New to the Board

Greetings all!

I would like to introduce myself, I'm Melody Dickerson and my husband and I just recieved the news that our 9 year old Himalayan is Diabetic. Muse is currently still at the Vet's as they try to get her blood-sugar under control. In the last couple of weeks Muse went from a robust 16lbs to barely 5lbs and scared us to death. I guess we got kind of lucky with the fact that I had some experience with Diabetes since my mother and sister are both diabetic so when we went to the Vet's after seeing similiar symptoms in Muse as I know my Mother suffered from the first thing I asked them to check was for Diabetes. And even better as I was diving into everything on the web I could find on Kitties with Diabetes I came across you folks! It is so nice to know there is somewhere to go to ask questions and get advice from those that have been there and done that!

I look forward to getting to know everyone here and their special friends. I would like to already thank you for making feel a little less crazy because I wanted to treat Muse and not have her just "put to sleep". Truthfully I was beginning to feel a little nuts since a lot of what I was seeing on other sites made me feel like I should be in a rubber-room for jumping with joy at the fact that it was nothing more serious than Diabetes...God knows while we were waiting on the test results I was imagining far worse outcomes.

Melody

 

Welcome! Hopefully your baby will be back home soon and you will begin this journey together. It can seem a bit overwhelming at the beginning, but your family experience will be a big help. You're right - this site is awesome and the people really know how to deal with the different aspects of feline diabetes. If you've read the FAQs, you know most people recommend home testing and feeding low carb canned (or raw) food. Ask any questions you might have. Yep, diabetes is not close to the worst diagnosis you could have gotten.

 

Thanks for the greeting! Something I forgot to mention in my earlier post, and that is Muse's background story so everyone here will know exactly why I can NEVER give up on my baby. Muse was born Freya's Frost Princess in New Orleans, her life there will always remain a mystery. What I do know it this little fighter survived both Katherina and Rita, alone and without her front claws. The first family to rescue her out of The Big Easy, thought they could simply toss her outside when they learned that their daughter was allergic to her, I happened to over hear a co-worker who knew the family talking about her and what the family was planning (the co-worker is a cat person as well and thought that was horrible) so I asked if she thought they would be willing to sell her to me. Well to make a long story short, They gave her to me on a very cold winter night after finding her huddling on their front porch shivering. It wasn't long after getting Muse that I realized she was terrified of Thunderstorms and well in Nebraska we get a lot to them, so that is where her best friend Onyx came in, Onyx is a laid-back neutered tom that has been there and done when it comes to storms and is completely unfazed by them. So we became a family of 3. Since then I have married a wonder man that is as animal nuts as I am, and our family has grown to include 7 more kitties (all rescues, 1 literally scooped up out of a dumpster before she really should have been on solid food) and one large dog, King, who believes with all his heart that he is a really clumsy cat.

Now for the first of what I'm sure will be many more questions. Since I have a large feline family...Is it okay to leave out dry food for the other kids? Or should I only feed what they will eat and keep the rest out of reach? Muse herself has her own dishes already in the bathroom so I can shut her away for the others to give her a wet-food only diet, which I had already started her on before our first trip to the Vet's (since she will crawl over broken glass for wet food...lol)

 

Hi Melody, you did'nt say he went from 16 lbs to 5 lbs did you????
You are ready to start caring for Muse...ok, first things first. you need to get a meter. the human kind. like your mother may have used. get the strips. we will tell you how to save $ on the things you'll need regularly but this is to get started. what your vet is doing is most likely something you could do at home with help here.
You'll be feeding your Muse a low carb diet...check the food list. Please somebody link this for her (i don't know how)
The diet change alone will reduce the insulin amount...so if your vet sends muse home with a 2 units twice a day prescription PLEASE remember you need to test before every shot. His glucose is likely higher at vets anyway due to stress.
and ask lots of questions, that's why we're here ok.

 

all of your cats would benefit from the same diet muse will be on...and muse getting into the hard food will be very detrimental to his possible remission and/or regulation.

 

Yes she went from 16lbs to 5lbs, she had gone missing (she is an escape artist) for a couple of days when she returned she was thin but not anything to worry about at the time probably roughly about 14 lbs, it wasn't until last week that she started dropping rapidly (she has always lost a few pounds when the first heat of summer hits) And we just recently went from the high 40s to over 75. Also my previous vet was one that wanted all his money up front and without knowing what was wrong we had no idea what to save to take our baby to a Vet. A friend suggested calling another vet in town that had once worked for the former Vet and had left to start her on practice because she disagreed with the practice of Money before Animal. Dr. Tammi is a life saver. She squeezed Muse in, did the blood work free of charge and currently is taking Muse home with her at night so she can keep an eye on her. And most importantly to us, she is working with us on payments. Her exact quote "Lets just get her well and then we can worry about the money later. I honestly can't thank her enough

 

I'm gonna see about getting you a newbie kit with most things you'll need.
that is UNBELIEVEABLE weight loss. I can't believe it!!!! Is kitty eatting now or being syringe fed? I'll get back to you on newbie kit.

