Need help asap, please

[buffy2011]

Marc_5947,

                     Glad to hear you got some good advice. The best though is to take your cat back to the vets and get a second opinion. Your gray cat looks just like mine and doing about the same thing, getting into trouble.  In response to the cat litter. I decided to use Worlds best cat litter myself. I was having a lot of problems with dust and Worlds Best was good for that.  No problems until one day one of my cats went to the bathroom on the living room floor. A week later the same thing, so I changed back to Scoop Away and haven't had any problems. For some reason she decided she didn't like that litter anymore, which was better for me anyhow because it is so expensive. So maybe try a different litter and see if that helps. Hopefully the problem would be just changing the litter but you never know. I also use a tote with a hole cut into the side and the lid on and that makes for a bigger litter box and also no middle seams to where the pee comes out and all the sides are high. My cats also have a habit of going into the box but turning around to where there butt is facing the hole, so sometimes it does come out.  Cats are funny too, they don't like change, especially moving. Keep us informed so we know how they are doing and I hope the vet has good news for you and kitty. Good luck with your new home and hope kitty's get settled in.

 

[marc_5947]

I'm a bit worried though because he dips his paw into the water, then licks it off. It's chlorinated water, and I'd like to see if I can somehow discourage him from drinking it. That seems to be the only issue with him though. He loves  laying outside in the Lenai in the warm sun during the day.

 

[reikitty]

I just recently rescued a diabetic kitty.

I just want to second everything about http://www.felinediabetes.com being an amazing resource and the forums great for info. I've just started my guy on insulin (about two and half weeks) and a wet food diet (one week) I've already noticed a HUGE improvement.

The day we switched to wet food only his water consumption dropped considerably and so did his excessive peeing issues. We've been a week free of potty accidents.

Insulin is very easy to give to most cats and I've been good with getting blood to test and we test twice a day at the moment. Over all its been an amazing easy job and I've noticed such a HUGE improvement in this cat.

Right now Lantus is under a shortage or something causing the price to skyrocket on it. ProZinc is what I've got my foster on right now too.

In regards to your male kitty pooing out of the box. You might want to switch one box to a different litter and see if he uses it. If it's really a litter preference he'll seek out the one box to poo in and you'll have your answer.

 

[angels mommy]

That's great she is doing better & got some insulin.  It's nice to hear she is feeling better, & playing again. 

 

@buffy2011   The best way to introduce new litter w/o any problems is the same as you would w/a new food. You gradually add a little into the old every day. (little by little).  until you eventually have it up to half & half, then, it's only a matter of a few days before it's switched over. This way the kitty doesn't get shocked, or overwhelmed / stressed, that all of a sudden it's something completely different in there, & shouldn't have any accidents. 

 

[hexiesfriend]

My kitty was on prozinc. It's cheaper than Lantus but the only issue is it is not available at the Human drugstore because it's for cats. Make sure your vet has a stash or ask them to order it before you are out. If you have to order it online Lambert Vet supply is the cheapest $120 with fedex next day and American diabetic supplies is the cheapest for the needles. You can save gobs of money ordering the needles online. This insulin is based on a 40iu unit so you can't use diabetic needles you get from the drugstore as lantus and most human insulins are based on a 100iu unit. unfortunately my vet at the time never explained any of this and I had to learn the hard way. I am glad Cat 2 is back to her old self. Cat 1 is beautiful he looks like he's living the good life!!

 

[LTS3]

  
Another update:

Had the grey cat to the new vet and they put her on insulin. They wanted to put her on Lantus, but I honestly could not afford to pay $270 + for it, so they gave an insulin called ProZinc. I give it to her twice per day, right before or right after eating. She's only on her second day of insulin, but already is looking like her old-self again

 I saw her playing with her favorite string about an hour ago, and that made me Very Happy!!!!!

$270 for the 10 ml bottle of Lantus or the pack of 5 Lantus pens? If it's for the pens, that's really not a bad price ($54 for each pen)

The pack of pens is at least a 5 month supply you will have on hand vs paying for a new 10 ml bottle every month. There are ways to get Lantus for less. You can find that info on the FelineDiabetes.com web site.

