? Question about can food

i have been feeding Garfield 1 can of Purina DM in the morning and 1 can in the evening. I bought some Fancy Feast classic chicken cans to feed to my other cats and want to start Garfield on it after his last can of DM tonight. How much of the Fancy Feast do I feed Garfield since the cans are smaller than the DM? And is the classic chicken ok to feed him?
Also, I know the vet will be wanting us to begin doing bg testing at home after we see her Thursday. What kind of meter do you all recommend? My sons fiancé works for Walgreens and she may be able to get the meter and strips at a discount. I just need to know what type to get.
Thank you for all your help!

 

I don't know what size the dm cans are....

fancy feast is 3 oz.... so read your can ...
some cans even have calories on the side.

the classic chicken is good.... all the classics are good.
shortcut shopping list ....

a large number here like the relion meter.... since the strips are cheaper... but at walmart.

 

The DM cans are 5.5 ounces and the Fancy Feast are 3oz....there's about 192 calories in the DM and between about 80-95 calories per can of FF (the classic chicken is 91 calories per can

The most popular meter here is the Relion Confirm or Micro from WalMart because it takes the tiniest blood sample and the strips are affordable ($35.88 per 100)

The strips are what cost the most money going forward so if you want to get a meter at Walgreens, just make sure you can afford the strips for it (we like at least 4 tests per day but a lot of us test even more than that)....and getting a meter that uses a tiny sample size is helpful too!

 

avoid any with the name tru in it.... they weren't as reliable.

 

FF classic chicken is a good choice for all your kitties, including Garfield. When Hannah was first diagnosed, we started her out on the Purina DM, as well. But we didn't have much luck with it. First of all, it's way too expensive... and second, she didn't even like the stuff. She's anorexic as well as diabetic, so feeding her has been a real challenge... but that's another entire story that I won't go into, here. Anyway, we've had fairly good luck feeding the FF classics. If you read the labels on the different flavors (LOL, hope your eyes are good or you have a magnifying glass), it will give the recommended number of cans to feed per pound of kitty weight. The can of FF classic chicken states "feed an average size adult cat one can per 3 1/2 pounds of body weight daily." But I'm here to tell you, from my experience, most cats won't eat that much and many don't actually need that much, either. I guess it depends on the kitty. Heck, it's a good day around here if I can convince Hannie to eat a can-and-a-half, and she weighs a little shy of 9 pounds and seems to do okay on that amount.

Now for your meter question. I use the ReliOn Micro from Walmart. It's a reasonably priced meter and does a fine job for us. It's a human meter, but it will do just fine for your fur baby. Lots of folks here use this meter. It uses a very small drop of blood, so that's something to consider when purchasing a meter for Garfield. It sells for around $15 in our neck of the woods. The test strips that sell separately go for around $36 for 100 strips. You can also purchase a smaller package of 50 for about $20, so the larger package is a better deal. You will also need a lancing device for about $5, plus lancets that go for about $4 for a box of 200. I have good luck with the ReliOn ultra-thin lancets, 30 gauge. As previously mentioned, prices may vary from one Walmart to the next. When I purchased all of these items for Hannah (almost 2 years ago), I was able to buy them as a kit. It came with a nice carrying case, the meter, the lancing device, a few test strips and some sample lancets. I don't know if the kit option is still available or not. One more thing... when we first started out, our vet's office manager talked me into a very expensive pet-specific meter. It was a great meter, but I couldn't afford to test Hannah as often as I felt necessary because the test strips were way too pricey for my budget... around $80 for a package of 50. Yikes! Since we were testing her several times a day, it didn't take long to use up a package of 50.

Sorry to be so long-winded, but I hope this helps... and best wishes.

 

I use a Bayer Contour Next meter and I really like it. I opted for the USB model so I could plug my meter into my computer to download all of the readings because I love playing with data. I never ever buy strips from the pharmacy because they are ridiculously expensive there. The Walgreens website lists a 50 count pack of strips as $49 but I routinely get them from Amazon for $11 to $12.50 depending on the seller and how many packs I buy at a time.

