What can we DIY for our diabetic cat?
March 16, 2018 4:28 AM Subscribe
Our cat, Toki Wartooth (obligatory), was recently diagnosed with diabetes. We caught it early and his outlook is good, and he's already much happier and more relaxed after less than a week on insulin. My question is: should we buy a glucose monitor and attempt to do glucose curves at home? If so, which monitor should we buy?
I know taking regular glucose curves is vital to calibrate insulin dosage, and we'll definitely let the vet do the first one. But Toki cat, unsurprisingly, HATES being hospitalised, so I want to minimise stressful hospitalisations where possible.
As much as I dislike the idea of stabbing his l'il cat ear repeatedly, I feel like it's the least stressful option. If you have a diabetic poesje, do you do your own glucose curves? If so, which glucose monitor do you use? Do you need to use a specialist veterinary glucose monitor, or is a human one fine? I've been reading conflicting reports online.
Semi-related: is it also possible to buy insulin needles online in the UK? I know we're going to go through a lot, and I could see the cost piling up if we keep buying them through our vet.
I know taking regular glucose curves is vital to calibrate insulin dosage, and we'll definitely let the vet do the first one. But Toki cat, unsurprisingly, HATES being hospitalised, so I want to minimise stressful hospitalisations where possible.
As much as I dislike the idea of stabbing his l'il cat ear repeatedly, I feel like it's the least stressful option. If you have a diabetic poesje, do you do your own glucose curves? If so, which glucose monitor do you use? Do you need to use a specialist veterinary glucose monitor, or is a human one fine? I've been reading conflicting reports online.
Semi-related: is it also possible to buy insulin needles online in the UK? I know we're going to go through a lot, and I could see the cost piling up if we keep buying them through our vet.
Best answer: I don't have a recommendation for a monitor because my beloved Samantha (immortalized in tattoo form here, sorry for the awkward angle) passed over ten years ago, but monitoring kitty's glucose does matter. I also had a human glucose monitor, a super cheap one, and borrowed another from a friend with diabetes when it broke. Samantha hated having her ear pricked, but it was doable.
Toki is adorable and I hope he has a long and happy life. I assume you know about the feline diabetes messageboard? I would check there for what monitors people like.
posted by bile and syntax at 5:23 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
Toki is adorable and I hope he has a long and happy life. I assume you know about the feline diabetes messageboard? I would check there for what monitors people like.
posted by bile and syntax at 5:23 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
One of my cats had diabetes and I monitored his glucose levels at home. I think the glucose monitor was the same as used for humans but the strips were specific to cats/dogs. The vet told me exactly what to buy. He did not at all like being pricked to get the blood, but I could do it periodically and it got me way more data (and with much less hassle) than bringing him to the vet every week or two.
But also: cats are naturally carnivores, and a lot of cat food - iincluding some of the rx "diabetic" cat food - has tons of carbohydrate filler in it. (btw in the case of pet food, I believe "prescription" is a marketing term/sales agreement than anything that means that a vet really needs to monitor it.) So we put him on a very low carb diet. We use Young Again dry food (the vet had never heard of it but researched it pretty thoroughly - she ended up a bit skeptical but did not say it was terrible, and he's been eating it for several months now) supplemented with various very low/no carb wet foods. Within maybe 3 weeks, he was entirely off the insulin. Note however that his situation may have been different than many, as the diabetes may have been included by a different medicine which we took him off immediately once he became diabetic.
I don't remember offhand the specific online resources we used to determine good food options, but if you want me to try to find them for you, let me know and I will.
posted by 2 cats in the yard at 5:39 AM on March 16, 2018
But also: cats are naturally carnivores, and a lot of cat food - iincluding some of the rx "diabetic" cat food - has tons of carbohydrate filler in it. (btw in the case of pet food, I believe "prescription" is a marketing term/sales agreement than anything that means that a vet really needs to monitor it.) So we put him on a very low carb diet. We use Young Again dry food (the vet had never heard of it but researched it pretty thoroughly - she ended up a bit skeptical but did not say it was terrible, and he's been eating it for several months now) supplemented with various very low/no carb wet foods. Within maybe 3 weeks, he was entirely off the insulin. Note however that his situation may have been different than many, as the diabetes may have been included by a different medicine which we took him off immediately once he became diabetic.
