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Feline DiabetesFeline Diabetes is treatable! |
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| Welcome to a community for feline diabetes. When first being diagnosed with a kitty that has diabetes, it can be very scary and overwhelming. Please find this a place to come and get help, comfort, information, vent or just regular old chit chat. Feline diabetes is very treatable and we want to help you take care of your sweet sugar kitty. >'.'< ----------------- Links: FelineDiabetes.com Gorbzilla.com Janet & Binky's food chart Pet Diabetes.org FD FAQ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| May. 17th, 2009 @ 11:07 am Newly diagnosed kitty & blood testing | |||
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| My Persian cat Poupée was just diagnosed with feline diabetes a few days ago. I wasn't terribly surprised; she's an overweight, inactive senior (~ten years old) kitty. I've had diabetes myself since I was five years old, so I have no problems with needles or blood testing or anything like that. I gave Poupée her first injection of Lantus this morning, and while she seemed a bit surprised, she didn't get upset. My big problem now is blood tests. The vet said that I don't have to test Poupée's blood sugar, but I'd like to do so in order to see how the insulin is working. The vet showed me where to test from -- either the paw pad or the ear -- but so far I haven't had any luck with either site. First of all, Poupée will not let me touch her feet. She never has. If I touch any one of her paws she'll yank the paw away from me and tuck it under her body. So I figured I should try the ear. Fortunately, Poupée doesn't mind if I touch her ears. The vet showed me that it's easier to find the vein if you shine a penlight behind the ear to illuminate it. Therein likes the problem -- I don't have enough hands! I need one hand to hold the flashlight, one hand to hold the ear (otherwise it twitches), and a third hand to hold the lancing device. I've tried poking where I think the vein is, but so far no blood. At least Poupée isn't trying to fight me; she purred the whole time I was trying to get the blood! Another problem is that Poupée does not like to be picked up or held, and she can't or won't jump up on a table or piece of furniture. If I pick her up and put her on the couch or table, she fights me and struggles. So I have to lie down on the floor to get on her level to do the test. | ||
| May. 17th, 2009 @ 09:22 am Ran out of insulin... | |||
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| We've got two diabetic cats. We had some family emergencies going on this weekend and long story short, we ended up running out of insulin. They had both doses yesterday and I can get the insulin early enough for their first dose tomorrow morning, but they've got nothing for today. They are on vetsulin. One gets 1 unit 2xday, the other gets 5 units 2xday. Both have been doing very well. Thoughts? Concerns? Am I going to have to run them into the ER Vet? Am I overreacting? | ||
| Jul. 28th, 2008 @ 10:19 pm two cat questions.... | |||
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| Hi there! My cool cat Persimmon has diabetes controlled by diet. She is doing well and I am too! I wondered if you guys could help me out on two questions: 1. For those of you with long-haired cats, any suggestions on good brushes? I am not loving her current one. 2. Does anyone have those automatic cat litter boxes? It's not that I'm lazy, but she goes often and is so clean that even with 3 boxes, she'll use each and then the floor if I'm away overnight. I want to try the auto cleaning ones, but she doesn't bury her mess and sometimes it's a bit on the soft side. Does anyone have any insights? Thanks! | ||
| May. 20th, 2008 @ 01:19 pm hypo in cat hotel | |||
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| Hello, my cat has diabetes for more than 2 years now and he's doing quiet fine. There's only one problem: he reacts quiet strongly to changes, e.g. he needs less insuline with warm weather, etc. Unfortunately, he always gets a strong hypo the first night in a cat hotel. Does anyone have any advice of what to do to counteract that? I thought about no or minimal insuline on the morning we bring him away , then a slow increase towards the old or slightly lower normal dosage over the next day(s). But I'm not sure if that's a good idea. Not going away is difficult atm as we're about to move abroad and have to organise lots of things in that new place, and there's nobody nearby that could take care of him. | ||
| Apr. 8th, 2008 @ 07:40 pm Cancer | |||
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Hello -  drainedMy Oscar has diabetes and has had for a couple years now. We've finally managed to get it under control with a fantastic diet of fancy feast and insulin. He's doing pretty good now. :-) (he's the one in my icon) I just have a really off-topic question that I hope no one gets upset for me asking. I recently adopted a kitty - whom I was told was 13 months old and when I took her to the vet was told that she's 10 to 12 years old. :-/ What's worse is that she has brain cancer. I was wondering if anyone here happened to know any fantastic resources for feline cancer like there is for feline diabetes. Thanks!! | ||
| Dec. 20th, 2007 @ 02:39 pm Food change? | |||
