Newly Diagnosed

Hello. My name is Sharon. I am new to the message board. As I said in my introduction, my cat, Sunny, has just been diagnosed with Diabetes. His first shot was last night. I was wondering if there is any wiggle room in the timing of giving insulin or does it have to be 12 hours exactly. I also was curious about the 8 hour glucose test. I'm going to try and do it at home. My understanding is that I will need to prick the very tip of his ear. Is this the best place to get the blood from? The insulin regimen seems to be going ok so far although I have only given him 2 shots. All of this is very overwhelming. My son is very supportive and that helps. I took care of my diabetic husband for many years before he recently passed away. That makes this especially difficult.

 

Hi Sharon,
Here is your first post from the intro page for continuity.http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/newly-diagnosed.210468/

can you tell us what type of insulin you are giving and the dose please? We will be able to tell you more about wriggle room when we know type of insulin..

I would change your subject line from 'newly diagnosed' to 'newly diagnosed, concerned about cost and looking after ill mother' or something like that. That will catch the eyes of people who can help you..

That is great you are going to home test! That is one of the most important things you can do for Sunny..
Not sure what you mean by the 8 hour glucose test..........do you mean testing the blood sugar levels(BSLs) every 2hours to do a curve? If you mean that......test before giving the insulin, then every 2 hours until the next shot..

Here is info on home testing
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

Areyou feeding a low carb diet of canned food?
Here is a link to suitable foods
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/links-to-food-charts.174182/

In regards to helping look after your Mom.....do you have to travel or is it on the same city?
Would you be able to take Sunny with you?

Welcome to FBMB, you will find this a very supportive and friendly group of very knowledgeable people.
Keep asking lots of questions ....we are happy to help.
It's a steep learning curve in the beginning.
Bron

 

Hi Sharon, I'm glad you made it over to the Main Health forum and have introduced yourself and Sunny here. Bron has provided some links that are going to be very helpful to you and I suggest that you create your signature so that we can see Sunny's information with each of your posts. Here's how to do the signature and profile information: HERE
We use a spreadsheet to track the blood sugar tests and the insulin injections to detect patterns and trends, as well as provide a record of the data. Here is the link for INSTRUCTIONS and how to understand the GRID. If you have any difficulty with setting it up, let us know, there are members who can help or set it up for you.
I know it seems overwhelming right now, but I believe that with your experience with human diabetes you have a much better understanding of how important proper treatment is. I am terribly sorry about your loss, but Sunny is probably a very large comfort to you and is a worthy companion. We will do our best to help you help Sunny and keep your friend with you.

 

Welcome. I want to reassure you that while overwhelming in the beginning, it does get easier. Try to keep to 12 hours, but all of us sometimes get life in the way and that's not possible. Just do the best you can.

I have a video in my signature showing how I test my cat CC at home.

 

Thank you everyone for your wonderful advise. I have completed the signature information. I'm anxiously awaiting my glucometer so that I can do the curve the vet wants me to do. I will next look at the spreadsheet so that I can monitor Sunny's blood glucose. Again, thank you.

 

We are here for you anytime

 

Welcome. You have been given lots of information to read. As you do one thing to consider is that canned food is lower in carbs than dry and best for a diabetic if they will eat it.

 

I'm curious. My vet said that she prefers dry food because it helps to get rid of tarter and keeps the teeth healthier. I have read many posts that say wet food is better. She said the food she recommended is low in carbohydrates, high in protein and fiber. I hate to disobey her as she seems very knowledgeable about feline diabetes. Do you all think wet food makes that much of a difference?

 

That is only true if you feed the one type of dry food that is formulated to clean teeth. Other dry food is too brittle and just cracks away before it can do any cleaning. See:
https://pets.thenest.com/prescription-diet-cat-tartar-10468.html
https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/plaque-and-tartar-prevention-in-cats
I expect those to have high carbs. I would feed low-carb canned and use one of the other methods described in the above articles to try to remove tatar.

 

Here are some articles about feeding diabetic cats:
https://www.wwwallaboutcats.com/best-cat-food-diabetic-cats
https://www.petmd.com/cat/nutrition/best-food-cats-diabetes
http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/feeding-the-diabetic-cat