Topic: Lacie is diabetic (Read 19683 times)

Lindsey (thefunkyinuit) · « **Reply #22 on:** June 19, 2010, 17:32:44 PM »

I have an update on Lacie. She had her glucose curve monitored yesterday, we've increased her insulin from 1 unit twice a day to 2 units twice a day as her glucose levels were still very high and the insulin wasn't bringing it down enough. I had a good chat with the vet regarding food, decided that we weren't going to get anywhere with the prescription wet food (she had lost weight during last week - probably because she was hardly eating anything!)

I bought her a couple of different food to try - I got some Purina One Natural Balance & Felix Marinades, I've only tried the Felix so far (Its proper flakes of meat, looks really good quality - I could've eaten it myself!) She really enjoyed it and polished off the lot! She still eating the hills dry for now, I just want her to get some weight back at the moment.

She's got to go to the vets again a week on Monday to check her glucose levels again so I'm going to mention TR then.

Thanks for the support everyone, its been quite a week! (an expensive one too, good job we're insured!)

Edit: I also bought her a nice new collar with the words 'Diabetic - Please Do Not Feed' printed on it - I'll have to get some new pics of her on here

xxx

paddypaws · « **Reply #21 on:** June 17, 2010, 13:48:28 PM »

I agree totally with Milly's mum....look for a wet food with les than 10% carb content....Bozita, Animonda Carny, Butchers clasisic or whiskas/felix jelly (not gravy ) versions at a push. Feeding ANY dry food is like pouring petrol on a raging fire and then trying to put it out. Meanwhile the pancreas is being damaged further by the high glucos levels.IT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE. Dry foods are high in carbohydrate which raise blood sugar....which you then try to bring back down with Insulin. Doctors don't tell diabetic patients to eat kitkats for breakfast do they? Most vets have limited experience in dealing with diabetes and will not understand TR....or will not think that an owner would be willing to take responsibility in that way.
Sorry if I am going on rather but I am passionate about this and really really want to be of help.
I know it is all very daunting at this stage....but do ask about changing food to regular low carb wet, and please do consider at least some home testing, it will put you much more in control of what is going on and will help you avoid the dreaded hypo attack.

Millys Mum · « **Reply #20 on:** June 17, 2010, 10:00:40 AM »

I dont know much about it but feeding wet food which is low carb is meant to be as effective if not better than the purpose made dry so maybe she would be happier eating a 100% normal wet diet?

Liz · « **Reply #19 on:** June 16, 2010, 21:52:45 PM »

To be honest we never changed Tigers food - bit difficult with the then other 40 odd cats and found that the "normal" food never affected him - he was on 6 units twice daily and was textbook diabetic till heart failure robbed us of this darling boy

Lindsey (thefunkyinuit) · « **Reply #18 on:** June 16, 2010, 21:18:15 PM »

Hi everyone, thanks for all the advice. I'm doing ok with the injections but getting her to eat her new food is really stressing me out! The vet said she should have a tin of the wet food and 50g of the dry food a day, she likes the dry food but won't hardly touch the wet food. She ate it the first couple of days but now she completely ignoring it, she wouldn't really eat anything this morning so I was worried about giving her her insulin. I rang the vets for advice and they said just to give her half a unit instead of 1. She ate a bit more tonight so I gave her 1 unit tonight. We just have to muddle through tomorrow as she is in the vets all day Friday. I'm gonna ask some advice on different food. I'm not sure about TR, I might mention it to my vet but its alot to take in at the moment already, without that on top! I'll keep you all updated

x

JackSpratt · « **Reply #17 on:** June 14, 2010, 22:29:45 PM »

Definitely.....am in total agreement with that.

paddypaws · « **Reply #16 on:** June 14, 2010, 18:50:14 PM »

Jackspratt...I think you and I are in total agreement...do what is best for the cat! ( And yes, sometimes it is hard to express things properly in email format

)
When I first thought Paddy was diabetic I was in pieces...by the time the diagnosis was actually made a few months later ( Yes, the vets missed it ) I was SO happy that it was something that I could manage rather than CRF or a cancer which they had first suspected.
I am sure that Lacie will make a great recovery and bounce back from this illness restored to her full health.

JackSpratt · « **Reply #15 on:** June 14, 2010, 17:46:38 PM »

paddypaws, I'm really sorry I didn't realise it had come across that I thought you were being smug; I genuinely don't. What I was trying to get across is that yes, Lacie has an illness that needs to be managed but this doesn't mean a complete and utter life change if that makes her unhappy. It's my opinion that quality of life is really important and if (for instance) the special food isn't liked you find the next best thing. (Toby hated the food he was given after his diagnosis and he always had a really good appetite so a compromise was made with Felix senior, if I remember rightly, due to the content being slightly better than standard meats for his condition.)

