? Newly diagnosed, a few questions

I just finished reading the stickies, just have a few questions.

My cat has been put on insulin, and vet wants to keep him in for a day for blood tests throughout that day to check the glucose curves after a few weeks. I'm wondering if this likely means just prick testing throughout the day? If so should I spend this money on a glucometer instead and do it myself?

Also wondering about recommendations for supplies ie syringes and insulin that may be a little cheaper than through the vets.

Just wondering also if raw meat combined with perscrption l diabetic wet food might be ok as only protein in the raw meat?

I'm located in Australia. Trying to be as frugal as possible as I'm having to down grade my car to pay for my cats treatment.

Thanks everyone!

 

Yes, at the vet they wouod only draw blood every 2 hours or so and it test it for glucose likely using a hand held meter. Yes, it wouopd be better to instead purchase a meter and do the ear pricks to get BG readings. I do not know what meters are readily available in Australia

 

Hi Natasha and welcome!
I also live in Australia.
Here is a link to information for Australian caregivers
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB...for-aussie-feline-diabetic-caregivers.217781/

 

What kind of insulin did your vet prescribe?

 

In answer to your question about food Natasha, it is not necessary to feed a prescription diet to your kitty. An ordinary low carb canned food is suitable or you can feed a raw diet, as long as it is nutritionally sound with the necessary supplements added.
Here is Australia we are limited in buying the supplements needed to add to the food to make it complete, although there are options.
I feed a raw diet to my cats and use the frankenprey diet which doesn’t need as many supplements although I do give added taurine, vitamin E and give a raw egg a week and sardines once a week.
There is a company in Western Australia that makes a supplement that is suitable to put in raw meat for cats. I have mentioned it in the link I sent you. They also have a Fb website called Australian Raw fed cats which is very good.

If you want to continue with the prescription Food and added raw meat, that is OK as long as the amount of raw meat is not more than 10 to 20% of the total and you make sure the prescription food is low carb.

 

Cannuslin I think is the name. We are doing a week of .2ml a day, and then doing a curve in a week. I am wanting to get a glucometer to monitor him at home though. The range for his glucose was meant to be 3-8, but he was sitting at 29. Thanks for your help

 

Thank you I checked out the website. I am going to attempt the frankenprey diet combined with perscription diet (thank you for making me aware of this), my local butcher is going to assist with this thankfully! Currently I have been given https://vetpost.co.nz/product/hills...MIjvnGranC7QIVDTErCh1POAGgEAQYASABEgLspvD_BwE this Hills glucose/weight management dry food, and the same of the wet canned food. At this point he needs to gain around 2.5kg. Thank you so much

 

Just spoke to my vet, he said it can be hard to get an accurate reading in office because stress affects their glucose levels sometimes, so highly recommended I test him at home as well. Do you have any glucose meters you could recommend that are a reasonable price, maybe I can order from the states or find equivalent here? Thank you for your help

 

Awesome thank you!

 

We have lots of suitable meters here in AUS Natasha. If you look in the link I sent you in post 3 you will see some suitable ones. What you need to establish is if you can buy the test strips at a reasonable price. Buying them at the chemist is expensive. I used to buy mine online at eBay.there are sellers here in Australia who are reliable. I had an Abbott Feestyle Optium human meter.i think it has been upgraded now but still has Optium in the name and is made by Abbott.

the Hills glucose /weight management dry is around17% carbs so is high carb....not recommended but is lower than most of the other dry foods. The canned food in the glucose/ weight management is lower. You would do just as well with fancy feast, or Weruva or similar. Have a look in Petbarn. They have a good variety.
If you do the frankenprey diet, do you think your kitty will eat the raw bones? Otherwise you will need to add calcium, which I can help you with. I would also give a raw egg yoke once a week added into the food and a canned sardine once a week. I freeze left over sardines for next time.

 

it is common for newly diagnosed cats to have lost weight. Sheba had got quite thin when diagnosed but once she started insulin and her BG came down some she started to regai it. She eventually regained all the weight and muscle she lost.

I am surprised to see your vet started your kitty on caninsulin. There are much better and newer options now that have been around for many years. Glargine (other name Lantus) is a longer action and much more suitable insulin for cats and is readily available here in Australia.
Caninsulin was made for dogs and drops the blood glucose quite fast. Make sure you feed your kitty 20 to 30 minutes BEFORE you give the insulin so food is aboard before the insulin onset as it drops the BG quite quickly.
I am going to add the link to caninsulin
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/beginners-guide-to-caninsulin-vetsulin.231587/

 

Great thank you so much I am going to go ahead and order the optium device, I was just reading about it before a read your reply!