 

look at top of post and you'll see a post titled 'request a started home kit ' by cindy and mousie.
she can hook you up.

 

Muse should recover quickly with treatment

Get a human glucometer -- I personally like the Maxima AST from http://www.hocks.com
key features to look for:
-price that you can afford (test strips) -- figure at least 2 per day and probably more in the beginning.
-small amount of blood needed (0.3 microliter is the minimum and strips cost the most -- the Maxima AST needs 0.5)
-"approved for alternate site testing" OR "sipping action strips" -- easier when testing a cat

you'll need lancets too -- we prick the edge of the ear for the tiny blood sample. It takes some practice, so don't get too upset if it takes a few tries. I used a "three strikes and I'm out" to keep my kitty from getting mad at too many pokes - if I can't get blood after 3 tries - we stop and try again later.

My cats-only vet uses a human glucometer -- don't let your vet sell you some expensive "pet meter".

Low carb canned or raw food is best -- sometimes it can take some time to convert your kitties. No need to get prescription food from your vet.

I gradually transitioned all my kitties (now 5) over about 6 months. They used to eat Science Diet Indoor with occasional Fancy Feast treats. Then I got Blue Wilderness dry (18% carbs) and Fancy Feast every day (4-6 cans) --- then we switched to EVO dry (8% carbs) and Wellness & EVO 95% & Fancy Feast -- then phased out the EVO dry.

When I finally got rid of the dry food totally, Norton's insulin needs had dropped in half (over the 6-month time).

http://www.catinfo.org has excellent information about Feline Nutrition published by a vet - Dr. Lisa Pierson.

Read up on insulins -- the best for cats are Lantus, Levemir and Prozinc. The not-so-good are Vetsulin (recently recalled for inconsistent batches) and Humulin N.

Vetsulin is also called Caninsulin and was developed for dogs.

Lantus, Levemir and N are human insulins. Lantus and Levemir require a prescription -- specify that you want the 5-pack of 3ml cartridges. These are effective longer, so while the initial cost is higher, the insulin will be good longer.
Lantus is kind of fragile and may need to start a new cartridge every 4-5 weeks.
Levemir is not fragile -- I have been using it for a year, and we have always been able to use the entire 3ml cartridge without it going bad (if it goes bad, the kitty's blood sugar starts going up for "no apparent reason")

I haven't used the new Prozinc

The INSULIN SUPPORT GROUP pages have informational posts at the top of each forum. Read up about each insulin so you can make an informed choice.

we recommend started at a low dose of insulin like 1 unit every 12 hours. Cats should not be dosed by weight -- our maxim is "start low and go slow" because it is safer to have high blood sugar than low blood sugar.

dose changes should be gradual -- we test before every shot to make sure it is safe to inject the insulin -- a good cutoff for newbies -- if blood sugar is below 200, do not shoot. Mid-cycle blood sugar tests will tell you how low your kitty goes during the cycle.

Read up on Hypoglycemia so you can recognize the signs and know how to treat it. Keep some high carb gravy food to feed if the blood sugar drops below 45.

Normal blood sugar range in cats can be from 50 to 120 or so.

 

Thanks all, already ordered my Newbie Kit...You all are wonderful. Until it gets here Mom is looking for one of her old meters for us to use. Can anyone link me a good site to read up on Hypo in Cats...I, myself am hypo so know what to look for in humans, but unsure on kitties. Just trying to cram as much info into my brain as I can before Muse comes home from the hospital,

(Hopefully it will be today, she was doing wonderful yesterday)

Thanks again

 

Here is Melissa's post on hypo viewtopic.php?f=3&t=15495

Now, the 'hospitalization' may have been needed but don't count on her insulin needs necessarily being the same once you get her home. This is because vet stress MAY inflate blood glucose levels, which may come back down after she gets home.

Please make sure she is on a low dose of insulin (no more than 2 units) and that you are testing her before and inbetween shots, and that you test her urine for ketones (a nasty side effect of unmanaged diabetes, etc.).

Kudos to you and your hubby and hopefully you can get your baby back to good health

Jen

 

You've received the information that you need. I hope your sweet Muse is home and being loved on as she begins to put her weight back. My Charlie dropped a lot of weight before his stupid mommy bean figured out the diet I had him on was not the cause.... he got to a healthy 12 pounds (down ten) from his chubby self. He did great on insulin and canned low carb fancy feast for the next 6 years... he passed at age 18 from a stroke... He played and begged for his grilled chicken the day he was helped to the bridge. I'm praying you have many years with your little girl also... Welcome to FDMB!!!

 

Dear Carol,

Thanks for such a warm welcome! So sorry to hear about your Charlie, It was like looking at a picture of my beloved Gandalf to see the picture of your handsom Charlie. Gandalf passed over the bridge in 1987 at the ripe old age of 21, he went peaceful in his sleep at the foot of my bed. If Charlie was half the character my Gandy was you two were truly blessed to have each other.

Cat & Muse