I hope this makes sense and you know what I'm trying to say - sometimes I'm not so great at putting a thought into words. Sadly, I don't need the site; Toby developed other unrelated issues and we had to let him go a couple of years ago. I miss him very much, he was a wonderful cat.

Hope things are going well with Lacie.

Liz · « **Reply #14 on:** June 14, 2010, 13:56:04 PM »

Having had a diabetic feral may I recommend extra meals when you do the injection - our late great Tiger of the Clan cats was so text book he even surprised the vets when he was back maurading the neighbour hood after 3 weeks and was back by his evening shot every night - he was very food driven so made it so easy for us

If you want some help feel free to pm me

paddypaws · « **Reply #13 on:** June 14, 2010, 13:50:41 PM »

Jackspratt...please don't think I am sitting here thinking how great I am for doing more than the vet advised for my cat...honestly that is not my intention at all! It is just that on this question I really do not think that standard vet procedures are satisfactory for a lot of cats And I do agree that sometimes we can do things to our cats that are not in their best interests.
TR is very easy...it did not involve 'changing everything' for my cat....ok I came to realise that feeding dry food was akin to adding petrol to a fire, so I changed to Bozita and/or raw meat. Easy. I do a quick test to check his BG level, it takes a few seconds and he gets a treat after so comes and sits in place when I ask him to. Easy. Then I give a precise dose of insulin which varies according to his current BG. No stressful vet visits for expensive glucose curves needed and NO risk of clinical hypo attacks which every owner dreads.
Anyone who has seen a poorly regulated cat will be overjoyed to see that cat regain health and condition once BG levels are closely controlled. And with TR the chances of remission are very high...up to 80% of newly diagnosed cats. I achieved remission in around 6 weeks of treatment. ( Paddy has other health issues so is currently using insulin again, hopefully only short term )
UK vets have a choice of 2 insulins...either Caninsulin or PZI, so PZI is readily available
You may have joined the original forum set up by Dr Hodgkins...but please have another look at the site I now use...it is a very friendly and knowledgable bunch of people.

JackSpratt · « **Reply #12 on:** June 14, 2010, 10:21:16 AM »

There are a lot of meds used for dogs that can have positive results in cats too. Toby was on caninsulin for about two years and seemed to cope with the situation really well. I have seen Elizabeth Hodgkins forum and actually joined it; the people on there are terrifying if not informative. I personally did not want to change Tobys entire lifestyle after his diagnosis - he was a happy, loving , content cat and the idea of changing everything didn't sit right with me. I'm fairly certain he wouldn't have wanted that. I have read a little on the PZI and it's not as readily available in the UK as the US. (I don't have much respect for the US with regards to animal welfare, it has to be said!)

Having a little control over his health issue was important to me, but so was his quality of life remaining the sort of life he was happy with. People are made to feel bad for not immediately changing everything to "make the animals life better." If your animal is already a happy individual are you making it better for them or for you?

Does that make sense? Regardless, I hope the situation with Lacies BG levels is assessed very soon and daily treatment is stress free.

paddypaws · « **Reply #11 on:** June 14, 2010, 08:21:42 AM »

Caninsulin is formulated for dogs...hence the name, it is very different from a cat's own insulin. It's effect in cats is very harsh, sharp drops in BG with an asociated risk of dangerous hypoglycaemia. It leaves the system very quickly so that the BG is not kept under control. High BG continues damage to the pancreas whereas the tighter control of BG given by PZI allows the pancreas to heal and allows the good chance of remission.
Caninsulin has actually been withdrawn from use for cats in USA.
Several research papers have been produced with more detail...I will look for a link but the one that comes to mind is by Rand, although it discusses Lantus/Levemir which are not normally available in UK
http://www.diabeticcatcare.com/protocol.htm
This link outlines the protocol devised by Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM which prescribes PZI as the insulin of choice

JackSpratt · « **Reply #10 on:** June 13, 2010, 23:26:21 PM »

Can I ask why you think PZI is the only thing that can help a diabetic cat? Caninsulin can have pretty good results too.

paddypaws · « **Reply #9 on:** June 13, 2010, 20:49:05 PM »

I have a diabetic cat and use a protocol called Tight Regulation formulated by an American vet. You can get LOTS of information and support on www.diabeticcatcare.com
We test blood glucose ourselves, at home, before every insulin shot and that way aim to give precise doses of insulin as needed rather than a guestimated dose which most vets advise. Using the correct insulin....PZI by Insuvet and NOT caninsulin is very important as is feeding the lowest carb foods possible....NO dry food and not even the vet prescribed foods.
Please feel free to get in touch with me if I can be of any help at all.

