Anyone with a diabetic cat?

My cat (the one who was weeing all over the house) seems to have diabetes. She is going in for more tests and evaluations next week.

does anyone have experience with a diabetic cat or dog? Can you share please.

Thanks in advance!

Re: Anyone with a diabetic cat?

Nobody knows anythig about diabetic cats or dogs?

Re: Anyone with a diabetic cat?

My friend had a diabetic cat. I remember her going home during work to give it its shots. I do remember the cat had some serious issues. It was a strange cat.

Sorry, I can't be of more help.

Re: Anyone with a diabetic cat?

DH's cat (before I met him) had diabetes. He functioned well and lived a normal life with it. He just had to give him insulin every day. DH said that the cat got used to it and didn't feel a thing.

Re: Anyone with a diabetic cat?

Re: Anyone with a diabetic cat?

A friend of mines cat is diabetic. Turned out he didn't need to give shots, but was given pills and put on a special diet. His cats had it for 2 years and he's going strong!

Good Luck!

Re: Anyone with a diabetic cat?

Me

My 10yr old cat is Diabetic

I had the pee all over the house thing too (so annoying)

I spent plenty of time washing floors on my hands and knees, steam cleaning and trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with him

Finally the doc gives me the news

We tried all the different insulin they have for cats/pets in all sorts of measurements and MORE tests to check his sugar levels, getting him to pee on little beads was never easy and the $$ involved in all the tests and retests to check his levels UGH

Then we switched to a human insulin call Lantus. GOD SEND! It works wonders! After 2 years of fighting, testing, retesting, changing the units given and trying again, we FINALLY got him regulated!

We use a human Opti Click pen for his injections. Saves us tons of money as we can buy his insulin in 5month supplies now instead of wasting money on the monthly vials that you throw out over 3/4 the vial since it dies in 28days

I've been there to see him have a hypoglycemic attack and had to get him some syrup on his gums.

I've been there when his back legs were tingling and he tried to jump up on his table and seriously missed, going chest first into it and back flipping twice to land awkwardly on the ground.

I've been there for all those tests and having him hate me for taking him in and coming home smelling like alcohol (rubbing).

Our animals are like children without voices. They react to diabetes the same, which is to say each is different. I learned a lot by calling my dad (who's a diabetic) and asking questions. I learned a lot by asking the vet and realizing so many online info is just not for my cat.

I have the BEST vet ever I think. He's been really helpful with the costs and helping us find the right insulin for our cat.

Good Luck and feel free to FM me any time you want.

ETA: our routine is twice a day meals/injections. This on top of two other cats who now have the same feeding schedule and ALWAYS knowing that we need a care taker who can give insulin shots to Buddy if we're ever out of town. AND add the cost of special food to the cost factor. Did I mention this is an expensive disease?

Message edited 6/15/2008 10:35:00 PM.

Re: Anyone with a diabetic cat?

I had a diabetic dog. He lived for 4 years with diabetes. We had to feed him every morning and then take him outside and catch his urine in a cup, test it and give him a shot accordingly. We had to repeat this at night. It just vecame part of our daily routine. He would go into a seizure every now and then and we would have to try and stick a suppository up his butt. Then we would have to take blood and test his blood sugar. The only time it was bad for us is when he seizured. But he also had a kidney and liver problem. other than tha it just became part of our daily routine and we just did it.

Re: Anyone with a diabetic cat?

My mother has a diabetic cat.
She has been maintaining him for over 5 years now with insulin injections. They monitor him with a human insulin kit, they just take blood from his paw. When he starts to look "off", they take him to the vet to have a full blood work up done.
The only time he got really bad was when he was first diagnosed and my sister hadn't figured out how to monitor his blood, he got pancreatitis and was hospitalized but ended up okay. Since then, he's been good.

It is a lot of work, but it's generally worth it because they can live an normal life with diabetes.

Re: Anyone with a diabetic cat?

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!

She is at the Vets until Wednesday now having the full spectrum of tests done to see how we are going to deal with this!!! I will give an update when she is back from the vets.

Thanks again everyone!!!

Re: Anyone with a diabetic cat?

I had a cat with diabetes...he died last September (he was 15 years old)...he lived with the disease for 5 years (got it at 10)....at the end he had kidney failure and other multiple organ failures and went into a coma...we had to put him to sleep...it was sad....

He was on special diet, low carb and insulin injections twice a day which I gave to him......

He led a normal life...once his sugar was stabilized he used his litter box with no problems....if you see your cat peeing outside of it and notice him/her drinking a lot of water, you know that the sugar is high and you need to take control.....

Wanted to add that he was tested every 6 months for his sugar and I also used the same sugar monitor you use with humans (you prick the cat's ear to get blood)....

GL to you!!!!

Message edited 6/17/2008 9:49:07 AM.

Re: Anyone with a diabetic cat?

My friends cat was diagnosed with Diabetes last Monday - unfortunately it was in bad shape already by the time they brought it to the vet. The cat was only 10 years old and has been in good health all these years. She had to put the cat to sleep on Thursday. So sad. I hope your kitty is okay!!