Feline Diabetes

[kuri]

So today my cat was diagnosed with diabetes. They gave me pills to give him twice a day, but I've been reading about insulin and that it's a better treatment.

I was wondering if anyone has any advice on the best insulin I could get and possible diet plans. The vet told me I didn't need to change his diet because he is 15 years old, but I feel like I should anyway. Thanks in advance!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Although I don't have any experience with diabetes, other than my neighbor's cat who has it and has been on twice daily shots for years, I did want to try to reach out to a few other members who might be able to talk with you and offer some insight. I am sure there are others I am missing - but, @ArtNJ, @finnmom@12, @apyles - can you help???

 

[catapault]

Cats are Type 2 diabetics, much easier to treat than dogs, who are Type 1. Mist, my rainbow bridge cat, developed diabetes as a mature but not elderly cat. She was treated with glipizide. Very easy to add to her wet food. I started feeding her Fancy Feast classic tender beef feast, and turkey with giblets. Gave her one half a 3-oz can for breakfast, lunch, dinner, bedtime - four small meals / day. She lost some weight, the diabetes cleared, and she no longer needed the glipizide. She crossed the rainbow bridge at 19 years old.

 

[white shadow]

.
Hi kuri .

I think you would benefit from the collective wisdom of the folks over on The Feline Diabetes Message Board. They've been active online 'forever' and are widely respected as the premiere go-to for all-things-diabetic-kitties. They're here: Feline Diabetes Message Board - FDMB
.

 

[LTS3]

Glipizide doesn't work so please get insulin. There are a few different insulin that work well for cats: Lantus, Levimir, ProZinc, and a new one called Tresiba. Which one to use varies. Start with one and if it doesn't help despite following the dosing protocol, feeding the right diet, and close home blood glucose monitoring, you just switch to a different insulin. My previous cat was on 3 different insulins. The first one, Humulin N, didn't work because it was too short acting. Lantus worked better but not quite. Neither did Levimir but in the end all that really matters is that the cat is healthy and happy and the blood glucose levels were controlled if not in the ideal range.

You'll get a lot more detailed info on diabetes, all the types of insulins used for cats, proper diet, and more at the Feline Diabetes.com message board. Diabetes isn't discussed in much detail here on TCS but you are still very welcome to post about your cat here for other general care issues or just to show off off pictures We love cat pictures

 

[Tobermory]

I’ll second what white shadow and LTS3 have said. The kitty folk at the feline diabetes site were so incredibly helpful and supportive when I was going through the difficulties of a diabetic cat. My vet in Colorado prescribed ProZinc, and when I moved to Oregon, my Oregon vet recommended Lantus so I switched. There are subforums for each kind of insulin at the feline diabetes site and the forum members have lots of practical experience.

And both my vets and the forum members recommended switching Max to a high protein/low carb canned food. I ended up feeding him Fancy Feast Classic pâtés which, fortunately, were a solid affordable choice for a diabetic kitty since that’s all he would eat the last few months! The right diet can be extremely helpful for diabetic cats.

Max was diagnosed at age 17 and crossed the Bridge at 20 so he did pretty well.

Good luck with your kitty. Let us know if we can help.

 

[kuri]

Thank you guys so much. Luckily, he is already eating that exact Fancy Feast, except I've been giving him dry food as well which I have to cut out now. The vet I went to prescribed glipizide 5mg, but tomorrow I'm going to talk to him about Lantus and see if I can get it on the Canadian website people recommend.

 

[LTS3]

Feel free to take your cat to another vet if the current vet doesn't seem knowledgeable about treating feline diabetes. Glipizide is "old school" and just doesn't work for most cats. Achieving good regulation is close to impossible and remission is a lofty dream. I wouldn't even bother starting Glipizide.

Decisions, Decisions...choosing the right vet partner
Questions for your vet - tons of 'em!

Here's the list of Fancy Feast if you want to double check: Wheat gluten free, low carbohydrate Wet Food There are other brands of foods if you want to branch out a bit. Stick with under 10% carbs. This list is helpful: http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

Stick with freeze dried meat or fish treats instead of junky stuff. Pure Bites is one brand and there are many others. Raw or plain cooked meat are also good.

Ditch the dry food now before your cat goes on insulin. Removing dry food once a cat is on insulin is tricky because you need to closely monitor blood glucose levels at home to catch and dangerous drops in blood glucose levels.