Just Diagnosed with DM

Hello everyone,

My name is Lindsay and my sweet cat Jenny was diagnosed with diabetes just yesterday... I'm still in the processing phase. She is a 5 year old kitty who is down to 9.3 lbs. She has long fur and likes her independence so I didn't notice she was losing so much weight so quickly... Her BG was over 550 and that's how we were diagnosed. She also has a gum infection, fever, and diarrhea (which I have a script for). The vet sent me home with packets of info and time to "digest".

I'm going to start with changing her diet (no more food from Sam's Club!) and am looking around for info on how to start. The vet wants a high start up cost with visits and weekly testing plus the supplies... Going to do some reading... Any tips or links to info on dosing and testing will be much appreciated!!

-Lindsay

 

Welcome, Lindsay!

We were all overwhelmed at first, but diabetes is a very treatable condition as long as you're on the correct treatment path. Some vets are better than others at getting you on this path, but there's a ton of very experienced people here at FDMB that can help you along. If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to post over in the Health forum!

I would strongly encourage you to learn to home test Jenny. It's pretty easy once you and your cat get the hang of it, and it will save you a ton of money because you won't need to take her into the vet for weekly tests. Your vet may try to sell you a pet meter, but human glucose meters are fine to use. The Relion meters from Walmart are popular here because they are inexpensive and easy to find the strips for. We test the tips of our cats ears, and even difficult cats accept it if you reinforce the testing with a diabetic safe treat. Here's more information: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/.

Do you know what insulin your vet wants to start you on? There are insulins that work well in diabetic cats, and insulins that don't. Lantus, Levemir, and Prozinc are the good insulins, and Vetsulin and Novalin/Humulin should not be used in cats. Lantus is pricy in US pharmacies, but if you get a script from your vet you can order it from Canada at a fraction of the US cost, and it's very affordable. I would insist on using one of the three good insulins with your vet.

As for food, you can still buy food from Sam's Club, it just needs to be a diabetic safe food that fits your budget. Any canned food that is less than 10% carbs is good to feed a diabetic cat. Fancy Feast pates are pretty popular here, but Walmart makes some Special Kitty pates that are also good to feed! Here's a chart with many commercial foods that lists their nutritional breakdowns--you can pick any food that is under 10% carbs.

There is no dry food that is appropriate for a diabetic cat, so unless your cat refuses to eat canned you'll want to avoid dry food.

What sort of costs is your vet quoting you? Diabetes typically isn't that expensive to treat--the biggest cost will be your insulin. You definitely don't want to skimp on the insulin--but if you order from Canada you can get approximately a year's supply of Lantus for $170 after shipping. That breaks down to less than $15 a month. You'll want to get the script from your vet and order right away, because it takes about a week or more for it to arrive. While you're waiting for the insulin, you can learn to home test, and do the diet change, and you'll be well on your way.

Just a word of caution--infection can cause increased Blood Glucose, so once the infection clears you may see a big drop in BG numbers. And you'll also want to pick up some ketone strips from the drug store and test for ketones--diabetic ketoacidosis is a deadly complication that can arise if an infection on board, and if you are able to catch it early (if it happens), it can save your cat and save you thousands of dollars in hospital bills treating it.

I know I just dumped a bunch of information on you, but please come over to Health ask lots of questions! There's a wealth of knowledge here that can help you get on the right treatment course with Jenny.

 

Wow, thank you so much for the info! I am amazed that there are support groups for just about anything! The vet recommended ProZinc and sold me a small bag of Purina diabetic food (dry food). My cat is a really picky eater so I am concerned but I am going to try some Fancy Feast wet food before I open the Purina. The vet wanted to send out blood work for testing (~$150), 1 vet visit a week to start, plus the test, syringes ($50 for a box of 100), ProZinc ($170 for a bottle that they said would last 3 months). I've been watching youtube videos on how to test and give insulin... I will see if my vet will prescribe Lantus if it really is that great of a deal. How do I order from Canada? My vet told me it's a lot of work and not for everyone and euthanasia was a strong options but as my kitty was sitting at the window chirping at birds, I couldn't care that thought... She still seems so happy even if she doesn't feel good.

Thanks again for the info.

