Diabetic cat- need help with new diagnosis

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Our 13yr old Burmese has, today, been diagnosed as being diabetic. His bloods are currently 4 times over the highest limit.
We have to go back to the Vets tomorrow morning for them to give him insulin and keep him in the morning for observation. I then have to have time with the nurse to learn how to inject him.
He's going to need injections twice a day and a special diet. I have so many questions that I'm hoping the Vet/Nurse will answer tomorrow but I want to go armed with some info.
Please can you tell me how you manage if you have a cat with diabetes. What happens if you go away? We are due to go away next month for 2 nights, do catteries take diabetic cats? We normally have a cat sitter who comes once a day.
Is a diabetic life for a cat a good one? How am I going to recognise any symptoms in him? What if I'm late home one day and miss the 12 hour window by an hour? What about the other cats in the house, how do you manage feeding...we currently have food out all day and let them graze when they want.
We love this cat so much but I don't want him feeling awful or ill...can he really have the quality of life with diabetes?

I’m sorry to hear this. My cat was diagnosed last sept. He was 15.

Don’t worry about the injections, you can do it they are easy. Catteries will take diabetics as it’s becoming more common now.

You will need to be aware of his glucose curves and will have to record them at home. This is not easy. But it’s not everyday. Get a home monitor kit. About £95 and you will be able to let the vet know the curves. This is important for changing insulin doses. You’ll start off low and build up to higher doses over time. To get the right level.

We did it for 3 months, but he wasn’t getting better and declined suddenly. So we had him PTS. You are going to be a regular at your vets. Choose one vet and stick to them so they know the history. I got conflicting advice to start with when I saw the duty vet. Better to have the same vet though out.

It is a normal life for cat if you can get it under control. Sadly we couldn’t despite our best efforts and the vets best treatment. Good luck.

I'm sorry to hear about your boy.
I'm not worried about doing the injections, it's just the time management of it. I have two kids who are heavily involved in sports and a DH who works long hours, so I'm scared about the 'window' of the injections. It's good to know catteries will take him and I'll start researching that once my head is a bit clearer.
Our Vet practice is excellent, so I'm glad we are under their care, we have 4 other cats so they know us fairly well there.
I shall have a look at monitors tomorrow once we've seen the vet/nurse.

Another one with a now departed diabetic cat. She lived with it for just over a year and a half. Our neighbour's cat lived a few years with it.
Once you get in the swing of it it's actually ok. There can be some leeway with the injections. Our vets has a cattery so our girl would stay there and medical care was on hand if needed!
Our vets gave us a print out of info about caring for a diabetic cat which was very helpful. They will go through everything with you buy don't be afraid to call then if you have any questions.
Depending on how easy it is to get it under control will depend on frequency of vet visits. Our poor girl had various other issues which affected the diabetes and was quite a complex case. Luckily we had a wonderful vet! A good relationship with your vet help.
Glucose curves can be done at home (vet or nurse can show you) . We bought a monitor for £20 from the local pharmacy. Vet may want to do fructosamine tests for a bigger picture of how the diabetes is managed (over the previous 3 weeks) whereas a curve is a one day snapshot.
I think the scariest part was a hypo when the blood sugar goes too low-a cheap bottle of honey to rub on the gums does the job.
It is daunting and there is a lot to take in at first but it will become part of your daily routine. Am sure your vets will go through everything very clearly.

The injections are 12 hours apart, but not to the second. As long as you do them at the start of the day after food and the end of the day after food you’ll,be ok.

Slightly different but my dog was diagnosed at Christmas and it was totally overwhelming. Treatment is I believe the same for dogs and cats.

They absolutely cannot graze, and no treats or snacks at all. Feed twice a day and insulin during or after. We do 7 and 7, but you work it to your routine. There is a golden hour - you cannot inject more than 11 hours before or 13 after. You are safer to miss a dose and go hyper than inject early and risk a hypo.

Exercise can bring levels right down, that must be harder to manage with a dog than a cat.

We bought an alpha trak and do the curves at home. I'm finally getting the hang of drawing blood from his ear which he doesn't like AT ALL but the injections are absolutely fine and he stands in the corner waiting for it after his food.

He is on a prescription diabetic food at the moment, I assume they do the same for cats, it's ££££ though and my insurance will only cover £300 a year for food.

Once you get your head around get a prescription from your vet for the insulin and by it online we use Animed and needles from Vet Uk. Get a needle clipper for a couple of quod from amazon and you can flip the needles and put the syringe in genera rubbish, no need for a sharps container.

The treatment is the same for dogs, but cats are far harder to regulate insulin.

It’s recognised as a harder diagnosis in cats.

Thank you Vinno- it has been quite a daunting afternoon.
Poor cat, he must feel awful, so hopefully tomorrow will have him feeling a bit better.

I hadn't even though of the cost of insulin...what are we looking at per month? It's not really a factor but best to be prepared.
Is there a difference in buying online vs using the vet insulin?

Much cheaper to buy online! We could get 3 bottles online for the price of 1 from the vets and that included the vet prescription charge. One of the nurses told me they couldn't buy it in at the online cost! I used animeddirect.co.uk. It does need to be refrigerated asap.

I think it worked out £40 for 3 bottles and the prescription online. That was about 18 months ago so prices may have changed.

I am not sure if you can buy insulin online - but worth looking into as it will be cheaper online. Your vet is obliged to provide you with a prescription.

Defibately invest in a glucometer for curves as it means you can keep a much closer eye on things. It costs about £100 for a curve at the vets and also cats are stressed in the vets and this puts their blood glucose up.

The most important thing with a diabetic cat is consistency with diet. There are a few good diebetic management diets out there. Bith with dry and wet varieties. These are good because a) the fibre levels mean a slower release of energy and more importantly the formulation wont change, unlike your normal cat foods that do change their ingredients periodically.

Do expect the next few months to be a bit up and down in terms of stabilising blood glucose. It takes time to get the insulin dose so you will start on a low dose and see how she responds. So even though it is all new to you do invest in a glucometer soon. Its better to use the one used by your vet for consistency. Most are really easy to use - this will save a fortune in curves as you will need them more frequently until she is stable.

Once stable we have cats that we curve every six months and they tootle on fairly well.

Your vet nurse will be more than happy to answer questions and will explain everything to you.

Catteries will take STABLE diabetics but if you need to go away in the meantime your vet may offer boarding although this will be considerably more expensive and unlikely to be covered by insurance.

Your vet will tell you what to look out for in terms of low blood sugar and probably advise you to keep some glucose gel in stock jyst in case.

Im not going to lie - it isnt easy at first but once it has become part of your cats routine she can live a happy and healthy life.

Thank you...have added the website to my favourites.

Oh good to see you can get insulin from animed direct . Yy to it needing to be in the fridge.

TheOriginalEM- thank you for your advice too. I really appreciate it all and am now feeling slightly better for the cat.

My vet told me “off the record” that you don’t have to bin insulin after 28 days.

They will tell you to bin it 28 days after it’s been opened, but he said it’s ok for 3 months. Pay attention to make sure it’s workig ok as it will regrade, but don’t chuck it out after 28 days.