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Harley has Diabetes (3/25/2009)

Diabetic Diagnosis

We finally made the decision to have Harley see the vet on March 25, 2009. Harley saw Dr. Nolan at 3pm - she did a urine test and drew blood for a blood test. Harley has lost a lot of weight - 10 pounds since September 2008, and he's been peeing a LAKE in the litter box! Not to mention a couple of times he has peed in the shower-stall of the downstairs bathroom!
On Thursday (3/26/09) Kenny and I had a consultation visit with Dr. Nolan and a vet-tech who showed us how to administer insulin shots to Harley. He gets 2-units of Lantus twice a day - as close to 12-hours apart as we can manage.
Harley wasn't too fond of the doctor's choice of diet - Purina DM dry & canned food. Internet research has taught me that a wet-food diet is best, since dry food contains a lot of carbohydrates which in turn become sugar. hahaha Harley hasn't ever been much of a canned-food eater. But, we seem to be doing OK with the Royal Canin diabetic dry food. The second vet (Dr. Krause) suggested Evo or Blue Buffalo canned foods since those contain no grain and have high protein content. LoL The Fancy-Feast & Friskies that Harley has been known to eat are considered 'junk food'. Well, the Evo was a no-go. I have a couple different 'flavors' of the Blue Buffalo to try. The tuna wasn't a big hit, but it's tolerable if Harley is really hungry. So far he still is doing ok eating the dry Royal Canin. And since he's not the only fur-kid in the house, there's plenty of fresh water around.
Kenny and I are used to giving the insulin shots, but I am not used to having Harley meowing constantly because he's hungry! This is gonna take a while because he has to eat just prior to getting the insulin shot - - so we no longer allow him to free-feed on dry kibble. But, once we find a canned food that is acceptable to his palate, we'll be GOLDEN!
So, now we have an adventure with a diabetic cat ..... stay tuned as we continue down this path .....