JackSpratt · « **Reply #8 on:** June 13, 2010, 15:54:23 PM »

Give her a little treat after the injection if possible. That way, they associate the injection with a good thing.....Tobes always got a very small piece of ham and he'd actually come and wake me up and then sit on the counter waiting for his jab so he could get his reward.

Lindsey (thefunkyinuit) · « **Reply #7 on:** June 12, 2010, 22:57:58 PM »

Thanks everyone

I did well with her injection tonight, got my drawing up technique sorted now, a little differently from what the vet told me (The way she told me to do it, I kept getting a little bubble that just wouldn't budge no matter how hard I flicked the syringe!) I read about drawing a little air in the syringe first before putting it into the vile and pushing the air into the vile, I still get a bubble in it but it disappears with a light flick! I'm getting better at 'tenting' her skin but I still need to be more forceful with the needle (I did apologise profusely for poking her twice!)
I'm going back to the vets tomorrow for her insulin but hopefully after these next two injections, I'll be able to do it at home on Monday, If I can't i'll have to take her to the vets in the morning and leave her there until after work which I know she will hate! She going to be in all day Friday though so they can monitor her glucose levels throughout the day.
Shes a little trooper, bless her

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #6 on:** June 12, 2010, 22:19:34 PM »

Sorry to here that she is diabetic and believe it takes a while to get the right amount of insulin, so work with the vets and they will help

I had to give abs injections to one of mine and was surprised how tought the skin was, last time I think I finally got it right by getting the needle in properly, cos was hurting him by just pricking the skin.............I am sure you will get it sussed

JackSpratt · « **Reply #5 on:** June 12, 2010, 21:20:10 PM »

It can be pretty daunting to begin with. Did the vet teach you to tap the needle gently to get rid of the bubbles? Don't worry, if you're relaxed about it, Lacie will be too.

Janeyk · « **Reply #4 on:** June 12, 2010, 21:08:38 PM »

Sorry to hear this and hopefully you'll get her stabilised soon. I'm sure that you'll get the hang of things and thankfully she's getting the treatment now she needs

Millys Mum · « **Reply #3 on:** June 12, 2010, 19:57:49 PM »

Iv not had a diabetic yet but found a website called sugarpet a very interesting read

http://www.sugarpet.net/

Im sure you will soon have the technique just right

Tiggy's Mum · « **Reply #2 on:** June 12, 2010, 19:00:05 PM »

Sorry to hear about Lacie's diagnosis, hope you manage to get her stabilised on the insulin. I think diabetes in cats is not as common as other illnesses but I know we have a few members on here with long term diabetic cats so hopefully they will be along shortly with tips and advice

Lindsey (thefunkyinuit) · « **Reply #1 on:** June 12, 2010, 17:35:33 PM »

Hi everyone, I haven't been on here for absolutely ages!

Lacie was diagnosed with diabetes a few days ago, we took her to the emergency vet on Thursday night because she was weeing alot/it was very urgent and then she wet herself while sitting on the windowsill. The vet said that it could just be cystitis but to get her into my normal vets the next day and to take a wee sample. Her glucose levels were high in her wee so she had a blood test which showed very high glucose and ketone levels, confirming that she has diabetes.

It was a massive shock to begin with and the treatment sounded very daunting, I was really upset but I'm feeling a bit better about it now. We've started her on a prescription diet and started her on insulin yesterday evening. She seems to like the food, which is good because she can be pretty finicky! Still drinking loads but thats to be expected. I did her insulin injection at the vets this morning, I'm ok at the actual injection (I need to be a bit more confident and push the needle in harder though!) Its preparing the insulin that i'm struggling with! Getting rid of the little bubbles is difficult, but hopefully I'll be able to do it soon. We're going back to the vets tonight and probably tomorrow morning and evening until i'm confident with giving her the injections on my own.

Lacie is a little more quiet than usual but she seems to be getting used to the frequent vet trips and seems unfazed by the injections, I think shes also loving all the extra attention!

Any advice would be welcome

thank you in advance!

Author Topic: Lacie is diabetic (Read 19683 times)