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#Post#: 76831--------------------------------------------------
Boy Cat has diabetes - has anyone else dealt with this?
By: ManyHats Date: February 24, 2022, 8:35 pm
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Last week, I got an email from our vet that said Boy Cat, who is
19, has diabetes. We took him to the vet's office and met with a
tech who explained how to give him insulin, which prescription
food he should have, etc. Little dude takes his shots like a
champ and inhales the new food as if it was prepared just for
him by a purrsonal chef, so that's good even if keeping him out
of Girl Cat's food (and vice versa) is a bit of a production.
I'm just concerned because I've never had a diabetic cat, he's
an old guy, and he's already on meds for hyperthyroid.
I joined a FB support group for this issue and one of the mods
introduced me, then immediately lectured me about the type of
insulin delivery we're using (pen with needles that screw on and
off), the food we're feeding him (no, I don't want the cheap
stuff from WalMart in place of what we got from the vet) and
more. I looked at her profile and she's not a vet or even a
tech. I'd tell her to F off, but a younger friend who's BFF's
niece invited me to the group and I don't want to upset her. One
more lecture might push me too far, though. Blargh.
If anyone here has cared for a diabetic cat, I'd be open to
reading your experiences.
#Post#: 76835--------------------------------------------------
Re: Boy Cat has diabetes - has anyone else dealt with this?
By: GingerJ1 Date: February 24, 2022, 8:50 pm
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Our sweet daVinci kitty was diabetic. He was great with the food
and the insulin--I had to keep his special food away from the
other cat(s), too.
I just did what the vet told us to do. No way would I listen to
some wise guy on the web telling me to get cheap food, so you're
smart to discount that info. Helped that it wasn't all THAT much
more expensive than the Science Diet we were already feeding the
kitties.
It's been quite a few years now, so I don't recall a whole lot
of details, but it wasn't a huge deal, as it turned out. A
previous cat (Bagheera) had had kidney disease and I'd given her
subcutaneous fluids, so doing the insulin was easy.
The only real accommodation was that we needed to board him when
we went on short trips, instead of leaving him at home and
having a cat sitter come in. (Later, we found one of our Boy
Scouts who lived in the neighborhood had a diabetic cat that he
cared for, so we ended up having him take care of our boy when
we went out of town.)
He was the most loving kitty I'd ever had. I almost renamed him
Romeow, but our sons insisted he already had a name when we got
him and it shouldn't be changed.
#Post#: 76836--------------------------------------------------
Re: Boy Cat has diabetes - has anyone else dealt with this?
By: HeddyL2627 Date: February 24, 2022, 8:50 pm
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That woman sounds like a real twit.
We did vet's office food and whatever insulin they recommended
with my old guy. He lived a long, healthy, happy life after his
diabetes diagnosis. Do vary where you're injecting — you don't
want to cause an abscess. And try to keep to a schedule. We
aimed for the scheduled time +/- 30 minutes.
#Post#: 76837--------------------------------------------------
Re: Boy Cat has diabetes - has anyone else dealt with this?
By: GingerJ1 Date: February 24, 2022, 8:52 pm
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Oh, and I would also be majorly annoyed at being lectured by
some know-nothing. Good on you for being able to ignore it so
far.
#Post#: 76861--------------------------------------------------
Re: Boy Cat has diabetes - has anyone else dealt with this?
By: CaviaPorcellus Date: February 25, 2022, 2:05 am
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Not a diabetic cat, but my childhood dog Rickey was diabetic in
the last few years of his life. He was a champ with the insulin,
and pretty food motivated so easily adapted to new food.
He lived until he was 13, a good age for a good dog. We had
social media then (he died my senior year of HS, 2006), but it
wasn't quite what it is now, so we didn't really have any random
people lecturing us about anything.
#Post#: 76882--------------------------------------------------
Re: Boy Cat has diabetes - has anyone else dealt with this?
By: Thetis099 Date: February 25, 2022, 7:24 am
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I'm so sorry. Poor kitty. Poor you.
I have, but only briefly and many years ago. I stayed with my
sibling as a helper on her horse farm for one summer. She had a
diabetic cat named Fat Bobby. I loved that orange cat! Anyway,
Fat Bobby was obese and weighed about 25 lbs. IIrc, he was
insulin dependent by age 5. He lived for 15 years.
I gave him the doses of insulin much of that summer. He was so
good natured that he was easy to inject. I followed a feeding
and dosing schedule, but he knew the shots made him feel better.
He would usually let me know injection time was near by
"rrr-owing" (he didn't meow, he rrr-owed), turning and
presenting his back to me, then sitting and waiting for his
dose. I learned how to gently roll the vial on the counter to
mix, draw the proper dose into a syringe, and give him the
injection. He did well as long as he got his injections on time
and ate only his food. The real challenge for me was keeping
him out of the other cats' food.
I hope the doses are measured for you. Measuring the dose was
the part that made me most nervous. I hope your cat does well.
Fat Bobby did.
HTML https://media0.giphy.com/media/Yj6rnyMhItCfbqRnGM/200.gif
#Post#: 76887--------------------------------------------------
Re: Boy Cat has diabetes - has anyone else dealt with this?
By: ManyHats Date: February 25, 2022, 7:40 am
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[quote author=Thetis099 link=topic=876.msg76882#msg76882
date=1645795481]
I'm so sorry. Poor kitty. Poor you.
I have, but only briefly and many years ago. I stayed with my
sibling as a helper on her horse farm for one summer. She had a
diabetic cat named Fat Bobby. I loved that orange cat! Anyway,
Fat Bobby was obese and weighed about 25 lbs. IIrc, he was
insulin dependent by age 5. He lived for 15 years.
I gave him the doses of insulin much of that summer. He was so
good natured that he was easy to inject. I followed a feeding
and dosing schedule, but he knew the shots made him feel better.
He would usually let me know injection time was near by
"rrr-owing" (he didn't meow, he rrr-owed), turning and
presenting his back to me, then sitting and waiting for his
dose. I learned how to gently roll the vial on the counter to
mix, draw the proper dose into a syringe, and give him the
injection. He did well as long as he got his injections on time
and ate only his food. The real challenge for me was keeping
him out of the other cats' food.
I hope the doses are measured for you. Measuring the dose was
the part that made me most nervous. I hope your cat does well.
Fat Bobby did.
HTML https://media0.giphy.com/media/Yj6rnyMhItCfbqRnGM/200.gif
[/quote]
Aw, Fat Bobby sounds adorable!
The insulin we've been prescribed is in a pen; there's a dial on
the end that you twist to get to the proper dose, so it's super
easy.
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