I don't remember offhand the specific online resources we used to determine good food options, but if you want me to try to find them for you, let me know and I will.
posted by 2 cats in the yard at 5:39 AM on March 16, 2018
Best answer: We had a diabetic cat whose glucose we monitored at home. He was happy and healthy for a long time and ultimately something totally unrelated took him from us at age 14.
I can't remember the monitor we used (it was made by Abbott, I think, and had butterflies on the strips). After we got into a good routine with him, we tested twice a day (before each shot) and did an occasional full curve day (maybe once a month or two depending on how things were going).
Some tips:
-The little blood vessel along the ear is a great spot to do your prick because you can see it easily and it's not too painful. Just change up the spot that you do so Toki doesn't build up scar tissue there.
-Your vial of insulin will likely last a lot longer than the 30 days they tell you (three months was about right for us, but ask your vet). Just keep it in the fridge and get some cap seals to keep it clean (little metallic stickers... I can't seem to find online because I'm sure I have the wrong name. The pharmacy or vet can give you some).
-Take the feline diabetic message boards with a huge grain of salt! Some people on there believe you are a total cat-hating monster if you don't test a bajillion times a day or if you feed any dry food at all (even grain-free low-carb, etc, even if your cat won't eat any wet). Some will make it seem like you need to quit your job to watch your cat full time, or that your cat will go into hypoglycemia at the drop of a hat. These things are not true. This disease is very manageable, and you are going to do great and find what works for you, and you will absolutely be able to fit it in to a normal life for you and Toki.
posted by dayintoday at 7:56 AM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
I can't remember the monitor we used (it was made by Abbott, I think, and had butterflies on the strips). After we got into a good routine with him, we tested twice a day (before each shot) and did an occasional full curve day (maybe once a month or two depending on how things were going).
Some tips:
-The little blood vessel along the ear is a great spot to do your prick because you can see it easily and it's not too painful. Just change up the spot that you do so Toki doesn't build up scar tissue there.
-Your vial of insulin will likely last a lot longer than the 30 days they tell you (three months was about right for us, but ask your vet). Just keep it in the fridge and get some cap seals to keep it clean (little metallic stickers... I can't seem to find online because I'm sure I have the wrong name. The pharmacy or vet can give you some).
-Take the feline diabetic message boards with a huge grain of salt! Some people on there believe you are a total cat-hating monster if you don't test a bajillion times a day or if you feed any dry food at all (even grain-free low-carb, etc, even if your cat won't eat any wet). Some will make it seem like you need to quit your job to watch your cat full time, or that your cat will go into hypoglycemia at the drop of a hat. These things are not true. This disease is very manageable, and you are going to do great and find what works for you, and you will absolutely be able to fit it in to a normal life for you and Toki.
posted by dayintoday at 7:56 AM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
My cat had/has diabetes, currently being controlled with diet (or else in remission), but for a couple years she was on insulin. I didn't monitor blood glucose at home because that was not tenable. She's way too squirmy. Instead, I got some urinalysis strips and tested her urine for glucose. She had no problem with me shoving a cup under her as she peed (from the back, not the front.) Additionally, I monitored her water intake very closely. Still do. She gets 2 cups of water a day, and typically drinks 1/2 cup in a 24 hour period. Before she was controlled it was more like 1-1.5 cups. These days if she drinks 3/4 cup or more more than a few days in a row, then I will take her in for a fructosamine and blood glucose test.
posted by Stewriffic at 9:06 AM on March 16, 2018
posted by Stewriffic at 9:06 AM on March 16, 2018
Best answer: We had a diabetic cat that we monitored at home & in whom we were able to induce remission by feeding a very low-carb food and using the tight management protocol. She was diagnosed around age 10 (her sugar was over 800!) and we had her off of insulin within 6 months. She went on to live 5 more full and happy years.
We bought & used the Alphatrax 2 meter + strips for at-home testing. They're calibrated for cats and dogs. This was the device our vet used, so we wanted to make sure any data we gave them (or that they gave us) was an apples-to-apples comparison. You might want to ask your vet what testing kit they're using and if consumers can purchase their own version. I know some people use monitors for humans but be aware that if you do, your numbers may not match what your vet is reading/expecting.
One advantage of the Alphatrax is that it requires very, very little blood to get an accurate reading.
