Introduction

Hi...
I wanted to introduce myself to the as I'm sure I’ll have several questions along the way. I adopted my cat Jack from the dumb friends league in March of 2017. When I adopted him he was 9 years old, severely overweight with gingivitis and dandruff. In April of this year he was diagnosed with diabetes. In addition to his diabetes he also has a mast cell tumor on the right side of his face. Due to the tumor’s location its too risky to remove. I feel horrible because it swells up every so often which is absolutely horrible for him. I’m having a hard time with his health overall because of his various issues. The vet advised me not to put him on an all wet food diet because of his gingivitis. Lately, I keep reading how awful dry food is for a diabetic so I’m thinking about switching him to a raw diet. It’s hard because I have two cats and my other kitty prefers dry food and is a very picky eater. Jack is the sweetest kitty in the world and I just want him to feel good. Sadly, I don’t think he’s had the best life and I hate that he has so many health issues to deal with now. I just want him to have a happy retirement. I’m open to any advice and would really appreciate it especially anything related to mast cell tumors and how to prevent it from swelling up while keeping his insulin in check. I’m curious too if anyone has tried cbd oil and if it has made a difference with their cat’s diabetes? I keep reading how great it is for diabetic humans but unfortunately there’s not much out there yet for feline diabetes.

 

Hi Britt and Jack, welcome to th forum.
I'm sorry Jack has so much going on with his health but he is a lucky boy to have found you.

As far as the dry verses wet food goes.........your vet is completely wrong about wet food being bad for gingivitis......in other words he is saying that dry food is good for gingivitis. Cats do not chew dry food (which is supposed to help their gums and teeth)..... they just hoover it down without chewing it. No cats should be eating dry food as it is too high in carbohydrates for any cats.......no wonder there is such an increase in feline diabetes. It also has only 7% moisture in it compared to 75% moisture in wet food. Cats need moisture.
Switching to a raw diet would be great for his diabetes. But a word of caution...... when you switch to a raw or a low carb wet diet from a dry food diet, you will be feeding him a much lower carbohydrate diet..........this is great BUT if you are giving insulin it could drop the blood sugar levels too low and cause a hypo episode. So what we suggest you do is to start home testing the blood sugar levels(BSLs) BEFORE you try and change over to a low carb diet. If you are home testing the BSLs you will be able to keep Jack safe. We can help you learn to test. It is not hard. And it won't hurt Jack. We would also probably advise you to lower the dose of insulin when you change over the food.
Here is a link to how to home test
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

What insulin and dose are you giving Jack?
Also which country do you live in?

Here is the link to the FAQ page which you might find interesting and full of information.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/health-links-faqs-about-feline-diabetes.14/

I can't help you with the mast cell tumour or the cbd oil. I suggest you start a separate thread over on the main forum and ask about these and gingivitis. Here is the link to theu main forum
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/feline-health-the-main-forum.28/
Bron

ETA. The GA is used when a kitty has passed away and stands for gone ahead or guardian angel so you might like to take it down......don't worry about it though.... you are not the first person to have thought it meant something else.

 

Welcome

 

Welcome!

 

Bron,

Thank you so much for your response! I never really thought about it until reading your response but you are absolutely right about cats not chewing their dry food. Jack throws up quite a bit and it always has whole pieces of dry food. I got him fresh pet vital today in the fresh section at petsmart along with some fancy feast (which to my surprise is actually recommended for diabetics). I’ve only been buying holistic food for him so buying fancy feast was a little difficult for me. I haven’t tested his blood at home yet but I am more than willing to do it and learn how, especially if it means even one less stressful visit to the vet. I know I sound like the crazy cat lady but I hate taking him anywhere because I’m so afraid he thinks I’m dumping him. Before his diabetes diagnosis I had the mobile vet come to my house. I started looking at home testing kits and found a few pet versions on amazon and also read Walmart’s brand for people is a good one. Do you have any recommendations as far as which brand/kind I should buy? Jack is currently on 2 units of Lantus twice a day. In addition to his insulin, the vet recommended 5mg of Zyrtec every 12 hours to help with the inflammation of his mast cell tumor. I thought that was a little much for his liver so I’ve been giving him 5mg once a day. He went about 3 months without a flare up on Zyrtec so I thought it was working but that’s about the time lapse I’ve noticed this far with his flare ups. I want to cut him off dry food as soon as possible but I’ve noticed in the past few days with feeding him wet 3x a day he hasn’t touched the dry. I know this because most of the food is still in the bowl and there are only a few pieces outside the bowl. When Jack eats there’s food all over everywhere! I was also wondering about testing his urine? Jack is pretty shy when it comes to the litter box so holding a strip while he’s peeing is out of the question. I read somewhere there’s a litter that keeps the urine on top so you can test it. Is this something you have any advice about??? Thank you so much again for responding and I’m sorry for all my questions. I love this guy SO MUCH I can’t stand it he’s not feeling well.
Thank you!
Britt

 

Don't worry about being a crazy cat lady.....we all are except for the guys who post and they are probably crazy cat guys!
We all just love our kitties!
With the Zyrtec I know that 5 mg a day is fine, don't know about 10mg so can't comment. If you post and ask the question over on the main forum you will get answers to your questions ....more people there.

Really good you are going to test the BSLs. Walmart has a very reliable meter called the ReliOn. You can also get the lancets there 26 to 28 gauge, an extra box of test strips and some cotton balls to hold behind the ear when testing.
The pet versions are good but the test strips are very expensive.......most of us here use the human meters and our protocols are based on the human meter numbers.

Be careful when you are swapping over to the low carb wet food as Jacks BSLs will be lower on the low carb food and with the 2 units of insulin, it may drop it too low. So before you change over to the low carb wet, start testing the BSLs so you can see how he is going on the new food and you will be able to keep him safe.

You can test the urine for glucose, but if you are testing the blood sugars there is no need. Also the BSL gives you a result that is up to the minute, whereas the urine result is what has been happening over the past several hours since he has last peed. But Ketostix also tests for ketones and it is definitely worthwhile testing for those. Anything above a trace of ketones warrants a vet visit.

Don't apologise for asking questions ...it is the way to learn all about FD. We are more than happy to answer questions. But pop over to the main forum, you will find loads of helpful and experienced people there.

 

If you're talking about testing his urine for ketones, another way to go is using a blood ketone meter since he's litterbox shy.