On January 21, 2018, my 7 year old dlh was diagnosed with diabetes. When I initially took him to the vet due to my concern with weight loss, he weighted in at 11lbs. The vet said this was ideal for his size. He had only need a few pounds heavier before the weight loss started. The vet said she wasn’t sure how long he had been dealing with diabetes but hoped we caught it in time for possible remission in the future once his glucose was under control. So with all the new information the vet gave me, I have been completely stressed. Two days after his initial diagnosis, she waspnted to see him to check his glucose level to see how the previous two days on insulin had been going. Both the first visit and this visit, his glucose level was in the 400s. So she said to keep giving him 2 units on insulin two times a day. We scheduled a glucose curve for 3/9 (yesterday) and she said that his level was in the 300s all day so she wanted me to start giving him 3 units twice a day for the next two weeks and she wants to do another glucose curve. I purchased the Alphatrak2 glucose monitor to be able to check him at home if he were to start acting out of the norm. I set the monitor up per the alphatrak instructions. I received the monitor on 3/8. That night after setup and a control test, I decided to check my cat, Booger (the one with diabetes). This was about an hour and a half after he had eaten half the serving of his food bc that’s all he wanted to eat in the 30 minutes or so I gave him to eat. His glucose level was 488. Yeasterday he wasn’t seeming like himself before his night time insulin dose so I checked him and he was at 539. I am not sure why he is so high at home but not at the vets office. This has definitely been a transition for both of us and I am constantly worried for my baby. So much so that I have a hard time sleeping and I have no appetite most of the time. I’m just concerned on what to do if his glucose level is really high. I mean I’m just talking here not looking for veterinary advice. The vet just tells me that if he Ismaili really high to take him to the 24 hr animal hospital. The 24 hr er is very expensive especially after hours and on the weekends. I will do anything and everything for my fur baby but I can’t just jump and run to the 24 hr animal er every time his glucose level is elevated. I would really like to find some kind of support group or something with other who have a diabetic cat if anyone can point me in the right direction.
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Cat With Diabetes
- Thread starter apyles
- Start Date
Hi! We're glad you're here! I don't know about groups but I was wondering about whether you did any food changes?
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #3
Is that the dry DM or canned? Neither are suitable foods for a diabetic cat. Vets unfortunately don't know much about nutrition and often push the prescription junk.
The right diet is important, just like it is for Human diabetics. Feed only low carb preferably only canned food. Many commercial canned foods are suitable such as Fancy Feast and Friskies.
But don't change the diet right away. Your cat is on insulin. Changing the diet while on insulin is a bit tricky and needs close blood glucose monitoring at home. A diet change can result in a big drop in blood glucose levels and the insulin need will most likely need to be lowered. If you don't catch that drop and still give the usual amount of insulin, you risk hypoglycemia.
What is the name of the insulin your cat on? Some are better than others. Lantus is the preferred insulin of choice these days for cats. Are you measuring the insulin correctly?
Keep a log of your cat's blood glucose levels. Many vets find it helpful to see any trends. Paper and pencil is fine and easy for anyone to do. Some people like to set up spreadsheets or use phone apps to do this.
Please join the FelineDiabetes.com message board for additional advice from experienced members. While there are a few diabetic cat owners here on TCS, the FDMB board is diabetes-specific and much more active.
The right diet is important, just like it is for Human diabetics. Feed only low carb preferably only canned food. Many commercial canned foods are suitable such as Fancy Feast and Friskies.
But don't change the diet right away. Your cat is on insulin. Changing the diet while on insulin is a bit tricky and needs close blood glucose monitoring at home. A diet change can result in a big drop in blood glucose levels and the insulin need will most likely need to be lowered. If you don't catch that drop and still give the usual amount of insulin, you risk hypoglycemia.
What is the name of the insulin your cat on? Some are better than others. Lantus is the preferred insulin of choice these days for cats. Are you measuring the insulin correctly?
