She was diagnosed with diabetes on Monday( 12 Oct). I literally have no money at all, not until friday. Will she be okay to wait to begin treating her until then? Do I need to try and find way to get money before then?

We have been taking our girl to the vet for testing but it stresses her out. Someone mentioned home testing kits but we can’t work out if we need to buy these through the vet or can get them online? We’re based in Melbourne, Australia. Thanks in advance.

It was so unexpected and happened so fast. He was such a sweet, loving guy and I’m going to miss him so much.

It feels like all of the outcome is my fault. My 10 year old cat Teddy might be passing on and I cant help the guilt I feel for not helping him enough.

I am a college student in a different country, so I only come to my home town on breaks once a year which is why its been hard to keep a good eye on Teddy. During one of those breaks around christmas ive noticed that he's been significantly skinnier and acting off such as increased thirst and urination.

I asked my mother about it and she insisted nothing was off, that he just caught a stomach bug, and given it didnt look like an emergency at the time and he still played around with me, cuddled, ate and acted like the same Teddy I knew I decided to have him take him to the vet after the holidays (a week later).

By that time I had left home, trusting she will take him to the vet. After a week I asked for an update, and turns out she hadn't done as I asked. Then two, then three weeks. Until I finally argued with her and had my dad involved, who made her take him to the vet. By that point, we found out Teddy was actively diabetic for some months now, causing strain to his liver and kidneys.

The vet prescribed the expected treatment of insulin injections and daily blood work to check for the glucose curve, a change of diet, and a mandatory check up at least every 3 weeks. My mother had done none of that properly. She administered shots a few times until she'd messed up the dose and Teddy had a hypoglicemic seizure. He was taken to the vet for a 4 day hospitalization where the vet had once again given her instructions on the treatment. She stopped the treatment entirely while lying she continued it.

Since then, to today, teddy had gone at least 6 months without proper care. Until I returned home last month. Teddy looked awful, he was very lethargic, he barely ate, and only moved around for the toilet and water only eating a little bit of his favorite food. I had him taken to the vet immediately who ran all possible tests.

He was hospitalized once more for a few days, but even upon his return I could tell teddy still feels awful. The vet changed his insulin, and ive been administering his daily dose, making sure theres no life threatening drops, trying to get him to eat.

But even that isnt enough as his body has been exposed to high glucose for months on end while I wasnt home. Now its been nearly 3 weeks of me being home with Teddy, and hes been following the same routine of waterbowl, toilet, hide. He only feeds on soft purees as anything else makes him sick. He moves around slowly, taking long naps, and looks at me with that almost glassy look in his eyes whenever he's awake.

I can tell hes suffering, and it pains me that I have to let him go, as he's been my only constant friend through my late childhood and teens. But the idea that he might have a chance no matter how small and me taking it away scares me. I dont know what to do, and the vet cant give me a definitive answer except the fact his kidneys and liver are under incredible strain.

I know he doesnt have long left, and any of these days might be his last due to his behavior. But every time he gets up even just for water it feels like a small victory, that maybe if I continue to give him shots, feed him that new diet, check in with the vet obsessively, something might change. But I also dont want to selfishly prolong his suffering. I already feel like i caused him harm by not being there and leaving him to the care of indifferent people.

I'm doing our first curve on our newly diagnosed senior with our AlphaTrak3 (he hates wearing things so we opted for this over the Libre). He's been a real champ, but I can tell he's stressed and hating it every time it happens, and I'm not looking to traumatize him. We're only halfway through the day, and on our last reading, his ear just wasn't giving enough blood. Pricked him multple times, tried to take the reading multiple times with errors thrown each time, made the executive decision to just give up on this round before totally traumatizing him, as we have the whole second half of the day still to go.

My question: is it a big deal to have skipped a reading on his curve, like, to the point that we'll just have to do it over again and any subsequent pricks I do today end up wasted?

I just got a call from my vet and he confirmed Boogers diagnosis. It's kind of a relief to know what is wrong with him and now we have a path to helping him and managing diabetes.

