Samba

[Sarah Mc]

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hello-from-sarah-and-samba.171262/#post-1869245

hello,

I already made an intro for my cat, Samba, in the other forum but was asked to post here as well. My sweet boy was diagnosed with diabetes on 12/31/16 with a blood sugar level of 460 and was put on Novolin N, 3 units twice daily for 3 days, followed by 2 units twice daily for 4 days. On 1/7/17, his blood sugar level at the vet was higher at 472. He was switched to 2 units of Lantus twice daily, and he goes back to the vet on Saturday (1/14). I haven't started home monitoring; I asked my vet about it, but they would like to do his first glucose curve at their office. They put him on Royal Canin Glycobalance dry food. I did ask about wet food, but they said to start with the prescription food.

Samba is still peeing an exorbitant amount...always in his litterbox, but I am currently buying a new 26lb box of litter every 7-10 days to keep up with him. He has lost 4lbs since Feb 2016 (from 14lbs to 10). He seems happy as ever, but I can't help but worry that this is so uncomfortable for him. He doesn't like the shots, and I'm sure my skills are seriously lacking, but fortunately, I will have many, many years to perfect them, as he is only 8 years old.

Happy to have found you guys. Thank you

-sarah & mister sambaman

 

[Corie]

I just wanted to say welcome. I don't have a lot of advice as I'm still new to this as well. You've definitely come to the right place though.

 

[Sarah Mc]

Thank you Lucy is beautiful.

 

[Cathie and Shaak Ti (GA)]

The sooner you get used to home testing the easier it will become. My sugarbaby Shaak is also on Novolin N, right now her numbers are in the low 300's. I am giving her 0.5 units. so a very low dose, I am working up. I am doing it this way because the last time we started out at 1 unit and it dropped her far too low

I would suggest getting Samba on wet food as soon as you can. It will make a very big difference. Shaak started out on dry prescription food and her numbers were in the high 300's. I switched her to wet and her numbers dropped over 100 points from going on wet food. I don't suggest you do what I did, I switched Shaak cold turkey, just got up one morning and gave her wet, she ate it and we never looked back. However we almost had a hypo because of my doing it that way. Much better to mix the two foods together and slowly add more wet and take away more dry. Much safer than what I did. Another really good idea is that like humans, cats do much better having several small meals over the course of 24 hours. I know Dr's suggest feeding twice a day 12 hours apart. From my heart though I can tell you that a big reason Shaak went into remission was that I began feeding her with a timed battery operated rotating feeder. She eats eight times a day. The same amount of food she was eating twice a day, just spread out into eight small meals. It made a huge difference.

After several weeks of different doses of Novolin N Shaak's numbers dropped really low so I started skipping shots and over the course of a couple weeks her numbers continued to drop even though she was not on insulin. after two weeks of under 100 points with no insulin she was declared in remission and then for the next 10 months she had no insulin. Around Christmas she got a UTI and came out of remission. Right now I am working on getting her back on insulin twice a day, not so easy, a lot of family issues going on and I have had to leave town for several days and have not been able to have Shaak on her insulin. I am hoping now that I can get settled in and get serious about her shots and get her back into remission.

I have not even been a member here for a year yet, so I know there will be more members with much more time in than what I have that will welcome you and give you plenty of advice. I valued their help more than I can ever say and I will never be able to repay them for all the help they gave me. I know you can do this with Samba, it is a terrible disease to have to deal with but having found FDMB is the best thing that could happen to you and Samba.

 

[Kris & Teasel]

Welcome to you and your very cute kitty, Samba! Cathie has given you good advice. You'll hear the same thing from the rest of us:

1. no dry food only canned low carb food - Friskies and Fancy Feast pate types are fine;
2. start testing blood glucose at home ASAP and let us know what type of meter you use - human meter is fine;
3. set up the spreadsheet we use here because it's viewable by other members so we can see what's going on and can give specific advice.

That's it in a nutshell. Continue to ask any/all questions you have. We can help with all of the steps I listed above.

