Diabetic Cat Care

The information contained in this sticky is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace veterinary advice. The intention of this sticky is to open doors to understanding about the specific medical condition or topic, allowing for educated and on-going discussion with your vet.

Diabetic Cat
Care

German Info

Wissen Sie, welche örtlichen Verschreibungsgesetze in Bezug auf die Gewinnung von Insulin und Spritzen, International und ein Staat von Staat Auflistung für die USA sind.

Know what local prescription laws are with regards to obtaining insulin and syringes, International and a State by State listing for the US.

Glucometers

Most commonly used is: Ascensia Contour

Most commonly used is: Ascensia Contour
Also available: Freestyle Mini, Freestyle Freedom, Freestyle Lite, One Touch Ultra and Accu Chek Aviva.

Glucometers can be bought from online pharmacies such as:

Sanicare for as little as 5 EUR. It will come with some lancets, test strips, and a carrying case, which in a normal pharmacy they cost up to 40,00 EUR.

Sanicare for as little as 9,95 EUR. It will come with some lancets, test strips, and a carrying case, in a normal pharmacy they cost up to 40,00 EUR.
Sascha and Ulrike use Ascensia Contour which has been replaced with the Next Contour.

TEST STRIPS are very expensive.
In the online pharmacy Sanicare, 50 test strips cost 22,95 EUR.
In a pharmacy they cost about 36,50 EUR for 50 test strips.

Most of the time Ulrike buys test strips on eBay; she can find 50 strips for about 20 EUR. Remember to look at the reviews of the seller on eBay...

Insulin's and getting PZI

In Germany vets are required to prescribe Caninsulin for diabetic cats. (Vets in Germany tolerate high numbers for a long time, they are afraid of any BG number below 100. Only if Caninsulin doesn‘t work for a cat, are they allowed to prescribe other insulin's. Then they tend to prefer Lantus (Glargine) or Levemir. Very few vets have ever heard of PZI or have any experience with it.

Syringes

U100 Insulinspritzen, BD Micro Fine DEMI, 0,3 ml, PZN 4144150Again
Ulrike found the best price is thru Sanicare - 100 syringes cost 20 EUR

Hometesting

Most vets like to do the testing in their doctor’s office.
Here are two good German websites with information on hometesting and basic knowledge about feline diabetes: diabetes-katzen.net (This website also has good information on feline acromegaly and a forum for owners of these special needs cats.)

Food

Looking at labels on cat foods in Germany is as important as it is everywhere else in the world.

https://diabeticcatcare.com/DCCCOK/FoodandCalculator1.htm

Raw food diet: http://www.fleisch-shop.de/ A refrigerated truck delivers the fresh food but you have to buy at least 30kg, so you need a big freezer. Information on feeding a raw diet to your cat and/or dog is available at Tatzen Laden Here you can find Instincts TC – a supplement to be added to the homemade raw food diet.

Some canned foods to get started with: Zooplus

Animonda Carny Kitten Katzenfutter, 5% Dry Carbs
Bozita mit Hühnchen, mit Lachs oder mit Rind, 5.6 Dry Carbs
Miamor Pastete mit Mix I, 2 Sorten Geflügel, mit Mix II, 2 Sorten Huhn & Kaninchen, mit Mix III, 2 Sorten Huhn & Lachs, mit Kaninchen, mit Huhn, mit Fasan, mit Geflügelleber, mit Geflügelherzen, 4.4% Dry Carbs

All foods below do not contain any grain or vegetables, but does contain 1% pomegranate seeds
Alle Lebensmittel unterhalb jedes Narben- oder Gemüse enthalten nicht, aber enthalten Granatapfelkernen.

GranataPet
Taschen (Pouches) 85g & Büchsen (Cans) 200g
Ente & Geflügel (Duck and poultry),Trockene Kohlenhydrate: 0.8%, Phos 1.2%
Kalb und Kaninchen (Calf and rabbit),Trockene Kohlenhydrate: 2.0%, Phos 1.2%
Kalb Pur (Calf Pure),Trockene Kohlenhydrate: 1.5%, Phos N/A
Kitten Geflügel PUR (Chicken Pur),Trockene Kohlenhydrate: 0.5%, Phos N/A
Lachs & Pute (Salmon and turkey),Trockene Kohlenhydrate: 0.7%, Phos 1.5%
Lamm und Truthahn (Lamb and turkey),Trockene Kohlenhydrate: 0.7%, Phos 1.2%
Truthahn & Fasan (Turkey and Pheasant),Trockene Kohlenhydrate: 1.09%, Phos 1.5%

The canned foods are available here: www.sandras-tieroase.de Also available here are dried meat treats called Ziwi Peak 'Good Cat' Treats. Good for using when blood testing your cat.

Recently Sheri and Wolf updated us on another place to order food from called Bitiba. She has found with them that usually if you order early enough the food will be delivered the next day. If not – they don’t charge shipping and you get a discount. They send the bill along with it and expect payment with a week.