Willow has diabetes! :-(

[marshab]

First of all a big THANKS to all of you who posted on this thread over the past few weeks.
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...7&page=4&pp=12
There was a lot of good advice to parents (no kids) who never had a cat problem until now.

After several trips to the vet and our Willow down to 6 1/2 lbs from 10, she has been diagnosed with Diabetes. That was never part of the package when this stray kitten showed up on our door 6 years ago! Now Marsha and I are in a steep learning curve! We started giving insulin injections yesterday on a daily basis.
This has been coming on for 6 months but we never recognized the signs - sticky pee, etc.

We've been reading and trying to digest all this information and all the ramifications of keeping this under control. It ain't going to be easy! The first thing that surprised us was all the info out there and even websites for cat diabetes! Obviously this is a bigger issue than we imagined.

We are starting her with 2 "units" a day for a week and then back to the vet for tests. Have you dealt with diabetes in any of your cats?
I have a few questions to start and more will come later. Please offer your experience...

Q. She gets her shot at 8:30am each day. How critical is the timing? Can we be an 1/2 hour off each way - 8am or 9am? Tomorrow we have to leave at 7:3oam.

Q. What happens if we go out of town for a few days or a week or more?
Can she go without insulin for a few days... once in a while?
We thought about taking her with on a 3 day trip and giving her the shots, but that would put huge stress on her. She is not comfortable out of the house.

Q. If you go out of town for a week or two, do you take your cat to the same friends house you did before and ask or teach them to give daily needles? That would be asking a lot of someone else.

Q. We are trying to get her weight back. Will that come? Could she ever return to normal or does it mean injections for life?

Whew! Thanks for all this. :-)

 

[carolpetunia]

I have no personal experience with diabetes in cats, but my father has it...and for him, at least, it would NOT be okay to go without medicine, ever.

I don't know whether you should rely on catsitters, now that Willow is ill. Maybe you should board her with a kennel that offers special care by trained technicians... so if anything should go wrong, someone will be there to help her...

 

[dr. doolittle]

1. It is OK to be off by 1/2 an hour or so each way. Even an hour should be fine. Just do your best and aim for every 12 hours.

2. She can NEVER miss a day of insulin. Missing even ONE day will set her back BIG TIME in her regulation. She could go into Keto-acidosis and get very sick and possibly die. Stress will also make it harder for her to stay regulated.

3. If I were you I would get a sitter, that is willing to learn how to give the insulin, to come to your house twice a day. The other option is to board her at a kennel, vet, or sitters house while you are gone. I would use the same place every time you go away so that it becomes part of your routine and she is less stressed.

4. Her body condition should improve with time and medication. Feed her a diet recommended for diabetic cats. Purina makes one and so does Royal Canin. This will help her become regulated and put some weight back on.

Yes Diabetes is for life. Some cats occasionally will convert back to not being diabetic but this is rare. She will likely need insulin for the rest of her life.

 

[white cat lover]

I have never met a cat with diabetes, but my mom is diabetec(type 2- no insulin required). As she has learned to manage her diabetes better, her weight has leveled out. For the first year, her weight was up & down. If you can get a sitter, that would be best. My SIL's cat requires a vet or vet tech for a sitter due to some recent age related health issues. If you can, I would try to get a vet or vet tech(someone who has knowledge of diabetes in cats). Our vet has large cages for cats to stay in(only ones with health needs) for boarding. You can bring along tons of stuff to put in the cage to make things less stressful. My mom asked about missing a insulin injection if she was type 1 diabetes. The doctor told her that is could kill her.

Good Luck with Willow! She is very lucky to have parents that are willing to do so much to make her healthy & happy!

 

[bloob & valo]

Hi, I don't have that information, but I want to share what I do know. My knowledge is in terms of people. However a holistic vet can direct you as far as which parts of this info is helpful for your cat.

