short trip with diabetes, but here to help others

hi all! my name is Ashley, and my patient is a nine year old orange tabby named Harry. fortunately, he is doing well and is "cured" of his diabetes. I'm here to help others who have diabetic cats and who have questions about stuff. Harry only needed insulin for about two months before we were able to get him off of it, but we caught the diabetes pretty early, I think.

here's my story:

back in November, I moved in with my boyfriend -- I left my mom's house behind, as well as two other cats who belonged to my sister. Harry, being my baby, came with me. I was told that when moving, cats are prone to getting bladder infections. I kind of kept an eye out for it, but he seemed fine, so I pretty much just dismissed it. in the first month or so, after he adjusted to the new environment, he was the happiest cat ever. he'd run to the door and greet us when we got home from work, he'd trill and his tail would quiver if we even looked at him, he meowed a ton because he felt like he had a voice. he's always been an alpha male, so being the only cat in the new place made him really happy.
however, in the weeks following, I started noticing little things. his paws would have little bits of litter on them and would be stained grey from the dust from the litter. he wasn't cleaning himself properly and he had almost... crunchy fur along his haunches, as though he was just ignoring it and letting urine dry wherever it ended up. he was losing weight (about three pounds in six weeks). I was concerned, but at the same time, thought it was a mix of stress from moving out mixed with his personality changing some now that he was the sole king of the house.
that attitude completely flipped around one morning before work. I walked into the closet (where his box is) to grab clothes to start my day, looked down, and saw white, fuzzy, crystalish stuff on top of some of his urine spots. that immediately freaked me out. I went to work, called the vet, set up an appointment, asked for an estimate on a bladder infection diagnosis and treatment, because I still thought it was a bladder infection.
a few hours later we were in the vet's office. they took Harry back, brought him back to the room, and told me it would be a few minutes. boyfriend and I sat there, anxiously waiting, gently petting Harry as he explored the room.
the vet came in and blindsided me. he didn't hesitate, he didn't start by saying that it wasn't a bladder infection. just: "Harry's diabetic."
my blood went cold. my aunt had a diabetic cat who passed a few years ago, so both she and my mother were pretty familiar with taking care of them. I remembered seeing my aunt give her cat a shot of insulin once, and I remembered that on the way to the vet that day that image had been in my head and I was thinking of how awful it would be if I had to do that.
jinx, guess what I get to do.

over the course of the next week, after the hustle bustle of getting insulin, going back to the vet to learn how to give him shots, etc etc etc, we were giving him 2 units of insulin twice a day and he was eating royal canin glycobalance. my mother had been talking to me about other food options that might have been better, but my relationship with Harry is ridiculous -- he's like my son, not my cat. I'm stupid attached to him. so I didn't want to think about it, I was already so scared and stressed and upset. we went back in for a glucose check a week later, and they said that 2 units was good.

so we kept at that for a few weeks, but my mother was adamant about the other food options until she ended up calling the vet on my behalf and asking about it.

god, am I glad she did.

after she finally talked me into buying the different food, I gave it to Harry, and I instinctively dropped him to 1 unit of insulin while we were transitioning. the transition was difficult because he hated the new food at first. he'd go for the dry food instead of the wet food every time because he was disgusted by the wet food. after a few days, though, he realised that it was fantastic and he ate it. his dry food had been about 25% carbs, while the wet food was less than 1%. so dropping him to 1 unit when he was 50/50 dry/wet was something I just instinctively needed to do. when we took him in for another check, they said his blood sugar was still good... but I had adjusted his insulin (without them knowing, which I feel bad for, but whatever). so when we put him entirely on the wet food, I knew his blood sugar was getting too low. I took a day off work to monitor him to make sure nothing serious happened, but they wanted me to keep him on 1 unit (even though I explained it to them) and the checkup was several days after he was entirely on wet food.

that was too long for me. we took him in on the second day of wet food, they checked his blood.. and told us to stop giving him insulin, and come back in a week.

I cried from happiness. we went in a week later and it was still the same thing: no more insulin.
we have another appointment in the next few days to make sure that he's still doing well, and then if he is, we'll have appointments every six months to a year to keep an eye on it.

but ultimately, Harry is diabetes-free. (I know that technically medically he's not, once diabetic always diabetic sort of thing, but because his food gives him so few carbs he essentially is cured).

so now, he's on 100% wet food, he LOVES it. I used to always share pieces of my food with him, and I could eat a piece of cardboard and he'd come over and eat it too just cause he saw me eating it. now, I could be holding a steak in front of him and he'd sniff it in curiosity then move on. he's at a healthy weight, but is very lean instead of fat now (he used to be sooo fat lol). he trills constantly, his tail never stops quivering, he is extremely playful -- he never used to play, ever, not even before the diagnosis. now, he'll come over and meow at me until I pick up the laser for him. it is fantastic. he sleeps on the bed with us now and is much more snuggly and he is just overall extremely, extremely happy (and consequently, as his momma, I am too).
no more shots, no more insulin, just somewhat expensive wet food that's composed of raw meat that was ground up (and still has bones in it, yuck!) needless to say, I'm a massive fan of the food he's on and I am so happy that he's healthy and happy. every day when we get home, we can see him sitting in the window, waiting for us, meowing at us, rubbing against the glass because I can totally reach the third floor from the ground

so that's my story. I'm here to help people help their kitties, because I have never been so happy with Harry.