 

[Sarah Mc]

The sooner you get used to home testing the easier it will become. My sugarbaby Shaak is also on Novolin N, right now her numbers are in the low 300's. I am giving her 0.5 units. so a very low dose, I am working up. I am doing it this way because the last time we started out at 1 unit and it dropped her far too low

I would suggest getting Samba on wet food as soon as you can. It will make a very big difference. Shaak started out on dry prescription food and her numbers were in the high 300's. I switched her to wet and her numbers dropped over 100 points from going on wet food. I don't suggest you do what I did, I switched Shaak cold turkey, just got up one morning and gave her wet, she ate it and we never looked back. However we almost had a hypo because of my doing it that way. Much better to mix the two foods together and slowly add more wet and take away more dry. Much safer than what I did. Another really good idea is that like humans, cats do much better having several small meals over the course of 24 hours. I know Dr's suggest feeding twice a day 12 hours apart. From my heart though I can tell you that a big reason Shaak went into remission was that I began feeding her with a timed battery operated rotating feeder. She eats eight times a day. The same amount of food she was eating twice a day, just spread out into eight small meals. It made a huge difference.

After several weeks of different doses of Novolin N Shaak's numbers dropped really low so I started skipping shots and over the course of a couple weeks her numbers continued to drop even though she was not on insulin. after two weeks of under 100 points with no insulin she was declared in remission and then for the next 10 months she had no insulin. Around Christmas she got a UTI and came out of remission. Right now I am working on getting her back on insulin twice a day, not so easy, a lot of family issues going on and I have had to leave town for several days and have not been able to have Shaak on her insulin. I am hoping now that I can get settled in and get serious about her shots and get her back into remission.

I have not even been a member here for a year yet, so I know there will be more members with much more time in than what I have that will welcome you and give you plenty of advice. I valued their help more than I can ever say and I will never be able to repay them for all the help they gave me. I know you can do this with Samba, it is a terrible disease to have to deal with but having found FDMB is the best thing that could happen to you and Samba.

Cathie,

Thanks so much for your advice about the food. Samba has been on dry food all his life, but he has always loved an occasional can of wet fancy feast as a treat. He goes nuts over the stuff. His favorite is ocean whitefish & tuna, but I know now from reading that fish too often is not good for his kidneys. When I would give it to him as a treat, I would give him 1/2 can at a time because, if he eats the whole can, he will eat it so rapidly that it tends to make him sick. Your idea about the battery-operated rotating feeder is great. If you don't mind me asking, what feeder do you use? Your advice about mixing the wet & dry food at first was helpful too. So happy to hear that remission was possible for your kitty, and I hope that you are able to get back to that place soon. Thanks for your response.

<3 sarah & samba

 

[Sarah Mc]

Welcome to you and your very cute kitty, Samba! Cathie has given you good advice. You'll here the same thing from the rest of us:

1. no dry food only canned low carb food - Friskies and Fancy Feast pate types are fine;
2. start testing blood glucose at home ASAP and let us know what type of meter you use - human meter is fine;
3. set up the spreadsheet we use here because it's viewable by other members so we can see what's going on and can give specific advice.

That's it in a nutshell. Continue to ask any/all questions you have. We can help with all of the steps I listed above.

Thank you! Will do. I plan to start the home testing first before changing the food, per what I've read on here. I will start home testing after he does his glucose curve at the vet.

 

[Cathie and Shaak Ti (GA)]

Cathie,

Thanks so much for your advice about the food. Samba has been on dry food all his life, but he has always loved an occasional can of wet fancy feast as a treat. He goes nuts over the stuff. His favorite is ocean whitefish & tuna, but I know now from reading that fish too often is not good for his kidneys. When I would give it to him as a treat, I would give him 1/2 can at a time because, if he eats the whole can, he will eat it so rapidly that it tends to make him sick. Your idea about the battery-operated rotating feeder is great. If you don't mind me asking, what feeder do you use? Your advice about mixing the wet & dry food at first was helpful too. So happy to hear that remission was possible for your kitty, and I hope that you are able to get back to that place soon. Thanks for your response.

<3 sarah & samba

Hi Sarah,

In answer to your question I got a Pet Safe feeder from Amazon. Here is the link https://smile.amazon.com/PetSafe-5-...eder/dp/B000GEWHNS/?tag=felinediabetesfdmb-20

 

[Sarah Mc]

Hi Sarah,

In answer to your question I got a Pet Safe feeder from Amazon. Here is the link https://smile.amazon.com/PetSafe-5-Meal-Automatic-Pet-Feeder/dp/B000GEWHNS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484450986&sr=8-1&keywords=pet safe feeders

Thank you! I really appreciate all of your advice. If you don't mind me asking, how much fancy feast per day do you feed Shaak Ti? I am leaning toward 4 cans for Samba. He is currently on 2 cans plus 1/2 a cup of dry to transition him off the dry.