Diabetic cats and dogs. How do you cope?

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Queen K
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Diabetic cats and dogs. How do you cope?

Post by Queen K »

Hi, I adopted Hannah, a wonderful older cat from the Penticton SPCA three years ago.

She's joy to have with us and has added a great deal to our lives.

Today we learned she has developed diabetes. Needless to say, we are hoping it can be controlled by diet but right now it is too early to say.

Who here has had to work with a pet with diabetes?
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xjeepguy
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Re: Diabetic cats and dogs. How do you cope?

Post by xjeepguy »

Queen K wrote:Hi, I adopted Hannah, a wonderful older cat from the Penticton SPCA three years ago.

She's joy to have with us and has added a great deal to our lives.

Today we learned she has developed diabetes. Needless to say, we are hoping it can be controlled by diet but right now it is too early to say.

Who here has had to work with a pet with diabetes?


Right here Q . If you need any help / advice feel free to PM me .

Our cat was a diabetic for its last 8 years . Its easy to manage , you just have to get used to giving it the injections , which just becomes part of your usual routine .

It's worth the trouble .
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Queen K
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Re: Diabetic cats and dogs. How do you cope?

Post by Queen K »

Thanks Xjeepguy, I'm so in shock right now it's been hell.

She's responding well to an ear infection treatment right now and we're switching her food over to diabetic food slowly as per required.

I think she's looking better already.

I still haven't brought myself to doing on line research as it's too depressing.

What was your kitties name? Did you buy insulin from the Pharmacy or right from the vet?
As WW3 develops, no one is going to be dissing the "preppers." What have you done?
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xjeepguy
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Re: Diabetic cats and dogs. How do you cope?

Post by xjeepguy »

Queen K wrote:Thanks Xjeepguy, I'm so in shock right now it's been hell.

She's responding well to an ear infection treatment right now and we're switching her food over to diabetic food slowly as per required.

I think she's looking better already.

I still haven't brought myself to doing on line research as it's too depressing.

What was your kitties name? Did you buy insulin from the Pharmacy or right from the vet?


Bought it right from London Drugs ( with the vets script ) as well as the syringes . Insulin is very inexpensive as are the needles . She had to have one injection in the morning and one in the evening . Plus you test blood sugar as you would a human . Once you get it dialed in and on the right food you pretty much know how much to give and dont need to test that often or at least thats the way ours went ( they dont like that prick to get blood lol .)

Hopefully your food change will be enough but if you have to inject , its really not a big deal .
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Queen K
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Re: Diabetic cats and dogs. How do you cope?

Post by Queen K »

I can barely watch people inject themselves, never mind thinking of injecting Hannah right now!

Never thought of the blood sugar tests.

ACCCKKKKKKK
As WW3 develops, no one is going to be dissing the "preppers." What have you done?
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Re: Diabetic cats and dogs. How do you cope?

Post by zookeeper »

It's pretty much like when a family member gets diagnosed with something Queen, you do what you have to do because you love them.
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Queen K
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Re: Diabetic cats and dogs. How do you cope?

Post by Queen K »

I've been on facebook all day talking with an old friend of mine about her cat and diabetes.

Injections in the scruff of the neck.
Blood test from ear pricking.

I'm slowly getting it.

Getting rid of Hannah is NOT an option! She is our furbaby.
As WW3 develops, no one is going to be dissing the "preppers." What have you done?
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xjeepguy
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Re: Diabetic cats and dogs. How do you cope?

Post by xjeepguy »

Queen K wrote:I've been on facebook all day talking with an old friend of mine about her cat and diabetes.

Injections in the scruff of the neck.
Blood test from ear pricking.

I'm slowly getting it.

Getting rid of Hannah is NOT an option! She is our furbaby.



When she begins eating her dinner , you just rub the back of her neck , then grab just a tiny bit of skin and make a little tent , prick and your done . After a while she wont even notice .

Its nothing to worry about Q



Keep some liquid glucose in the cupboard !
Last edited by xjeepguy on Nov 16th, 2014, 6:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Queen K
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Re: Diabetic cats and dogs. How do you cope?

Post by Queen K »

Sounds good Xjeepguy.

I think we'll be all on a new learning curve here.
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Re: Diabetic cats and dogs. How do you cope?

Post by Auto1 »

I know you are still in the beginning stages, but it also helps to pre-train someone else to take care of all the cat's needs. That way no one is thrown into an emergency situation - not knowing what to do. (Giving injections is scary!).

