At wits end not sure what to do about my eldest cat...

[xeoneex]

So last September-ish my eldest Matty was diagnosed with diabetes.  I've been struggling to keep it under control, pooring ALOT of money into insulin and syringes and the like.  My 2 other cats are fine but she seems stressed out and pee's outside the box.  My girlfriend causes her stress whenever she visits, as my cat only likes me my brother and my mother.  She doesn't seem to be in pain as she purrs when I pet her and every so often she jumps up on my bed and lays next to my pillow, sometimes I get cat butt in my face .  I've already done one fructosamine test where her sugar was like 635.  The vet raised her vetsulin to 2 units but I don't know.  She's lost considerable amount of weight as well and I'm heartbroken and stressed out as to what to do.  Part of me thinks maybe it's time to put her to sleep but I just don't have the heart to do it.  The other part wants to trudge on and see if we can't get the sugar under control.  Big problem is though, I leave food out to feed my cats as my 2 youngest are still kittens pretty much.  And they tend to want to snake any food I try to give Matty.  The vet recognizes this and says that its fine so long as I give her the insulin.  I do have a vet appointment coming up on the 15th for another fructosamine test, but I mean if it shows her sugar high what do I do?

 

[pusheen]

Taking care of a diabetic cat is incredibly tough. It's no wonder you feel overwhelmed. 

When you have a sick cat you don't just need the resources to give her the care she needs--you need to be laser-focused on her. You need to be able to put her health first. She's sick and she's your responsibility. If she's under stress because of things in her environment (like your girlfriend), and if her health is at risk, my thoughts are that you aren't able to give Matty the care she needs at this time--you have other kitties too who naturally need your attention.

If her sugar is high, it doesn't always mean the insulin isn't working--there could be other factors in her surroundings preventing stabilization. Have you considered rehoming her?

The decision to put a cat to sleep should only come when her quality of life is being severely affected. And while this sometimes goes hand in hand with your quality of life caring for her, you need to make sure that you are putting her to sleep because she's not well enough to live, and only after exhausting other avenues of care. Sending you & Matty well wishes. 

 

 

[xeoneex]

Where would i go to re-home her?  Would someone take a 13 year old diabetic cat?  I don't know anyone really that can take cats etc...

 

[LTS3]

Have you visted FelineDiabetes.com? If not, do so. There is a wealth of information there on how to manage a daibetic cat, including a daibetic cat in a multi-cat household where feeding every cat the same diet may not be possible. There's a great message board there for support and tips and help, too. If you decide to re-home, the FDMB board can recommend a diabetic cat rescue that may be able to help.

If Vetsulin isn't working, there's no point in using it. There are other insulins that can be used: Lantus, BCP PZI,  ProZinc, Levimir. Talk to your vet about these insulins.

The fructosamine only gives an average blood glucose level over the past few weeks. A blood glucose curve where the glucose level is taken about every 2 hours for a day is a better indicator of how well the insulin and dose is working. I assume that if you're taking the cat to the vet for blood tests that you are not testing your cat's blood glucose levels at home. It's really important to home test so you know if your cat is at a safe enough blood glucose level for any insulin to be given.

Diet is important. Low carb canned food is best. Can you feed all the cats low carb canned food? If you have to feed some dry, make sure it's a fairly low carb grain free dry food and try to keep it out of reach of the diabetic. Some diabetics are very carb sensitive and a few pieces of eevn a "good" dry food can send blood glucose levels really high.

 

[xeoneex]

Well my youngest isn't quite a year old, is she ok to use the low-carb food?  I want her to get her nutrients.  I'll check out the website, but they the vet told me it would cost me alot of money to get a home test kit and strips.  I don't have alot of cash to throw around for all of this, so I am thinking getting her into the hands of someone who has the funds and know-how to take care of her properly.  I'm under severe depression which makes all of this even more difficult.  This is only compounding my stress and putting me more into depression.  I'll post on the diabetes forum to see if someone can help find a home in my area.

 

[catlover73]

My husband is Diabetic and he buys his test strips on Amazon.com.  He stopped buying them at a store because there was such a huge difference in price. You may also be able to get the test kit online for a much more reasonable price.  He does not use Insulin though. You can always look at the equipment online and ask your vet for their opinion on which one you should use.  I hope this will help with some of the financial difficulty you are dealing with.

