New to all of this...

This has been a rough year for myself & my son. We lost one cat, Tai Lung (aka Tai), due to extreme health issues in August and it was heartbreaking having to let her go. Now her sister, Po, (littermates) has been diagnosed with Feline Diabetes. She goes for her first curve on Friday and hasn't started insulin yet (this was just diagnosed on the weekend).

My son is extremely stressed out that we're going to lost Po in the same year we lost Tai. I'm trying to keep a positive outlook (partly because I know it is treatable, partly because if he sees me worry it'll make him worse).

She is already on wet cat food and has been for the better part of year since her sister initially got sick. The vet had me buy some of the diabetic canned food when I was there on the weekend to try to start transitioning her over ahead of her curve. Picky little butt won't do more than lick the gravy that is in it and have a few nibbles. So I've got her back eating her previous food. I did look and the foods that she does like are high protein / low carb foods (yay for that).

Not sure what else there is to say right now. I'm glad I found this forum and will definitely be doing a lot of reading in the next little while.

<3 Neth

 

Welcome!!

Tell your son diabetes is really treatable and Po will go back to acting and feeling well in no time, it may seem scary and complicated at first but once you establish a routine is not .

Give us some more information about Po, how old is she? Does she have some other health issues? Do you know what insulin are you going to be using?

Is ok not to use the prescription foods which are by the way usually high carb and as long as the food is low carb and as high in protein as possible give him one that he likes because is very important that he eats.

There are some basics that you will need:
- A blood glucose monitor with lots of strips ( it can be a human meter doesn't need to be a pet meter)
- Syringes with half unit marks
- Treats to bribe Po so that she accepts you testing her blood glucose levels with not much protest (something she really really likes)

 

Hey, thanks for the reply. It's hard to tell the kiddo to not stress, he's been diagnosed with severe anxiety so he's just got to work through it - that's an entirely different challenge for another forum though.

Po is 10 years & 6 months old. We've had her right from when she & her sister were ready to leave Mom. (The kiddo was SUPER into KungFu Panda back when we got them which is where their names come from. LOL)

She has always been our "healthy" kitty. Tai was the one who had all the health issues. Po's been a bit off the past few months but it was something we'd been told to expect after the death of her sister as pets grieve just like we do. We just had taken her in for a yearly checkup so the diabetes was a bit of a shock. Oh, she apparently also needs her molars cleaned but the vet wants to get the diabetes treated first - and they also gave us a sample of the "dental" food to give her as treats as it will help clean them. She just can't have it as her normal food because it's dry & not good for diabetes - she loves crunching on them when she gets a few, so hopefully it'll help at least some. The estimate for the teeth cleaning was CRAZY expensive.

It's my understanding from what the vet said that she'll likely be getting Lantus or glargine (same thing I think?) and we're fortunate enough to be in Canada so I'm hoping that it won't be horrifyingly expensive. I'll be finding out more about that stuff when she goes through her curve on Friday this week. We drop her off at 7:30am and pick her up again at 7:15pm - they're going to go over her dosing and everything then. I'm hoping to be able to use one of the lantus insulin pens if that is what she's put on as I am EXTREMELY needle phobic.

Right now, I'm trying to get her to find a few more high protein / low carb foods that she is willing to eat. She is ridiculously picky and will sit there and meow like mad if it doesn't meet her standards. It is both aggravating and hilarious all at once. So far the ones that she likes most are around 11% crude protein / 1 - 2% crude fibre, which I think is good from what I've been reading.

How often do you do the blood glucose monitoring with the strips? Is that a daily thing like with people diabetes?

Thanks for replying.

<3 Neth

 

Hi and welcome Neth. I can completely empathize with the feeling of stress on the diabetes diagnosis. Many of us immediately acquired the "deer in the headlights" look on hearing that. As Veronica told you, feline diabetes is very treatable and you can learn everything you need to learn here: how to understand what is going on, what to do to help Po feel better and get some excellent support from members who have gone through the very same thing.
I am going to suggest that you and your son take some deep breaths, and realize that education is the key here. Please go back to the Home page and read the "Getting Started" and the "Education" sections to the right of the page. You need a starting place and this is a good one. Just like you learned to read, do math, or learned to dance..step by step. Please tell your son (how old is he please?) that everything you two learn is going to help Po.
We are going to help by answering your questions, and offering suggestions on what has worked for us, and what has not. There are members here who have been taking care of beloved diabetic cats for years, and know what they are talking about.
Please post in the Main Health forum HERE to ask questions about the insulin, the BG testing, what kind of diet/food is best. More members monitor that forum and can begin providing some answers and direction.
I am looking forward to following your and Po's progress, and helping out too!

 

Yes Lantus is a glargine insulin, and I think there are some Canadian members here that can give you tips on where to buy it so that is not so expensive, try posting that question specifically in the forum so that they catch your question.

The bad news is that even though you can use a pen you will not be able to use it to shoot you will be using it more like a little vial because the pen only gives doses in 1 units and that is a lot of increase or decrease for a cat you will need to do it in 0.25 unit increments or decrements which means you will need a syringe, but is a very small needle even smaller than the one in the pen and Po will probably not even notice the injection very much ( when they are playing the other cats paws are equally sharp and bigger ) not that that is going to make it any easier to you, but is good to know that is harder on you than on her

Absolutely you have to do it at least before every insulin shoot (just like people) to make sure is safe to give it, which means that you will at least be doing tests twice a day and some other tests in between shoots and curves depending on the protocol you choose.

This means you will need a lot of strips and that's why many people use human meters, strips are cheaper