Diabetic cat

[el henry]

I just found this thread; our Appius (not the avatar kitty) was diagnosed in early September. His BG levels were 597!

We love our regular vet, but we started talking to a vet who we know through church, and *that* vet has been a lifesaver. With our regular vet, Appius' blood levels only went down to 425, and he was on four units of PZI twice a day. He is now at 100-125 on one unit once a day (so far, knock wood). What changed?

1. Diet, diet, diet. As @Karina1974 said, canned food only and food low in carbs. This page has carb levels for US foods:
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html
Appius now eats only low carb wet Fancy Feast.

2. We inject him in a fold in the "knee" which is really a fold by what you would think of as his hip, as a human. Maximum blood circulation for insulin to travel in this area; no more scruff of the neck. At first we were terrified, but it gets easier.

Best of luck to you and Puss!

 

[mrr50]

My daughter's cat had diabetes for 8 years. He recently died at the age of 16. He had shots twice a day and was fed a special dry food. We gave him shots in area between his shoulder blades. He would finish his food and patiently wait for the shot. At one point he weighed 24 lbs which was obese, but he had a very large frame.

Over the years he was able to lose some weight, but after a point it was not a good idea for this cat.

 

[Aussie Willy]

Just an update. Unfortunately puss has had to go onto insulin. It was a month since I last went to the vet and I had been giving him tins and raw meat. He improved for a while but the last week wasn't doing good. Anyway will see how it goes and hopefully that will stabilise him. Wasn't too bad giving him the injections though as they are quite small and I am only administering a very small dose of insulin at the moment.

 

[Aussie Willy]

Thought I would post an update on puss. The last couple of months have been a struggle to get him right. However the last week he has turned a corner for the better.

He has been back to the vet a couple of times to do glucose curves. He wasn't doing too well. Back legs were getting weaker and he was still drinking and going to the toilet a lot. Measuring his water intake he was drinking about 300-400 millilitres a day. The vet also kept telling me to feed him the diabetic dry food. I had tried the tin food a while ago and he didn't like it.

However last week we upped the dose of insulin to 8 units. And because I ran out of dry food, I had to give him the remaining tins. This time he ate them all. So I since last week I have fed him the tins and he has improved greatly. Only drinking between 50-100 mls of water a day and definitely not using the litter as much. He is also brighter, more active and jumping on the couch to sleep there rather than on the floor. He has also wanted to get on my lap while using my computer which he hadn't done for a couple of months.

Poor thing is still having trouble with his back legs but he can jump up on the couch without help.

Anyway I am pleased he is on the improve and hopefully this will continue.

 

[Japanfan]

Glad things are going well Aussie Willy.

My experience with having a diabetic dog was that it is a journey that involves constant learning and adjusting. In my dog Maia's case, she sometimes had blood sugar crashes, and fortunately someone was always at home to administer the syrup. I work at home, and could not have cared for her properly if I was away from home for eight hours a day.

I have mentioned this before, but will do so again because it is very important. For awhile Maia was doing very poorly and we couldn't control her blood sugar, although we were giving her the right amount of insulin. The vet could not figure out what was going on. It turned out that someone on a 'Pets with Diabetes' forum figured it out. We were using a needle that was calibrated differently than the needle the vet used - a friend with diabetes had given us some needles. Such a small simple thing, and it could have killed my dog.

Maia was diagnosed with diabetes when she was nine years old and went blind shortly after. She lived to 14. Being blind never stopped that dog and she'd still wander off. A construction crew was building a house in the lot next door, and one day I couldn't find Maia - she had made her way down into the deep hole that had been dug for the house's foundation, and was happily hunting down the workers' lunch leavings.

She lost the use of her hind legs at 14 - we thought it was a stroke. Knowing she'd not be able to walk anymore combined with her age and diabetic condition in leading us to make the decision to send her off the rainbow bridge. It was an easy passing - she had her nose in a jar of peanut butter when the vet administered the lethal injection - and an easy goodbye, because she had fully lived a good doggy life, even when blind and diabetic.

 

[Aussie Willy]

I thought I would give an update about Puss. It has been a while. He is still going but there has been a new development.

He has been on insulin for at least 10 months and has been up and down. I moved last week to Hobart and found a new vet who is fantastic. I had been having a lot of trouble getting his glucose down and bringing it under control. We changed his insulin because the other type (Lantus) was not really working and he was on 10 units. Poor thing was losing weight and not his usual self but he was absolutely ravenous.

Today he had an ultrasound and it found that he has an enlarged adrenal gland which is basically Cushing's Disease. It can happen with diabetic cats. Have put him on a new medication so hopefully that will at least reduce the symptoms.

 

[Japanfan]

I thought I would give an update about Puss. It has been a while. He is still going but there has been a new development.

He has been on insulin for at least 10 months and has been up and down. I moved last week to Hobart and found a new vet who is fantastic. I had been having a lot of trouble getting his glucose down and bringing it under control. We changed his insulin because the other type (Lantus) was not really working and he was on 10 units. Poor thing was losing weight and not his usual self but he was absolutely ravenous.

Today he had an ultrasound and it found that he has an enlarged adrenal gland which is basically Cushing's Disease. It can happen with diabetic cats. Have put him on a new medication so hopefully that will at least reduce the symptoms.

I'm sorry about the Cushing's Aussie Willy, but glad that Puss is hanging on in terms of the diabetes.

It is so stressful when you can't get the glucose levels in order. I remember how distressed I was when Maia was losing weight (due to not getting the proper amount of insulin as the result of a calibration issue - as posted above).

Good luck with the new vet. Keep us posted on Puss's progress.

 

[Miezekatze]

Just discovering this thread now, our former cat (the famous "Miezekatze" who inspired my user name )was diagnosed with Diabetes at around 12 years of age and she lived quite well with it, she lived up to 18 years of age and died of something unrelated. She got a shot once a day, but I have to say it seemed kind of uncomplicated with her, maybe we got the fitting insulin right from the beginning. She also didn't mind the shot, barely seemed to notice it.

I also got a horse with Cushings and diabetes by the way.

 

[Aussie Willy]

Just discovering this thread now, our former cat (the famous "Miezekatze" who inspired my user name )was diagnosed with Diabetes at around 12 years of age and she lived quite well with it, she lived up to 18 years of age and died of something unrelated. She got a shot once a day, but I have to say it seemed kind of uncomplicated with her, maybe we got the fitting insulin right from the beginning. She also didn't mind the shot, barely seemed to notice it.

I also got a horse with Cushings and diabetes by the way.

Oh wow how is that dealing with a horse with those problems?

Puss is really good with his shots and I haven't had trouble getting the medication for the Cushings into him. Put them in his food and he just chomps it down because he is so hungry. This weekend he is in a cattery because I have to go to an interstate skating competition. It was quite interesting because he usually hates other cats but he wasn't bothered at all by them. Good thing the person is familiar with giving cats medication.