As for food try to find out the calories per can and don't rely on the manufacturer for feeding instructions. They will likely tell you to feed your cat a ridiculous amount of food which will make them really fat. I "foolishly" fed my cat the recommended amount on the Purina DM dry bag because the vet didn't tell me how much to feed when he prescribed it. She gained so much weight... I can't recall the exact number now but she got up to somewhere between 16 and 18 pounds! Bama is really fluffy so I didn't notice the gradual weight gain until it was obvious. After the fact our vet said I should have been feeding her about half of what the bag said.

Edited to add: Don't forget to include calories from treats in the total calories/day

 

Garfield weighs 14lbs. He ate a full can of DM in the morning and a full can at night. He likes it.
We split the cans up and fed him half of can at 7am and half at noon. Then can 2 we feed him half at 4pm and the last half at 7:00. He gets his injections at 8am and 8 pm.
Thank you for all the info on the meters and supplies. It should be interesting to see what his vet recommends.
I'm sure I will be asking a lot more questions as we enter this next step of home testing! It's all like a foreign language I'm trying to learn. :/
Also, we are giving him Vetsulin. Is there a different brand anyone has had better results with?

 

While some people have had luck with Vetsulin, mostly we don't like it much around here. It tends to be very harsh and drop them quickly and wear off too soon.

The better insulins for cats are Lantus, Levemir and ProZinc

Lantus is the insulin used by most of the people here I think because it has a proven protocol that's been published in a veterinary journal and a lot of us like having the "evidence based" protocol. Here's the AAHA Diabetes Management Guidelines

 

I am new here, a week tomorrow, however I first got a True meter from Wal-greens and it had a huge variance on Shaak's BG. Over 100 points lower than it actually was. So I went to Walmart and got the Relion Micro and am very happy with it.

 

@Catcrzymom, I just found this thread from a month ago. Maybe it will be helpful to you. It addresses caloric needs for kitties and might offer some further insight on the topic.

 

I just spoke to our Vet about how much to feed Garfield of the Fancy Feast. She said 1 1/2 -2 cans in morning and same in evening. She said I could split it up and feed him every few hours like I've been doing. She based this on the calorie count of the chicken or beef classic food compared to the calories he was getting from the DM.

 

That sounds reasonable.

I just noticed that you seem to be feeding him an hour prior to his insulin. It would be better if you fed him at the time of his insulin, as feeding an hour before insulin would definitely raise the BG levels, even when feeding lower carb foods. You need to get those preshot numbers based on no food for at least two hours prior, okay?

 

Since you're using Vetsulin, you do want to feed about 20-30 minutes before each shot, but you want to TEST before feeding and make sure he hasn't had any food for the prior 2 hours

Since Vetsulin does hit hard and fast, we want him to have food "on board" before it hits, but when you get your Pre-shot tests, they should be without the influence of food, so take up any food at least 2 hours before PS times

Edited to Add....if you decide to switch to one of the gentler insulins, it's not as important that they eat first

 

@Chris & China, thanks for your add-on! I overlooked that Garfield is on Vetsulin and didn't realize he needed food 20 to 30 minutes prior to his insulin. It doesn't work that way with ProZinc, as you mentioned. But, as you also stated, it is important to take up the food at least 2 hours prior to preshots to avoid that major food influence.

 

I'm not testing bg at home yet but probably will within a few days.
So what I'm getting from your suggestions is that I SHOULD feed Garfield about 30 min before his 8pm injection ?
We usually feed all 3 of our cats around 7pm. So morning and evening I should feed him atleast 30 min before his injections? Is this right?

 

Thank you! Yes you've been very helpful! I'm taking notes so I can discuss all thus with my vet at our next appt.

 

My vet said the same thing as you just said about the calories in these foods. Thank you for the help!

 

Yes, as long as you're using Vetsulin, you want him to have food in him a little while before you give the shot so that when it "hits", there's something for it to "work on"

 

Thank you so much. He goes Thursday afternoon for his next bg test. I will make sure he's had no food 2 hrs before his test.

 

I REALLY hope you'll take the plunge and learn how to home test.....there's really no way to treat this disease safely without home testing so you know what his blood glucose is doing

We have heard so many people who've shot without testing first and then come home to a tragedy and we sure don't want that happening to you!

