Diabetic kitty

hi all, I have a newly diagnosed diabetic kitty. Doolie is 12yrs old and one of our barn cats. as sweet as they come and lives in our office in the barn. noticed last week she was loosing weight, low energy and drinking a lot of water. Took her to the vet... diagnosed with raging kidney/bladder infection (on baytril now for 7 more days) and was told her glucose was 348. spent a week with the vet which was very stressful on her being an outside barn kitty. now home and on insulin 3 units once daily and told to feed DM dry cat food from purina veterinary diets.

my questions are these... vet mentioned she could return to normal over time (be non diabetic) and I need to check her glucose at least once a week. could this be from the infection?? and once it clears up, she won't need the insulin?

and next question is--- is there any other dry food I can use? the DM by Purina is almost $50 a bag and its a small bag!! I have 2 other barn cats that will have to go on her "diet" and at the cost, it will break us!!

I'm up for suggestions! thanks in advance. Kathy

Dry food is a no no for diabetics.  Diabetics need a low carb diet.  Canned food is best and you can get by with feeding Fancy Feast as long as it is the gluten free kinds.  http://www.felinediabetes.com/glutenfree.htm  Sometimes yes you can control feline diabetes with diet alone.  This site has a lot of information on it about diabetes in cats.  www.felinediabetes.com/  This is also an excellent site for information on diabetes in cats: http://catinfo.org/?link=felinediabetes

Science diet makes a w/d it is cheaper. Some cats spontaneously cure themselves of diabetes. 5 years later I am still waiting for my 16 year old to do that. This is a separate issue from the bladder infection. Kittys with diabetes are more susceptible to bladder infections so you have the typical diabetic cat. That being said your cat shouldn't get them too often. Glucose can be checked if you are able to draw blood from a prick you give to ur cat I was never ar to do that with my cat so we go every 3 months to the vet to test how the insulin is doing. I alternate between fructosimine sp? Test which shows how it has been working over the preceding weeks, and the glucose curve which is a series of glucose tests throughout the day. I have been able to successfully manage my cat this way. At the beginning you may have visits more often to adjust insulin dosages. When the insulin is at the right levels you will notice less thirst and less urine output.

There will be lots of vet checks at the beginning, but they will gradually taper off as you find the right insulin level. Glucometers are cheap (sometimes free), but some brands of testing stripes are expensive, and you want a glucometer that requires the minimum amount of blood. The feline diabetes website mentioned above has good information on this. It's important that you check your glucometer against the one used at the vet's because every glucometer has a slightly different range. My glucometer regularly reads slightly higher than the vets. My diabetic cat is pretty stable. I'm not a dab hand at pricking and testing so I tend to test about once a week, and do a glucose curve only when I get a good enough prick that I easily re-open throughout the day. It helps if someone holds a flashlight near the cat's ear so you can see the vein. If your cat is spending the day at the vet for a glucose curve, ask if the cat ate or drank during the day. If the cat has not eaten or had anything to drink (as mine did during a glucose curve visit), the reading won't be as accurate as it should be. Once you're comfortable, you can do a glucose curve at home.
Even though your cat is now on insulin, it will still need access to water at all times. I feed gluten-free Fancy Feast and DM kibble. You could try putting the kibble in an area where the other 2 cats don't go or don't have access to. That worked for me.
The diabetes is not linked to the infection, and spontaneous remission is not all that common (my vet has never seen it). I too am still waiting -- one year.
The beginning of diabetes treatment is new and confusing, but it gets easier and will soon become second nature.

What insulin is your cat taking?