Our vet advised us to prick the little blood vessel that runs a few millimeters in from the outside edge of the ear tip. It doesn't hurt the cat very much if at all, at least in our experience. The Alphatrax came with a little pricker device; you cock it and then all you have to do is release the trigger and it quickly/painlessly pokes. We would get our supplies out and prepped (turning on the monitor, sticking the test strip into the monitor, setting it next to us), then gently hold the ear tip between our fingers for a few moments to warm up the ear and draw a little blood flow up there. Then prick, which didn't phase the cat at all, and quickly put the wick-end of the strip up to the blood droplet. Sometimes I would miss or misjudge the vein's location, and we'd need to prick a second time, but the cat never seemed to mind. She'd roll her eyes at having her naps interrupted, but that was the extent of her discomfort. And this was a cat who didn't hesitate to Let You Know if you had offended.
It was tremendously helpful for me to be able to do blood curves at home. Zero stress for the cat, much cheaper for me than schlepping kittie to the vet for a day. It was also nice to know I could immediately assuage my anxiety if I thought the cat was acting a little off. And it was necessary for the tight-protocol we followed.
By the way, most commercial cat foods are not great for diabetic cats, as you've probably already discovered. Fancy Feast Classic pates are one of the better options among "supermarket" canned cat food. TikiCat Papeekeo is one of if not the lowest carb options available, and that's what we fed our sugar cat after she was diagnosed. We continued to alternate between that food and Fussie Cat's Chicken in Gravy after getting her into remission.
If you do switch your cat's food, make sure to monitor his/her curves very closely for several weeks after the switch. Reducing the amount of carbs in their diet will reduce the amount of insulin they need. If you switch to a very low carb food, you can unintentionally overdose them with insulin. Talk to your vet about any dietary changes that you'd like to implement. And if you haven't already, buy a bottle of corn syrup or cane syrup and keep it handy. If the cat's sugars drop too low, you can rub a little of the syrup on their gums to revive them while you're headed to the vet.
posted by muirne81 at 9:25 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
We bought & used the Alphatrax 2 meter + strips for at-home testing. They're calibrated for cats and dogs. This was the device our vet used, so we wanted to make sure any data we gave them (or that they gave us) was an apples-to-apples comparison. You might want to ask your vet what testing kit they're using and if consumers can purchase their own version. I know some people use monitors for humans but be aware that if you do, your numbers may not match what your vet is reading/expecting.
One advantage of the Alphatrax is that it requires very, very little blood to get an accurate reading.
Our vet advised us to prick the little blood vessel that runs a few millimeters in from the outside edge of the ear tip. It doesn't hurt the cat very much if at all, at least in our experience. The Alphatrax came with a little pricker device; you cock it and then all you have to do is release the trigger and it quickly/painlessly pokes. We would get our supplies out and prepped (turning on the monitor, sticking the test strip into the monitor, setting it next to us), then gently hold the ear tip between our fingers for a few moments to warm up the ear and draw a little blood flow up there. Then prick, which didn't phase the cat at all, and quickly put the wick-end of the strip up to the blood droplet. Sometimes I would miss or misjudge the vein's location, and we'd need to prick a second time, but the cat never seemed to mind. She'd roll her eyes at having her naps interrupted, but that was the extent of her discomfort. And this was a cat who didn't hesitate to Let You Know if you had offended.
It was tremendously helpful for me to be able to do blood curves at home. Zero stress for the cat, much cheaper for me than schlepping kittie to the vet for a day. It was also nice to know I could immediately assuage my anxiety if I thought the cat was acting a little off. And it was necessary for the tight-protocol we followed.
By the way, most commercial cat foods are not great for diabetic cats, as you've probably already discovered. Fancy Feast Classic pates are one of the better options among "supermarket" canned cat food. TikiCat Papeekeo is one of if not the lowest carb options available, and that's what we fed our sugar cat after she was diagnosed. We continued to alternate between that food and Fussie Cat's Chicken in Gravy after getting her into remission.
