Out oldest cat, Cole, was recently diagnosed with diabetes on his recent checkup. It's something that happens to cats when they get older. Insulin and gluclometers for animals are not cheap.
At least they caught it early. But now it's a different diet vs the other two cats with taking his blood sugar twice a day.
Can happen at any age or not at all, age doesn't matter. Your Vet will most likely be (or should be) using glargine insulin and recommending a glargine augmented diet such as Hills m/d. The insulin does will drop over time to the point where you will be able to manage Cole on just the m/d food.
It's way easier to treat diabetic cats then dogs.
All the best with separating him from the other cat's foods and vice versa!
So far it's been up and down. Giving him insulin isn't too much of a problem, but getting his blood glucose is a PITA. It's hard to get a decent drop from his ears or paws. I saw some good tips online. Need to warm up his years.
As for eating, we are switching him to canned food, which is a big change because he's been mainly eating dry kibble his enter life. It sucks because the other two, especially Digit-the piggy cat, is always trying to get to his canned food. We have to separate them for now. Also we are taking all the cats off of having their dishes with some food 24/7.
It's a difficult time right now because they are meowing so much. Also Cole seems to not eat as much and drink more from what I've noticed. His last blood sugar was 270, which is high but ok. I need to contact the vet for better advice. I'm also thinking about getting the dry prescription food, but some people say it's such a rip-off and I should stick to canned. However, if that's the case the two other cats may need to be put on canned as well to keep it even.
But yeah, we're using Lantus pens that works well. So easy to use. The hardest thing is that Cole is super skittish and doesn't like being held or have anyone around him when he eats.
Wow you guys were given reusable pens? Those cartridges must be pretty expensive.
I can't be your Vet but that's super expensive compared to just teaching you how to use a needle and syringe then selling you a few months worth.
The glucose measurement devices for pets are exactly the same as the ones for humans, there is only one way of checking for glucose concentration. If there is a pet specific one it is likely to be 4 to 5 times more expensive then normal.
The issue with getting regular blood tests from cats is that they will stress out the first few times, I usually recommend the ear technique and diverting the attention while taking blood. I've done this for jugular and cephalic veins too but I've done it thousands of times so it's hard to compare. I also don't live in a cold climate so the veins are quite dilated in the ears.
The canned food is exactly the same as the dry food except 2 or more times more expensive due to decreased density. If the dry food is being sold at a more expensive price, your Vet is ripping you off.
Literally the food is the life time treatment, it takes a few months and some up to a year to be weaned completely off of the insulin on to the food.
As far as feeding time goes I've only give one meal a day since they were 12 months old each, then put the food away till I would come back from school / work at which point they would finish it off (I even go to the point of measuring how much they eat as keeping their weight helps with arthritis and my female's heart disease).
Even at 15 and 16 years old, they'll try and sneak each other's food so I have one in the laundry and the other outside of the laundry when they eat.
As far as the reading goes, 270 (~15mmol/L) is not a number I would have discharged your cat on, I tend to bring them down to 10-12 mmol/L (180-216) before discharge. I never used to get my clients to test blood glucose unless it was a problem case. As adjusting to getting injected is stressful enough, I would do the BG curve in clinic once at a week, fortnight, month then do a single stop by once every 6 months for a check over and Once they're stabilised I would be able to check what average glucose levels had been like over the prior 4 months with a single blood test.
This is kind of the summary of the main reason why I left the profession. Managers pressure you and teach you that 90% of it is trying to work out how to make the client pay more than is required, up-selling and doing a half ass job. Basically results in somebody that doesn't look at things objectively or work through cases in a scientific manner.
Out oldest cat, Cole, was recently diagnosed with diabetes on his recent checkup. It's something that happens to cats when they get older. Insulin and gluclometers for animals are not cheap.
At least they caught it early. But now it's a different diet vs the other two cats with taking his blood sugar twice a day.
Can happen at any age or not at all, age doesn't matter. Your Vet will most likely be (or should be) using glargine insulin and recommending a glargine augmented diet such as Hills m/d. The insulin does will drop over time to the point where you will be able to manage Cole on just the m/d food.
