my cat was just diagnosed with diabetes and I want to know what this is going to cost????

Question

My 17 yr. old cat has spent the last two days in the vet hospital recovering from diabetes and I can't get a straight answer from them as of to what the long term cost per month is going to be. I live 60 mi. from the nearest vet and they seem to think that it shouldn't be a problem for me to drive in to the vet's office a couple of days a week to deal with all of her new testing. I love my cat dearly as she has been with me over half of my life, but I have two minimum wage jobs and the hospital bill itself is huge. I want to know what I will be looking forward to cost wise per month for managing this diseases and I do realize that it's very variable. Any responses are greatly appreciated! thanks so much

Yes I suppose that it might have been irresponsible to get a pet when I was 13 and living with parents. But I definitely couldn't have predicted that 17 years down the road that I would have to spend a week in a cardiac unit of a hospital for many blood clots in my lungs, acquire some bills from a relative that passed away, have my car totalled my another driver, and have my cat acquire diabetes, all within 8 weeks of one another. I'm also on Humira shots for Rheumatoid Arthritis and it's very costly. Please try not to judge and just do the best to help me with the question, I would really appreciate it!

Answer 1

Hi

If you do things right it should cost about 40-50 a month.The initial costs can be expensive though. I am an expert having had 3 diabetic cats and wored with others who have ahd them. Why is your cat staying at the vets now? Unless thewire are ketones there is no reason for it. My email is [e-mail] and I can help you if you want. One big problem is that many vets are not educated on this treatment.
I am going to give you alot of info here.

Diabetes is not a death sentence, no life span lost and your cat can live a long happy life as long as you treat this disease. This is very treatable

That said; It is very important to check for ketones. You can buy ketodiastic regent strips at the pharmacy to check the urine for ketones. They can become serious quickly and need immediate vet attention.
Regulation takes time and cannot be done at the vet’s office. There are people here whose cats have not been regulated for a year. That doesn't mean they are not doing well.

The problem with diabetes is that you can go to 30 different vets and get 30 different treatments. Working with your vet is very important but it will be your knowledge and learning that will be your cat’s best asset. The way most people would recommend to give insulin is to start with no more than 1 or 2 units 2x daily. Your cat may need more but by doing it this way you won't risk passing the correct dose, which can cause the glucose to go higher instead of lower and you have less of a risk for a hypoglycemic attack. .

One thing lots of people do here is hometest their cats bg's using a human glucometer. It doesn't hurt (neither do the shots) and it will let you know if it is safe to give insulin and give you the information to treat your cat properly. Stress can raise the blood glucose more than 100 points so the glucose numbers at home may be significantly less and more accurate then the numbers the vet gets as it can be stressful for your cat at the vet’s office.
. I think hometesting is the most important tool in treating this disease.
I had problems with testing in the beginning thinking that it wasn’t worth it to my cat, ie, quality of life but boy was I wrong. My cat purrs through the whole process. Test your cat before every shot.

Assuming there are no other health problems it is recommended to feed a low carb high protein diet.. If there aren't any health issues, I recommend you feed canned food with less that 10% carbs. Cats are carnivores and dry food lacks the moisture a cat needs and normally gets when eating. Dry food is NOT better for a cat’s teeth and a dry food diet may cause other problems down the line. Vet prescription foods for diabetes hold no value and is not better then commercially available canned foods. Save your money.

. There are cats here whose diabetes is diet controlled on a low carb diet without giving insulin.
. I can’t stress enough how important it is that your cat eats. That is the number 1 thing. The change of foods from dry to wet can and should be gradual and as I said it is very important that your cat eats, so if he won't eat low carb foods, you can work around that. If your cat will only eat dry foods, so be it. There are cats here regulated on higher carbed foods. Your insulin needs may be lower if you use low carbed foods. Here's a list that shows the breakdown in different foods.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/cat_food_nutrition_canned.htm
http://www.felinediabetes.com/cat_food_nutrition_dry.htm

I know I may be overloading you with information, but I promise that things will get easier as time goes by. It sounds scary but it really will be ok and it will soon become routine for you. Please let us know what type of insulin and how much, how many times a day when you have that information so we may help you further. I am going to include a few links to read so you may become more knowledgeable. Please don't expect to absorb everything all at once. Good Luck
http://www.petdiabetes.org/index.html

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

They'll find it hard to give a cost estimate because diabetes can be unpredicatable - you don't know how often you might have to have her in for blood glucose curves or emergency treatment. To get an idea of the costs, I would ask the vet for the cost of the following things:

+ one bottle of the type of insulin she will be on
+ a days hospitalisation
+ a blood glucose curve

Also ask if it's possible for you to do any testing at home such as urine dipsticks, or even blood glucose testing. Your vet might want to kill me for suggesting this, but sometimes owners are taught to take a drop of blood from an ear prick to test the glucose level. You'd have to buy your own glucometer tho, which won't be exactly cheap, but will save you the drive. You then just phone the results over to the vet so they can advise you on a food/insulin regime.

I could be way off base with these suggestions, so talk to your vet about if they're appropriate! Hopefully the diabetes can be stabilised, and then the costs will be a lot more predictable. It's usually only a mess of blood tests and impromptu visits to the vet at the beginning.

Explain to the vet your situation and what you've been through lately, exactly as you have above, and they really ought to understand how frequent visits to them might be a liiiiiittle difficult!

Good luck,
Chalice

Answer 4

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RE:
my cat was just diagnosed with diabetes and I want to know what this is going to cost????
My 17 yr. old cat has spent the last two days in the vet hospital recovering from diabetes and I can't get a straight answer from them as of to what the long term cost per month is going to be. I live 60 mi. from the nearest vet and they seem to think that it shouldn't be a problem for me...

Answer 5

Once the amount of insulin gets regulated you will have a better idea. My cat has been diabetic for probably 7 years. The needles are approximately $15 for 100 needles. Since I have to give 2 shots a day they last for almost 2 months. The insulin itself is about $30-$35 per bottle. 1 bottle last me about 2 months. Good luck with your cat. I know it is a very hard thing but your cat can still have a very fulfilling life.

Answer 6

I dont know how much longer a 17 year old cat has left but if you can learn the glucose testing and give it the shots the cost of insulin should not be very high. It is expensive but I cant imagine that you would need much for a cat.

Try your local animal rescue, they can sometimes assist with vet bills or ongoing care.

as someone else said lay it out for the vet, that if you cant do most of it yourself the cats gonna have to go.

the animal rescue group may be able to adopt your cat out to someone familiar with the disease. At least you would know that your pet is ending his days peacefully.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

Diabetes is very hard to manage. The key is to find the right amount of insulin that will work on the kitty. That is probably why you are not getting a *straight* answer. There probably isn't one right now.

Now comes the hard decision.......if you can't afford the cost perhaps it is time to let her cross to the rainbow bridge :(

Answer 9

the cost will vary depending on what type of treatment she needs, which may be why youre not getting a straight answer.

tell your vet the exact things you have said here, and ask for an answer. make it very clear you are looking for an answer, and dont leave until you get one.
many people seem scared to ask or think they have asked when they really havent made themselves clear.

if you ask her directly for a breakdown of costs and she refuses to answer, take your cat elsewhere.

besides that, if it costs too much for you, what are you going to do? if you cant afford cat emergencies you shouldnt have gotten a cat to begin with - it was pretty irresponsible.
.

Answer 10

hi you i love to be able to answer your question and i dont think you`ll get many if any answer in this section you should try this question in the pet section of answers