The chunky monkey feline who owns me is diabetic. Argh

[mediastar]

Sidney the 13 and a half grey muggy who looks as if he's a Russian Blue, but is really a moggy, started drinking twice as much and weeing nearly three times (it feels like) just before Christmas. I thought it might be diabetes, but was on a watching brief as he's had many a uti. After a few days and no improvement we bit the bullet and took the walk (fortunately we can walk up to his new vet)... After nearly three hours and an eye watering bill (sadly, he developed flutd 10 years ago so I was never able to find an insurer for him), I came away with insulin, syringes dipsticks for testing his urine and two a4 sheets of instructions. I have to say i hate turning him into a pin cushion twice a day and even though I don't go away frequently, I had been looking for cat sitters so that I could get away for more than one night really unsuccessfully, but today I've found a cat sitting website where they tell you if the sitter can do injections and meds, phew!!! Sorry for going on, but it was not the best end to.2019/start to 2020!! Hope.all other cat "parents" have healthy felines, but if anyone who has been through this has any tips, I should love to hear from you?
PS "Chunky Monkey" is the technical term the vet used lol!!!

 

[Twilight]

Poor Sidney & bless both of you :hug: I'd also hate having to do that, does he cope well with his injections? I've known a few moggies that had to face this & they were fine, as were their serfs!

 

[Toril]

Quite a few years ago, when I had a cat, Mowgli, she was diagnosed with diabetes when she was 8 years old. Luckily my vet did all the testing so I was let off having to do that. She had to have 1/4 of a human diabetic tablet every morning, hidden in a small bit raw mince or cooked fish, for the rest of her life. She lived until she was 18 years old.

I’m sure that they have got medication for animals now, rather than relying on a human prescription, so it might worth asking your vet if they have a tablet form, rather than his having to have daily injections. Hope all goes well for him.

 

[mediastar]

Thank you both, he is quite good at taking tablets having had many bouts of cystitis. There was no offer of any metformin type drug. He does seem like once the injection is done he's less affected than I am. Me, I'm bit of a wreck lol

 

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Update : we have settled into a bit of a routine, I get his jab ready, then his food, wait for him to start eating then get the injection done and he usually goes straight back to his food. Had a long chat with his lovely vet today, we are upping his dose to two units from one and a half.

 

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Well, we worked journey down to 0.5 units of insulin from 3.5. Now he is injection free, he gets one half bladder friendly sachet wet food and a serving spoon of diabetic dry kibble night and morning. The progress to reducing insulin was eight weeks, then we reduced his insulin by one half unit a week until he wasn't on it at all. The vet warned me he could suffer neuropathy of the rear legs and he did seem to be experiencing some loss of strength, but he can now jump four feet high from a standing start and he was struggling to jump up on to the bed when he was first on insulin... Marvellous! Thanks for your support folks x

 

[Twilight]

Well, we worked journey down to 0.5 units of insulin from 3.5. Now he is injection free, he gets one half bladder friendly sachet wet food and a serving spoon of diabetic dry kibble night and morning. The progress to reducing insulin was eight weeks, then we reduced his insulin by one half unit a week until he wasn't on it at all. The vet warned me he could suffer neuropathy of the rear legs and he did seem to be experiencing some loss of strength, but he can now jump four feet high from a standing start and he was struggling to jump up on to the bed when he was first on insulin... Marvellous! Thanks for your support folks x

Bless him & you - wrong colour kitty, I did consider a koala instead!