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| Hello! My cat was diabetic for about two years, but with a combo of insulin and Purina DM food, he reverted back to normalcy about two years ago. Our vet. recommended that we keep him on the DM food as it's what helped him come out of diabetes. Is there other food I could try that's not $40/bag? I've been reading that some owners feed their cats Fancy Feast. Would this make for a good DM food substitue? My cat has always eaten dry food so he wouldn't need a wet diet. Has anyone switched specifically from DM to Fancy Feast (or other food)? I would like to make this change, but I would feel horrible is it made him slip back into diabetes! | ||
| Dec. 14th, 2007 @ 04:06 pm (no subject) | |||
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 curiousMy 12 yrd old romeo was just diagnosed with diabetes a week ago. I have been doing a lot of research on DM, especially the diets available. I have discovered many interesting new studies involving the high protien low carb diets and the wet food only because dry food has too many carbs and grains which cats don't need. Some diets suggested were for diabetics but others were for the general kitty carnivore. | ||
| Oct. 5th, 2007 @ 02:44 pm We're doing curves! Kind of! | |||
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| We did Tux's first 12-hour curve a week ago and took the results to our vet for analysis. She phoned today and gave us the green-light to reduce his dosage (from 2.5 to 1.5 units), which is what I'd kind of suspected. And she said our glucometre readouts nearly match their IDEX machine's, so I was pleased; this will help us do testing more independently. She also gave us a $50 discount on services for doing the curve ourselves. And we got a go-ahead to give him more food, which will make him happy and help him regain some of what the initial ketosis took out of him. Now, here's my thing; we're to do another mini-curve a week from Sunday to see if the new dosage is a good fit...and Tux hhhhhhhhated the last one. I'm planning to rewatch the magic YouTube video with the cute guy a million times, and reread everything I've encountered on the subject, but if you guys have anything to share re: making kitty comfortable with repeated ear sticks, let me know. Seeing as, in the next couple months, we're also going to move to the house we just bought, I want to minimize his stressors as much as possible. Thanks as always. | ||
| Sep. 28th, 2007 @ 06:08 pm Insulin determir report | |||
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Gandalf has done well in 2 1/2 years as a diabetic. Despite mistakes in the 1st 6 months, he is alive, which is more than I expected while I watched him lose 5 pounds during the spring of 2005. hopefulThis summer has been difficult. He developed a urinary tract infection which took nearly a month to overcome. During that time I did some more research online because I felt his insulin was not working as well as it once did. He did not seem to be himself, partly due to the UTI, but even before that his interest in what I was doing or things outside was sliding downhill. Other than the UTI he wasn't really sick, but when you've lived with human or animal for 14 years you know when they are just not themself. I did not monitor his glucose levels as closely as I should have or I may have realized the fact that his insulin was to blame. After doing a daily series of BG tests, or curve, I discovered he was swinging from the 300s to 80 within 5 hours. And that was after already having dropped his dose. It's like being on a rollercoaster too long - eventually you're gonna wanna get off. So last week I decided it was time to try something else. With the consent & awesome help of our vet, we got a very new insulin called Detemir, brand name Levemir. It has been approved in the US for 2 years and yes, people use it too. His previous insulin, PZI Idexx, was for cats only. With the help of other Levemir users on Feline Diabetes.com's Insulin Support Groups section, I felt confident enough to try it. Today has been Day 3 on Levemir and already I know it's the best decision I've made for him. His blood glucose test numbers have been dropping each day to more stable levels. And most importantly, staying level. Today he stayed within 2 points for over 3 hours! He's feeling better too. He wanted to play last night and instead of going over in a corner to lie down, he comes over and lays by me, like he always used to. He trotted to the patio door yesterday to go outside. He played with a ball last night. Usually he'd just lie there and look at it. Please note: Every Cat is Different and no one can say how this or any insulin is going to work for your cat. I just wanted to share my excitement. Please don't change anything on your own - speak with your vet first. | ||
| Sep. 19th, 2007 @ 04:31 pm Another just-diagnosed introduction | |||
