Newbie

Hi everyone, just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Dio's (named after Ronnie James Dio) mom and our vet thinks he has diabetes based on his annual blood work; 3 # weight loss; increased thirst and odd behavior (rests in new places, doesn't come when called as quickly; sleeps in new places). I've lost several dear felines to renal failure and even did the bags of fluids via needle for one sweet furbaby, for a good while. Between my husband and me we can treat Dio however he needs to be treated. We've fed him high quality food since adopting him ~5 and a half years ago from the local animal control shelter and he has had regular exams, revolution each month, etc. First step is to switch to wet food, and we feed him Merricks currently (mixed with some dry food, which we will eliminate). Our sweet vet wants to recheck his blood work in a week or so. I'm looking forward to your appreciated support and learning from all of your experiences. Thanks so much!

 

Welcome.
Good insulins are the human Lantus and Levemir and the pet insulins ProZinc and BCP PZI. For those two human insulin it is best to get the 5 pack of 3 ml disposable pens via a 10 ml vial. Although per ml the vial is less expensive most cats will not use up a 10 ml vial before the insulin goes bad/becomes ineffective. The human insulin N/NPH is sometimes prescribed but only lasts 8-10 hours. Same for the pet insulin Vetsulin/Caninisulin.
Most of us here test our cat's blood glucose at home using a human meter. We test before each shot and periodically between shots. We record our reading and other info in a spreadsheet. See:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
It is good that yo are switching to canned.

Here is a link to home testing blood sugar http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

 

welcome! Several of my cats were/and are named after rockers. Taime was named after Taime Downe of Faster Pussycat... and interesting fact, we actually got him from rock singer Sebastian Bach. (Taime died in 2001) Nikki was named after Nikki Sixx (died in 2005) Zim was named after Zim Zum from Marylin Manson's band, Lita for Lita Ford, Alice for Alice Cooper, and my diabetic cat C.C. for C.C. Deville in Poison.