 

Hello and welcome. Glad you found the forum I am curious as to what the info the vet gave you is? Well we can definitely show you how to save money. Dont open the food the vet sold you return it. I can't believe they suggested euthanasia! There are some other members on the forum from canada and with there help we can get you going and maybe even another vet referral. What part of canada are you in? Most cats with diabetes and treatment are fine and end up dying from a different illness when its there time. Take a look at this http://jfm.sagepub.com/content/17/3/235.full.pdf html and http://www.catinfo.org/#Prescription/Therapeutic_Diets_
You can home test which will also save you money. Lantus or Levemir are a better option for insulin but the problem getting it will be the vet in the end. Some of them really are stubborn!

 

You should be able to get syringes from the pharmacy at Walmart for around ten to fifteen bucks. You need a scrip.
I pay $125 for Prozinc. I would call around and ask prices if you're not set on this vet, especially if he doesn't want to write scrips to save you money.

 

Why is vetsulin not good?

 

Short reason is vetsulin is for dogs. It is a harsh insulin that bring numbers down quickly.

 

Vetsulin is not good for cats for a couple reasons. First, it does not have a long enough duration of action in cats to be effective. Cats have metabolisms nearly twice as fast as people or dogs, so while it lasts a full 12 hours in dogs, it only lasts about 8 hours cats. That leaves 8 hours of the day (4 hours in each cycle) where the cat has no insulin working to lower their blood sugar. This makes it very hard to regulate the cat.

The second reason Vetsulin is not good for cats is that it is more dangerous because it has very steep drops, increasing the chance of a dangerous or possibly deadly hypoglycemic incident. The recommended insulins have much gentler drops, and have a long enough duration of action to lower BG the whole day.

 

[QUOTE="linz110218, post: 1696933, member: My vet told me it's a lot of work and not for everyone and euthanasia was a strong options but as my kitty was sitting at the window chirping at birds, I couldn't care that thought... She still seems so happy even if she doesn't feel good.
.[/QUOTE]

At first it is a lot to take in and learn. But you will develop a routine. It takes all of 10 minutes to test, fed and shoot the insulin. Sadly most vets feel the other option is best. I hope the vet was only making a comment and not a suggestion. It is very common to hear. When my sister makes a comment I just say "then you should have been put down years ago when you developed it" .

Anyway, welcome.

 

Our vet kept Baby Cat for five days over a weekend when he was diagnosed. He told me as they took him back that he would give me the weekend to decide what we wanted to do. Of course, putting him down was never even a thing for us.

But you're right, the common thread seems to be people saying they would have just had him put down.

 

All you need to order insulin from Canada is a script for Lantus from your vet. You can then fax or scan and email it to the pharmacy, their website is here:https://rxcanada4less.com/. It usually takes about a week for the insulin to arrive.

 

Welcome Lindsay and Jenny,

I can’t believe your vet told you that!, that kind of comments make me a little angry
I know it’s overwhelming, I think everybody went through that when they first heard the diagnose but you will get the hang of it and will manage to do everything just perfectly.

Lol, I said the same thing to my mother, she was like put her down it’s too much work. Well you don’t do that to a child or a grown up when they develop diabetes right? Can’t believe people can say these kind of things.

Well you know Lindsay, your Jenny is only 5 years old, this diabetes is treatable and in some cases you can get a cat of the insulin.

I use ProZinc as well and my Baco is now, because of the wonderful help of this forum, almost of the juice (she’s been showing me numbers that aren’t in need of insulin and she’s been 10 days without insulin now) 4 more days to go and I can really say it out loud!
I’m saying this to you because that maybe helps you to look at it like a really treatable illness.

Hope everything works out for you, I wish you the best of luck with Jenny and I will be watching your thread.

 

People say these things because they are uneducated about diabetes in pets. The vet is the first person that should be explaining to you how treatable it is but most vets are not updated on the guidelines for treating it. I am not defending the vet but they give you that option because if you can't provide the treatment it is not fair to let the cat suffer.

 

I know @scoobydoox that that is true.
But I find it 'sad' that this option is even spoken about if the cat isn't even beginning with the insulin so that's why I reacted like that. I hear this a lot of times...