We thought we had someone to care for an adopted buddy, but after only a day of being away we noticed a huge shift in behavior (the cat had been stabilized for a while). So we asked our substitute to inject in front of us - turns out she was putting the needle completely through the pinch of skin, and the insulin was being ejected onto the fur on the other side - ie - no insulin inside the cat! (You can tell if this is happening because the fur will be wet, etc).

Thank GOD it was only a one day outing!

I know make our caretakers do it a few times here and there so that both they, and the cat, are used to it. The cat gets used to the shot, and it becomes no big deal.

It does feel overwhelming, but you will be fine. So will the fur-baby.
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xjeepguy
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Re: Diabetic cats and dogs. How do you cope?

Post by xjeepguy »

^^^^^
Great advice
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Queen K
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Re: Diabetic cats and dogs. How do you cope?

Post by Queen K »

I was thinking the same thing. Someone else has to know or all this is for naught.

Good advice for sure.

Did her first home blood curve yesterday. Felt so bad after the third one because Hannah started to lay her ear flat when she knew her next needle prick was coming. But her glucose level was good for all six tries.

Vet is pleased.
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Re: Diabetic cats and dogs. How do you cope?

Post by Tootsie »

Sorry Queen K...haven't visited this area of the Board for awhile so just noticed your question.

Yes you're right - it can be nerve-wracking when you first get the news that your cat is diabetic. You know what they say about hindsight ...it's 20/20. I wish we had paid more attention to the telltale signals ...incredible thirst, peeing a lot, and then finally the worst - what they call drop foot (the cat starts dragging the hind legs - which totally reversed by the way).

It changes your life that's for sure. At east it did ours. No more casually stopping somewhere after work for supper. Nope...gotta get home to "do the cat" ! Ours gets 2x a day injections. And yes in the scruff of the neck or even a bit lower. One thing we have to do though is wait about an hour after he's eaten at least 1/2 his food - otherwise he pukes !

Some tips on pricing (and believe me I have shopped around over the past 2 yrs) ....not sure if you're buying the 10 ml bottle of Lantus (glargine) - have found Costco the best price & doesn't matter if you don't have a Costco membership - you can still buy it there. Also, depending on what needles you're using we've found Costco to be good pricing as well with Superstore coming in a close 2nd at a couple of bucks more for a box of 100 needles (this is the cheapest way to buy them). We use the BD Ultra Fine 2 Short Insulin syringe (3/10) - one time use little needles. I would've thought Target would be somewhat similar pricing but nope - way out to lunch on the needles.

One more thing - regarding the insulin. Talk to your vet about expiration dates. For the past year or so we've been having to throw out about 1/3 of a bottle because they had originally told us to only keep it in the fridge for 3 mths & he's on a pretty low dose of only 2 units 2x daily. . Well after researching it more they've just recently told us it should be good for 6 months. So be sure to get clarification on that.

At first it IS over-whelming but hang in there. It's not as bad as it first sounds. Our little buddy is doing great (he's 13 yrs old) and except for the expense of special food, needles, insulin it's not that bad. But yes...he's our buddy & could not think of NOT doing this for him. Just means we don't eat out as much which might not be a bad thing !

Any further questions don't hesitate to ask either here or via PM !

Hang in there - you'll be fine!
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Queen K
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Re: Diabetic cats and dogs. How do you cope?

Post by Queen K »

Thanks for the tip on expiration dates and insulin.

We have five pens in the fridge, one is being used up. I had that mom's instinct that 1 wasn't enough, bumped up to 2 after her first blood curve.

Yep, I was right.

She is doing fantastic and seems to connect the pen with feeling better, so she's not running and hiding like we thought she would. Nope, seems to be looking forward to her needle.

Now if only we can control the throwing up.
As WW3 develops, no one is going to be dissing the "preppers." What have you done?
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Re: Diabetic cats and dogs. How do you cope?

Post by Tootsie »

Mmmm...see I'm not savvy on the pen thing. We just get the big old' 10 ml bottle of insulin (NOT ! just joking) & draw it into the syringes 2X daily...pretty easy peasy actually. Hubby & vet doctor have talked this over to the N'th degree (2 weeks ago) & they figure the way we're doing it is more economical than the pen thing. Are you doing Lantus (glargine) ???
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