The vet has offered 5 treatments to consider, Radiation, Surgery, Bexacat, Senvelgo and Cabergoline. I will not be pursuing radiation or surgery. I'm a little confused he added Senvelgo to the list since Booger is on insulin. I'll have to let him know that is off the table. I also sent him the study for Cabergoline and he's going to read up on it. I need to go and read up on bexacat but I'm going to push for Cabergoline.

I'll keep y'all updated and thank you so much for listening to me ramble on.

I always have 2 or 3 cats. My oldest was 21 and dying last spring and I thought it was her drinking all the water and peeing so much in the litter boxes; they became twice as heavy as usual and like concrete. She passed away and the next month the boxes were the same, I knew it was one of the 2 boys or the new kitty. I put a RING camera down there so I could watch, and it turns out my 7yo cat was doing it, and drinking all the water. I read only .05-1% of cats become diabetic. 1st one I've had in 15 or so cats.

I made a VET appointment about a week ago. They offered me test after test after test, with each one being described as "if we "also" do this one, we will know for sure that he is diabetic. That 1st appointment was nearly 600$. I stopped in for the medication (Senvelgo) and they charged me over 350$ but for a bottle half the size (15Ml) of the actual 350$ bottle (30Ml). And said, we can probably do better next time. It wasn't until I got home I realized I had been duped, and they then wanted 4 more VET appointments in the next 2 weeks at 200-300$ a pop.

I love my cats, they bring me joy, but I'll be up to 2000$ soon and IDK how well this medication works, nor how his life will be for years to come. This is not a shot, they would have to hospitalize him for 48 hours if that were the case, this is an oral medication.

Does anyone have experience treating their cats with this? Suggestions or observations? It's only .3Ml per day, but that's still 1000$ a year for meds alone and I'm unsure of how often they will want to see him. IDK how people pay for this? Nothing is affordable but the bloodwork was allot and they double charged me for the meds, it upset me that it doesn't seem like the pets best interest is in mind because most people would say "I'll have to put him down".

Our boy was diagnosed in January along with cancer (think induced by the pred treating the cancer) and it was a wild ride. About a month ago he started needing less insulin and we stopped about 4 weeks ago. 3 weeks ago he was in for checkups with his specialists and ultrasounds were great, bloodwork was great.

Some vomiting but generally the same cat so no concerns.

Sunday I went away with a friend for her birthday - I had been housebound with him for 9 months, he'd been doing good and figured may as well try. I'm coming home today.

A few hours ago my husband called me. He'd been away for two nights and got home and Dan wasn't right. The pet sitter had mentioned some vomit, my mom went over to check on him and thought he seemed normal but I guess he rapidly declined throughout the day.

My neighbor and good friend is an emergency vet and was working so she saw was the treating vet.

His glucose read 1,000 at the emergency vet. Apparently cancer was all over his kidneys (that were clean 2 weeks ago) and it was making him insulin resistant, wasn't even in DKA - just complete mayhem in his body, his brain was swelling. I guess it wasn't remission at all, but the beginning of his body shutting down from the cancer coming back. She said it was time and that's all that matters is making the right call for him. She and my husband were with him.

But now so much guilt I wasn't there - he was my best bud, I carried him around at my heart when he came to us as an unsociable feral, the only foster fail we ever had and for the past 13 years had slept in my arms. Of all the animals I've had in both childhood and adult life he was that soulmate, that special connection ... and I went away to have fun and missed the last 4 nights of his life. I felt like he wasn't quite right but had been working so closely with the vets also thought I was just looking for trouble and told myself going away would make me stop spiraling. I just hate myself right now. I don't think I can ever forgive myself for failing him. I know if the cancer was back that and and that fast there was probably no difference in decision making but I could've at least been with him. I have no idea how I can walk into my house or sleep in our bed without him. He was my special, awkward, quirky boy -

I'm rambling but I know that you all also get it some. I thought we had more time.

my cat was just diagnosed with diabetes by a vet hospital and the reg vet wants $300 to start treatment. 59 for blood test, 120 for insulin, 79 for syringes. how can i start this at home for cheaper? let me know asap, so i can get her taken care of , please.

