new kitty with diabetes

Hi there! My name is Sarah and I've just adopted an adorable little guy from a local shelter who has diabetes. Ive never had a cat before with diabetes, but am a medical professional so feel confident in being able to provide the care he needs. Still, there are some nerves jangling around here! Lol
Snuggy is only 10mos old, which they say is young for a cat to be diagnosed with diabetes. I guess I'm just here for moral support, tips and tricks, and to share this journey! So... Hi all!

 

Welcome to the FDMB Sarah and extra sweet Snuggy! This is the best place you never wanted to be!!

It really is unusual for a kitty as young as Snuggy to be diabetic!!

The keys to treatment are going to be a low carb canned or raw food (Here's a Food Chart to help decide what to feed...Column C is carbs and you want less than 10%), learning how to home test (we have lots of help to learn how to do that too!) and a good insulin, such as Lantus, Levemir or ProZinc

Having a caretaker that's willing to learn is also very important so you're ahead of the game there!!

Here's a "Getting started shopping list":

1. Meter ie Walmart Relion Confirm or Micro.
2. Matching strips
3. Lancets - little sticks to poke the ear to get blood . new members usually start with a larger gauge lancet such as 28g or 29g until the ear learns to bleed. Optional - lancing tool.
4. Cotton balls to stem the blood
5. Neosporin or Polysporin ointmentwith pain relief to heal the wound
6. Mini flashlight (optional) - useful to help see the ear veins in dark cats, and to press against
7. Ketone urine test strips ie ketodiastix - Important to check ketones when blood is high
8. Sharps container - to dispose of waste syringes and lancets.
9. Treats for the cat - like freeze dried chicken
10. Karo syrup/corn syrup or honey if you dont have it at home - for hypo emergencies to bring blood sugar up fast
11. A couple of cans of fancy feast gravy lovers or other high carb gravy food- for hypo emergencies to bring blood sugar up fast

Again, Welcome to the FDMB and if you have any more questions, please feel free to ask them!! The people here are great!

 

Firstly - you are so awesome for adopting Snuggy

The most important thing is to start home testing, most people use a human glucometer. If you let us know what country you're in people can advise as to the types they use. There are a few dodgy ones to be avoided. You can record Snuggy's results in the spreadsheet (instructions in the tech forum) so that people can see what he's doing and advise accordingly.

Has he been started on insulin yet? If so what type? Also diet is hugely important - low carb wet food, not prescription diet, is the way to go.

Welcome aboard and can I just say again - you are awesome!

 

Thank you both so much for the welcome! When I saw snuggy on the website, I fell in love! And even more so due to his special needs. it pulled on my heartstrings - knowing this would probably hinder adoption or that he WOULD be adopted, but bounce back and forth from home to shelter as people realized the actuality of caring for a 'sick' pet. With my medical knowledge, I had a better idea of the level of commitment this would take and knew we could be a good match.
Snuggy is currently on lantus (2 units a day). Tomorrow I am going back to the shelter to pick up the vial of insulin they are providing as well as the glucometer (the tech who handles this process was out today, and I just couldn't wait another day to bring snuggy home, so I only have the two doses to get us through till then). I am to give him his shots at 8am and 8pm and gave him the first one tonight. Wow! So much different than injecting on humans! He has long fur and so just locating the skin to inject was something new to me!
I decided to set out his food and then do the injection while he was eating - and it worked well! I'm very fortunate because he is so laid back and sweet that he doesn't fight anything just let's you do whatever. And boy does he want love!
Once I have a he glucometer, I will post his numbers so you guys can follow and make suggestions. I'll also post what type of glucometer it is... Maybe there will be one you recommend more.
The main things that are making me a little nervous are:
1) what are the clear signs to look for that his sugar may be too low or too high?
2) how much should I give of the honey if we fond ourselves in a hypo situation?
3) when should I stop and say "this situation requires a vet"

I appreciate all the support - its only been one afternoon and I already couldn't imagine life around here without snuggy.

-Sarah
(I'm from Maine in the USA by the way)

 

The reason we recommend the Relion brand meters from WalMart is because the price of testing strips on the other meters is pretty darn ridiculous, so you might check to see how much they are for the meter they give you. The Confirm and Micro meters also take the tiniest blood sample...and when you're poking new ears, that's really helpful!

How much does Snuggy weigh? Lantus has a starting formula and 2 units is a really high starting dose. Most of the cats here start on .5 to 1 unit every 12 hours. There are also 2 protocols here for Lantus. The Tight Regulation Protocol offers the best chance of remission, but the Start Low, Go Slow method works better for some people.

Most cats will act like they're starving if the BG goes too low...that's how I can always tell I need to get an extra test in on China...she will NOT leave me alone wanting food. The problem with "waiting to see symptoms" is that a lot of times, there are no symptoms of low blood sugar until they start to have seizures, which is why home testing is so important, as well as learning how your cat responds to both food and insulin.

