10/24 OT- Kitty starts Adequan! Dose? & DM carbs

Discussion in 'Lantus / Levemir / Biosimilars' started by Kathy and Kitty, Oct 24, 2011.

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  1. Kathy and Kitty

    Kathy and Kitty Well-Known Member

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    Dec 29, 2009
    I am excited and nervous - Kitty came home from his vet visit with his first Adequan shot on board! The vet started him with .2 (whatever the unit is), twice a week.

    He was okay with us giving the shot in the scruff. He'd prefer below the skin a little lower, but we're comfortable with scruff.

    Kitty now weighs 16 lbs, 1 oz. (That's down from his diagnosis weight of 21 pounds in 2009. :mrgreen: )

    I would love to know the dose other Adequan kitties get.

    Also... the vet asked why we don't like the Purina DM dry food. I told him I would get the carb content for him. Anyone know it?

    Thanks, everyone. Wish Kitty's joints luck!
     
  2. PeterDevonMocha

    PeterDevonMocha Well-Known Member

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    Dec 28, 2009
    Hi guys .. no carb idea from me, just wanted to say I hope the adequan helps out kitty and that he is feeling better and better every day!
     
  3. Kathy and Kitty

    Kathy and Kitty Well-Known Member

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    Thank you, Devon! I would love to see Kitty shake that booty a little more freely. :lol: Fingers, toes and paws crossed.
     
  4. Sienne and Gabby (GA)

    Sienne and Gabby (GA) Senior Member Moderator

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    It's not so much the carbs (7%), it's the ingredients: Liver, poultry by-products, meat by-products, water sufficient for processing, chicken, salmon, oat fiber, salmon meal, guar gum, potassium chloride, etc. Cat's don't need that much liver and certainly don't need food that's mostly by-products. I also don't like feeding fish and it contains salmon. For what you would pay for the pricey, low quality prescription food, you could feed one of the premium, human grade, lower in carb foods (e.g., Wellness turkey or chicken is 4% and far better quality). When I pointed out that FF was better quality and lower in carbs than DM, my vet stopped bugging me about feeding poor quality food.

    Good luck with the adequan.
     
  5. Amy&TrixieCat

    Amy&TrixieCat Well-Known Member

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    Good luck with the Adequan! It does sound like your dose is a bit conservative. Mario weighs about 13lbs, and gets .3ml. We saw improvement within a couple shots, but he definitely has continued to improve beyond that. We started in June, and I swear he's still getting looser and spunkier!
     
  6. Kathy and Kitty

    Kathy and Kitty Well-Known Member

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    Dec 29, 2009
    To make things more complicated with Adequan, I understand from Barbara that there's an equine version that works very well in cats.

    I was looking at Dyana's conversation in the Health forum about Adequan ( http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=54805&p=593389&hilit=adequan#p593389 ) and it seems like dosing advice varies. It does sound like .2 is conservative.

    I believe the vet hasn't used it with cats very much, if at all. He asked me whether I had gotten feedback from FDMB about dose. Maybe I'll check in with him and see whether he wants to increase.

    Sienne, I thought the DM dry was 13 carbs! That's what I got from Binky's list. I will definitely pass along the quality information. Either way, I would move Kitty only upwards, toward human grade. Just haven't had luck getting Kitty to eat it yet.
     
  7. Amy&TrixieCat

    Amy&TrixieCat Well-Known Member

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    Kathy - I just posted some stuff over in Dyana's thread...
     
  8. Kathy and Kitty

    Kathy and Kitty Well-Known Member

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    I saw, thank you. I should probably call the vet and ask to increase to .3. He was open to suggestion about the dose. I think he was being conservative - which I appreciate about him.

    Hippocratic oath: First do no harm. Would that be a Catocratic oath in this case? :lol: Sorry, long day.
     
  9. Amy&TrixieCat

    Amy&TrixieCat Well-Known Member

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    LOL!

    Unfortunately I don't know the actual formula my vet used, but I do know the number was calculated for Mario's dose.
     
  10. Roni and Moonie

    Roni and Moonie Well-Known Member

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    Dec 28, 2009
    Congrats on the adequan-Let me know how it is & maybe I will try it on Moonie..Hugs from us!
     
  11. Sienne and Gabby (GA)

    Sienne and Gabby (GA) Senior Member Moderator

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    I thought you were referring to DM canned. The dry is higher in carbs. The ingredients are still awful, though. And why would anyone feed dry? To any cat? Ever?
     
  12. Amy&TrixieCat

    Amy&TrixieCat Well-Known Member

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    As anti-dry as I am, I have yet to convince several members of my herd that wet is way better for them. I've tried all of Dr Lisa's tricks, and then some...they are a stubborn crowd. Noah and Petey were willing to starve themselves to death (literally) rather than eat enough canned to call it a meal. We finally had to reach a compromise of "high quality" (yes, I use that term loosely) grain-free dry. I always offer them wet, and they will take a few licks from time-to-time, but I've never been able to get them to consume nearly enough calories in wet food. I just continue to pray that they never become "D"...
     
  13. Kathy and Kitty

    Kathy and Kitty Well-Known Member

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    Dec 29, 2009
    Sienne, I know! The vet thinks it's good quality food. I will ask him what he likes about it. Thanks for the carb info.

    Amy, we finally weaned Kitty off the hard and onto the wet the night I forgot to leave out the dry, by mistake. :lol: But sounds like you have a tougher crowd.

    Now I see this:
    http://www.petplace.com/drug-library/po ... page1.aspx

    Says Adequan "should be avoided around the time of surgery, due to the potential to prolong bleeding (since the drug is related to the anticoagulant heparin)." Kitty has a dental coming up, with possible extractions!! DANG IT. Now what?
     
  14. Amy&TrixieCat

    Amy&TrixieCat Well-Known Member

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    When's the dental? I would definitely talk to your vet about that. I do know that bleeding is the one thing to be concerned about with adequan, and animals on blood thinners shouldn't use it. Maybe you should hold off on any further doses until after the dental?? Hopefully someone else will have better insight for you on that one.

    I think I would have an easier time eliminating dry if we didn't have 6 cats...they outnumber us by far, and they are stubborn little critters. I did manage to get Frankie almost completely converted. Trixie is a piglet, so eliminating the dry when she was diagnosed was virtually a non-issue - although she would LOVE to get her paws on it again! Noah, Petey, and Zen - the triplets - are tough, though. My favorite attempt was when I was scooping each individual kibble into canned and serving it on a plate. They loved the novelty of that one...for about 2 days.
     
  15. Kathy and Kitty

    Kathy and Kitty Well-Known Member

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    I stopped feeding dry nearly 2 years ago - but whenever I open the cabinet where I stored it, Kitty comes running and sniffs like crazy. Don't know what they put in that stuff, but they don't call it kitty crack for nothing.

    Oh, I was so proud of myself for carting Kitty in and starting Adequan. Yes, he needs the dental any time.

    DARN!!!! ohmygod_smile ohmygod_smile ohmygod_smile ohmygod_smile
     
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