It's way easier to treat diabetic cats then dogs.
All the best with separating him from the other cat's foods and vice versa!
So far it's been up and down. Giving him insulin isn't too much of a problem, but getting his blood glucose is a PITA. It's hard to get a decent drop from his ears or paws. I saw some good tips online. Need to warm up his years.
As for eating, we are switching him to canned food, which is a big change because he's been mainly eating dry kibble his enter life. It sucks because the other two, especially Digit-the piggy cat, is always trying to get to his canned food. We have to separate them for now. Also we are taking all the cats off of having their dishes with some food 24/7.
It's a difficult time right now because they are meowing so much. Also Cole seems to not eat as much and drink more from what I've noticed. His last blood sugar was 270, which is high but ok. I need to contact the vet for better advice. I'm also thinking about getting the dry prescription food, but some people say it's such a rip-off and I should stick to canned. However, if that's the case the two other cats may need to be put on canned as well to keep it even.
But yeah, we're using Lantus pens that works well. So easy to use. The hardest thing is that Cole is super skittish and doesn't like being held or have anyone around him when he eats.
Wow you guys were given reusable pens? Those cartridges must be pretty expensive.
I can't be your Vet but that's super expensive compared to just teaching you how to use a needle and syringe then selling you a few months worth.
The glucose measurement devices for pets are exactly the same as the ones for humans, there is only one way of checking for glucose concentration. If there is a pet specific one it is likely to be 4 to 5 times more expensive then normal.
The issue with getting regular blood tests from cats is that they will stress out the first few times, I usually recommend the ear technique and diverting the attention while taking blood. I've done this for jugular and cephalic veins too but I've done it thousands of times so it's hard to compare. I also don't live in a cold climate so the veins are quite dilated in the ears.
The canned food is exactly the same as the dry food except 2 or more times more expensive due to decreased density. If the dry food is being sold at a more expensive price, your Vet is ripping you off.
Literally the food is the life time treatment, it takes a few months and some up to a year to be weaned completely off of the insulin on to the food.
As far as feeding time goes I've only give one meal a day since they were 12 months old each, then put the food away till I would come back from school / work at which point they would finish it off (I even go to the point of measuring how much they eat as keeping their weight helps with arthritis and my female's heart disease).
Even at 15 and 16 years old, they'll try and sneak each other's food so I have one in the laundry and the other outside of the laundry when they eat.
As far as the reading goes, 270 (~15mmol/L) is not a number I would have discharged your cat on, I tend to bring them down to 10-12 mmol/L (180-216) before discharge. I never used to get my clients to test blood glucose unless it was a problem case. As adjusting to getting injected is stressful enough, I would do the BG curve in clinic once at a week, fortnight, month then do a single stop by once every 6 months for a check over and Once they're stabilised I would be able to check what average glucose levels had been like over the prior 4 months with a single blood test.
This is kind of the summary of the main reason why I left the profession. Managers pressure you and teach you that 90% of it is trying to work out how to make the client pay more than is required, up-selling and doing a half ass job. Basically results in somebody that doesn't look at things objectively or work through cases in a scientific manner.
Well, it was suggested by the vet as well as with reading online about what people use. It's a lot easier to use, but also costly. When it comes to refilling it in about 6-9 months, we may opt for the traditional method of needle and vials.
Things are getting better now. His blood sugar is showing safer levels. He did hit a low of 69 on Friday and with quick interneting, I told my boyfriend to rub a drop of honey on his tongue/teeth to bring it up. We will also look into getting Karo syrup as well if he ever gets too low.
The new kitty diet is still a work in progress. I think we'll stick to mixing canned with dry. EVO has a pretty low carb dry food that's about 7% carbs. Mixing a bit of tuna with the canned and dried is encouraging them to eat the food at least.
We recently tried venison canned food from EVO. They did not like that.
