my ozzy has diabetes

Good morning ! My 10 yr old ozzy has just been diagnosed with diabetes. I'm so glad to have found you! I'm not new to these kind of support groups as my dog Zoe fought cushings disease for 5 yrs and without canine cushings group I would have been lost! I've recently moved and have been thru a couple.of new vets until I found the wonderful one I'm with now. Thankful for that because I know from past experience I will need their help alot with a pet with any type of long term illness. They have already been wonderful in allowing me to have payments worked out with them. I also kind of know what I'm in for regarding medications and testing and trying to maintain good levels as cushings is similar in that sense. But most importantly I know the value of a group such as yours because vets can really.only.help so much and the help and support of.ppl living the experience is priceless! So thank you for being here and I'm sure you will be hearing alot from me. I'm pretty nervous going into this because like all of you with your fur babies our ozzy means the world to us and we just lost our Zoe less than a year ago. She fought a brave fight and once her disease was managed lived a good , happy extra 5 yrs. She was 14 when she passed. Anyway, thanks in advance for the help and support I know I will receive from my fellow animal.lovers

 

Just a few tips to get you started.

If you don't have a meter, you should get one so you can test at home. Most vets will try to talk you into the expensive AlphaTrak but we have found that an inexpensive human meter will work. You can get a human meter, Walmart brand for about $15. I use the Confirm. It takes a very small blood sample and the strips are very affordable.

Next, transition your cat to a low carb wet food if you haven't already done so. Favorites are Little Friskies Classic Pate (with the exception of Mixed Grill), 9 Lives Meaty Pate, and Fancy Feast Classics. Stay under 10% carbs and that can help bring down the glucose. I personally like Weruva brand foods. They are a little pricey but they are low in carbs and my cat loves them. I personally avoid Fancy Feast as they have a relatively high phosphorus content which can impact kidney health.

Very important also is to read the information about handling a hypo. I bought a bottle of Karo to keep on hand in case we had an event. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-treat-hypos-they-can-kill-print-this-out.15887/

Ask any questions that come to mind. We won't judge, no questions is inappropriate if you need guidance.

Welcome to the clan.

 

I am so sorry about Zoe, but it sounds like she got fantastic care and excellent quality of life. You should be proud of what you were able to do for her. And I am sure that you'll be just as successful with Ozzy, he's a cutie. You've already gotten good advice from Anita, and I'd also suggest browsing other posts within the "introduction" forum and you will likely see more lists. We love lists

You should be able to find a list of "starter kit" of supplies, and how to test. If you can't find it, I will dig up a post in particular. Also if you can let us know what Ozzy is eating currently, whether the vet switched you to a different kind of food already (and if so, what), is he free-feeding or does he get specific meal times, are other pets in the house (can complicate feedings), whether you have started on insulin yet, and if so what kind and dosage. I haven't been around long enough to give much advice, but have been around long enough to know that those are the relevant bits for us to know.

I am in Raleigh NC, holler if you are close, and congrats on finding a good vet!

 

Check my signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools for some additional assessments you may find helpful to evaluate your cat.

 

Thank you all! I have already learned a lot from this group!!!! Sandi, thank you for your kind words . Currently, Ozzy is eating only wet, 9lives, which is what he had before so no worries there. He eats twice a day. I used to leave dry for him to munch on and he is really missing that so down the road I will look into something he can have. I have two other pets. Elsa my german shepherd and Cosmo, a kitten who adopted us. LOL Already I see the challenge of having another cat who does eat dry....Ozzy is being very creative in finding ways to get into the dry food.

The vet gave me a script for Lantus and Ive been searching for a more affordable size vial but it seems $260.00 is the best price. Once I get it I will be going there so they can show me how to administer and his dosage. I had no idea I would be testing at home so I will take the great advice here and get my supplies this week. Has anyone found smaller vials? I see there are some pens for sale here but Im not clear on whether or not that is something I can use????

Im in Concord, Sandi, so I will holler extra loud..LOL! I cant thank all of you enough already!

 

Buying it in the pens is more cost effective as generally you can use the entire 3 mL (300 units) before it wimps out. You store it refrigerated and it may last up to 6 months. Note that the pharmacist will tell you 1 month if you ask; that is what it was tested for, unrefrigerated, for human use.]
If you can, have the vet write the Rx for the pens. You will use a syringe to withdraw the insulin, not the pen needles.

Check out Mark's Marine Pharmacy in Canada. Getting it from there will be about 1/3 the cost of the US.
Also check your local Craigslist - you want it to not to be expired and to have been stored refrigerated. Meet in a public place if you go this route.

 

Like @BJM indicated, a pen is really just a small vial. We don't use the pen needles that humans use on the end of the pen, we just insert a syringe directly into the vial. I will attempt to attach some pictures of the pen itself, the little stopper on the end of the pen which goes into the vial, and then a picture of the syringe inserted into the vial. Note that I use Levemir instead of Lantus, so the Lantus pen will look slightly different.

At Marks marine pharmacy the 10 mL vial, which is the only size vial, is $99.99 for 10 mL. If you find another size vial, I would stay away from it as it is probably repackaged, and rhey aren't supposed to do that. One of the members here had a problem with buying repackaged Lantus.

When buying the pens, you get 5 pens, each of which are 3 mL, for $144.99. Then I believe there is a $25 delivery fee on top of that for either the pens or the vial. Those are in US dollars.

Hope that helps. Here are the photos. I'll yell "Hey" to you from the interstate on our next IKEA run

 

Bjm and Sandi, thank you!! That really.clarities alot for me and those $$ are alot more manageable! I'll be checking out the site and Craigslist tonight! Thanks again! Looking forward to getting the meds and supplies so we can get ozzy started to feeling better and of course the fear of the unknown is always worse so getting started is exactly what we need!