Spicey is diabetic

On Sunday, October 7, 2012 10:36:18 AM UTC-5, Takayuki wrote:
Spicey is diabetic, according to her lab results. Her other values were ok.



It looks like she'll need twice daily insulin injections for the rest of

her life, a delicate sounding procedure which will be impossible for me

until I get to the point where I can at least pet her. I feel more urgency

now to get her tame.



Does anyone have any experiences treating a diabetic cat?

What was Spicey's blood sugar number on the labwork?

On Tue, 09 Oct 2012 08:35:08 -0400, dgk wrote:
I have lap cats for different places. When I sit in one of the big
chairs in the living room, Scooter will almost invariably come and hop
in my lap. But if I'm in the work chair in the computer room, it's
Marlo's turn to be lap cat. Marlo almost never hops the lap in the
living room, and I don't think Scooter has ever done so in the
computer room. They're so weird.

Spicey may surprise on what she does. Changing the circumstances seems
to set new rules. I really look forward to hearing how this
progresses.

Let me tell you even *I*'m looking forward to seeing how this progresses. I
hope it goes well.

Takayuki wrote in rec.pets.cats.anecdotes:

On Mon, 08 Oct 2012 09:06:33 -0500, "cshenk" wrote:
Since Spicey is a bit traumatized right now (has to be, that's part
of the problem), swapping anything of primary comfort out, isn't a
good idea unless it absolutely HAS to go.

Tak, if you see this, tell us what brand of kibble she gets now? We
might find a brand that is closer to optimal. Oh, I forgot to
mention it but diabetes can cause 'mood shifts' in cats and people.
With her free-feeding kibble this may be hard to determine but she
may also be 'self adjusting' around it with the free-fed kibble
which will mask it.

I put Spicey on wet food only last Thursday, and wet low carb food
only since Saturday. She seems to prefer that to kibble, so it's
win-win!

Can you tell us the brands used so we can help better? I promise, I
won't pick on you if finances (or knowledge) use a brand that may not
be optimal to help. So far, all you have been told is 'just go wet'.

I'm more into actual percent calculations. With no more knowledge than
you have given me, Blue Wilderness cat kibble may be a good bet or
Origen. Both are pricey but grain free and grain is the first suspect
of being a high glycemic food.

Your cat shows no sign I have seen of wheat allery but seems to have a
diabetic isse so a reduced 'spike' is possibly going to help.

Background:

- All food turns to blood sugar in the end.
- Some do it faster (called a 'spike')
- Reducing spikes for a more stable blood sugar is paramount
- Wheat causes spikes in cats, dogs, and humans

You do not have to believe me, google it yourself.
Carol


--

On Wed, 10 Oct 2012 19:53:09 -0500, "cshenk" wrote:
Can you tell us the brands used so we can help better? I promise, I
won't pick on you if finances (or knowledge) use a brand that may not
be optimal to help. So far, all you have been told is 'just go wet'.

I'm more into actual percent calculations. With no more knowledge than
you have given me, Blue Wilderness cat kibble may be a good bet or
Origen. Both are pricey but grain free and grain is the first suspect
of being a high glycemic food.

Your cat shows no sign I have seen of wheat allery but seems to have a
diabetic isse so a reduced 'spike' is possibly going to help.

Background:

- All food turns to blood sugar in the end.
- Some do it faster (called a 'spike')
- Reducing spikes for a more stable blood sugar is paramount
- Wheat causes spikes in cats, dogs, and humans

You do not have to believe me, google it yourself.
Carol

Thanks, there's so much to learn! I feel fortunate in that my vet has
diabetic cats herself, so she's apparently taken it upon herself to educate
herself on the topic of feline diabetes considerably more than is required
for a veterinarian.

Takayuki wrote:

On Wed, 10 Oct 2012 19:53:09 -0500, "cshenk" wrote:
Can you tell us the brands used so we can help better? I promise, I
won't pick on you if finances (or knowledge) use a brand that may not
be optimal to help. So far, all you have been told is 'just go wet'.

I'm more into actual percent calculations. With no more knowledge than
you have given me, Blue Wilderness cat kibble may be a good bet or
Origen. Both are pricey but grain free and grain is the first suspect
of being a high glycemic food.

Your cat shows no sign I have seen of wheat allery but seems to have a
diabetic isse so a reduced 'spike' is possibly going to help.

Background:

- All food turns to blood sugar in the end.
- Some do it faster (called a 'spike')
- Reducing spikes for a more stable blood sugar is paramount
- Wheat causes spikes in cats, dogs, and humans

You do not have to believe me, google it yourself.
Carol

Thanks, there's so much to learn! I feel fortunate in that my vet has
diabetic cats herself, so she's apparently taken it upon herself to educate
herself on the topic of feline diabetes considerably more than is required
for a veterinarian.

Isn't Karen Chuplis on a cat-diabetics email list, or maybe it's a
Facebook group? She posts a lot of information from that. If you haven't
already corresponded with her (since, hey, maybe that occurred to you,
too ), I would recommend that. She seems to have a lot of info and
experience.

--
Joyce

On Thu, 11 Oct 2012 02:29:14 +0000 (UTC), Bastette
wrote:
Isn't Karen Chuplis on a cat-diabetics email list, or maybe it's a
Facebook group? She posts a lot of information from that. If you haven't
already corresponded with her (since, hey, maybe that occurred to you,
too ), I would recommend that. She seems to have a lot of info and
experience.

It's always a pleasure to hear from Karen, and she's fortunately still
active in those areas. Pearl is gone now, of course, but I still love the
occasional stories she has about Fenwick and Sugar.

grain is the first suspect of being a high glycemic food.

Some cat food (both wet and dry) lists "sugars" as an ingredient.
Seems that in the UK they don't have to say *what* sugars - it
might make a big difference.

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