 

That is such wonderful news. Shaak and I are actually on a two week trial without insulin right now ourselves. We switched Shaak from dry to wet food and in one day Shaak's numbers dropped a couple hundreds of points and within 5 weeks she was regularly only getting minute doses of insulin. We decided to start feeding her several times a day instead of just twice and see if her numbers would level out and THEY HAVE! I am so thankful for having switched Shaak from dry to wet food. We are a joyful household. We also pray every day for Shaak so I know God is with her as well!

 

Hi ! Thank you for sharing your story and I am so glad your wee cat is in remission and enjoying life to the full! I am new to the site and new to diabetic cats! My cat was diagnosed a couple of weeks ago and we are now on one and half units of insulin twice daily. I have always given her wet food but did had dry biscuits out for her to nibble on...thing is she nibbled all the time and became quite overweight! After much reading I understand dry is full of carbohydrates and not good for the cat (needless to say all dry nibbles have been binned!) I would like to try her on raw but not confident to make it myself so wondered if anyone could point me in the direction of premade raw? Is there such a thing? I want to give her the best food I can to help her keep healthy and reduce her weight (she is 5.7kg) I was a bit overwhelmed when we were first diagnosed - I wasn't sure I would manage but we are getting there and the routine is becoming easier! About to carry out my first home test - another hurdle! I am in the UK (not sure if this site is US ?) and not sure the food brands will be the same but ANY advice on what I should feed Kya would be greatly appreciated!

 

I'm in the US but the food we are giving him (which put him into remission very quickly so it could possibly do the same for you) is Darwin's. I don't know if they ship to the UK though. You can check them out at darwinspet.com. It is moderately expensive but it's amazing. Would recommend it to everyone honestly.

 

We have people from many countries here at FDMB.

@Kya

 

While most diabetic cats need some time on a long acting insulin to reach remission, a few lucky cats (about 25%) can make it there quickly just by changing the diet. Congrats on your success with the diet change! Switching to a low carb canned or raw diet is absolutely vital for diabetic cats!

 

@Mericet -- I forgot to add, even though you no longer are giving insulin, you may want to learn to home test. A diabetic cat in remission is still diabetic, and home testing is incredibly useful in helping you keep an eye on his health. Blood glucose tests at the vet are inflated by stress. Many things can knock a diabetic cat out of remission-- a concurrent ilness, infection, dental problems, etc., and the sooner you get his blood glucose back under control the better your chances are to get him back in remission. Bandit has been diabetic for 7 years, and in remission for most of those years, but I still test him periodically (I do once a week, but I would say at least once a month), and that has allowed me to catch several problems early. If he ever does need insulin again (and he may, Bandit has needed it three separate times over the years), home testing will be your most valuable tool getting him back into remission.

 

Thank you for your input the food that I'm giving him has less than 1% carb content so unless he gets into something he shouldn't (or unless I completely misunderstand how diabetes works which is entirely possible) then hopefully he should be okay. I'll look into it, though!

 

I think you may be misunderstanding how diabetes works in cats a little.

It's not just food that can cause high numbers in a diabetic cat. Dental problems and infections can also cause blood sugar to go up--these are things that are likely to happen occasionally in your cat's life. Bandit had to go back on insulin last year because he was on steroids, and that can also knock a cat out of remission. The sooner you catch these sort of things and treat them, the better your chances of either not needing insulin or just needing it for a short time. That's why monitoring his blood glucose occasionally yourself is important--it allows you to catch these things quickly and treat them so you have a better chance of getting your cat back into remission. And if you ever do need to give insulin again, you'll already know how to do it.

 

Okay, thank you for the information! I'll definitely look into that, then.

 

Hi Kya,

Only came across your post just now. FYI there are a number of UK members here (myself included).

There is one UK premade raw food of which I know. Here's a link for you:

https://www.naturesmenu.co.uk/

@Elizabeth and Bertie - Do you know of any other raw food choices available in the UK?


Mogs
.

 

Yes, indeed, there are several ready made raw foods available in the UK.

@Kya , in addition to the Nature's Menu (mentioned by Mogs above) there is also; Natural Instinct, Natural Instinct 'Country Banquet', Nutriment, and Purrform.
There are more details about these on the food list in my signature (scroll down the list to the 'raw food' section). Some of them have additives that may or may not be suitable for a particular kitty.
Natural instinct is fairly widely available now.
My personal favourite (or rather, my cats' personal favourite ) is Purrform. But it is bloomin' pricey so my lot only sometimes get this as a supplement to their mostly canned diet. (I buy it in 500g packs rather than the much more expensive little pouches, but it's necessary to buy it in bulk in order to do that, so there needs to be a bit of space in the freezer.)

It is also possible to make your own home made raw food from scratch. This isn't actually that difficult, especially if you have a meat grinder. But it does take a bit of initial research to make sure that the recipe you're using will give the correct nutrient balance; and you'd probably be making a decent sized batch at a time so, again, you'd need space to store it.
Some people have had success by simply adding a supplement mix to plain raw meat; for example, this one from Zooplus: http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/supplements_specialty_cat_food/vitamins/155860

It's also possible to supplement a canned diet with plain raw meat. My understanding is that up to 20% of the diet can be comprised of plain meat as long as the rest of the diet provides the additional nutrients that cats need (and any good quality canned food should hopefully do that).

FYI, My cats didn't recognise raw food as food when I first tried them with it, ha-ha! So I mixed a teaspoon of plain minced meat into their canned food, and then gradually increased until they would eat a whole dish of raw food. It was interesting to observe their reaction: At first they weren't really fussed about the raw at all, but then, quite suddenly, they got the taste for it, and their eyes would widen as if to say, "Geez, this is great, where have you been hiding this stuff?!"

Eliz