Peanut diagnosed in Aug, Off the juice 35days

I just wanted to thank all of you that post and answer questions on this forum. Peanut was diagnosed in Aug 2015, I read all I could and followed advice from vet and found here. He is now 35 days off the juice. I have some questions, so I will post in Health Forum. This forum has been so helpful!!

 

Wow, congratulations on getting Peanut OTJ! Well done!

 

Thank you! I was lucky to have found this site. The Internet is a wonderful thing!! I have great vet, but she wasnt available 24/7 when I had questions and was trying to figure this diabetes thing out. I didn't post, but read so many posts on here and I credit that for my success (and pure luck).

 

I do agree - this site has been such a blessing - every day my girl improves and I know it's because of the lovely folks here.

Peanut's such a cutie and lucky to have such a devoted (and resourceful!) Mom. Here's to continued success!

 

Oh that's so wonderful - congrats!

Like your Peanut, my Kizzy was diagnosed this past August. I've also been reading and reading in here - just made my first post a moment ago because, well, I'm stuck...lol!

Hearing about your Peanut gives me hope for my sweet girl.

Thank you for sharing and congrats again!

Kizzy's Mom

 

Hang in there! It's very frustrating when you keep seeing high numbers when you basically turn your life upside down. I think I was lucky in that Peanut's diabetes was weight related. My vet had told me several times he needed to lose weight and I had him on a diet food, but it didn't make much of a difference. I had two other cats and they are on the thin side, so I kept thinking it was because he was so lazy. I wish I had read up on cat food. I fed him dry cat food and left it out. I think the switch to canned low carb food made all the difference. He's losing weight now and I have my fingers crossed that he continues to stay off insulin. I also moved the other cats to canned low carb food. I don't want a repeat with them . It's crazy expensive!

I hope your Kizzy settles down and gives you a break (she looks like my Oliver).

 

Thank you @Mary and Peanut ! Our situations sound very similar. Both of my cats are indoor only... have eaten the same food... same everything. One diabetic, one not (tho BOTH need to lose some weight).

I **thought** I was feeding good food with the Iams weight control (dry). For many of their early years, I was a broke single mom - I bought whatever I could afford, so felt like a really great cat mom when I could finally afford what I thought was better food for them. Ah, live and learn, right?

I'm trying very hard to get the other non-diabetic cat off the kitty crack (dry food), but she is NOT a fan of the idea. However, thanks to you and others in here, I now know that Kizzy having access to ANY dry food can totally mess up her day and the long-term goal of getting her regulated (and yes, hopefully, OTJ).

I'm bringing Kizzy back down to one unit of Lantus twice a day (from 2 units) and I am being ultra diligent about dry food and her numbers. In a way, I'm kind of 'resetting' the whole process, but I think it's for the best. Now, I am armed with good knowledge and a much better understanding (thanks to y'all)...and I know that her diet and way reduced carbs by not allowing her ANY dry can drop her numbers pretty quickly.

Your story with your Peanut gives me hope - thank you for that!

 

Yes, I didn't realize how much of a difference food makes to the numbers. He was acting so hungry all of the time and I saw several posts about people feeding their cat several small meals a day. So, thinking that would help I started doing that. Wow, his numbers shot up pretty high and I was getting numbers in the 400's. When I showed the vet his numbers the first thing she said was keep the food to once every 12 hours to match the insulin dose. Once I got back on track it his numbers came down pretty fast. I don't have his spreadsheet in front of me, but I think he went OTJ about 2 weeks later.