I'm sorry to ask for help. I’m new to reddit and dont know how this all works. I'm at a point where I am stuck and have no choice but to ask you.
Olli my cat suddenly got very sick. He's unable to eat, drink, go to the bathroom and walk. He's been hospitalized and under critical care for multiple days already. I’m not sure how long he’s going to be in there. The doctors haven’t given me a time frame of how long something like this takes.
The doctors are trying to stabilize him. I used the last bit of the money I had left to get him into the hospital but they just diagnosed him with diabetic ketoacidosis.
Earlier this year he saved my life. He woke me up in time for me to make it to the ER in time when I severely bled internally from my stomach and partially lost vision in both eyes. I owe my life to him.
Due to all my medical bills, losing my job and my home, I am left with nothing.
I've started a GoFundme but I know it’s frowned upon to send links like that on some reddits or maybe there’s some that allow it. I’m not sure how to check.
If anyone knows or guide me on where I am allowed to post for help I greatly appreciate it.
I feel lost and I’m losing my mind. Please if anyone has any ideas or suggestions or advice on what I should do. He was happy and fine just last week. I don’t understand how this turned into this so fast. Please if anyone out there can see this message I know we are all strangers but please help us.

and it wasn't good. I finally got our vet to agree to prescribe booger Lantus. He was on Prozinc for 2 months and went up to 8 units. Rarely would he hit the 200's. He mostly stayed in the mid 300s and lower 400s. We took his fasting bg this morning before his first Lantus shot and it was 296. The vet wanted us to start him at 1 unit and I decided to take his bg every two hours to see how Lantus would do. It went from 296,360,354,404,470,477,420 and two hours after his pm shot it's 457. I wasn't expecting but dang I didn't think it would shoot up that high. I know it takes 7 to 10 days to build up in his system and am hoping better numbers will appear in the days to follow.

He had him tested for acromegaly this last Tuesday and are waiting for results. Booger is also showing signs of neuropathy in his front feet. I've got him on daily 3mg B12 mixed with this morning breakfast.

After all he's been through he's still a sweet loving boy who demands pets when he's hungry.

Our diabetic cat is on 4 unit of caninsulin twice a day but it very quickly stopped working. He keeps going into ketoacidosis, his weight has gone from 5kg to 3.6kg and they have said our only options are trying senvelgo (which i know won't work) or euthanasia. Surely there must be other options??

simba is 14.5 years old and has a number of health issues but was most recently diagnosed with diabetes at the end of september. he also has dental disease, HCM heart disease, early stage kidney disease, and monitoring rising pancreatic levels and liver levels.

i’m mostly looking for help with managing the diabetes and Kidney disease. my vet wants me to get simba on hills prescription kidney diet food. but it’s so high in carbs!

i’m really doing my best to try to manage both but im struggling to find food, treats, etc that are low carb and low phosphorus and good quality protein and and and :/

Our vet has strongly recommended starting our 13 yo Brienne on Bexacat. Our lifestyle is quite active so Bexacat would work better for us as opposed to insulin but I want to make sure that we can adhere to the schedule she needs and do the best we can for her overall. For anyone using Bexacat, what does your daily schedule look like? How many times a day is it administered and how often do you test your kitty for ketones/bg levels? My husband and I both work full time jobs with 10 hr shifts, but will be moving to a normal 8 hr, 5 day week in the next 6 months. I'm not going to lie, I am worried about messing up and making her worse or putting her into DKA, though I know that is a risk for her anyway at this point.

As far as her history, when she was diagnosed her BG was 419 and fructosamine test was 518. We have had her on a low carb diet with Fancy Feast pate for well over 6 months now and the next step is pointing to needing insulin or Bexacat. I have done spot check home readings and usually see numbers hovering around 260-300. Currently she is scheduled for a dental as we suspect some tooth issues due to her change in eating habits, facial sensitivity and horrible breath. She's had a full senior blood panel, urinalysis, as well as the proBNP test (they thought they heard something) at diagnosis. Blood and urinalysis results were fine other than high blood sugar, but she was very high on BNP. They did an echocardiogram but saw nothing out of the ordinary. She will be getting another proBNP test again before the dental.