This weekend, we'll be performing a glucose curve on him to give to the vet to see if we need to make any adjustments on his insulin, but for most part it's just a matter of slowly adjusting to the feeding schedules. The blood tests and insulin injections are fine now. I have to bundle him up from time to time to get a test, but he seems to resist less and less.
"You need a newer version of Adobe Reader to open this form. They don't make updates for Windows 98. We have to upgrade the computer to use this form."
"CALL THE GOVERNOR!"
...
This was *literally* my day today. I had to call various places, culminating in the Governor's office, because my boss has obsolete computers. (Which I am in the process of upgrading, but we are only at the "get a price quote" stage because every step is like pulling teeth with this guy.) And of course, when the person answers and I explain my "problem," there is this pause on the other end... yeeeeaaah. I know. I know the solution is that we just need to upgrade the computers. But he made me call you. I am so so sorry.
I found a bike on Craigslist that I was about 95% sure was mine but by the time I got in contact with the guy I guess he got spooked or something because he said his was stolen as well. Sounds like bullshit to me. So I put in a police report and for now am just going to watch Craigslist for a couple weeks. The kinda bullshit part of this is that someone got into the secured garage by stealing keys out of the landlords office somehow. They made off with other keys and he spent the weekend changing all the locks. I should have probably locked my tire to the frame at least, but someone else's bike was stolen as well and they just clipped the cable. So in the future when I have a new bike (or somehow get mine back) I'm going to get a U-lock and lock it to the frame in the garage.
At PAX East this year, I received a sudden call from my uncle saying that my Grandfather, Jack (Nonno), fainted and had been hospitalized and I was led to believe that he was stabliized. Knowing that he was not well still dampened my con experience. I just got home and I was told that he has actually died.
I don't know how to process this at all. I finally start to come out of my depression period and now this happens. I don't know what to do anymore.
Hey man, it sucks, but everybody has their time. None of us is going to live forever and I'm sure your granddad would want you to not get depressed and would rather you remember all of the good times you shared with him.
Out oldest cat, Cole, was recently diagnosed with diabetes on his recent checkup. It's something that happens to cats when they get older. Insulin and gluclometers for animals are not cheap.
At least they caught it early. But now it's a different diet vs the other two cats with taking his blood sugar twice a day.
Can happen at any age or not at all, age doesn't matter. Your Vet will most likely be (or should be) using glargine insulin and recommending a glargine augmented diet such as Hills m/d. The insulin does will drop over time to the point where you will be able to manage Cole on just the m/d food.
It's way easier to treat diabetic cats then dogs.
All the best with separating him from the other cat's foods and vice versa!
So far it's been up and down. Giving him insulin isn't too much of a problem, but getting his blood glucose is a PITA. It's hard to get a decent drop from his ears or paws. I saw some good tips online. Need to warm up his years.
As for eating, we are switching him to canned food, which is a big change because he's been mainly eating dry kibble his enter life. It sucks because the other two, especially Digit-the piggy cat, is always trying to get to his canned food. We have to separate them for now. Also we are taking all the cats off of having their dishes with some food 24/7.
It's a difficult time right now because they are meowing so much. Also Cole seems to not eat as much and drink more from what I've noticed. His last blood sugar was 270, which is high but ok. I need to contact the vet for better advice. I'm also thinking about getting the dry prescription food, but some people say it's such a rip-off and I should stick to canned. However, if that's the case the two other cats may need to be put on canned as well to keep it even.
But yeah, we're using Lantus pens that works well. So easy to use. The hardest thing is that Cole is super skittish and doesn't like being held or have anyone around him when he eats.
Wow you guys were given reusable pens? Those cartridges must be pretty expensive.
I can't be your Vet but that's super expensive compared to just teaching you how to use a needle and syringe then selling you a few months worth.
The glucose measurement devices for pets are exactly the same as the ones for humans, there is only one way of checking for glucose concentration. If there is a pet specific one it is likely to be 4 to 5 times more expensive then normal.
The issue with getting regular blood tests from cats is that they will stress out the first few times, I usually recommend the ear technique and diverting the attention while taking blood. I've done this for jugular and cephalic veins too but I've done it thousands of times so it's hard to compare. I also don't live in a cold climate so the veins are quite dilated in the ears.
