My 18 year old cat has been recently diagnosed with renal disease and diabetes

Hello everyone,

My name is Teresa Viggiani and currently living in New York. My cat Tigger who 18 going on 19 has been recently diagnosed with renal disease and diabetes. Doctor would like to start insulin right away but on top of doing more blood work that will cost another $400 dollars which was done back in March 2018. My family and I can use all the advice possible. Please feel free to send any suggestions.

Thank you so much

 

Hi there and welcome to this wonderful community.

I am over the hills and far away in New Zealand. You are in the same place I was about 12 months ago. My old Ty is now nearly 20.
If you look at my signature you will see more about him and if you click on the SS spreadsheet link you will see how his diabetes is looking etc.

Diabetes comes first before renal disease & it needs to be controlled . Are you open to home testing Tiggers BG levels at home?

Which insulin is being suggested please? I believe that in the USA you are able to buy meters and test strips from some stores like Walmart. Also some people seem to buy their insulin from other than a vet practice. That helps with the cost.

First thing though is what is his current diet ? If it is dry at all , you will need to start transitioning Tigger onto wet food.

 

Welcome to you both!

I know that NY is a big state, but in the chance that you can hop the border, you can walk in to any pharmacy in Canada to buy Lantus or Levemir insulin (if that is what you are using). If not close enough to drive across, there is a specific Canadian pharmacy highly recommended that sends insulin by mail order for about 60% less than the lowest price that I could find in the US (which was Costco for me in NC). I've never gotten it from Canada myself, but many members here have from Mark's Marine Pharmacy.

We will look for details from you and then help to fill in any gaps. I also highly recommend just browsing other threads like this one
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-and-at-wits-end.195778/ to see answers to questions that you may not have even thought of yet

Best,
Sandi.

 

Are you looking to get lantus? If so try ordering from Marks Marine pharmacy in Canada. Much cheaper. Also home testing will save you a ton in vet visits. Once I started home testing my cat didnt go back to the vet for a year. I just emailed her binders every so often. I have a video in my signature showing how I test my cat CC at home.

 

Also when looking for food to feed, you want something low carb and low phosphorus so it's good for both problems. Here's a food chart. Pick foods under 10 percent carb and under 250 phosphorus. https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

 

Welcome!