I am sorry you are having such a hard time managing your baby's Diabetes.  I do not have an experience with Insulin and cats so I am not really able to offer you any more advice.  You and your baby are in my thoughts.

 

[xeoneex]

Thanks, I have a vet appointment coming up I'll talk to them about it when I get a chance.

 

[kittens mom]

I think you go to the vet on the 15th and express all of these concerns there.

Rehoming a senior cat with diabetes would likely stress her to the point of no return.

LTS3 gave you a great resource. A support group can do a lot in helping you cope and find ways to deal with this in your life without making it your life.

Do you have a place in your home to keep her when you have company. Something that is cat resource rich, Shelves, Windows where she is removed from the stress.

At the end of the day it belongs in the heart and the mind of the pet owner when enough is enough and quality of life is compromised. That usually runs parallel to the pet owner being able to provide home care to keep the cat pain free and quality of life.

To me it sounds like you are having some normal frustrations and concerns about what you are doing. Your veterinarian should be able to help you clarify those thoughts so you can make the decision that is right for you and your cat.

 

[LTS3]

Low carb food is fine for all cats

Many foods are for "all life stages" anyways and you can always give the one cat kitten specific food for a meal in a separate room where the diabetic can't eat it. There may  be some kitten foods that are low carb. Check this chart: http://catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf Under 10% carbs is best for diabetics.

A blood glucose meter kit is not expensive at all. You can use a Human blood glucose kit. There are animal specific ones but they cost more and the test strips aren't sold in any store. I like the AccuChek Aviva. Test strips can be pricey but you can buy them cheaper online. I think the FDMB board recommends the AmericanDiabetesWholesale.com web site for testing supplies and even syringes. Walmart's Relion brand of meters work swell but I don't think you can buy the relion brand from the Walmart web site if you don't have a store nearby. Your local pharamcy probably has a generic meter called TrueTrack or something similar. That would work just as well. A starter kit typically has only includes10 test strips and 10 lancets so be sure to buy a separate box of each while you at at the store, or add to your shopping cart if you are buying online.

Vetsulin is a U40 insulin so be sure to use only U40 insulin syringes unless you know how to correctly do the dose conversion for U100 insulin syringes. I believe AmericanDiabetesWholesale.com sells U40 insulin syringes.

Managing a diabetic cat doesn't have to make you go broke

There are many ways to save money, such as doing blood glucose curves at home yourself instead of paying the vet $$$ to do it and get inaccurate results. When I had a diabetic, I only had to spend money on supplies every few months.I used the pack of Levemir pens instead of the bottle (5 pens = at least 5 months of insulin vs 1 bottle = maybe a month before it loses effectiveness), bought cases of food in bulk, tested my cat at home and emailed the vet the curve results (well, actually I kept an online spreadsheet of every single blood gluocse level taken daily and shared the link with my vet), sometimes I scored a free box of syringes from another FDMB member or from FreeCycle.

 

[xeoneex]

And the othe rproblem I forgot to mention, when my girlfriend comes over, she brings HER cat cause she doesn't like to leave him alone, the 2 kittens are fine, but Matty stresses out.  

 

[LTS3]

Being stressed out can cause a diabetic cats blood gluocse levels to be elevated. So your girlfriend's cat may be at least part of the problem. Cats are perfectly fine with being home alone. It's much safer for them, too IMO. Is your girlfriend's cat one of those really social cats who loves being taken out on walks and stuff?

 

[kittens mom]

As a general rule, cats don't like play dates with other cats.

 

[xeoneex]

It's with a grim, sad, and heavy heart that I have to inform that Matty, my eldest cat is gone.  I made the decision to humanely euthanize her today because she had been growing increasingly weak.  My girlfriend pointed out to me a few things that ultimately lead to the decision to do this.  I was very upset and my grief is very strong, a decision I did not make lightly.  I still have 2 of my babies left which I will continue to take care of vehemently.  I want to thank all those who gave me info, links and such, to help me maintain my cats diabetes but it was outside of my financial means, as well as my mental state was declining because she was suffering.  Every time I would pet her she had this deep gutteral meow that now looking back on was a sign she was declining.  In the end I just couldn't care for her the way she needed.

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• xeoneex
• Mar 20, 2016

RIP Matty 2003-2016