Just diagnosed!

Hi All, my 8 year old boy Malachi was just diagnosed yesterday with Diabetes. So happy to have found this site! We just started him on insulin shots last night and hope he starts feeling better soon. There is definitely a whirlwind of information to absorb.
Right now we need to give 2 shots a day, every 12 hours.
Wish us luck as we get this under control.

Any advice for newbies is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
Cathy

 

Welcome Cathy! I am new too and have already learned so much here, a really great group of very knowledgable kitty parents who are really good people and want to help you get your baby on the road to feeling better.

One thing is to put Malachi’s details in your signature line so others know more about him and can better help you with questions. Ie. His diagnosis date, age, weight, brand of insulin and dosage, what food he is on, what type of home test meter, etc.

You will also learn about best food choices to help him and possibly get him into remission with combination of diet and insulin. Diet change needs to take insulin dosing into account, so make sure you get guidance from this group before drastic diet change if already on insulin.they can help you make adjustments.

When you say 2 shots, every 12 hours. Do you mean 1 unit of insulin every 12 hours? I wasn’t clear, thought at first you meant 2 units every 12 hours, which sounds too high for a starting dose. Hoping it is 1 unit every 12 hours. Some people here even start lower than that depending on what food the cat was on and weight at diagnosis. Once you get details in his signature people can help.

There is a lot to absorb, but everyone is very helpful and many people have been dealing with feline diabetes for many years and multiple cats and honestly have more info on the subject than many vets.

Future general health posts can go under main health forum, specific insulin specific questions can go on the forum for whatever insulin you are using (as you can see there are several different brands/types of insulin, so it is important to talk to folks that are most familiar with one you are using).

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome to the sugar cat club!

 

Welcome! I'm also very new to the site, but my cat has been diabetic for 4 months. There's a lot of great info here, it can all be overwhelming in the beginning, just slowly work your way through it. Keep an eye on your cat to see how he reacts to the new insulin and ask questions if things look off. It would be a great idea to get a meter if you don't already have one. It can be difficult to get blood samples at first, initially it required 2 people to get a sample from my cat, but now he gives me no problems and I can do it myself.

 

Welcome Cathy and Malachi. I'm so glad you found FDMB so you can learn more and help Malachi feel better. It's very helpful, as Julie & Honey said, to create the signature so that members can see Malachi's pertinent info right away. It's the grey text beneath our responses and is easy to get done. Here is a link on how to do that: SIGNATURE
We encourage home testing of the cat's blood sugar, to ensure it's safe to inject, to see how the insulin is actually affecting the blood sugar and to help keep the cat safe from a hypo (dangerously low blood sugar). We can help with how to, and cost saving tips.
If you haven't already, revisit the Home page and read the "Getting Started" and the "Education" sections to the right of the page. It's wonderful basic information that explains so much to help you understand what's going on, and how you can begin to manage Malachi's treatment.
We were all overwhelmed at first, but this is the place to get good solid information, advice and support going forward.

 

Welcome