing I'm going to check out is the link that deals with food. If I didn't have the pancreatitis civvie, Elliott wouldn't be eating the I/D. I definitely will be studying more about food. A friend of mine in Scandinavia, who feeds her cats something close to their natural carnivorous diet, says she's never known a cat with diabetes.

I've been hearing a lot about home testing here. My vet never once suggested it, and to be honest, I find the thought scary and intimidating. But then, I found the thought of insulin injections intimidating, too, until I actually did it discovered how easy it is. I want to do more research before I make a decision.

I'm starting to wonder how familiar my vet clinic actually is with feline diabetes. They never said they wanted to keep Elliott overnight to monitor him, they never suggested home testing, and they never explained what his numbers are supposed to be and how far over the ideal he is. Don't get me wrong. My cats have been going there for years. They are kind, compassionate, and have always given us exemplary treatment. But I'm a bit shaken that some essential info was never related to me.

Anyway, I am now off to check out the links and do more studying. Thanks again!

 

The main thing about a feeding schedule is:
1. make sure your kitty shows up at shot time
2. make sure your kitty has an appetite --- if kitty doesn't eat or pukes immediately -- no shot!

After everyone gets used to the new routine -- it is fine to leave food out.

My 5 kitties have low carb canned food out 24 hours a day. (none are piggy gobblers - all grazers)

During the early phase of treatment -- your kitty is literally starving -- it is OK to feed extra food. When the insulin starts kicking in and your kitty is feeling better, his appetite will return to normal.

 

Welcome! Glad you found the site. As far as being afraid of home testing, I totally understand that. I knew I needed to do it, but I think it took me a week or two before I started. After I did, I couldn't imagine how I ever felt safe giving insulin without checking first. I recently taught my mother to do it. She has never had cats other than when she was a child. She was very tentative and afraid she would do it wrong, and she did great, so now she can catsit for me. I also showed a woman in my town how, so if you can find anyone on the members tab near you (or post your location and ask if anyone can help), it's great to have someone to coach you. Speaking of vets, most of them only learn a small bit about diabetes in school and often are afraid to overwhelm the pet owners, so even if they know a lot, they may not tell you unless you ask. The more you learn, the better you can help them treat others in the future. You and Elliott are going to do great.

 

Don't be discouraged, I felt the same way.

Now the thought of NOT testing him before I inject him I find scary and intimidating! :mrgreen:

The good news is your vet prescribed Lantus which is thought of as the best by a lot of folks around here. I use Levemir (but that is because I was given 2 10ml vials for free by my girlfriend's sister who is a nurse and has access to free samples). Both of which I hear work pretty much the same though.

Once you get the basics down (don't rush it), I'd suggest heading over to the Lantus board. It's under the insulin support group (ISG) section and it gets more in-depth on things you should know about your specific type of insulin. Keep on doing what you're doing now though, it's not healthy to be overwhelmed. Just making you think about the future (because I expect you will be having a very long future with your Elliott).

Once again, glad to have you here! You sound like you care a lot about your kitty. We all love our pets very much around here or else we wouldn't be here. So we all already have something in common.

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