New to forum.

Hello my name is Robert and I just found out on Friday last week that my cat Frisky(11yrs old) was a diabetic. She is other wise very healthy. The Vet started her on insulin(1 unit every 12 hours) on Tuesday this week, also at the direction of my vet I have increased her can food and decreased her dry food. She has gone from urinating 5 to 6 times a day to once a day so far. Her water drinking has also dropped. I used to see her drinking 4 or 5 times in the course of 3 hours I now see here at here bowl once in the same time frame. I take all this as a good sign that she is responding well to the insulin, am I correct in this or is it too much of a change in such a short amount of time. I have to take her back to the vet on Tuesday next week to have her glucose curve check.

Thanks.

PS: This board has been a great help for me to get up to speed in a short amount of time. I have a lot to learn and plan on using this board often.

 

hi there

welcome to the FDMB.

Would you be able to tell everyone what insulin Frisky is on?
And are you home testing her blood glucose levels at home?
What foods are you feeding?
You are correct about the dry to wet food transition. One step at a time.


Check back often, others will be along to guide you along.
Again welcome to the board!

 

Welcome to the site, Robert and Frisky,

It sounds like she is already greatly improved; you must be thrilled.
Questions:
What insulin are you giving?
Have you been giving the shots twice a day yourself?

Just a couple things I would note:
1. if she is fine with the wet food, remove all the dry. The dry food could be causing her higher numbers.

2. think about home testing. Taking her to the vet for curves are expensive and really won't give you true numbers. Think about it... you have to go to the hospital to be monitored all day. You are in a strange surroundings and scared and guess what? her numbers won't be her real numbers. Most cats are pretty stressed and their BG numbers can go very high or very low. My two are like that. Shadoe is higher at the vet, and Oliver goes way too low.
Home testing is easy and much safer because you will eliminate the chances of giving her a shot when she is too low.

it is important to be testing when you are changing foods to wet because you will see that Frisky may not need as much insulin. The dry food causes one of my cats numbers to go very high, so Shadoe does not get any dry foods or treats.

 

I can't remember the name atm but I will post it this afternoon when I get home. I have not started home testing yet, I'm still trying to figure out when I can she seems to be going to urinate after I go to bed or after I go to work. I do plan on testing at home. Her can food is Fancy Feast I was giving here 1 can a day and have increased it to 2. Her dry is Iams (Hairball formula). I am going home for lunch I will get the name of the insulin then. I know it start with a P.

 

Could it be PZI? If so, that is a nice slow acting, long lasting insulin. It would be a nice choice.

Yes, we really encourage hometesting. We treat our kitties just like we would human diabetics - testing before each shot. As Gayle said, it is usually much more accurate than numbers from the vet and much less expensive.

Here is some information that will give you an idea of how we do it. This website gives a nice overview: http://www.sugarcats.net/sites/harry/bgtest.htm and this is a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zE12-4fVn8 It seemed impossibly hard to most of us in the beginning and very scary, but it really does become routine, for you and your cat.

 

Robert,

sounds like a PZI (ProZinc) insulin. That's the only one I know of that starts with a P.


In the meantime, here are some valuable and very informative links for you. More reading! :razz:
Home testing is highly recommend, this way you can see how Frisky is doing on her insulin thru the day.
No matter what insulin you use, home testing is a safe way to know how Frisky is doing.

Home Testing Links


Janet & Binky's charts you'll find a general guideline of carb % for various brands.
Janet & Binky's Food Charts


Dr Lisa's site is loaded with information about feline nutrition and the benefits of a low carb wet food diet and/or a raw food diet. Plus lots of information on dry food transitioning.
Dr Lisa's Feline Nutrition

 

Welcome Robert and Frisky!! I can already tell you are devoted to your kitty and will have this all understood very quickly.

As the other members have stated, hometesting is very important!!

It took me three days to get the hang of it.... all I had were the instructions that the others have posted. I was very frustrated. There was a member of this board that lived in my area, but she was going on vacation and couldn't help. Sometimes if you have a member that lives close by to actually show you, hands on, how to do it, it is a great help.

So if you don't mind, can you tell us what city you are in? There may be someone that can help!

(Don't post street addresses or phone numbers....after all, it is the web!) PM's will be the way to go.

 

Prozinc sound right. Thanks to everyone. I will start home testing. I am still trying to wrap my mind around it all. She does not even give me problems when it time for her shot. She sees the needle and jumps up in her chair,rolls over on her side, I rub her belly and I give her the shot. She then get up and pounces on her catnip mouse. I thought I would have to chase her around the house but that's not the case.


EDIT: I went home for lunch and checked. It is ProZinc.


I live in Greensboro NC.