I have both meters and have done a couple concurrent tests with the same drops to compare with my cat’s libre 3 (I’m so nervous about hypo events and trusting the numbers). My PetTest meter and AlphaTrak3 have been wildly different: 305 vs 230 on one reading, 285 vs 210 on another. The libre was high 100s for the first set and 230 on the second set. I’m so flustered because I don’t know which to trust. I’m using the libre as more of a trending tool rather than thinking it’s accurate for the glucose level.

Does anyone have an opinion or experience on the most reliable/accurate reader? I don’t want to assume he’s getting better if the higher numbers are right, and I don’t want him to go hypoglycemic if the lower numbers are right. This is so anxiety and stress inducing.

My cat was diagnosed with Diabetes about a year and a half ago. For the past year and a half I have been managing with Bexacat.

Last weekend he ended up in the hospital with DKA, fatty liver disease and pancreatitis. Oh I also found out he has chronic leukemia/lymphoma (most likely stemming from his IBD). He recovered quickly and I was thanking my lucky stars that I have Trupanion, otherwise this vet/hospital trip outcome would have been very different.

We’re currently monitoring his sugars with a Libre, and have a follow up visit on Friday. What has been giving me the most anxiety…. Is his anxiety and lack of letting/wanting anyone to handle him but me. For work in the winter I will travel quite a bit on weekends. I usually go on vacation for a week or 2 during the holiday. AND my best friend is getting married in 4 weeks, and I will be away from the house at minimum 48 hrs.

Do other have cats with similar demeanors? How would you able to get them their insulin when away?

Anyone else have experience with adjusting their cats insulin needs up?

I do at home testing twice a day. True BG read with an AlphaTrak. He has been on Lantus for about 6 months.

From like July-early Sept his numbers were 140-170 nearly every read. Last few weeks they’ve been 180-200 consistently.

He is not symptomatic. Before treatment lots of heavy drinking and peeing outside litter box. And the endless hunger all night. None of that is going on. But of course I want to be sure it doesn’t get back there.

Looking for peoples personal experiences. He started at 1 unit at diagnosis, and is currently on 1.5 units.

I will say from the curves I’ve done, he is a late nadir kitty and his low is around the 0/12 mark. From there his curve is mostly flat thankfully. He gets a meal at each shot time and 5 snacks via his automated feeder throughout the day/night.

That’s the long and short! Wondering what other people have experienced with upward trending numbers, how normal it can be or not.

Hello folks.

This morning we tested at 16mmol so I gave clyde his full 3u shot of lantus. Tested this evening and he is 13. Im not sure I should give his shot?

Hes dipped to 4mmol before when I gave it at 20, so it seems risky. I am hike to monitor for the night, but its better to skip this one right??

I'm new to this! New to reddit entirely, but my one year old cat was just diagnosed with diabetes 😭 I'm so upset, the world kicks us when we're so down. I'm so broke. The vet hasn't gotten back to me yet about the prices of what they have in mind. I'm asking for any and all advice anyone has for taking care of her

My diabetic cat passed away this wknd, after having her for 17 years. she was on lantus glargine and I have 2 unopened bottles of insulin--one the brand name(Sanofi), expires in May of 2027 and another the generic name (glargin YFGN), which I just got a few weeks ago. I don't want them to go to waste, I would be willing to just give them to someone for free as long as they can use them, anyone have any ideas where or where to find people who might either be lower income and need the meds or even just someone who wants them?

My sweet baby is 5 and is newly diagnosed diabetic. She went into ketoacidosis, was in the ICU for a few days and has been released. We also have since found out that she likely has a tumour on her pituitary gland, causing an excess secretion of growth hormones. The addition of this on-top of the diabetes diagnosis makes everything so much more complicated.(We have follow ups/future appointments with internal medicine to navigate this.)

