My cute little tripod kitty, Hunter, has been diagnosed with diabetes.
I had noticed he was guzzling water and just soaking the litterbox, plus he was looking unkempt. And he had developed a hot spot by his ear that wasn't healing. So into the vet we went. I had the entire blood panel done on him ($$$), and sure enough he is diabetic. But not off the charts thankfully.
He isn't the first diabetic cat I have cared for. I fostered Simon, another diabetic, several years ago. He was a hot hot mess and I am hoping Hunter does not turn into that.
So, he will be getting a diet change and daily insulin injections.
Instead of dry food to be nibbled on throughout the day, the cats will now get breakfast and dinner and that is it. And only wet food. I have been learning all I can about cat diabetes, and apparently it's all about cutting the carbs. There is also a chance that with proper management he could go into remission!
I fear Buckley may revolt and possibly murder me but I sure as shit am not going to have multiple feeding schedules for two cats. Plus it's not like Buckley is skin and bones. He could use a diet, too.
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| Buckley says he is never fed and please send help. |
Thankfully Hunter is very tolerant and will let me test his glucose at home. And the injections are just sub-Q so I can easily handle that.
If anyone has any other tips, tricks, suggestions on diabetic hairballs. I am all ears.
I don't know how these "special" cats keep finding me but they sure do.
Poor kitty! I feel so bad for animals that get diseases like this (or really any disease) since we can't tell them what's up and why things are changing for them.
ReplyDeleteAww, poor guy! And poor Buckley. Definitely already a starvation case--I don't know how he'll survive calorie cutting!
ReplyDeleteThe biggest issue I find training people how to treat their diabetic cats is making sure they roll... and roll... and roll the insulin. If it feels like you have rolled it enough to have it mixed well... ROLL MORE! Most times we have a cat come in having a hypoglycemic event- is when someone forgot to properly mix the animals insulin.
ReplyDeleteGetting to control in a cat can sometimes be frustrating in the beginning, so make sure you- or your vet can spare the time to do a full proper glucose curve the check that the animal is well controlled, and not having some somoygi effect.
Doing a full curve is vital.
I had a diabetic cat who lived a long, happy life. I was surprised that his condition was much easier to handle than I first anticipated. We made a routine out of giving him his insulin shot just before breakfast and it became a no big deal, routine thing. I fed him a special kibble for diabetic cats that I got through my vet. An interesting thing is that cats can be transient diabetics, over time my cats was able to be maintained on the prescription kibble alone and no longer need daily insulin shots :) I wish you the best of luck and hope that you find an easy, workable way to manage your cat's diabetes.
ReplyDeletePoor guy! Sounds like you've got a great plan moving forward though!
ReplyDeleteAt least he poops? Eh? Eh?
ReplyDelete