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Hey, guys. I just found this community. My name is Erin; my wonder boy Tux was diagnosed this week. Luckily, Tux and I have a lot of support from my husband and our three other cats. overwhelmedIn the days since my incredible vet broke the news, we've done a lot of googling and YouTubeing, and we've (more or less) mastered a total overhaul of cat-feeding and the injection process. However, I'm still really intimidated by the whole home testing thing. Tux is giving every indication that the new setup is working well for him, but despite reassurances from vet techs, I really want to learn my way around that ominous little glucometer. I got an AccuChek Aviva and a buttload of strips, and I just kind of freeze every time I look at it. My intention is to read the info materials until they make sense, but...any concise tips would be super appreciated. Also, am I a bad person for not having done a curve yet? My husband and I are both in the middle of an ugly, ugly week (a million commitments scheduled, of course, long before the diagnosis) and haven't been able to secure a 24-hour period at home. I read all this stuff about getting my cat "regulated," and I just want to be on top of things. Advice? Tips? Lectures? Hit me. And thanks in advance. Someday, with a little luck, I can help ANSWER some of the questions on here. | ||
| Sep. 18th, 2007 @ 03:05 pm Thank You | |||
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I just found out this morning that my 14 year old kitty, Wilson, has diabetes. I still have to bring in a urine sample so the doctor can confirm it and then she will have me go through diabetes 101. We just lost his brother (they were from the same litter) a few months back, so needless to say I am really freaked out. I don't know what to do or what to expect yet and having this community and felinediabetes.com has already helped a lot. sad | ||
| Sep. 18th, 2007 @ 10:20 am New to This | |||
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I just found out yesterday that one of our cats (the youngest, at only three and a half years old) is diabetic. She'd been lethargic since Saturday evening and refused to eat or drink on Sunday, so I finally got her to the vet Monday morning since she showed zero improvement. They found high blood sugar and had to keep her a few hours in order to get a urine sample (she'd peed in her carrier on the way there), which turned out to also have high sugar levels. The vet said the ketones weren't too bad though, so he's hopeful that we could keep her down to one shot of insulin a day. contemplativeHe asked to keep her overnight to make sure she responds well to the dose they've picked, and he'll be teaching my husband and I how to take care of her after work today. Then, assuming she's been responding well, we get to take her home. I've found some pretty good info on the web, like felinediabetes.com, but I was hoping for some general, "Here's what to expect," sort of advice from people who went through this same transition. Do any of you have cats who just flat out rebelled against the shots at first? Ali is kind of uppity and I worry that if it hurts her once, she'll freak out and hide any time she suspects she's about to get a shot. If the vet recommends a dry food for diabetic cats, should I go ahead and ask him for wet instead? I see plenty of information saying wet is best since dry has so much grain, but I don't know if that also applies when talking about diabetic dry cat food or not. Do you feed your cats special "diabetic" food, regular wet food from the store, or a raw diet? Has anyone been able to stop insulin shots? The vet said it's common to be able to stop after as little as four months, as long as you feed them a good diet. Anything else I should keep in mind at this early stage, or anything I should be sure to ask the vet about? | ||
| Aug. 13th, 2007 @ 11:41 am FD website | |||
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| Have any of you visited http://www.yourdiabeticcat.com? I've been reading Dr. Hodgkin's thoughts on feline diabetes, and I have to admit, her Protocol makes sense. The gist of it is: Use PZI insulin, give wet food only, and home test (and give the appropriate amount of insulin, not just a blind amount). I was just curious if any of you have followed this, and if so, if you've seen any success. | ||
| Jul. 28th, 2007 @ 08:08 pm Long distance moves with diabetic cat | |||
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| I am moving from Chicago to San Francisco at the end of August and am currently debating driving or flying. My cats are both old, 13 and 15, though only the older one has any kind of health issue. She's diabetic and possibly in the early stages of hyperthyroidism, pending blood test result next week. Despite these recently developed issues (within the last 9 months), she seems to be in pretty good health, enjoying the good life and laying around a lot. The other is as healthy as a young cat. My preference is to drive, as I've never driven cross country and I think it would be a better transition to make my way out there with a friend riding shotgun, easing in gradually, than to get on a plane and four hours later, I live in San Francisco. Or maybe I'm romanticizing the move... Either way, I'd like to drive. The cats have always done well on previous long drives, I drove them the 13 hours here from Atlanta 5 years ago, and they sat quietly and napped the whole way, in their individual carriers. But this is going to be a 3.5 day trip, staying in motels every night. And one of them is in compromised health. Is 3.5 days in a car going to be a lot more stressful than the tension and anxiety of getting to the airport, going through security and being in the cabin (no way would I put two senior cats as cargo) of