Diabetes?

Hi there, well I am on my second diabetic cat. It usually isn't hard to manage. At least it hasn't been for me with this guy.

A diabetic cat should never be given dry food though. Talk this over with your vet. Sadly, the vet never told me to take my Farley V off dry and I lost him.

It isn't hard to give the shots either...I could do it in my sleep! It is funny to watch, I go and call Goofy, your insulin is ready. He runs in and jumps onto his stool and hangs his head over the side so I can grab his scruff. After the shot, I make sure to make a fuss over him, tell him how pretty and good he is. That way, he always associates his shot with fun.

A good site, where I learned a lot about FD is www.yourdiabeticcat.com. Good food information also.

Hopefully, your kitty will respond well to his insulin and get regulated easily.

Anything else I can do, just ask. You can always PM me. There are quite a few of us here who are in the same boat.

Hi, many of us have been where you are waiting for the confirmation to find which thing your cat has. I have a diabetic cat and have done a lot of reading about the disease and participated in internet groups so i've also seen how many other cats do.
And I would MUCH rather hear diabetes mellitus than CRF as a dx (even though cats seem to be living longer with CRF than they used to and there are new options that did not used to exist for slowing down the progression even halting it for a while. )

But a dx of diabetes offers a much better prognosis for cats. There are cats with it who will always need daily insulin but have lived long healthy lives getting insulin twice a day for 15 yrs or so. (of course usually it's not that long since they mostly are already middle aged or older when they get it )

In fact, not only is diabetes NOT by definition a progressive worsening disease but if it's caught early and treated, many cats (it's now looking like it may be MOST cats) can go into remission as long as they stay on a very low carb diet (which is what is natural for their species anyway and may help to prevent diabetes in cats that don't have it) The remission percentage becomes very high if the caretakers are willing to put in some effort to learn and work to keep the cat's blood glucose regulated (and monitored). For example there has been a study presented at vet conferences and published in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery by one of the leading researchers in feline diabetes, Dr. Jacquie Rand, showing over 80% of newly diagnosed cats on a tight regulation protocol going into remission and being able to be controlled on a low carb diet. (Look up study by Rand and Roomp for that figure.) The particular protocol can be found here: http://www.tillydiabetes.net/en_6_protocol2.htm

Part of being able to regulate your cat at a healthy range requires that you learn to monitor their blood glucose at home which you can do using the same glucometers that human diabetics use. That might sound totally overwhelming to you when you're thinking it is bad enough to have to give injections! But it really is possible to learn and the great majority of cats can be trained to accept it, even some cats that people thought would NEVER permit it end up cooperating and even come running for their BG test if they get a treat for it (no carb or low carb only!)
It really only makes sense-- diabetic humans are told to check their BG before injecting and through the day to see how high and low it is going. More and more vets are recommending home BG testing for pets especially cats whose BG can be really thrown off by stress so that tests at the clinic are often less accurate than ones done in their home environment. I put together this collection of studies and articles by vets on home bg testing for pets. https://docs.google.com/View?docid=dfcfh8mj_0d79r3gc9

The advances that have been made in treating feline diabetes -- in diet, use of longer acting insulins, home monitoring etc. have made a huge change that has led to an emphasis not just on regulation but at least attempting remission.

I learned some very good concepts about glucose toxicity, food, and healing from the papers of Dr Elizabeth Hodgkins on the website that farley recommended. (though I don't agree that there's only one protocol or insulin that is best for all cats)
I got the most direct help for dealing with regulating my cat on the insulin he was put on (Lantus ) from the biggest and oldest diabetic cat forum, the Feline Diabetes Message Board, FDMB. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/ I have seen the progress of hundreds of cats going into remission in the Lantus insulin group there with help from the very experienced caregivers .
The website connected with it http://www.felinediabetes.com has tons of info and was recommended by by vet.

Here is a very useful collection of links from Feline Outreach. http://www.felineoutreach.org/Educat...sMellitus.html

It's going to be really overwhelming at first. This is a complicated disease and there is so much to learn, and it is really important that you do learn for yourself since you are so involved in the treatment of your cat. The best way your vet can help is with an educated and motivated caregiver working as a team. I do recommend you join fdmb and introduce yourself in the Feline Health forum. Read their basic documents on feline diabetes and start looking at the links from that Feline Outreach collection. And take a deep breath. You are really not in it alone, you will have as much help and support as you want.

I just wanted to say I hope all turns out ok for Cotton. You sound like a good mom.

YAY!!!!! Good for you! I know that is a big step! Congratulations, I'm so glad it went well.

Sometimes it helps to give them their shot while they are busy eating and distracted. but with Cotton it sounds like he is just taking this all in stride. What a good boy!

Unless you feed him his meal right after (or during) the shot, it would be good to give him a little protein treat (like a bite of freeze dried chicken or dried fish or a bite of cooked chicken if you have some) right after the shot. In other words, some yummy thing right after the shot so Cotton will associate it with something pleasant. That can help him keep being such a good boy.
I'm so glad he has such great cat parents.

I think thats great! I agree, associate his insulin with something good! Then you will be posting how you call him and he comes running for his shot!

I also blow on his fur at the injection site to part the fur and give me a good view of his skin. That works with long haired cats tho better than short hairs.

Good going!!