The canned food is exactly the same as the dry food except 2 or more times more expensive due to decreased density. If the dry food is being sold at a more expensive price, your Vet is ripping you off.
Literally the food is the life time treatment, it takes a few months and some up to a year to be weaned completely off of the insulin on to the food.
As far as feeding time goes I've only give one meal a day since they were 12 months old each, then put the food away till I would come back from school / work at which point they would finish it off (I even go to the point of measuring how much they eat as keeping their weight helps with arthritis and my female's heart disease).
Even at 15 and 16 years old, they'll try and sneak each other's food so I have one in the laundry and the other outside of the laundry when they eat.
As far as the reading goes, 270 (~15mmol/L) is not a number I would have discharged your cat on, I tend to bring them down to 10-12 mmol/L (180-216) before discharge. I never used to get my clients to test blood glucose unless it was a problem case. As adjusting to getting injected is stressful enough, I would do the BG curve in clinic once at a week, fortnight, month then do a single stop by once every 6 months for a check over and Once they're stabilised I would be able to check what average glucose levels had been like over the prior 4 months with a single blood test.
This is kind of the summary of the main reason why I left the profession. Managers pressure you and teach you that 90% of it is trying to work out how to make the client pay more than is required, up-selling and doing a half ass job. Basically results in somebody that doesn't look at things objectively or work through cases in a scientific manner.
Well, it was suggested by the vet as well as with reading online about what people use. It's a lot easier to use, but also costly. When it comes to refilling it in about 6-9 months, we may opt for the traditional method of needle and vials.
Things are getting better now. His blood sugar is showing safer levels. He did hit a low of 69 on Friday and with quick interneting, I told my boyfriend to rub a drop of honey on his tongue/teeth to bring it up. We will also look into getting Karo syrup as well if he ever gets too low.
The new kitty diet is still a work in progress. I think we'll stick to mixing canned with dry. EVO has a pretty low carb dry food that's about 7% carbs. Mixing a bit of tuna with the canned and dried is encouraging them to eat the food at least.
We recently tried venison canned food from EVO. They did not like that.
This weekend, we'll be performing a glucose curve on him to give to the vet to see if we need to make any adjustments on his insulin, but for most part it's just a matter of slowly adjusting to the feeding schedules. The blood tests and insulin injections are fine now. I have to bundle him up from time to time to get a test, but he seems to resist less and less.
The honey on the gums trick is one I use to tell all my clients but usually only had canine patients need it as cats were so easy to control.
Well go with what your Vet thinks is best, you can always sue him / her for malpractice (not enough of this happens, if the case doesn't settle down).
The one food I would recommend having a look at is Hills m/d, it was the first diabetic specific food that was launched based on a nutritional study done with a joint US - Australian study in 2004, it's the only food I have successfully weaned cats off of insulin on (without relapse). However since it's a prescription diet you might only be able to source it from a Veterinary clinic as a result they will increase the price by 200 - 250%. It does come in dry and wet food.
I'm super surprised that EVO is highly regarded in the states, its considered over priced trash level over here (only the pet shops sell it however the food qualities run the gamut in the US, like I know that Purina has a high quality range that doesn't get distributed outside the US).
Check for high protein, high taurine and low GI, also changing food regularly during stabilising your cat with insulin is really quite difficult (it would be for any animal, my Dad was on a strict diet when he was initially diagnosed with diabetes).
Hills m/d is sold at Petsmart, but you need a prescription card from your vet to get it. We put our cat Wash on the wet food Hills m/d for weight loss and both he and Caprica hated it (Lily the food binger won't even look at it since she's on her own special diet). I'm pretty sure they only lost weight because they refuse to eat it. We had to supplement them with an additional wet food as a result.
Evo seems to be working well. I performed two glucose curve tests this weekend. Cole has been getting in the 50s-70s, so we have to give him honey and measure it again an hour later.
