New Member with Elderly Sugar Kitty

Hey y'all,

I found this forum through another group I am a part of, after receiving the diagnosis today/yesterday (I haven't gone to sleep yet, so it's still today for me). I just wanted to start off by saying how grateful I am that a resource like this exists.

If anyone has any recommendations for a glucose meter, please let me know! Moo Moo has been prescribed 1 unit of Lantus twice daily, and switched to wet Purina DM. More info about her diagnosis and medical history are below:

The reason I went to the vet today is that Moo Moo had a slightly swollen eye, with clear discharge. I had written it up as an eye infection, and that it would be an easy prescription for eye drops. They did a brief examination before, including checking her weight. She had dropped two pounds since her last visit in August. One of the techs came out to my car (curbside vet only in my state) and said that the vet wanted to run a senior wellness and thyroid profile on her, just to be safe. They ran blood and urine tests on her, while I sat in my car and tried not to cry while imagining the worst.

The vet came out this time and he broke the news, Moo Moo's blood glucose level was 507 mg/dl. She's negative for ketones in the urine, and her thyroid, liver, and kidney function are all normal. He said that he thinks that the swollen eye was a flare up of herpes from her body being under stress. So, I guess I got another new diagnosis today as well. To be honest, I kind of think that she has feline herpes might be a blessed in disguise. I haven't noticed any other change in her behavior in the past 4 months. I also don't know anything about her medical history before I got her, besides that I'm 99% sure she's had kittens at some point.

From what I know, she had a hard life before I got her. She was around 10-12, and the lady couldn't take care of her anymore. I've had her for 3 years now. She's always been one for the sedentary lifestyle, she's never wanted to run around or play. Once her arthritis flared up in 2019, she eventually wasn't able to jump up on my bed, so I got some pet stairs for her. She started receiving adequan shots and they have helped her so much. So, I hadn't noticed a change in activity level because there wasn't much in the past 4 months. She loafed around like she always has. I had switched over her watering system, so I'm not aware of any increases in thirst. Literally the only thing that might have tipped me off is about a week and a half ago, I had a small problem with ants in the same room as her litterbox. This is based on 0 research, so please don't take this as fact, but I think they probably were attracted to the glucose in her urine.

Any advice, personal stories, recommendations, etc. is more than welcome! Thank you, and stay safe!

 

If you're in the states you can go to Wal-Mart and buy their Relion meter for humans, it works fine for cats too.
No need to spend a lot of money on a pet meter, they are very expensive in the long run.
Good job on your signature!
Now you just need a spreadsheet set up, and you're ready to go

 

Thank you so much!! I will get one today, and set up the spreadsheet tonight.

 

Sounds great! Buy a lot of strips! You're going to test A LOT so just a few won't last long

 

I'll go ahead and apologize to my kitty's ears now lol

 

Lol I think we all do that several time a day!
But its in their own best interests. Soon this will be a new normal, your kitty will get used to it. Some even end up coming on their own when it's time.

 

Welcome to the forum! I am so glad that you caught Moo Moo's diabetes in time. I had a similar situation where I was going to adopt Dixie from a friend who couldn't take care of her anymore. I was going to take her in either within the month or wait a year, but the owner said that Dixie was getting older and sicker so I decided to take her in right away. Dixie used to be an outdoor cat and has long fur, so usually she is covered in mats. The previous owner trimmed her belly hair and ended up giving her quite a large cut on her belly the day that we took her home. She was so lethargic that nobody (not even the previous owner) noticed she had an open wound on her stomach for 4 days! When I discovered it, I took her to the vet ASAP and she got treated. I decided to get her a full senior blood panel at the same time and she came back with a diabetes diagnosis. She was showing symptoms of diabetes prior to this (drinking + peeing + eating + litter stuck to her paws), but the previous owner would explain these symptoms away (drinking because of a hot day, stopped eating because she was just picky etc.). She is my first cat, so I'm not sure how long it would take for me to notice her symptoms and take her in for a checkup. Her wound was unfortunate but definitely a 'blessing in disguise' as you put it!

This site is a great resource. When I first took her to the vet, the vet said that something was definitely up with her and that it could be any number of things. He mentioned she had 'thin pee' and that it could possible be diabetes (among many other things). I scoured the internet and determined that diabetes would be the easiest one to deal with. When the vet called up the next day, my partner answered and the vet told him that Dixie has diabetes and would need to start insulin. My partner came to wake me up and told me the news right away... and you know what I did? I cried tears of happiness! Hahaha it was so weird to be happy when she was diagnosed, but because of my research I had known that it wouldn't be that bad to deal with and that I would have a chance at getting her regulated. The rest of her lab work was clean (just like Moo Moo!). I came into the the vet's office and they were very happy that I was pro-active in helping Dixie and wanted to pursue treatment.

 

I'm so glad Dixie is okay now! I took a look at her spreadsheet, and it's so cool to see how much she has progressed in just a couple months. I see you have her food divided into eight meals a day, is that to make sure her blood sugar stays consistent through the day with no huge spikes or low lows?

It always amazes me how so many stories can have almost the exact same path. Thank you so much for sharing, I really appreciate it! I have learned so much in the past 24 hours from this forum and have already met some wonderful people. Please keep me updated on Dixie and how she is doing!!

 

Yes, I am amazed at her progress! Originally I thought the goal was to get her into remission. Her numbers started creeping up into the yellows and pinks (who knows why!) and I felt pretty down about it. Then her numbers came down again and I started looking at other cats here who are OTJ (into remission with no insulin) and it seemed like so many of them went into remission after only a couple of weeks. But I was already a few months in! People often mention here that cats can go into remission after being on insulin for years, but I haven't seen any of those myself so I lost a bit of hope there.

