New Here!

My 9 year old tabby, Mr. Kittyface was diagnosed with diabetes two weeks ago. He is on 2units of Prozinc twice a day. He is currently on Hill's Prescription Diet W/D because of a bout of pancreatitis a few months ago. I have been doing some reasearch(that has thankfully led me here) and it seems this food is too high carb for a diabetic cat. However, my vet said it should be ok. But now I don't know if I should switch his food(will ask vet). He is still drinking a lot and hungry all the time and peeing outside of the box. He's only been on the PZ for a week and a half.

I am reading that I should buy a home glucose monitor(Relion was recommended). If I do that I will need the monitor, the test strips, lancet, and lancet device. Is this correct?

 

Welcome to yourself and Mr. Kittyface!

You're correct about needing to start home testing before making a change to a lower carb food because as the dietary carb load is reduced the insulin dose usually needs to be reduced in parallel to make sure your kitty doesn't go too low.

You're also correct that you need the meter, test strips and lancets (26 or 28 gauge). The lancet device is optional because you can 'freehand' the ear pokes with the lancets if you wish. If you're nervous about doing the actual pokes (I was!) then it's probably better to use the lancet device. You can move on to freehanding if you wish after you build up more confidence. Relion meters are popular with many members here and both the meter and test strips are reasonably priced.

I'd also recommend that you pick up some urine ketone test strips. Testing for ketones is a general safety precaution, especially for kitties that are newly diagnosed, doubly so if they're not yet regulated and are therefore likely to be running in high numbers. (You can get the ketone strips at Walmart too.)

In case you haven't found them yet, here are links to some helpful resources to assist you in learning to home test.

Home testing links and tips

Testing and injection tips


Mogs
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Mogs has given excellent advice already, I'm just here to second it!

Also, loooooooove the name!

 

Welcome! You will find an abundance of information here - don’t feel you have to learn everything at once as we encourage new people to ask questions - lots of questions on the forum. Members may direct you where to find the information so you will be able to find it again in the future.
Most of us have found that our vets knew very little about Feline Diabetes (FD) . In my case, my vet himself was diabetic, said he was very familiar with FD but had I followed his advice the outcome would have been disastrous. Please post the advice your vet gives you on the forum - the members on this forum are not in anyway a substitute for a vet but we have lived and breathed this sugar dance. Also, the members of the forum are a very good resource for evidenced based research and will help you formulate questions for your vet. If you aren’t sure about shooting insulin, figuring out the spreadsheet, food alternatives etc., please post a question. We all started out at the beginning too.
Home testing is very important. I started out with using the Alphatrack (for cats) but like most, I quickly switched to a human meter because the cost of the test strips Was outrageous.

 

Thank you! I am feeling a bit overwhelmed right now. I am glad I found this group.