I spoke with the vet this morning and looks like we are decreasing the insulin, so that shows some promise. Will have to perform another curve this weekend to see how the change in medication affects him.
Also he doesn't care for mixed canned/dry food. He's a dry food cat. Evo is highly regarded here and for now one of the easier dried foods I can get without a prescription that is 7% carbs. I'll be on the lookout for other alternatives, but they can't be higher than 10% carbs.
Planetside 2 did an update today...and broke the fucking game. Getting FPS around 15 even on the lowest settings. Flying is impossible and the big fights make my computer grind to a halt when it was working fine two days ago. Clearly the 64 bit client they're forcing everyone to use doesn't fucking work.
Warface, the beta I'm playing on the Xbox 360, also updated today...and broke their fucking game. Servers are unreachable and the game is essentially unplayable.
Payday 2 finished updating today...and now the game won't start, insisting that Steam isn't running. They broke their fucking game.
Ace of Spades, updated months ago, broken, still not fixed.
I hate so many people for so many reasons right now.
Planetside 2 did an update today...and broke the fucking game. Getting FPS around 15 even on the lowest settings. Flying is impossible and the big fights make my computer grind to a halt when it was working fine two days ago. Clearly the 64 bit client they're forcing everyone to use doesn't fucking work.
Warface, the beta I'm playing on the Xbox 360, also updated today...and broke their fucking game. Servers are unreachable and the game is essentially unplayable.
Payday 2 finished updating today...and now the game won't start, insisting that Steam isn't running. They broke their fucking game.
Ace of Spades, updated months ago, broken, still not fixed.
I hate so many people for so many reasons right now.
Nearly got bitten - or, to use the proper term, envenomated, thanks Steve Irwin - by a Redback spider in my kitchen who had decided to undertake the perilous journey across my tea-tin. That's not so bad, until I discovered upon closer inspection that there was actually at least four redbacks hanging out in my kitchen, and a further six in my laundry while I was on my way outside to empty my hoover of dead(ly) spiders. Fucking hell.
I'm not that concerned, being bitten is more of an inconvenience than anything - well, unless you die, which tends to put somewhat of a kink in one's schedule, but it's not likely, to be honest - but I also really, really don't want to be fucking bitten. Despite their being a hospital within literally two minutes drive, and the fact that they definitely have the Anti-venom to hand, the excruciating pain and the week or so of being out-of-action afterward are not really something I'd like to spend my time on if at all possible.
Comments
I can't be your Vet but that's super expensive compared to just teaching you how to use a needle and syringe then selling you a few months worth.
The glucose measurement devices for pets are exactly the same as the ones for humans, there is only one way of checking for glucose concentration. If there is a pet specific one it is likely to be 4 to 5 times more expensive then normal.
The issue with getting regular blood tests from cats is that they will stress out the first few times, I usually recommend the ear technique and diverting the attention while taking blood. I've done this for jugular and cephalic veins too but I've done it thousands of times so it's hard to compare. I also don't live in a cold climate so the veins are quite dilated in the ears.
The canned food is exactly the same as the dry food except 2 or more times more expensive due to decreased density. If the dry food is being sold at a more expensive price, your Vet is ripping you off.
Literally the food is the life time treatment, it takes a few months and some up to a year to be weaned completely off of the insulin on to the food.
As far as feeding time goes I've only give one meal a day since they were 12 months old each, then put the food away till I would come back from school / work at which point they would finish it off (I even go to the point of measuring how much they eat as keeping their weight helps with arthritis and my female's heart disease).
Even at 15 and 16 years old, they'll try and sneak each other's food so I have one in the laundry and the other outside of the laundry when they eat.
As far as the reading goes, 270 (~15mmol/L) is not a number I would have discharged your cat on, I tend to bring them down to 10-12 mmol/L (180-216) before discharge. I never used to get my clients to test blood glucose unless it was a problem case. As adjusting to getting injected is stressful enough, I would do the BG curve in clinic once at a week, fortnight, month then do a single stop by once every 6 months for a check over and Once they're stabilised I would be able to check what average glucose levels had been like over the prior 4 months with a single blood test.