 

I'm sure we will be making that our next step. I can't afford to keep paying the vet to test him once a week plus purchase supplies and food. The first day we took him to the vet, we didn't know what was wrong with him. They ran a complete blood panel and said they'd have results in 24hrs. They called later that afternoon and said his results were back and showed he has diabetes and a slight infection. The vet asked if we could come back in that evening for a diabetic consult or the next day. We decided to go that evening so we could get him on medication right away. For those 2 visits, blood work, medications and a case of DM cans we paid $600 in one day! Then last week when we went for a bg test it was another $70! Geez I need a money tree in my yard! We don't have this kind of income. So i will be asking everyone for the best supplies at the lowest cost. I'm sure Thursday will be about another $70 or more since the tech will be showing us how to do the testing. I'm still paying on the vet bill for my Romeo who passed away over a year ago from cancer!
Sorry to ramble. I'm sure you've all gone through these expenses too. I just cannot and will not give up on Garfield.
Its just not an option for me. I love my Pukabear, his nickname, so much.
Thank you for reading my ramblings.mi appreciate all of you so much.

 

Walmart is your new best friend if you want to save money!!

Their Relion Confirm or Micro meters are the favorites around here....they cost about $15 plus the strips are "affordable" at $35.88 per 100 (versus over $1 EACH for some meters!)

There's no reason you need to continue feeding the expensive food either....it's guaranteed so you can take it back, say your cat refuses to eat it anymore and get your money back (if you still have some)...there's lots better ways to spend your money!

We can help you learn to home test too and we have lots of tips to help you along the way. Most cats learn to like it!! (believe it or not!) and even the worst tempered cat will learn to tolerate it....but most of us have been surprised at how much closer our relationships have become with our sugarcats and testing has a lot to do with it

While you're at Wally World, pick up a tube of Neosporin with pain relief ointment (it can be the generic brand too)...just make sure it's the ointment and not the cream. It will help heal up the pokey's (about $3)

I like those cotton cosmetic pads too instead of cotton balls...they don't leave the "trash" that cotton balls do when you hold the ear after poking to stop any bruising (about $2)

 

Well, Garfield had his bg tested at the vet today. Last week it was 591 and today it was 301!!!!!!! I learned how to do the bg test on his paw pad. The vet offered a complete kit with a lot of lancets and test strips etc....so hubby said just go with that kit.
Yesterday was a horrible day. My hubby does contracting work and while he was working cutting some wood the circular saw caught on his jeans and pulled the saw blade down into his inner left calf. It missed the bone by a hair. It's very bad. So I was in the ER with him while the plastic surgeon fixed him up. He's to be off his feet for a while now. He was suppose to go with me to the vet today but no way was that happening. So I went alone. That was one of the the main reasons he wanted me to just get the kit at the vet. He didn't want me running around looking for supplies alone. I have been sick on and off for a month and am now having a bad flare up with my RA. Just got a lot on me right now.
Needless to say I was so happy that our Garfield bg test was down to 301. Even his doctor was praising his progress.
We've been strict on the food and doing the injections like clock work. So we will see how things go over the next few days.
Thank You for all the suggestions on the supplies. If things weren't so chaotic right now we probably would have shopped around for supplies. We will see how this one works.

 

Oh my goodness! Is your hubby expected to make a full recovery? I'm glad it wasn't worse.

There are times when spending a few extra dollars is worth it to maintain your sanity and it sounds like this was definitely one of those times. Sometimes when I shop around for supplies I get overwhelmed by too many choices or I have the opposite problem where every place is out of the one thing I need/want so I have to settle for something that won't work as well.

Yay for good news for Garfield! Sending lots of healing thoughts for your whole household.

 

Wow, you've got your hands full! Sorry to hear about all the trouble your having. Sending healing thoughts for you, your hubby and your fur baby. Wishing your husband a speedy recovery.

 

I take my hubby back to see the plastic surgeon on Monday to have bandages removed / changed and check stitches. As deep as it is I think he will rewrap it and have my husband continue with the walking boot for a while longer.
The complete kit was less stressful to just get at the vet.

 

Thank you very much!