David Johns
Member Since 2015
Hello,
(Apologies for the length of this essay. It felt good to write it all down, a cathartic exercise perhaps)
Four months ago, a rather scrawny old decrepit cat came into my care. Her name is Lucy and that's her picture on my profile.
Lucy is now 16 years old and had lived with her elderly owner since she was a kitten. When her owner died in November 2013, her inheritors - daughters - knew that the chances of finding a home for a diabetic, long-haired, elderly cat with one tooth and a dicky tummy were slim so - wait for it - they paid cat sitters for an entire year to feed her night and day in the same house she'd lived in while it sat empty. Lucy rather liked this.
They did try rehoming her but because she had a dodgy bottom, the new keepers handed her back very swiftly.
Ultimately the situation became untenable and the daughters looked around again for a mug - sorry, a kind-hearted individual - to take her on. I saw a post on Twitter and agreed, in a moment of weakness, to take her.
She'd been diagnosed as diabetic in June 2013 and put onto Glipizide which she was happy enough to eat in her food; it was on that basis I was told she'd be no trouble at all ;-)
Quite when all her teeth bar one fell out or were removed is unknown; I now realise this was presumably due to the diabetes.
Keeping Lucy indoors for three weeks, as one does in a new environment, showed instantly that the Glipizide didn't seem to work. She drank loads - around 150ml a day (my previous cat would barely touch his water) and would wee like it was a Championship sport. Her poo was runny and horrid.
Bizarrely, despite the prior diagnosis of diabetes, a vet had put her onto a diet of Royal Canin "chicken and rice" to soothe her tummy. Worse, because the cat sitters only ever turned up to feed her, and as she used the garden for her litter, no-one apparently appreciated that this wasn't actually working.
She also arrived with fleas - swiftly dealt with so that's one kindness I've been able to sort if nothing else.
After consultation with my vet, we agreed insulin was a better option so four weeks ago we gave her a shot of Caninsulin and she stayed overnight at the surgery. Naturally, being a cantankerous old lady, she refused to eat anything there and her BG level dropped from 22 to around 3.
Kindly, the vet instantly changed tack and suggested twice-daily, slower-acting Lantus so for the past fortnight this is what she's been getting, at 7am and 7pm.
It's not been the easiest of times. Whilst - amazingly - Lucy's actually very patient with me drawing blood from her ear, she HATES the injection. And, because she's a scrawny old thing, there's precious little scruff to inject into. Oh and I'm doing this single-handed as I live alone, so she's scrabbling to escape while I hold her pinched neck, try to form a "tent" and inject her with the other hand.
Several times at the start she simply jumped off the needle as I pushed it in, and I didn't have enough limbs to stop her. Once she's escaped of course, it becomes even harder to get hold of her again with much hiding under the bed (her, not me) and growling (both of us).
It doesn't help that she appears less than pleased with the move from her prior abode - where she was quite happy being Queen of her domain with servants turning up twice a day to feed her - to my place, where all I ever seem to do is catch her in order to poke or prod her for something.
We had very little time to build up any relationship or trust before we started insulin and even before that I seemed only to capture her for vet trips and trying to brush her long, wispy, instantly-matted hair (I can't begin to describe how much she hates this - I think a prior professional groomer who was used may simply have brushed all the knots with brute force, no wonder she yowls and scratches if I go near her with a brush now)
So as far as dear Lucy views me, I am not to be trusted. I poke her ear; I prick her neck; I cut out her knots, I tease away her hair. These are all Bad Things.
She's been switched to the wet Hills m/d virtually since I first talked to the vet which she liked at first but has taken a dislike to since going to insulin. Despite her single tooth, she prefers the dry Hills m/d and despite the dire warnings about dry food, I have given in just in order to get her to eat SOMETHING some days.
(actually I've even given in and cooked her grilled chicken which she likes, no surprise, but she can't have that every day: £ £ £. I also tried Applaws Complete pate which she loves but it makes her backside explode in a shocking manner and I'm not clearing that up again)
So far, on Lantus she's maintaining a pre-shot BG level of around 14-19 (it varies madly and maddeningly), with dips down to around 4 at its nadir. That's just the 1U.
Her appetite waxes and wanes, her poos can still be spectacularly fluid (sorry for the graphic detail) but when she's up and about, she can be quite perky; heading outside to patrol the tiny garden, or even further afield by sneaking under the fence.
Her new favourite spot - when she's not hiding under the bed - is on an upstairs bedroom windowsill in the sun. She does come down for tickles occasionally and mostly trusts me when I'm under the duvet in bed with only my head showing, in which case she stands on me and demands affection. Get up - and she's off like a shot, alas.
My main concerns now are what foods are OK (I'm in the UK, a lot of the food lists seem to be US based), how to get her used to me injecting her when we start on a position of mistrust and how to get those damned knots out of her hair when she won't let me near them.
Sigh.