Diabetes is a symptom of a lack of the mineral chromium in the body. Chromium is what regulates our blood sugar levels, and if there is a lack of chromium, many times it depletes from having eaten too many sweets and starches.

It is important for diabetics to take a chromium supplement, and I've heard very good things about taking the blue-green algae, E3-Live! http://www.e3live.com/ (They have a pet-owner testimonials page)

It is important to cut out high glycemic foods including corn, carrots and beets.

A natural healthy sweetener that can be used by diabetics is Agave Nectar, from a cactus. I use it, it's like honey. It's extremely sweet, but the glycemic index is low and it's a dense sugar so it doesn't mess with the blood sugar, it absorbs slowly. I get it from healthfood stores.

 

[sharky]

Originally Posted by Dr. Doolittle

1. It is OK to be off by 1/2 an hour or so each way. Even an hour should be fine. Just do your best and aim for every 12 hours.

2. She can NEVER miss a day of insulin. Missing even ONE day will set her back BIG TIME in her regulation. She could go into Keto-acidosis and get very sick and possibly die. Stress will also make it harder for her to stay regulated.

3. If I were you I would get a sitter, that is willing to learn how to give the insulin, to come to your house twice a day. The other option is to board her at a kennel, vet, or sitters house while you are gone. I would use the same place every time you go away so that it becomes part of your routine and she is less stressed.

4. Her body condition should improve with time and medication. Feed her a diet recommended for diabetic cats. Purina makes one and so does Royal Canin. This will help her become regulated and put some weight back on.

Yes Diabetes is for life. Some cats occasionally will convert back to not being diabetic but this is rare. She will likely need insulin for the rest of her life.

and make sure to talk with your vet about diet it can be a big help

 

[marshab]

Our biggest challenge is the fact that Willow is eating very little. All the diabetic food she doesn't like. She slurps up some of the wet pastes, but not enough. We've found one dried food that she likes, but it's got a lot of carbs in it vs protein. We've tried 20 different foods in the past 3 weeks! She always goes to the treats cupboard, which we then give her, but that stuff is not the most nutritious food.

So how do we get her to put on more weight?

 

[dr. doolittle]

While feeding her a food for diabetic cats would be the best, it is better that she eat than not eat at all. So if all she likes is Fancy Feast, let her eat Fancy Feast. Then mix the diabetic food in gradually. Sometimes it's not the food the cat doesn't like, it's the change.
Also talk to your vet about other diets that might work for diabetes. For cats, some vets recommend kitten food (higher in protein). Hills m/d is a weight loss diet (high protein, low carb) that is also indicated for diabetes. Diets high in fibre are also good as fibre helps regulate the uptake of sugars from the gut- it helps to maintain a more even blood sugar throughout the day.

 

[semiferal]

Q. She gets her shot at 8:30am each day. How critical is the timing? Can we be an 1/2 hour off each way - 8am or 9am? Tomorrow we have to leave at 7:3oam.

You can definitely be half an hour off without any problems. I have heard that up to 3 hours away from 12 hours is still okay. Just come as close as you can, and make absolutely sure that she eats before or as she gets her shot.

Q. What happens if we go out of town for a few days or a week or more?
Can she go without insulin for a few days... once in a while?
We thought about taking her with on a 3 day trip and giving her the shots, but that would put huge stress on her. She is not comfortable out of the house.

No, no, no! Insulin is a crucial hormone and without it she cannot metabolize her food. Going away for a few days and not giving her insulin while you are gone is a recipe for disaster, up to and including death.

One caveat here: she must eat with her insulin. If she does not eat for whatever reason, do *not* give the shot. If you do, it could cause a potentially fatal hypoglycemic episode. If in doubt, it is safer to give too little insulin than too much.

Q. If you go out of town for a week or two, do you take your cat to the same friends house you did before and ask or teach them to give daily needles? That would be asking a lot of someone else.