Keep a log of your cat's blood glucose levels. Many vets find it helpful to see any trends. Paper and pencil is fine and easy for anyone to do. Some people like to set up spreadsheets or use phone apps to do this.
Please join the FelineDiabetes.com message board for additional advice from experienced members. While there are a few diabetic cat owners here on TCS, the FDMB board is diabetes-specific and much more active.
I spent 2 1/2 years working with my (at the end 14 yr old) diabetic cat and our amazing vet tp get his diabetes under control, so I understand how unbelievably overwhelming it can be, especially at the beginning. My first recommendation is to check out catinfo.org as this site has some amazing resources to figure out the carb levels in different foods. Fortunately, our vet was well versed in feline diabetes and this is one of the first things we looked at. Even different flavors of the same brand of food can have different carb content so it's important to know what you're feeding him. It's great that you bought your own glucose monitor because staying at the vet for every curve can be stressful for the checkbook AND kitty - which can elevate his levels. And please, reach out for support. It can be a stressful time, but with good support, patience, and unfortunately $ for insulin, you and your kitty can continue to have an amazing relationship that can continue long term.
Hi,
A
apyles
. I’m so sorry your kitty and you are going through this. My Max was diagnosed with diabetes at 17 and I lost him last summer at 20. The more you learn, the better you’ll feel. And the better your kitty will feel! I strongly encourage you to go to the site
LTS3
mentioned: www.felinediabetes.com. Not only is it full of extremely helpful information, but also there are message boards for folks using specific kinds of insulin. I joined the Lantus discussion group and the members were unbelievably helpful. I discovered them only a few months before I lost Max, but I know if I’d found them sooner, I could have made his last three years more comfortable. Diet is important. Home testing is excellent (and the timing of that matters, too). Being prepared if kitty goes hypoglycemic is important (Max did that three times at the beginning and it was not fun for either of us). Like
C
Courtz
said, it can be scary and overwhelming. But you can do this!! There’s a wonderful network out there that can help.
LTS3
mentioned: www.felinediabetes.com. Not only is it full of extremely helpful information, but also there are message boards for folks using specific kinds of insulin. I joined the Lantus discussion group and the members were unbelievably helpful. I discovered them only a few months before I lost Max, but I know if I’d found them sooner, I could have made his last three years more comfortable. Diet is important. Home testing is excellent (and the timing of that matters, too). Being prepared if kitty goes hypoglycemic is important (Max did that three times at the beginning and it was not fun for either of us). Like
C
Courtz
said, it can be scary and overwhelming. But you can do this!! There’s a wonderful network out there that can help.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #8
Thank you all so much for your replies. The vet gave me three options for food. One was the Purina ProPlan Vet diet in the black bag, the Purina ProPlan Vet Diet Dm which he is on and the Hill's Prescription diet W/D. I found the last one odd as they have an M/D which is for glucose and weight control. I called the vets office today after my uncle informed me that there were several food brands that have been recalled sure to having traces of the euthanasia drug in them and "dead dog and cats" in them as he stated. I wanted to change his food prescription to the Hill's brand but the lady at the vet's office told me it would not be a good idea to change his diet. I think the vet wanted a food to help manage his weight since he is on insulin. The first prescription of insulin they wanted to give me was for Lantus or Glargine. My mom works at a pharmacy so I asked if they could fax it or call it into her so I could get a discount on it. My mom called me shortly after they called it into her pharmacy that it would be over $200 even there and it would be better for me to just get it there at the vet. They never told me how much it would be to get it there. Instead, they decided to put him on Vetsulin as a cheaper solution for now. As I stated in my post, she started him out on 2 unit of insulin for the first two weeks and then she wanted to do the glucose curve. After the glucose curve, she determined we needed to up him to 3 units. She said that different insulins work for different cats so she hopes for my sake (financially) that he will do well on the Vetsulin and that we will not have to change him to the more expensive option Lantus. I just realized that the date I put in my original post was wrong. I guess I have been just so overwhelmed that I didn't realize it at the time I was typing the post. He was diagnosed on February 20th. I appreciate the Feline Diabetes forum link. While I love this forum and probably do not use it as much as I should, I just feel like a mom of a diabetic human child and need the support of others who are dealing with the same situation. He is mainly on the dry DM but I went today and got some canned DM. He ate the dry DM really well when I was transitioning him over to the DM but he is one of those cats that like to snack on their food throughout the day instead of scarfing it all down at once like my others. So I wasn't really comfortable with how much food he was ingesting before I was giving him his insulin shot. Tonight before his shot when I fed him, I gave him some canned DM and he ate every bit of it. I was so thankful. I am just wondering if my Alphatrak monitor is working correctly lol. Like I said, I set it up per instructions and did the control solution test first. The reading was within the range that was printed on the control solution bottle. It just seems like when he is home and I check his glucose (usually when I notice he doesn't feel well) he is usually really high, but when he was at the vets office (where he should normally be stressed) he is in the 300's. I dunno. I am not sure if this is accurate or not and I know that either being too high or too low is not good at all, but from what I have read that being hypoglycemic seems to be way more dangerous than being really high.
