New to board

Hi all... My name is Elson, and I am Darth's pet human. In our household, we have 5 cats total. There is Darth and his litter-mate Yoda (males, both 8 years old). They are the sweetest pair of Mainecoon crosses. Then there is Darth and Yoda's half brother, Indiana, and half sister, Lil Girl, again a pair of litter-mates 4 years old. Those four are indoor cats. Finally, there is Mr Bond oldest of the bunch. He's an outdoor cat, a rescue, and we think he's around 14-15. They are all characters, in their own way.

But this is about Darth. Wow - what a shock. We took him to the vet on the weekend to find out about what the vet euphemistically calls "inappropriate urination". One blood test later, and the results are in. My little guy has diabetes. It's not what I was expecting. His brother Yoda was diagnosed a couple of years back with a congenital kidney defect where his kidneys can't process protein properly. He was getting crystals which was making him a frequent visitor at the Sandbox Bar. I was expecting something along those lines. But diabetes? That's a shock...

We are back to the vet tonight so I can begin to learn about taking care of this new need. Wish us luck....

 

The best of luck!
My diabetic kitty has been an angel for over 3 years now, so I'm not up in giving the advice. But I CAN welcome you to the family.

Jeanne
ps
Learning to hometest saved my sanity.

 

Good luck at the vet. I am glad you found this site...so many people with so much knowledge. After your vet visit please let us know what they say. Here we strongly encourage an all wet diet and hometesting of the blood glucose levels. Home testing helps you to know how your cat is reacting to a diet change(lower carbs) and to insulin. I do not know what you are currently feeding but I do know wet food is also better for the kitty with crystals too.
So let us know what your vet says....insulin type, how much, and maybe a diet change. It is important to test Darth, especially with a food change, in case his sugar levels drop substantially, thus requiring less insulin. I hope this makes sense.
Love your kitty names...and Welcome to the board!

 

In preparation for your vet visit - these are the three things to consider:

- insulin - which insulin you want to use - I recommend going to each of the insulin support pages and checking them out - some insulins are better than others - my personal recommendation would be either Lantus or Levimer (they work in similar fashion), next option PZI prozinc.

Insulin support groups

- food - it's important to remove all dry food and feed only canned or raw food that is 10% or less in carbs - vet may want to sell you prescription - please decline it - as you don't need to waste the $$ for it and can get quality food at the local pet store.

Food/nutrition links

- home testing - this is vital - it's the only way you are going to know how the cat is doing, how the insulin you choose is working in the cat's system and when it's time to change the dose, prevent a hypo or DKA situation, etc.

Please do not let the vet discourage you from home testing. Also, you don't have to purchase the animal meters. WE have found using a simple human meter works just fine for our cats.

Hometesting links

More useful links:

How To Treat Hypo's

Hypo Tool Kit

 

Welcome! (And I love your movie inspired cat names!)

Hilary has given you some great advice and links to read. I'll only add a couple of things. If your vet suggests a pill instead of insulin, don't do it. You will just delay the inevitable and the sooner you start insulin treatment, the more likely Darth might stop needing insulin, or as we put it "go off the juice." Also, you don't need your vet's permission to home test using a human glucometer. Some vets try to discourage home testing. But if you or your human child were diabetic and on insulin, you wouldn't shoot blind - and you shouldn't for you cat, either.

Let us know how the vet appointment goes.

 

Re: New to board - update

First of all, thanks to everyone here! I feel very welcome, and just knowing that I'm not the only one dealing with this is a help.

Update on Darth:
So we went to the vet this afternoon. All in all, I think I feel relieved. Our vet showed us how to give the insulin shots twice a day, which will be easy enough I think. The needle is a heck of a lot smaller than the one I had to use to give Yoda subcutaneous fluids, and the amount of medicine in that little needle is tiny compared to what I was giving Yoda. The insulin is Vetsulin. We asked about the others, and the vet told us that Vetsulin is the closest molecular structure to the insulin that cats naturally produce. If he doesn't take well to it, she has another one in mind, but didn't say what it was, other than it was significantly more expensive. She also explained the differences between feline diabetes and human diabetes and answered all our questions.

He has to go back to the vet in 7-10 days for the day, and they will run a blood sugar curve to see how well the dosage is doing. Our vet also explained that in the first several days, insulin resistance will be changing as Darth's cells gets used to the insulin shots and that it wouldn't be until the 7-10 day mark when things have stabilized that we could get a good reading on how well he's doing. We are not home testing at this point, but we haven't ruled it out. There's just a lot to try to process and learn.

What else? Wet food diet (he loves that already!)

The good news is that we apparently caught him quite early, so we don't have a bunch of stuff to deal with from having him go a long time without being treated properly. Not sure what else to say at this point. I know I still have everything to learn, and I know there's going to be ups and downs, but right now it doesn't feel as daunting as it did.

He's had his first shot already and a good meal of high protein wet food, and seems a lot more like his usual self already. I'm cautiously hopeful...

 

Hi there

well, it sounds like you are definitely up for this challenge

Mixed news from the vet however....did your vet not tell you that vetsulin had been recalled? I'm not certain of the current status but you need to discuss this. Additionally, vetsulin is NOT the best insulin for cats...much more appropriate for dogs actually. It will help Darth but there are much better insulins to use...

Consider posting your general location if you would like some personal help...

Jen

 

Hi there. Sounds like you are up for the challenge! I know you'll do just fine.

A small little red flag went up for me when I read your original post and you said after one quick blood test later it was determined your kitty was diabetic.

I have treated my own diabetic (Em) and a few other fosters and recently my eldest (living) cat Ollie was feeling pretty cruddy, and I tested his blood sugars since I had the meter and it was well over 200. Turns out it was a problem with the food, because all of the blood work we did run came out ok, and a few of my other cats started having issues (diarrhea) and as soon as he started feeling better his blood sugar levels came right back down.

Stress and or infection can also lead to higher blood sugar levels. I hope the vet ran a CBC for a white blood cell count for a possible infection and did a fructosamine - which will give you an average for the blood sugar levels for the past few weeks.

not saying your cat isn't diabetic, but my recent history made me post this..

since your update post indicates that your vet might be using a recalled insulin, it might not be a bad idea to get a second opinion from another clinic. But only you can determine if that is the course you want to take.

Connie

 

Jen and Squeak, thanks for the info re recall on Vetsulin - will talk to my vet immediately.
Connie and EM, the "one blood test later" thing was just a figure of speech on my part. They did a blood panel, urinalysis and so on. His blood sugar was 495 when they checked his blood. There was also sugar in his urine, plus significant weight loss (over a pound - even though he's a big boy - Mainecoone cross - that's still a lot to lose). Will discuss the other things you talked about with my vet. Thanks for the info

Again, Thank you everyone all for your help - will write more when I am not so pressed for time

 

As mentioned in earlier posts, Vetsulin is not a good insulin and was recalled, so please so ask about getting Lantus, Levemir or ProZinc instead.

http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/New ... 188752.htm

From Vetsulin's own website: http://www.vetsulin.com/dog-owner/Vet_ProductAlert.aspx

Why is Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health asking veterinarians to transition diabetic pets from VETSULIN to other insulin products?
In its alert, FDA recommended that veterinarians consider transitioning their patients to other insulins. Due to the fact that we do not know when the situation will be resolved, supply shortages are expected, and the supply of VETSULIN will soon be exhausted. Our primary goal is protecting the health of patients. Therefore, Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health is asking veterinarians not to start any newly diagnosed patients on VETSULIN and to begin transitioning current diabetic patients off VETSULIN and on to other insulin products.