Prozinc is a good choice, though

How many units of insulin is your cat getting each time? Has the vet shown you how to correctly measure insulin? During my time on the FDMB message board I have seen newbies misread the syringe markings and measure to the 10 line thinking that they are giving 1  unit of insulin when in fact they are giving 10 units

My kitty was on prozinc. It's cheaper than Lantus but the only issue is it is not available at the Human drugstore because it's for cats. Make sure your vet has a stash or ask them to order it before you are out. If you have to order it online Lambert Vet supply is the cheapest $120 with fedex next day and American diabetic supplies is the cheapest for the needles. You can save gobs of money ordering the needles online. This insulin is based on a 40iu unit so you can't use diabetic needles you get from the drugstore as lantus and most human insulins are based on a 100iu unit. unfortunately my vet at the time never explained any of this and I had to learn the hard way. I am glad Cat 2 is back to her old self. Cat 1 is beautiful he looks like he's living the good life!!

Good point

ProZinc is a pet only insulin so you can only get it from the vet or some places online. Lantus is a Human insulin used "off label" in cats and you buy it at any Human pharmacy.

Make sure to use only U40 insulin syringes with ProZinc. Using Human diabetic insulin syrings (U100) with a U40 insulin such as ProZinc means that your cat is getting 2.5 times MORE insulin that needed

No Human pharmacy sells U40 insulin syringes so you need to buy online or from your vet. One popular online place is AmericanDiabetesWholesale.com

There is a way to use U100 insulin syringse with U40 insulin but you need to fully understand the conversion and what you are doing. Again, FelineDiabetes.com is the best place to learn about this.

 

[hexiesfriend]

Ugh LTS3 I have misread it just like that!! and gave my cat 20 units of insulin 2 times a day for 4 days once I realized what I did I don't think I have ever driven as fast as I did that night to the er vet. I am not sure how my cat was still alive but she was acting fine.

 

[marc_5947]

The $270 was for a 10ml bottle of Lantus, not the pens. The Dr at the vet said it would have been expensive, but I had no idea it was THAT expensive. Anyhow, they showed me how to give her the ProZinc insulin, and my first try at it was in front of the Dr. I did good and my cat didn't even flinch...I did though!

Gave her a shot this morning in the AM hours (while eating), and she did very well all day long. The PM shot (along with a 1/2 can of fancy feast) made her a bit weak, so I immediately called the vet. They told me to put a small amount of syrup on her gums to give her a sugar boost. They asked me twice how much insulin I gave to her, and if she ate with it? I told them I gave her exactly what they told me to give to her and it was "with food". It's a relatively small amount of insulin they told me to give to her, and only goes to the #2 line on the top of the needle. I made sure it was exact. Anyhow, after the sugar rush, she seemed fine. I'll monitor her behavior tomorrow with the AM shot and call them if needed. She's actually up and walking around as I'm typing this.

The male cat has gotten better with the litter box. I found that he likes his own box, so I put it in an area where the female cat doesn't frequent too much. He's now going regularly, and precisely where he should be going...IN the box. 

 

[hexiesfriend]

I think she is just getting used to the insulin. When you say it made her weak do you mean sleepy? Do you know what you cats glucose was? If it was really high I doubt the 2 units were putting her in shock.

 

[iamspirit33]

HI,

I am a psychologist- I have been thru the poop issues- It is the move-

I can no tell by the writing- 

I am an animal lover will do my best to help.  Pm me.

 

[marc_5947]

I think she is just getting used to the insulin. When you say it made her weak do you mean sleepy? Do you know what you cats glucose was? If it was really high I doubt the 2 units were putting her in shock.

Made her back legs weak. A few minutes after I gave her the insulin (and she finished eating), she went to walk and it looked like her back legs gave-out within 3 steps. Didn't last long, but I called anyhow to ask about it.

She had her food & insulin this morning and she was fine afterwards. Maybe, like you said, "getting used to the insulin". This is only the third day she's been on it now, so I'm sure it will take some time for adjustment.