A apyles When the vet first prescribed Lantus, I ordered it online from www.vetrxdirect.com. It was $110 plus $20 for the overnight shipping. I found they had excellent customer service. The vet I used at the time faxed the prescription to them. I moved and my new vet had worked out an arrangement with Costco here in town to sell single pens. They usually come packaged in multiples since humans go through it much faster than cats. The shelf life is so short you’d never get through more than one pen before the stuff goes bad. I paid $84 per pen.
You absolutely should hang out with the other diabetic cat owners over on the felinediabetes.com site. The support I got from the other members on the Lantus message board got me through it. And they do have a Vetsulin message board, too.
We’re here if you ever need us.
Lantus is a very good insulin to use. Yes, it's expensive but well worth it if the cat goes into remission on it. The $200 price quote was likely for the 10 ml bottle. The bottle lasts maybe a month before it loses effectiveness. Since cats only need tiny amounts of insulin, you're basically throwing a barely used bottle away every month. Get the Lantus SoloStar insulin pens instead. The prescription has to specify the pens. The pens come in a box of five and each pen is 3 ml. Some pharmacies may sell individual pens. One pen can last until nearly the last drop. The pens are bit more expensive but if you break down the cost per pen, it's less than the 10 ml bottle. You don't need pen needles with the pen because you're not using it like a Human diabetic would. You can use an insulin syringe and draw up a dose from the pen just like you would with an insulin bottle.
There are ways to get Lantus for less than what a pharmacy charges. Please see the FelineDiabetes.com message board for this info.
Here's the Vetsulin board on the FDMB: Caninsulin / Vetsulin and N / NPH | Feline Diabetes Message Board - FDMB Read the first sticky at the top of the board for info on how to use Vetsulin with cats and the typical dosing protocol.
Vetsulin is a U40 insulin so be sure to use only U40 insulin syringes. There is a way to use U100 insulin syringes with Vetsulin but unless you know how to convert the insulin dose correctly, you should not even attempt it because you risk giving your cat way too much insulin.
If it turns out that Vetsulin doesn't work well for your cat, you will need to try something else.
We understand
The FDMB is a great resource for everything related to diabetes and you'll get tons of support and help from the members there. Feel free to stay a member of TCS and post general cat questions here or answer the questions of those who need help or just post chit chat in the Lounge.You really don't need the prescription DM at all. The vet who originally created it doesn't even recommend it because Purina changed the formula to really junk quality ingredients. You don't need the vet's approval to feed a healthier food to your cat. FDMB members will agree and give you tons of suggestions on suitable commercial brands to feed. As I said in my above post, don't change the diet unless you are comfortable testing your cat's blood glucose levels.