If you do switch your cat's food, make sure to monitor his/her curves very closely for several weeks after the switch. Reducing the amount of carbs in their diet will reduce the amount of insulin they need. If you switch to a very low carb food, you can unintentionally overdose them with insulin. Talk to your vet about any dietary changes that you'd like to implement. And if you haven't already, buy a bottle of corn syrup or cane syrup and keep it handy. If the cat's sugars drop too low, you can rub a little of the syrup on their gums to revive them while you're headed to the vet.
posted by muirne81 at 9:25 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
I had a diabetic cat and did a daily testing and periodic glucose curves at home using whichever monitor/test strips system had been cheapest since they're all regulated, and it matched with the vet's results well (we had to switch vets and the new one insisted on doing their own curve once to start off). However, if there are now cat-specific strips, I'd certainly at least consider those. The ear-pricks went well once we had the routine established. If you haven't already encountered this advice, a little Vaseline massaged onto the ear tip makes the blood form a bead instead of getting in the fur. Also, I never bothered with a lancet-launcher, since it's harder to aim, makes a noise, and any psychological value is lost on the cat anyway. Just get the thinnest ones you can, and put the tip right on the vein (backlighting might help) and brace gently from the other side with a finger- or thumb-pad.
posted by teremala at 10:08 AM on March 16, 2018
posted by teremala at 10:08 AM on March 16, 2018
The Feline Diabetes Message Board is an amazing resource, I found the members to be far better informed about the disease than any of the vets (who only deal with occasional cases) I saw. If I had just followed my vet's orders, the starting dose of insulin would've put my cat into hypoglycemia and I'd have never known because the vet didn't believe in home testing.
dayintoday is right though, some of those people have found their calling in rehabilitating diabetic cats, which makes them very knowledgeable, but you can't expect everyone to spend their entire day monitoring their cats. Do your own research, consider their advice and what your vet recommends, and figure out what works for you.
My advice for taking blood samples, use your thumbnail to back the lancet, not your finger pads. I used the Relion brand glucose meter and strips from Walmart that FMDB recommended because they were the cheapest option. The accuracy is less important than the precision and FMDB had a human-to-cat conversion scale.
posted by yeahlikethat at 10:35 AM on March 16, 2018
dayintoday is right though, some of those people have found their calling in rehabilitating diabetic cats, which makes them very knowledgeable, but you can't expect everyone to spend their entire day monitoring their cats. Do your own research, consider their advice and what your vet recommends, and figure out what works for you.
My advice for taking blood samples, use your thumbnail to back the lancet, not your finger pads. I used the Relion brand glucose meter and strips from Walmart that FMDB recommended because they were the cheapest option. The accuracy is less important than the precision and FMDB had a human-to-cat conversion scale.
posted by yeahlikethat at 10:35 AM on March 16, 2018
We were also able to catch it early and get our cat into remission using just diet. I spent a ton of time doing research and agree that the Feline Diabetes Message Board is generally the best source for information. What worked for us was switching to low carb options for both wet and dry food.
Cat food nutritional composition chart
For wet food we went with Friskies Classic Pate because it's widely available and our cat liked most of the flavor choices. I would have preferred a higher quality option with more protein but you don't get to decide what the cat will actually eat. For dry food we went with Young Again Zero Mature Health. It's expensive, but we didn't end up going through that much as the majority of his intake was the wet food.
posted by Max Camber at 12:30 PM on March 16, 2018
Cat food nutritional composition chart
For wet food we went with Friskies Classic Pate because it's widely available and our cat liked most of the flavor choices. I would have preferred a higher quality option with more protein but you don't get to decide what the cat will actually eat. For dry food we went with Young Again Zero Mature Health. It's expensive, but we didn't end up going through that much as the majority of his intake was the wet food.
posted by Max Camber at 12:30 PM on March 16, 2018
Popping back in to agree with teremala to just hold the lancet yourself to make the stick and don't use the launcher pen thing. I didn't find it worked every time and the sound would freak my cat out.
Also, you can fold up a gauze pad to keep the lancet from sticking you on the other side of the ear, then when you're done, fold it around kitty's ear and hold a little pressure over the stick site. Not long, just a few seconds to quickly stop the bleeding.
posted by dayintoday at 1:14 PM on March 16, 2018
Also, you can fold up a gauze pad to keep the lancet from sticking you on the other side of the ear, then when you're done, fold it around kitty's ear and hold a little pressure over the stick site. Not long, just a few seconds to quickly stop the bleeding.
posted by dayintoday at 1:14 PM on March 16, 2018
I actually had pretty good luck using the lanceting pen. I never managed to use with the right amount of force when I tried to do it manually. My cat was pretty good with audible cues, he got used to the whole routine pretty quickly and learned to listen for the clicks and beeps.
posted by yeahlikethat at 9:10 AM on March 21, 2018
posted by yeahlikethat at 9:10 AM on March 21, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Ferrari328 at 4:43 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]