Ah interesting, I had wondered how the dry food was managing to be low carb. Perhaps this might be ok to use just a little only while adjusting his insulin dose. I am scared of his BG dropping and having too much insulin, because he seems to respond really fast to low carb (I had switched his diet when symptoms first started and he seemed normal, then months later adding dry food back he became extremely symptomatic, I have only just today taken the dry food away, and I am worried his BG will drop considerably and the insulin will be too much, very unlikely to happen but still a concern). At least now I will have a good gauge on him with the glucometer at home. Thank you for your advice.

Yep, he will be fine with the raw bones, he eats birds mice etc whatever he can catch whole. Calcium was testing at 2.4 right now range (1.9-2.8). I might get him some bloods done in six months or so just to make sure he doesn't end up lacking. Will check out the carb content for fancy feast etc options as hills is way out of my price range. This is all so helpful, my cat will be thanking you

 

Ah interesting, I did ask the vet why caninsulin was the choice, he just said in his experience cats in similar catergory as mine respond well to it, but we may be able to change later if needed. Could this be that the insulin is cheaper (they are aware that I am young and don't have much money), or perhaps because my cats levels are so high 29 (range 3-8), or perhaps his age?

Thank you for the more specific instructions that the vet gave me. They did give me a print out of directions, but they were more vague than what you have linked. And just said "feed before shot" without timing specifics. Glad to hear your cat regained that weight and muscle, mine is a big cat and has a tummy, but his limbs and spine are extremely thin, hopefully I get the same results!

 

It’s a pleasure to help a fellow Aussie
Any of the fancy feast pate canned foods are low carb.
I would also get in some fancy feast gravy lovers canned food (just a few cans to start with) and some honey. Mark the top of the gravy lovers with a cross so you know they are high carb and put them and the honey in a spot in the cupboard and keep in case you need them if he drops low.

when you order the lancets ( they prick the ear) try and get gauge 26 or 28. It will make it easier to get the blood.

you might like to set up your spreadsheet while you are waiting for the meter. Here is the link. If you have any trouble, just let us know and someone will help you
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/spreadsheets-tech-support-testing-area.6/

 

Oh fantastic, I know for sure he likes the fancy feast pate. And I will get the gravy/honey ready for in case.

I unfortunately just ordered 30 gauge, I can grab some at my local pharmacy. The spreadsheet is a huge hel0p thank you. My vet is very pro me monitoring it myself so that will be handy to share with him too.

THANK YOU SO MUCH

 

I have no idea how much the caninsulin costs in Australia but the Lantus used to cost around $56 for a cartridge. Later when I changed to Levemir ( which is very similar to Lantus), I used to buy it from the chemist with a script and I got 5 cartridges for $99.
It’s not unusual for a cat to have a BG of 29 when diagnosed. Lantus will work just as well with a BG of 29 as caninsulin, and the advantage of Lantus is that it doesn’t drop the BG as fast and it had a much better duration. So you don’t get the lows then highs when the insulin wears off that you get with caninsulin. You get a longer lasting, flatter curve and the insulin usually lasts until the next dose.

 

Try the 30 gauge in the lancets and see how you go. If they don’t work you can get the larger ones.
That is great your vet is pro testing. Many vets aren’t.
Which city are you in? I’m in Sydney.

 

Make sure the FF can says “gravy lovers”. Some of the cans will say “with gravy” and they aren’t necessarily high carb.

 

If you are already giving him insulin, I would not take the dry food away until you are testing the BG. This is because changing from a high to a low carb diet can drop the BGs by up to 5.5 (100 in US numbers). Once you are testing you can safely do it and adjust the insulin dose.

 

I'm in Melbourne! That's awesome.

Thank you re the gravy lovers specification. The more gravy the more my cat likes it, I've likely been loading him up on glucose giving these so freely

I gave him some of the high carb dry food with his meat as usual before I gave him his shot, hopefully the glucometer arrives fast so I can see what's happening properly!

Thanks again for so much help.

 

Looking forward to seeing the spreadsheet with some of the BG numbers in it!