Riley

My very shy 8-year old boy Riley was diagnosed recently and I have just begun insulin once a day with a recheck at the vet next week. The first shot was easy but he fought the second one (I have a few new scars). He's usually very gentle but does not like to be restrained and he's not good with any kind of change. On the plus side, he was eating some wet food (likes pate especially) and he has not lost weight. I have two immediate issues: 1) Food: I was feeding 1/2 cup of dry plus 1/4 small can of wet. In switching to all canned food, I'm not sure how much to give him. He weighs 11 lbs. The directions on most cans say to feed 2 cans / 6-8 lbs which seems like a lot. I increased to 1 can per day but now I wonder if that's not enough? 2) He is peeing outside his box although he very politely uses a pad (the type for puppy training) in front of the box. He's also not willing to let me be near him when he goes. At this point, I'm using only the urine sticks. I tried to swipe it in the urine on the pad, but I don't think I was able to get enough for a reading. Until he gets more used to the routine, I don't think I can consider using a monitor (nor am I ready to tackle that one just yet). Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

Hi and welcome Laine and Riley to the best place you never wanted to be. It would be helpful if you would tell us more about Riley and his diabetic treatment to this point.

You can create a signature that will display his information whenever you post, and you won't have to repeat, or be asked for same.

Setting up your signature (light grey text under a post). Here's how:
click on your name in the upper right corner of this page
click on "signature" in the menu that drops down
type the following in the box that opens: kitty's name/age/date of diabetes diagnosis/insulin you're using and dosage amount /glucose meter you're using/what (s)he eats/any other meds or health issues (s)he has. You can add your name, and a geographic location (sometimes the country/time zone matters) Be sure to SAVE when you are finished.

My vet also recommended one insulin injection a day, and I learned here that a cat's metabolism is faster than a human's, and they do better with 2 shots, 12 hours apart. We can definitely help with suggestions for making that process easier for you and explain further why 2 shots a day works better.

I would like to have you copy your post here in the Intro forum, create a new thread in the Main Health forum HERE and paste the message. Then more members can see your post and begin to address your questions of how much to feed, his issues of peeing outside the box and some information about how you can begin desensitizing Riley so that you might begin blood sugar testing at home. We all learned and so many members have all kinds of very creative tips/tricks/methods that they use to test, and also do the injections.

Take heart, and know that every member here has had hurdles, and with help most of the hurdles were overcome. It's a new journey you and Riley are on, and we will help in every way we can.

Very best wishes going forward.