Just diagnosed, brand new here

Hi, my name is Cleo and my eight yr old female, Hermione was diagnosed yesterday.
The vet decided to try diet changes first, before trying insulin. I am only nervous about that as she is lethargic and acting almost depressed. I worry about her Blood Sugar being higher while we adjust her diet. Especially when she would only eat about 1/4 can of the special wet food.
I am considering ditching dry food with all my cats, there are 5 total, so she isn't eating it. And I already feed the others Friskies pate.
Also the vet didn't talk about home testing and I think it may be better to test at home to monitor how she is doing. If I do go buy a meter any recommendations?
I am totally new to this and feeling overwhelmed, in shock, and scared to take the wrong course of action. Thank you to anyone that takes the time to read and respond.

 

Welcome! I think we all were in shock and scared when our babies were first diagnosed. While there is a learning curve, i promise it soon will all make sense! A switch to wet food for all your kitties is a good idea. It will be much easier for you if everyone eats the same thing. Many of us feed Fancy Feast Classic or Friskies Pate to our diabetic cats as they are both cheap and low in carbs. Testing at home is also a great idea. Any human meter will do, just make sure it takes the smallest amount of blood. Come to the Main Forum and we can help you learn how to test and record your info in our Spreadsheet (a great tool!)

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply and I plan on getting to the main message boards soon. Good to know about which wet foods are good. And I will learn, I am so glad that I have found this page!

 

Welcome! You've come to the right place.

 

Welcome!

Please come on over to Feline Health, we have a nice group of knowledgable people over there. I'm concerned when you say that Hermione is acting "lethargic" (did the vet test for ketones?), but I don't want to open up a discussion here, which is really more of a "welcome mat" place and doesn't get as much traffic. Hopefully we can help get her feeling better soon!

 

Before you come on over to the big board;
Cleo was my first female cat so you've got good luck already. If Hermione is lethargic and depressed don't read too much into that right now, her whole world is changing but being here is the best thing you can do for her.
You're a step ahead with the Friskies pate. We have six cats all switched to wet food so yes it's kind of messy but that's life with cats.
It is definitely better to test at home, you'll feel a lot more informed and on top of things. Welcome home!

 

Welcome!