This is kind of the summary of the main reason why I left the profession. Managers pressure you and teach you that 90% of it is trying to work out how to make the client pay more than is required, up-selling and doing a half ass job. Basically results in somebody that doesn't look at things objectively or work through cases in a scientific manner.
Things are getting better now. His blood sugar is showing safer levels. He did hit a low of 69 on Friday and with quick interneting, I told my boyfriend to rub a drop of honey on his tongue/teeth to bring it up. We will also look into getting Karo syrup as well if he ever gets too low.
The new kitty diet is still a work in progress. I think we'll stick to mixing canned with dry. EVO has a pretty low carb dry food that's about 7% carbs. Mixing a bit of tuna with the canned and dried is encouraging them to eat the food at least.
We recently tried venison canned food from EVO. They did not like that.
This weekend, we'll be performing a glucose curve on him to give to the vet to see if we need to make any adjustments on his insulin, but for most part it's just a matter of slowly adjusting to the feeding schedules. The blood tests and insulin injections are fine now. I have to bundle him up from time to time to get a test, but he seems to resist less and less.
"CALL THE GOVERNOR!"
...
This was *literally* my day today. I had to call various places, culminating in the Governor's office, because my boss has obsolete computers. (Which I am in the process of upgrading, but we are only at the "get a price quote" stage because every step is like pulling teeth with this guy.) And of course, when the person answers and I explain my "problem," there is this pause on the other end... yeeeeaaah. I know. I know the solution is that we just need to upgrade the computers. But he made me call you. I am so so sorry.
I found a bike on Craigslist that I was about 95% sure was mine but by the time I got in contact with the guy I guess he got spooked or something because he said his was stolen as well. Sounds like bullshit to me. So I put in a police report and for now am just going to watch Craigslist for a couple weeks. The kinda bullshit part of this is that someone got into the secured garage by stealing keys out of the landlords office somehow. They made off with other keys and he spent the weekend changing all the locks. I should have probably locked my tire to the frame at least, but someone else's bike was stolen as well and they just clipped the cable. So in the future when I have a new bike (or somehow get mine back) I'm going to get a U-lock and lock it to the frame in the garage.
I don't know how to process this at all. I finally start to come out of my depression period and now this happens. I don't know what to do anymore.
Well go with what your Vet thinks is best, you can always sue him / her for malpractice (not enough of this happens, if the case doesn't settle down).
The one food I would recommend having a look at is Hills m/d, it was the first diabetic specific food that was launched based on a nutritional study done with a joint US - Australian study in 2004, it's the only food I have successfully weaned cats off of insulin on (without relapse).
However since it's a prescription diet you might only be able to source it from a Veterinary clinic as a result they will increase the price by 200 - 250%. It does come in dry and wet food.
I'm super surprised that EVO is highly regarded in the states, its considered over priced trash level over here (only the pet shops sell it however the food qualities run the gamut in the US, like I know that Purina has a high quality range that doesn't get distributed outside the US).
Check for high protein, high taurine and low GI, also changing food regularly during stabilising your cat with insulin is really quite difficult (it would be for any animal, my Dad was on a strict diet when he was initially diagnosed with diabetes).
I spoke with the vet this morning and looks like we are decreasing the insulin, so that shows some promise. Will have to perform another curve this weekend to see how the change in medication affects him.
Also he doesn't care for mixed canned/dry food. He's a dry food cat. Evo is highly regarded here and for now one of the easier dried foods I can get without a prescription that is 7% carbs. I'll be on the lookout for other alternatives, but they can't be higher than 10% carbs.
Personally never fed my cats wet food beyond 2 years of age because it was more expensive and required frequent dentals.
Warface, the beta I'm playing on the Xbox 360, also updated today...and broke their fucking game. Servers are unreachable and the game is essentially unplayable.
Payday 2 finished updating today...and now the game won't start, insisting that Steam isn't running. They broke their fucking game.
Ace of Spades, updated months ago, broken, still not fixed.
I hate so many people for so many reasons right now.