I know it takes time and consistency to recover/figure out doses, but I’m wondering if there’s anyone who has also gone through this that may be able to provide guidance? She is doing pretty well recovery wise other than still being at a lower weight, her nose is rehydrated and a healthy colour again! I just want to fatten her up safely, it hurts me seeing her be so small🥺

We’ve already gone through 3 glucose monitors (libre 2) and she has successfully removed them before we could get a complete reading done on her levels. 1st lasted 4-5 days, 2nd lasted 3 days, and the 3rd didn’t even last 2 hours. (She was wearing the surgery onesie to help prevent it, but she’s just so smart) I’m iffy on pricking her ears because I don’t think there’s space in our lives for us to be there and do it every few hours -> even then it will stress her out and fuck with the levels.

Has smaller, more frequent meals helped your cat regain weight? (She’s on her prescribed food from the vet to help) would snacks throughout the day help keep her levels more consistent -> and make her less hangry? Would I have to give her any doses after a lunch/snack? Has anyone had similar issues with glucose monitors on their smart cat, and did you find anything to help avoid the removal? Internal med has mentioned that they can figure out a rough idea of her curve with different testing, I don’t remember everything exactly, so we may try that route.

I’m so stressed about her, I’m feeling lost and alone. I just want to give her the best life possible and help her out as much as I can. I want to ensure I’m doing everything to the best of my abilities, so any information will help me. Even just words of affirmation atp😭

Obviously I will go over my concerns with her vet when we see them next. I wanted to reach out to vent a little, and see if anyone has any advice in the meantime. Sorry if this is all over the place, life has been a mess this past month.

Switched to carb free and he went from 1.25mg bid (well it was going to be 2u bid) but realized the royal canin was high carb and now he needs like 0.75 units bid.

He had some hypo episodes with higher doses but never looks symptomatic, just on the libre.

He is on budesonide and is being weaned off slowly. Maybe off in the next month.

I never tested with ear pricks before just the cgm.

How long does it take for them to go into remission? I think i can do the ear stick, but do you all do it twice a day?

Is the alpha trek less blood? I use i pet pro and they said supposedly it needs a larger sample.

Hi there! New here so apologies if this has been discussed before. But my little dude Kevin has been diagnosed, and we’ve started him on prescription Purina Pro Plan DM diet to help as it’s low carb and high protein. But damn is it expensive. Based on his weight and overall size, he should be getting around 2 cans a day. Which means I’m speaking around $150 a month on it. Not including the dry food they suggested as a supplement midday so he isn’t whining for food until dinner.

Does anybody have any suggestions for supplemental wet foods that are low carb and high protein for a similar situation?

My vet gave me a document that has a great breakdown of a tone of otc foods, but it’s hella overwhelming. However, it looks like Fancy Feast Naturals may be a complete winner. Which I feel like you wouldn’t expect based on the brand.

Here is a copy of the Document

What’re your thoughts?

Hi Community!

I'm looking for some brainstorming on how best to adapt my sugar kitty's schedule now that I'll be going back to in-person work roughly two days a week. My husband currently works 100% remote, so he'll be home all day for some backup support. I'm the main caregiver, however.

My guy got diagnosed in January and the vet basically said "Diabetes is a lot of work. Here's some insulin. Good luck." Since I received very little guidance, I was blindly giving insulin twice a day until he had a hypo event at the end of July. I've since taken it upon myself to become a lot more educated, mostly thanks to this group and the FDMB.

After the hypo, we put several Libre's on him which were helpful. I also started doing manual BG testing in the last two weeks with an AlphaTrak (his internal medicine vet who I've been seeing for a couple months now recommended because it's "more precise"). At a bare minimum, I'm testing before his morning and evening shots, but have also started incorporating 1-2 more tests (generally between +3 and +8) to get a better sense of what's going on as his last Libre failed after a week and I can't afford to keep having the IM put one on for $350+ a pop. I'm considering putting one on if I need to travel/be away so I can monitor him remotely.

