Cheryl & Whiskers (GA)
Active Member
Hello,
This is my first post. My husband and I have 5 pets. 3 cats that we rescued from shelters.
Minnie, Misty, and Timmy. Minnie and Misty are our healty cats. When Timmy was rescued
he was listed as a special needs cat. His card indicated he was blinded in one eye due to an
injury as a kitten. We thought this wouldn't be a problem. We took him to the state university
animal hospital, and were told his cause of blindness was actually feline herpes. I was crushed
for him because we had hoped to be able to resolve his eyesight. The university animal
optimologist, told us the cats actually do fairly well with this disease. We went home and gave him a good home.
He developed Feline Urinary Tract Disease a year later and nearly died. He was treated at the animal emergancy clinic in our area, very expensive and overwhelming. He survived and we have since learned that feline urinary tract disease is caused by poor quality dried cat food. We have switch him to wellness no grain canned food, and he is doing well.
The most difficult part of my post is to tell you how we came to provided a home to our
other 2 pets. My beloved only sister was murdered in December of 2008. She was a single
mother and her son (who was a senior in high school at the time of her murder), was not
able to care for himself and their 3 pets so we took in her diabetic cat Whiskers and her pomeranian dog Bandit (who has renal/kidney disease).
We now have 3 special needs pets, the shock and grief of my sisters murder was the most
horrible thing. Within 4 months Timmy was at the emergancy clinic with his diagnosis of
feline urinary tract disease. A month later Whiskers was also in the emergency clinic
also near death. Both survived but the costs have been astrinomical. We have struggled with
Whiskers diabeties. When she joined our home she was on Humilin N. I was terrified I would
kill her by giving her an injection of insulin by not getting air bubbles out. That has not happened and we have become proficiant with the injections. In the last couple month Whiskers has
stopped using the litter box on a regular basis, chosing to go outside the box once often twice a day. We have spent hundreds on Anti Icky Poo. The vet decided to switch her from Humilin N
to Lantus a couple months ago. In the meantime we took her to an animal chiropractor in hope
of finding out why she was not using the litter box. The chiropractor said she had a mass on one of
her rear hocks, back to the university animal medical hospital many tears after the suggestion she may have cancer, after surgery only to find out it was an old injury. My dad paid for the surgery
because our finances had already been very strained by pet bills. Back to our local vet only
to have Whiskers diagnosed with 2 urinary tract infections within the last 6 weeks. prescribed oral antibotics the first time along with pain meds. Given an antibotic injection the second time, and
also diagnosed with pancreatitis. Also given anti nausea injection for the pancreatitis, she had not
eaten in 24hours. Knew enough not to give insulin when she was not eating. The vet suggested
meat based baby food, to entice her to eat and it worked. She is back to eating regulary and on
1.5 units of lantus insulin twice daily with food. Still urinating outside the litter box once or twice daily. I am hoping we will not have another health crises anytime soon, as we can't afford it and
are emotionally unprepared. We are in the process of switching from canned Wellness to raw
whole food diet. We are doing everything we can to try and get this cat well and regulate her
blood glucose. Did a curve last weekend, and the vet has asked us to do another next weekend.
Needless to say all the vet visits and invasive proceedures including glucose curves really stresses
whiskers out and doesn't help the situation at all. I have thoroughly read all the info on catinfo.org
by Lisa A. Pierson DVM, and applied every little bit of advise and info I can. As you can tell we are overwelmed by our numerous pet health crisis and I can't even begin to tell what murder does to
a family, there isn't enough time or space.
I would really appreciate any advice, suggestions, help and information anyone has.
Thanks so much.
Cheryl and my Husband Jan and our pets Minnie, Misty, Timmy, Whiskers and Bandit
This is my first post. My husband and I have 5 pets. 3 cats that we rescued from shelters.
Minnie, Misty, and Timmy. Minnie and Misty are our healty cats. When Timmy was rescued
he was listed as a special needs cat. His card indicated he was blinded in one eye due to an
injury as a kitten. We thought this wouldn't be a problem. We took him to the state university
animal hospital, and were told his cause of blindness was actually feline herpes. I was crushed
for him because we had hoped to be able to resolve his eyesight. The university animal
optimologist, told us the cats actually do fairly well with this disease. We went home and gave him a good home.
He developed Feline Urinary Tract Disease a year later and nearly died. He was treated at the animal emergancy clinic in our area, very expensive and overwhelming. He survived and we have since learned that feline urinary tract disease is caused by poor quality dried cat food. We have switch him to wellness no grain canned food, and he is doing well.
The most difficult part of my post is to tell you how we came to provided a home to our
other 2 pets. My beloved only sister was murdered in December of 2008. She was a single
mother and her son (who was a senior in high school at the time of her murder), was not
able to care for himself and their 3 pets so we took in her diabetic cat Whiskers and her pomeranian dog Bandit (who has renal/kidney disease).
We now have 3 special needs pets, the shock and grief of my sisters murder was the most
horrible thing. Within 4 months Timmy was at the emergancy clinic with his diagnosis of
feline urinary tract disease. A month later Whiskers was also in the emergency clinic
also near death. Both survived but the costs have been astrinomical. We have struggled with
Whiskers diabeties. When she joined our home she was on Humilin N. I was terrified I would
kill her by giving her an injection of insulin by not getting air bubbles out. That has not happened and we have become proficiant with the injections. In the last couple month Whiskers has
stopped using the litter box on a regular basis, chosing to go outside the box once often twice a day. We have spent hundreds on Anti Icky Poo. The vet decided to switch her from Humilin N
to Lantus a couple months ago. In the meantime we took her to an animal chiropractor in hope
of finding out why she was not using the litter box. The chiropractor said she had a mass on one of
her rear hocks, back to the university animal medical hospital many tears after the suggestion she may have cancer, after surgery only to find out it was an old injury. My dad paid for the surgery
because our finances had already been very strained by pet bills. Back to our local vet only
to have Whiskers diagnosed with 2 urinary tract infections within the last 6 weeks. prescribed oral antibotics the first time along with pain meds. Given an antibotic injection the second time, and
also diagnosed with pancreatitis. Also given anti nausea injection for the pancreatitis, she had not
eaten in 24hours. Knew enough not to give insulin when she was not eating. The vet suggested
meat based baby food, to entice her to eat and it worked. She is back to eating regulary and on
1.5 units of lantus insulin twice daily with food. Still urinating outside the litter box once or twice daily. I am hoping we will not have another health crises anytime soon, as we can't afford it and
are emotionally unprepared. We are in the process of switching from canned Wellness to raw
whole food diet. We are doing everything we can to try and get this cat well and regulate her
blood glucose. Did a curve last weekend, and the vet has asked us to do another next weekend.
Needless to say all the vet visits and invasive proceedures including glucose curves really stresses
whiskers out and doesn't help the situation at all. I have thoroughly read all the info on catinfo.org
by Lisa A. Pierson DVM, and applied every little bit of advise and info I can. As you can tell we are overwelmed by our numerous pet health crisis and I can't even begin to tell what murder does to
a family, there isn't enough time or space.
I would really appreciate any advice, suggestions, help and information anyone has.
Thanks so much.
Cheryl and my Husband Jan and our pets Minnie, Misty, Timmy, Whiskers and Bandit