Thanks for reading.
David
(Apologies for the length of this essay. It felt good to write it all down, a cathartic exercise perhaps)
Four months ago, a rather scrawny old decrepit cat came into my care. Her name is Lucy and that's her picture on my profile.
Lucy is now 16 years old and had lived with her elderly owner since she was a kitten. When her owner died in November 2013, her inheritors - daughters - knew that the chances of finding a home for a diabetic, long-haired, elderly cat with one tooth and a dicky tummy were slim so - wait for it - they paid cat sitters for an entire year to feed her night and day in the same house she'd lived in while it sat empty. Lucy rather liked this.
They did try rehoming her but because she had a dodgy bottom, the new keepers handed her back very swiftly.
Ultimately the situation became untenable and the daughters looked around again for a mug - sorry, a kind-hearted individual - to take her on. I saw a post on Twitter and agreed, in a moment of weakness, to take her.
She'd been diagnosed as diabetic in June 2013 and put onto Glipizide which she was happy enough to eat in her food; it was on that basis I was told she'd be no trouble at all ;-)
Quite when all her teeth bar one fell out or were removed is unknown; I now realise this was presumably due to the diabetes.
Keeping Lucy indoors for three weeks, as one does in a new environment, showed instantly that the Glipizide didn't seem to work. She drank loads - around 150ml a day (my previous cat would barely touch his water) and would wee like it was a Championship sport. Her poo was runny and horrid.
Bizarrely, despite the prior diagnosis of diabetes, a vet had put her onto a diet of Royal Canin "chicken and rice" to soothe her tummy. Worse, because the cat sitters only ever turned up to feed her, and as she used the garden for her litter, no-one apparently appreciated that this wasn't actually working.
She also arrived with fleas - swiftly dealt with so that's one kindness I've been able to sort if nothing else.
After consultation with my vet, we agreed insulin was a better option so four weeks ago we gave her a shot of Caninsulin and she stayed overnight at the surgery. Naturally, being a cantankerous old lady, she refused to eat anything there and her BG level dropped from 22 to around 3.
Kindly, the vet instantly changed tack and suggested twice-daily, slower-acting Lantus so for the past fortnight this is what she's been getting, at 7am and 7pm.
It's not been the easiest of times. Whilst - amazingly - Lucy's actually very patient with me drawing blood from her ear, she HATES the injection. And, because she's a scrawny old thing, there's precious little scruff to inject into. Oh and I'm doing this single-handed as I live alone, so she's scrabbling to escape while I hold her pinched neck, try to form a "tent" and inject her with the other hand.
Several times at the start she simply jumped off the needle as I pushed it in, and I didn't have enough limbs to stop her. Once she's escaped of course, it becomes even harder to get hold of her again with much hiding under the bed (her, not me) and growling (both of us).
It doesn't help that she appears less than pleased with the move from her prior abode - where she was quite happy being Queen of her domain with servants turning up twice a day to feed her - to my place, where all I ever seem to do is catch her in order to poke or prod her for something.
We had very little time to build up any relationship or trust before we started insulin and even before that I seemed only to capture her for vet trips and trying to brush her long, wispy, instantly-matted hair (I can't begin to describe how much she hates this - I think a prior professional groomer who was used may simply have brushed all the knots with brute force, no wonder she yowls and scratches if I go near her with a brush now)
So as far as dear Lucy views me, I am not to be trusted. I poke her ear; I prick her neck; I cut out her knots, I tease away her hair. These are all Bad Things.
She's been switched to the wet Hills m/d virtually since I first talked to the vet which she liked at first but has taken a dislike to since going to insulin. Despite her single tooth, she prefers the dry Hills m/d and despite the dire warnings about dry food, I have given in just in order to get her to eat SOMETHING some days.
(actually I've even given in and cooked her grilled chicken which she likes, no surprise, but she can't have that every day: £ £ £. I also tried Applaws Complete pate which she loves but it makes her backside explode in a shocking manner and I'm not clearing that up again)
So far, on Lantus she's maintaining a pre-shot BG level of around 14-19 (it varies madly and maddeningly), with dips down to around 4 at its nadir. That's just the 1U.
Her appetite waxes and wanes, her poos can still be spectacularly fluid (sorry for the graphic detail) but when she's up and about, she can be quite perky; heading outside to patrol the tiny garden, or even further afield by sneaking under the fence.
Her new favourite spot - when she's not hiding under the bed - is on an upstairs bedroom windowsill in the sun. She does come down for tickles occasionally and mostly trusts me when I'm under the duvet in bed with only my head showing, in which case she stands on me and demands affection. Get up - and she's off like a shot, alas.
My main concerns now are what foods are OK (I'm in the UK, a lot of the food lists seem to be US based), how to get her used to me injecting her when we start on a position of mistrust and how to get those damned knots out of her hair when she won't let me near them.
Sigh.
Thanks for reading.
David
)
) 