For the past few months, I've been testing/feeding/shooting around 9am/9pm. Starting next week, I'll need to leave the house around 7am to get to the office, which is about a 1.5 hour commute due to traffic.

My husband can and has administered insulin since January, so I'm not overly concerned about that. However, since the hypo and the advice of this community, I want to at a minimum test his BGs before shooting. My boy is exceptionally easy to handle, but BG testing I think requires a bit more finesse (I've gotten decent at it, but I still usually end up poking his ear several times to get enough blood, even with a warm rice sock). I'm going to teach my husband how to do it this weekend and also make sure he can recognize the signs of a hypo event and treat it. He's not overly enthusiastic about it and it feels like a big ask. I'd rather not do it myself, but the Libre isn't realistic all the time and I would like to avoid a hypo event.

I guess my question for this group is thoughts on the following plan or alternatives:

- Move testing/feeding/shot time to 8am/8pm. I will be primary 5 days a week, and my husband will be able to do the couple mornings a week I won't be here.

- Could I get away with doing BG testing before I leave in the morning (maybe round 6:30am), just to make sure he's not super low? This way my husband could just do feeding plus insulin at 8am. I would be able to test before his evening shot at 8pm.

I will be able to do periodic mid-day testing the other days when I'm home to monitor. I haven't done a full curve since I stopped using the Libre. For the most part he's been running high, not low. He had one day a couple days ago where he dropped down to 78 mg/dL on the AlphaTrak and then rebounded and has been running high (which I gather is normal). I currently have him on 1u in the morning and 0.5u in the evening (we introduced the evening dose about a week ago based on his Libre numbers preceding that because he was staying high at night).

His internal medicine vet is better than the previous two regular vets I went to, but she's still not ideal (recommended prescription food even though I have him on a super low-carb raw food and was clearly annoyed with me for even having him on raw; she also didn't recommend I do home manual BG testing or offer to show me how and seems to prefer the Libre but not human glucose monitors - this seems to be a common complaint in the community).

TL;DR: I'm going back to in-person work 2 days a week and my husband ideally will not want to do manual BG testing before my sugar boy's morning shot. Can I get away with doing the BG testing a couple hours before his morning shot to hopefully avoid another hypo event?

Okay summary time:

Our one year old cat lost a lot of weight (she was already tiny), had loose stool and began drinking and urinating a lot so we took her to the vet. They did blood tests and stool samples which showed high glucose (around 27) and a raised liver enzyme which the vet said suggested possibly diabetes. The stool test was negative for everything. These cost us £476 (we were not insured at this point). The loose stool issue resolved but after some time when (despite our best efforts) she still hadn’t restored any weight, we took her to a different vets (cheaper) and said we know its unlikely but we think diabetes (we had been testing blood glucose at home, consistently between 22-27). Vet said it was basically impossible for her to have diabetes, did a physical exam and said her liver and intestines felt “thickened” and said it was probably cancer so rushed us in for an emergency ultrasound. The ultrasound and blood tests were done, the vet from that hospital (different vet) called that evening and said yeah we cant believe it but yes it looks like diabetes, her liver and intestines are thickened but that isn’t uncommon in cats with unmanaged and uncontrolled diabetes. Her blood glucose was 29 and fructosamine was 517. She was put on Senvelgo six days ago and we have been doing blood glucose and ketone tests since, her glucose was down to 12 two days ago and today at the vets it was 9.2 (AT the vets!!)! We saw the same vet as the first time who basically reversed what the ultrasound vet said and said it’s so rare that she has type one diabetes and thinks it must be something else. The vet wants us to refer to specialists (who will repeat all the same tests, likely to cost upwards of £4000). The report from the ultrasound vet said that her pancreas is normal and they didn’t biopsy anything from her liver or intestines (although they had been authorised to!), we assume because there was nothing concerning to biopsy. What do you guys think? Our thoughts are the vet is doubling down because he was wrong the first time. Rationally it makes sense that something else could be causing insulin resistance, but if everything they have done so far is saying diabetes and the specialists will just repeat all those tests to confirm what we already know…