a plane for 4+ hours, then getting off, gathering baggage and getting to the next destination? I'm going to be subleasing a room from a friend when I first arrive, then moving again when I find an apt. So it's going to be pretty stressful for them for a few weeks. I plan to pick up a fresh bottle of Rescue Remedy before I leave. For all three of us. I do want to drive, but I don't want to stress them out unnecessarily. What if something goes wrong in the middle of Nebraska and I have no idea how to find a vet nearby? I have found lots of anecdotal advice about long distance driving with elderly cats online. My very cautious vet has advised flying, I think I'm going to wait to hear the results of a couple of thyroid test results next week to decide. Anyone else done long distance moves with old cats? x-posted to cathealth | ||
| Jul. 11th, 2007 @ 07:09 pm Drooling? | |||
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I came home from work this afternoon and was greeted kindly by my one year old kitten as I walked in the door but not by my 9 year old furball. Instead I found him at the top of the stairs - watching me walk in the house, just not greeting me. So I walked up the stairs and asked him what was wrong and noticed a huge thing of drool coming from his mouth. (where else would drool come from? sorry.) exhaustedI got up and walked to the bathroom and grabbed a tissue and very gently wiped the drool away, so gentle I barely touched him. He yelled bloody murder at me like I was killing him. This has happened several times since I got home from work. After the first incident however I grabbed the phone to call the vets who were convientley closed even though their message said their hours are 8 to 7 (which I was aware of which is why I called at 5 in the afternoon, knowing they'd be open). Unfortunatly, I won't be able to get in contact with the vet until tommorow sometime. I was wondering if anyone else had any information about diabetic kittys and drooling and if there is any cause for concern. I do still plan on calling the vets office, I was just wondering if anyone else had any prior incidences or whatnot similar to this. Thanks. :-) | ||
| May. 16th, 2007 @ 03:13 pm (no subject) | |||
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| My cat has been on insulin for awhile now. She's generally been fine, but this past day or so she's looking really bad. Not only is she diabetic she's allergic to the fleas in this area so about two days ago I gave her Advantage. I don't think she's ill right now because of the allergic reaction, but that's always a possibility. Yesterday she barfed quite a few times throughout the day. She's shown no sign of energy whatsoever and she seems weak. She also hasn't ate since yesterday morning, and usually when I break out the food she goes crazy, however right now she wont even move or shows any sign of wanting the food. I also recently just bought a new bottle of insulin, so there may be a factor in that as well? I really don't know what's going on. My vet wont be around until Monday, and money is a little tight right now. Any help would be appreciated, thanks. I should also note that she's been drinking water, so she at least isn't lacking motivation to do that. | ||
| May. 16th, 2007 @ 10:20 am New Member/Question | |||
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| I'm new to this community, and I thought I would introduce my sweet boy, Max. Max is almost 9, and was diagnosed with FD last November, and we were controlling it through diet. However, lately his urine output and water intake increased dramatically, and on Saturday we discovered that it was no longer being controlled by the prescription food. So, now we're on the Insulin Express! I'm also attempting home glucose monitoring, because I would like to keep a closer eye on what is happening with his BG levels, rather than waiting until symptoms appear to take him to the vet for adjustments (which of course I would do anyway, but this way I can catch it sooner). We're keeping a log book of his mood, appetite, BG level, etc. that I will share with the vet during visits. Right now, since we just started this new journey, Max is getting one shot of one unit of insulin a day. I understand that this is just for now until we see how he's doing with the insulin injections, but it does prompt a question about feeding and shot time. ( Read more... ) | ||
| May. 10th, 2007 @ 01:37 pm how to distribute food now? | |||
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Hello, worriedmaybe you can help me answer the following question. My sweet Tommy's been diagnosed since more than a year now and his bloodsugar tends to be a wee bit erratic especially during day time. So far he got 4 small amounts of tin food spread out over the day to keep his blood sugar at about the same level. It worked all fine until my boyfriend started to work at a company and not from home again. Now we're both away for most of the day and I'm not sure how to feed him. First potion of food has to be at least an hour earlier than usual second: nobody at home third: about an hour later fourth: as usual He always has a bowl of dry food and we don't let him go outside anymore when nobody's at home. So the chance of a hypo is rather small I'd say. Still I'm a bit worried . Any advice? | ||
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