My cat with diabetes?

[PaulBowdry]

So I have a 7 year old black cat. He has been a large guy for a few years now. I noticed he is losing a lot of weight over the past six months now. You could now feel his spine and hip bones poking out when I petted him. I bite the bullet take him to the vet. 350 dollars later they tell me he has diabetes. Blood sugar was 800. The scale is comparable to humans. Very high. I decide am going to treat him. 285 dollars for Lantus insulin, 60 dollars diabetic cat food, 25 dollars insulin needles, 50 dollars blood sugar test kit. The vet says 20 percent chance of remission.

My wife is treating him with insulin shots every 12 hours feeding him the special food. Long story short. We have always fed our cats dry food. I was reading around online about cat diabetes. The consensus was feed all cats canned cat foods that are pate type. Cheap friskies pate they say is good. Gravy no good. So a week in to the treatment switch all the other cats to friskies pate at 45 cents a can. The diabetic cat wont eat the dry diabetic food. I tell the wife just feed him the canned food with the other cats. It has been about three weeks in total since the vet visit. My cat hasn't needed insulin for four days now blood sugar at 100 or a little below. The vet thinks he is in remission.

Out about 700 dollars and have almost a full vial of insulin. The cat is healthy is fur looks great now. I thought this was an anecdote worth sharing. If anybody else has cat stories or tips I would love to read them.

 

[dmr]

My co-worker had a diabetic cat for a while. If you want I can put the two of you in touch. Short version, he went along many years on insulin shots and eventually he wore out.

 

[TedCheddy]

I've got a few years in with a diabetic cat - started when he was only 4. Ours did the same thing going into remission right away but then his numbers went back up after about nine months. Been a couple of years of trying to regulate him using every type of insulin and running every type of test - still can't get his numbers into the 200's. Seems to always stay in the 400's no matter how many units we give and his glucose curves aren't really curves.

You'd never suspect he has diabetes because his weight has been holding at 15# and his energy is great. Let me know if you have any questions - as I said, I've got a ton of experience in trying to regulate our guy.

 

[Travel Fanatic]

My partner put her cat on wet food a few years back when he developed bladder crystals from dry food. Of course, when we leave town and have to put out a bowl of dry food for a few days, he goes nuts and loves it. Then again, he also goes nuts whenever I give him wet food each day. Long story short, he's just a fat bastard who loves his food

 

[PaulBowdry]

My cat is around 77 to 100 now for 5 days Fed him dry regular food to see how it would impact him. He jumped to 200. Fed him canned food after and back to normal.

 

[TedCheddy]

My cat is around 77 to 100 now for 5 days Fed him dry regular food to see how it would impact him. He jumped to 200. Fed him canned food after and back to normal.

You may be doing this already but, if not, get a small spiral notebook and record everything. Write down dates and times for every glucose reading, shot, curve, units, type of insulin, cat weight, food brand, etc. Hopefully he stays in remission and you won't need it; if he does start having problems this data is invaluable to have for your vet.

 

[smartone]

Wow, this is interesting... thanks for sharing. Our 7 year old cat is "porky", as he's only an indoor cat (in our area, letting a cat out just feeds the wildlife). Since the day we got him when he was only about 5 weeks old, the ONLY thing he'll eat is Fancy Feast Savory Chicken and Turkey dry cat food! I mean the ONLY thing! For the hell of it, we've tried small bags of other dry cat food, canned wet-food, human food like salmon, shrimp, etc. He sniffs it all and then does that burying thing! I never thought the dry food wouldn't be good for him...

 

[Pea]

My Frasier was diabetic. He lived for 3-4 years after diagnosis. He never went into remission, but I think the vet dropped the ball and he didn't get diagnosed right away - he was peeing a lot and had little dry poopies (sorry!, but just mentioning to maybe help someone else) but she first just said he needs more fiber..

I gave him insulin shots twice a day also. Fortunately he was very docile and it didn't seem to bother him too much.

I checked his blood sugar level on his ear, later just periodically. I warmed up a little pillow to put under the ear which also makes the blood come out easier, and/or you can rub the ear.

I could rarely get him under 200 but then sometimes he would go too low (which is much more dangerous) so I had to be content with around 200. I also noticed when his ears felt warmer, his blood sugar was higher plus noticed bigger pee & dry poopies; when ears where colder, it was lower. so that was kind of a way I could tell without pricking his ear so often. (I kept track as TedCheddy suggests).

Frasier didn't like the wet DM (diabetic) but liked the dry DM.

Thanks for taking care good of your cat, Paul - I hope he goes into remission.

 

[Skyler]

Yeah, I had a diabetic cat years ago too. You're lucky your vet told you to test and that remission is possible. Back then, they didn't know that diet has everything to do with it. Mine didn't have me test or change food, just give insulin. If you don't get aggressive with it at first remission becomes almost impossible, so Peaches never had a chance for remission. She lived 6 years after diagnosis. There's a site called felinediabetes.com that really helped me learn a lot about it. Do yourself a favor and stay away from the dry food and good luck with the remission!

Oh, btw, you'll also want to stay away from having your vet give steroids for any reason and make sure your cat stays infection free. Both those things can cause the diabetes to come back.

 

[Flowers]

It's interesting. Based on what folks are saying it sounds like the dry food -- which is more carbs -- is a lot WORSE for the cats that the canned food -- which is presumably more protein and less carbs. That's true for humans as well.

Edited to say WORSE rather than BETTER

 

[Ezzy711]

Don't want to get controversial or preachy. Please for to catinfo.org and read how food effects animals. I honestly believe you can reverse the problem with a diet change. It is challenging to do but worth it.

I have 2 cats. I currently feed them darwins which is delivered monthly right to my door. It is convenient and I feel it is the best thing for them. I have had cats for years that were fed dry and died too young after many illness and even more $&$. I am trying to do my best to avoid that in the future.

 

[PaulBowdry]

My wife records everything in a book. She has been checking his blood sugar every 12 hours. He is between 79 and 114. I appreciate everyone's feedback and stories. Sorry for people who have lost a cat.