Hmm, that's an intriguing thought ... I might research that one! I'm convinced that the crappy, corn-rich Science Diet "prescription" dry food the vet insisted I give her when she had had her first UTI, several years ago, played a major role in her developing diabetes. I simply didn't know any better back then.
Bat-Bat was starving from the minute I rescued her (abandoned by feral mother & trapped in a heater vent, no evidence of siblings) & has been a voracious eater ever since. The only reason I even kept her was that the vet in CO where I'd found her told me she was far too young to be vaccinated at 1 month. She said that if I took her to the local no-kill shelter (as I'd first planned, because DH is allergic to cats) she would likely pick up the "first thing going around" at the shelter & not survive.
We had just lost our beloved 13-yr-old dog to liver cancer. Already grieving, I just couldn't part with this helpless baby-cat (albeit a "spitfire," even at that tender age). Oddly, she is the only cat ever that didn't cause an allergic response in my husband! (Weird, huh?)
Fast-forward almost 11 years later: Bat-Bat is still hell-on-wheels and a one-person cat (that would be me), in spite of numerous attempts to socialize her w/frequent exposures to friends & family. "Love-bites" are her only way of showing me affection; will let me hold & pet her (and treat her diabetes, thank goodness!) - but only tolerates it for a few minutes before she jumps off my lap, to run to her scratch lounge and "shake off the people."
I'd grown up with kitties (Siamese) and have had others over the years on my own (always just one at a time), but have never experienced such a breathtakingly fractious cat in my life! And yet Bat-Bat has her sweet moments, too ... I under stand her (and somehow, I believe she understands me, too) ... and the simple truth is: I love her with all my heart. And I know that heart will break every bit as much as it would if she were the most gentle kitty in the world, when the day comes that she goes on ahead.