This is hard to answer without knowing your friend. In general, though, dealing with a diabetic cat is a hassle because it requires attention to scheduling and timing, but other than that it is really no big deal so I think most people can learn how to do it. A professional petsitter may be a better bet, though. The first place to look would be you vet's office. Often vet techs and assistants do some petsitting on the side and they are knowledgeable about diabetes and know how to give insulin. I would not recommend boarding as the first choice option because it is very stressful for most cats and stress makes it even more difficult to regulate blood sugar. Bringing her with you when you travel would probably be quite a bit less stressful than boarding.

Q. We are trying to get her weight back. Will that come? Could she ever return to normal or does it mean injections for life?

Yes, she will show improvement because she will again be able to actually use her food! She lost weight because she could not convert her food into useable fuel, but the insulin will fix that. Diet can also help a lot. Canned food only is the best way to go. Prescription foods like Purina DM are fine, but you can also use a high protein, very high quality commercial canned cat food. She will be diabetic for life and probably will always require insulin, but her overall health will improve and she will live a normal life.

 

[icklemiss21]

Scully is diabetic (although he doesn't need insulin *yet*)

But we went through a lot of these questions with the vet and he even let me come back for a free visit with my BF's brother (who usually feeds them when we are away) to show him how to properly care for him and give the shot.

My vet said it can be different by about 2 hours (but its better to be early than late because you wouldn't want to forget and something happen).

The trip could make her diabetes worse so I would recommend getting a sitter and teaching them how to give her the shots. I remember Scully had a sore tooth and his BG went through the roof because of a slight infection and my vet was away and I freaked out on the emergency vet for telling me that I was worse than a 'real mother' for worrying so much.

Scully throws up prescription food so we worked with our vet to find a food that worked and he would eat - so if you can't get your cat to eat prescription food don't force the issue - not eating can make diabetes worse.

And as semiferal said, yes she will get some of her weight back with a proper diet, but keep your vet involved in your choices. Mine is happy for me to call and say will this work, I am worried about this etc without me taking scully to him and paying a consulatation fee as long as its just about the food etc and not Scully's health.

Also get a BG monitor, it will help you recognise what is working etc. While I say my vet says 2hours is ok, cats differ and for yours, perhaps this is not the case, so measure her BG when giving insulin early/late and make sure it is ok for her. The best place to get blood is their ear (the diabetes websites will show you how) and get some uncooked rice and heat in, wrap in some cotton and rub the ear with it before and afterwards to help stop the bleeding and make her more comfortable with it.

 

[opilot]

My parent's have my brother's cat Gator. He has diabetes, and my bro
could not take care of him (give shots on time) due to his work schedule.
So, voila the parents!

They have had no problems with the shot, or the timing. Gator doesn't have any ill effects if the shot is given at slightly different times ... sometimes
as much as an 1 to 2 hours.

The shot is easy to learn to do, unless you are scared of cats
or of needles... It doesn't hurt them at all!! And I have to say,
most people can do. If your friends can't do it or don't want to,
get a pet sitter to visit when you are gone. most of them dogive meds.

My parents use a vet tech who does pet sitting on the side, and is
good at giving all sort of med. treatments!!

As to weight. Gator's went down to 16lbs when he was first diagnosed, now his weight is up to 21 lbs!! (He's part Bengal). He looooves his food!! They feed a prescription, but sometimes he poaches from the other kitty bowl..
controlling who eats what is a bit tough sometimes....

Work to find a food he likes - they use a Purina made diet food - tried
Science hills and he would not eat it...

Also, with consistent treatment and diet your cat's need for insulin
MAY decrease. Gator is on 2 units per meal... which is EXCELLENT.
He started out needing 5 units...

Some cats do spontaneously "get better" and stop needing insulin
altogether... be aware of this, and stay in touch with your vet.

Cost for supplies can be reduced by buying thru websites in volume.
There are some excellent support pages out there for diabetic cat
owners. And many on this site can advise on that...