Instead of aiming for remission, I changed my goal to aim for under the renal threshold (so that she will not pee out glucose). When I got her under that, I decided to aim for tight regulation (2.7 - 7.5 mmol/L or 50-130 mg/dL). I think this means that the diabetes won't cause extra organ damage, but I'm not sure exactly. Basically, I am trying to prepare myself to take care of her in this way for the rest of her life. If she goes into remission? Then great! But if not then I won't worry about it. I think this way of thinking has allowed me to make better decisions about how to test her and take care of her because I am no longer trying to rush her into remission!

I originally gave her only two meals a day. Someone on the forum advised me that two meals is very hard on the pancreas (espeically for diabetecs). So small meals spread out in the first half of the insulin cycle are helpful. I give Dixie the largest meal at shot-time and then smaller meals as the cycle goes on. The last meal I feed her is at AMPS/PMPS +5, and then I remove all food at +10 so that her BG test won't be food-influenced!

I think it also avoids a large drop when the insulin onsets. I notice that Dixie will go back for more food around and hour or so after the shot.

I use an automatic pet feeder that makes the process pretty simple. It is what most people use around here and I love it!
https://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-5-Meal-Automatic-Dispenses-Digital/dp/B000GEWHNS

I use these bowls to put into the pet-feeder slots. I heard that cats can get acne if they eat out of plastic (which the pet feeder is), so I thought these glass bowls would do. I think they are pretty expensive, but I didn't want to go shopping during covid and it looked like these measurements would fit (and they do!). The little bowls are also nice for measuring out the food.
https://www.amazon.com/Duralex-France-Stackable-Piece-Glass/dp/B00I44K6YE

 

Great Thinking for Yourself and Your Dixie.

 

I guess I will have to research more about the timed feedings! Right now Moo Moo free feeds, she always has and it's pretty consistent throughout the day. I don't have any other pets, so there's no chance of others stealing her food. I am concerned about leaving wet food out in the open air for that long, but I will look more into that today.

She is responding well so far to her first insulin shot, I'm trying my best not to hover over her and bother her every five minutes lol. This is about +6hr from her first shot, and she (from what I can tell without a meter) is in very good spirits. She is a very cuddly cat, and today has been more cuddly than ever. I'm not complaining!

 

Dixie was also free feeding on dry food when I got her. I'm not sure how long she was diabetic before being diagnosed, but she was insanely hungry. When I left out unlimited dry food, she was eating twice her daily calories. I think the main concerns with feeding times is that 1.) Their preshot BG isn't influenced by food 2.) They are hungry at shot time and 3.) They don't get as much food later on in the cycle to prevent the food using up the insulin. I'm not as sure about 3.) and if it applies to you or not (since we are using different types of insulin), but I read it here somewhere on here. The transition to the automatic feeder only took a few days. Back when she was unregulated and super hungry it was pretty funny to watch her run to the feeder whenever it turned.

I took some pics so that you can see how the feeder works. Another reason I bought those glass bowls was so that I could put ice packs underneath them to keep the food fresh. There are quite a few ways that people here do this. Some will add an ice cube to the later meals. Some will add reusable ice cubes. I think some even freeze the food then let it defrost.

I was originally pretty concerned with this (especially since it is sitting on a heated tile floor), but I actually haven't had any issues with it. The whole feeder is sitting on a 3 inch plastic bin so that it doesn't touch the heated floor. The feeder also makes a pretty good seal so that the next meals will stay fresh. It obviously isn't air-tight, but I have noticed that all of her meals stay fresh for the 6 hours that it stays out. If the mini ice pack plan didn't work out, my other plan was to put the entire feeder on one of those large flat ice packs. The thing is battery operated so you can put it anywhere. But yeah, I haven't noticed any issue with freshness so I never looked into getting any ice packs.

I'm so glad Moo Moo is responding well to the insulin! I'm sure that she is feeling much better on it.

 

I think I have my signature and spreadsheet set up, please let me know if anything looks wonky!
Moo Moo so far has finished about one can of food a day, and hasn't been gobbling it up. I am going to keep an eye on her, because I don't know if she loves the Purina DM.

My concern with timed feeding with her is if she doesn't have access to something she will immediately give up and go take an hour or more nap. With my work schedule (12 hour shifts), I'm worried she'd go hypo. For a couple days when I next work my manager is letting me bring her so I can keep an eye on her, just keeping her in a spare room. I only live 10 minutes from my work, so I'm thinking of getting cameras set up with motion detectors at her food and water bowls, and the two places she sleeps/relaxes most often. I wish there was an owlet smart sock but for cats lol

 

Hello and welcome.

There is nothing magic about DM, actually not the greatest ingredients. It's biggest downfall is that many cats get tired of it. What you want is a low carb wet or raw food, and there are many commercially available products that fit that bill. This food list (look for under 10% carbs) gives many options.

If your kitty is a grazer, that's OK too. Ideally when you are new and learning how Moo Moo works with the Lantus, you want to try to lift food up a couple hours before shot time, so your blood test at that point isn't influenced by food.

When you off shopping for the meter, make sure to pick up some Neosporin with pain relief (to dab on the poke spot after), and some ketostix to test for urinary ketones. It's something you'll want to keep an eye on when she's in higher numbers. And for when you get that meter: Hometesting Links and Tips

 

I have to give her the am shot around 5:30am, would it be better to lift the food all night or leave it all night? It might be worth looking into timed feeders because of my crazy schedule

 

Having food available in case she goes low is a good idea. For grazers, you can program feeders to be open all the time, but just to rotate to an empty slot 2 hours before shot time.

 

Thank you so much for your help, I will definitely be looking at the feeders then! I wasn't sure if that was an option, so it's good to hear that it is