Depending on which protocol you choose, when they drop below a certain number (50 for Tight Regulation and 90 for Start Low, Go Slow) you should have some high carb foods in the house and give a teaspoon at a time until they're up into safer numbers. The "gravy" part of the Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers foods has the most carbs in it, and by just feeding the gravy part, you don't risk filling the cat up in case you need them to eat again later. If using honey, Karo or syrup, a couple of drops is usually enough to bring them up, but it wears off quickly

As for "when do I go to the vet", I can only say that the vast majority of the people here never get to that point when it comes to hypo situations because we do test often and know what to do if they start to go too low, but here's a page you should probably print out and keep somewhere safe titled "How to treat HYPO'S...they can kill" that also describes the different stages of hypoglycemia. Of course if there's any doubt, the safest thing is to get to the vet!

You might take him back with you to the shelter and ask that they shave a small patch for you to use to shoot in to....it's much easier, especially with a long haired cat to have that shaved spot ...at least until you learn the "feel" of it....and as the hair grows back in, you'll learn how to deal with it

When you start testing, it'll really help to use our spreadsheet to keep track of his numbers too. Here's "How to create a spreadsheet" instructions. The spreadsheet is every bit as valuable a tool as low carb food, testing and a good insulin!

 

Welcome to the FDMB! How wonderful that you chose to give a sick kitty a good home. Just remember that his numbers will be wonky for awhile as it takes some time for his body to learn what to do with the insulin. As to the honey, maybe a 1/4 tsp. As to the vet question, to that I'd say that anytime you're really unsure or afraid. Don't take any chances because if something bad happens, you'll always say , "I should've called the vet".

 

Thanks for the tips. Snuggy was diagnosed at 9mos (and is 10mos old now). By looking at the medical records that came home with him, he WAS on 3 units a day, but the shelter had him on 2 units and say he was doing well. They said they are hopeful he could be diet controlled in the future. I'm hoping (for both our sakes) that this is true, but am willing and ready to deal with whatever comes our way.
Tonight I'm feeling a bit unprepared due to not having the meter to test him and know where he stands. They said at the shelter that I SHOULDNT test him until he gets settled here as the stress (good or bad) of moving to a new home would make his numbers wonky anyway... But I feel like I should be testing... I'm a worrying type of momma.
Once I talk tomorrow with the vet tech at the shelter who has treated him while he was there, sure I'll feel much more prepared.

Side note - what types of treats are safe for diabetic kitties? I have a nondiabetic kitty in home too and when I gave her treats tonight, snuggy looked so forlorn!

Does anyone have tips on how to deal with changing the diet of a non diabetic cat to meld with the diet for your diabetic kitty? I plan to leave food out for "grazing" purposes for snuggy, and Buttons has always had dry food available. But now it will be wet, low carb that is being left out for eating, and I worry she won't like it and will stop eating. Tips or past experiences?
thanks!

 

Here's a list of Low Carb treats

A lot of us use freeze dried chicken (or other meat) or just bake a piece of plain chicken, cut it up into bite size pieces and put some in the refrigerator to use soon and the rest in the freezer.

Adding water to the food keeps it from drying out ...or you can make "foodsicles" by adding water to canned food , putting it into ice cube trays or mini-muffin pans and freezing....most cats won't eat what they can't smell and frozen food has little smell...but a few hours later when it's thawed, it's just like fresh

 

My Goofus would always get sick when we tried to transition to wet, everytime, no matter how slowly. One he gets to the 1/2 and 1/2 point, the vomitting starts So after half a dozen tries, I gave up. But, I found Evo Cat and kitten dry, 8.41 carbs and he likes it. I order it from chewy.com, free shipping on orders over$49. I also get the canned variety to mix with the other kitties food as one needs a pill in the morning so I hide it in the food.

You'll want to make sure the food is out of reach at least 2 hours before test time to insure that he'll eat so you you can give him the insulin. Not to mention that having the food continually will also mess with the numbers. I have 6 cats, they were all free fed with dry food, all of their lives. It took a while, a month or so, but they've all transitioned to being fed am and pm, and ate it. Sometimes they get a little roasted chicken for a snack.

 

Thanks! I'm excited for this journey and all its twists and turn - and snuggy is already right at home!

 

Welcome to FDMB.
See my signature links Glucometer Notes and Secondary Monitoring Tools for useful info on monitoring your new kitty.

For the lowdown on feline nutrition, pop over to Cat Info and read what Dr Pierson has to say. Switching to low carb canned food, the glucose may drop 100-200 mg/dL and the insulin dose may decrease 1-2 units. Because of that, get good with the testing before adjusting food.

And a note on subcutaneous shots in cats in case they didn't show you or explain - you gently pull up a tent of skin and shoot into the hollow of the tent.