Tested her glucose levels this morning and they were high, but slowly/steadily coming down from the past two days. Ketone's were negative and have stayed that way since testing.

 

[hexiesfriend]

That's great she lets you test her blood and it's also a good sign her ketones are negative that rarely ever happens with any diabetic cat!!

 

[reikitty]

 
The $270 was for a 10ml bottle of Lantus, not the pens. The Dr at the vet said it would have been expensive, but I had no idea it was THAT expensive. Anyhow, they showed me how to give her the ProZinc insulin, and my first try at it was in front of the Dr. I did good and my cat didn't even flinch...I did though!

Gave her a shot this morning in the AM hours (while eating), and she did very well all day long. The PM shot (along with a 1/2 can of fancy feast) made her a bit weak, so I immediately called the vet. They told me to put a small amount of syrup on her gums to give her a sugar boost. They asked me twice how much insulin I gave to her, and if she ate with it? I told them I gave her exactly what they told me to give to her and it was "with food". It's a relatively small amount of insulin they told me to give to her, and only goes to the #2 line on the top of the needle. I made sure it was exact. Anyhow, after the sugar rush, she seemed fine. I'll monitor her behavior tomorrow with the AM shot and call them if needed. She's actually up and walking around as I'm typing this.

The male cat has gotten better with the litter box. I found that he likes his own box, so I put it in an area where the female cat doesn't frequent too much. He's now going regularly, and precisely where he should be going...IN the box. 

Our vet said it's not normally that much money. It's skyrocketed recently for some reason.

*edit* oops, you are testing her blood. I'm glad she's doing good and your male is doing better too

 

[LTS3]

 
The $270 was for a 10ml bottle of Lantus, not the pens. The Dr at the vet said it would have been expensive, but I had no idea it was THAT expensive. Anyhow, they showed me how to give her the ProZinc insulin, and my first try at it was in front of the Dr. I did good and my cat didn't even flinch...I did though!

Gave her a shot this morning in the AM hours (while eating), and she did very well all day long. The PM shot (along with a 1/2 can of fancy feast) made her a bit weak, so I immediately called the vet. They told me to put a small amount of syrup on her gums to give her a sugar boost. They asked me twice how much insulin I gave to her, and if she ate with it? I told them I gave her exactly what they told me to give to her and it was "with food". It's a relatively small amount of insulin they told me to give to her, and only goes to the #2 line on the top of the needle. I made sure it was exact. Anyhow, after the sugar rush, she seemed fine. I'll monitor her behavior tomorrow with the AM shot and call them if needed. She's actually up and walking around as I'm typing this.

The male cat has gotten better with the litter box. I found that he likes his own box, so I put it in an area where the female cat doesn't frequent too much. He's now going regularly, and precisely where he should be going...IN the box. 

Yikes

That's a lot. When I last bought Lantus (probably 4 years ago) it was only $110 for the 10 ml bottle. The pack of pens was $150.

How long after the PM shot did you see weakness? Did you test the blood glucose level when you noticed the weakness?

Since you are hometesting, always test the blood glucose level before giving ANY insulin. That way you know if your cat is at a safe enough level for insulin to be given. The cut off number most people at FelineDiabetes.com recommends is 150 mg/dl. Blindly giving insulin is dangerous. There have been times when my diabetic cat (now at the Bridge) would test under 100 at insulin time. If I had blindly given insulin, he most likely would have crashed in a few hours when I would not be home. And always test if your cat seems "off". I tested my cat once on a hunch and he was at 38

It was only a few hours after he got insulin on a blood glucose level of over 200.

It's a good idea to track your cat's  blood glucose levels daily. You can then easily see any trends and if your cat is responding to the insulin or not. There's a great spreadsheet over on the FelineDiabetes.com board, in the Tech forum I think.

 

[garfieldthecat]

when my family and I moved house we had a number of accidents with the younger cat they shortly stopped with my cat he's about ten we have acasional accident then we got a puppy and we bought cheep puppy training mats and placed the through the house and now when the older cat Garfield has an accident they are easily cleaned