I've never used the Alphatrak so can't advise you on how to calibrate it. The FDMB has members who do use it and can help you. You can use a regular Human diabetic blood glucose meter as well. The big plus is that you can go out to any pharmacy and buy test strips. With Alphatrak and other pet meters, you have to buy the pricey test strips from the vet or online and wait for shipping as they are not sold in stores. Can you go to the store and buy a cheap Human blood glucose meter just to double check your cat's levels? Many stores have a generic meter. CVS has True Track. WalMart's Relion brand is pretty decent. Make sure that the kit includes test strips. Sometimes they don't and you don't realize it until after you get home
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Hi
My cat is also diabetic and I am a member in the feline diabetes board though I’m not there often since my girl is almost off insulin. My best tips are you must learn how to check glucose immediately. Watch some you tubes. Get yourself an ankle sports sock and fill that with rice and tie in a knot. Go to Walmart and buy the relion confirm meter, test strips for the relion, and lancets I use the 30guage. I warm my rice sock for 25 seconds in the microwave, obviously everyone’s units are different so test on yourself first. I hold the warm rice sock on her ear for about 15 seconds and I free hand the lancet I dint use the device to make it poke. You need to know where your cat is glucose wise before you shoot. My vet started me with two units and a few weeks later we increased to three. She did not have me home testing. Thank goodness I had joined the diabetes group and went out and got all the stuff and tested that night. I saved my cats life literally! She was at 100 on the human meter and if I shot 3 units that would have sent her hypo and she could have died I never would have known she was already low. Get yourself a little clip on flash lite you might need that at first to see the veins on the outer rim of the ear. Cut up some small squares of paper towel, you hold that on the ear to stop the blood drop. I like the Walmart relion meter because it requires such a tiny drop of blood. The aloha page track isn’t convenient and very expensive and you have to order the strips online and they’re super expensive. Not needed. I also get a script for lantus and order the pen from marks pharmacy in Canada. It’s cheaper. You’ll never use the full bottle of insulin since it’s only good for about 4 months. The pens last longer.
It’s over whelming at first but please join the felinediabetes.com group
I like the weruva cats in the kitchen foods some of the members use that food. I also feed rad cat raw. Dry food is terrible. I stopped the dry and my cat went from three units to 1/2 a unit and now I’m shooting a micro dose of .25 or even sometimes .01 which is a teeny drop.
My cat is also diabetic and I am a member in the feline diabetes board though I’m not there often since my girl is almost off insulin. My best tips are you must learn how to check glucose immediately. Watch some you tubes. Get yourself an ankle sports sock and fill that with rice and tie in a knot. Go to Walmart and buy the relion confirm meter, test strips for the relion, and lancets I use the 30guage. I warm my rice sock for 25 seconds in the microwave, obviously everyone’s units are different so test on yourself first. I hold the warm rice sock on her ear for about 15 seconds and I free hand the lancet I dint use the device to make it poke. You need to know where your cat is glucose wise before you shoot. My vet started me with two units and a few weeks later we increased to three. She did not have me home testing. Thank goodness I had joined the diabetes group and went out and got all the stuff and tested that night. I saved my cats life literally! She was at 100 on the human meter and if I shot 3 units that would have sent her hypo and she could have died I never would have known she was already low. Get yourself a little clip on flash lite you might need that at first to see the veins on the outer rim of the ear. Cut up some small squares of paper towel, you hold that on the ear to stop the blood drop. I like the Walmart relion meter because it requires such a tiny drop of blood. The aloha page track isn’t convenient and very expensive and you have to order the strips online and they’re super expensive. Not needed. I also get a script for lantus and order the pen from marks pharmacy in Canada. It’s cheaper. You’ll never use the full bottle of insulin since it’s only good for about 4 months. The pens last longer.
It’s over whelming at first but please join the felinediabetes.com group
I like the weruva cats in the kitchen foods some of the members use that food. I also feed rad cat raw. Dry food is terrible. I stopped the dry and my cat went from three units to 1/2 a unit and now I’m shooting a micro dose of .25 or even sometimes .01 which is a teeny drop.
