Stacym20
Member Since 2014
One year ago today, Bud was diagnosed with diabetes. What a marathon it’s been, and the end has yet to be seen.
Bud suffered weight loss which is what prompted me to take him to the vet. Bud’s fur was also very matted, and I about brushed the poor thing bald trying to get all the mats out. I started to think back and realized there were warning signs that something was going on with Bud, but they didn’t register until after he was diagnosed. There were large clumps of pee in the litter box. I attributed it to having 6 cats, but then I realized I was going through litter a lot quicker than I used to. I was filling the water cups a lot, but again, I have 6 cats and it was summer. Surely they must all be drinking it…
The vet sent me home with a bag of Royal Canin dry food for diabetics. I was to feed only that and come back in a month for re-evaluation. After crunching the numbers of feeding 6 cats this Royal Canin stuff, I realized it wasn’t in my budget. Then I discovered this God send of a site. Switch to all canned and Friskies is fine? Yes, please! My cats thought they were in heaven getting all wet food. No dry addicts here, thankfully. A month passes and I take Bud back to the vet. His numbers are ever so slightly better they say, give the food another month, which I stupidly agreed to. It was easy to be oblivious to what was going on inside his poor little body. It got to the point where I just couldn’t stand to look at his wasted scrawny body anymore. I made the decision to get going on insulin and made Bud another appointment. Despite the fact that I got cellulitis right before his appointment, and should have been on bed rest, I was determined to not put off insulin any longer and dragged Bud to the vet. We got ProZinc and learned how to do injections.
I was determined to home test, too. But it was going awful… You know what, plenty of people don’t home test and their cats are just fine I told myself… During all this, my family was in the middle of moving to a new house. Life was so chaotic, home testing could wait. I was testing every other night. On one of the off nights, I decided to test and I’m so glad I did! Bud was 98! I truly believe I might have killed him had I dosed that 1.6 units of ProZinc blindly. It was from that moment I decided to home test EVERY time. Bud is not one of the cats who just sits there and lets me test him. I do have to wrap a blanket around him, loosely though. I sit on the couch and pat my lap and call him like an idiot “Buddy boo! Oh Buddy boo!” in a sing songy way is the only way it works, but he will come to me and jump on my lap.
Bud did regain some weight and looks and acts much healthier, but 5 months into our ProZinc journey and I’m not seeing much progress in the numbers. In fact his numbers are all over the place and have no rhyme or reason. His spreadsheet looked like a deconstructed rainbow. I’m a total basket case and it’s affecting my home life in a way it shouldn’t. I burst into tears at the drop of the hat, I don’t want to go anywhere, and I can’t enjoy myself when I am out. After a re-evaluation at the vet, she was adamant that Bud stay on ProZinc. Now, my vet is great, don’t get me wrong. She’s not the one who originally diagnosed him. She agreed to disagree on what I was feeding him, until she did her own research and even admitted I taught her something. But I wasn’t happy with the idea of staying on ProZinc. I took it upon myself to find some Levemir on Craigslist and found a kind soul who was willing to ship from Texas to where I live in the St. Louis area.
His numbers weren’t any more predictable on Levemir, but I saw slight progress. Almost 6 months into our Levemir journey, I think there’s been a lot of progress. Bud’s preshots are mostly in the 200’s now instead of the 400’s that they used to be. Of course he had to throw me a 429 this morning just for old times sake! Somewhere in the middle of all this, I learned to let go of stressing over every single number. I don’t put so much pressure on myself to try and control what I can’t. Some of you may look at my spreadsheet and think I’ve gone too relaxed in his care. If I have to miss a shot because I’m on a much needed outing, so be it. But, for me, I have finally found the balance I needed between taking care of Bud, and taking care of myself.
A few special thanks go to @Sue and Oliver (GA) @Carl & Polly & Bob (GA) @Chris & China @julie & punkin (ga) @Marje and Gracie @rhiannon and shadow (GA) @Wendy&Neko @manxcat419
And the most super special thanks to @Blamethecats and Hannah! The friendship we have made means so much to me!
Bud suffered weight loss which is what prompted me to take him to the vet. Bud’s fur was also very matted, and I about brushed the poor thing bald trying to get all the mats out. I started to think back and realized there were warning signs that something was going on with Bud, but they didn’t register until after he was diagnosed. There were large clumps of pee in the litter box. I attributed it to having 6 cats, but then I realized I was going through litter a lot quicker than I used to. I was filling the water cups a lot, but again, I have 6 cats and it was summer. Surely they must all be drinking it…
The vet sent me home with a bag of Royal Canin dry food for diabetics. I was to feed only that and come back in a month for re-evaluation. After crunching the numbers of feeding 6 cats this Royal Canin stuff, I realized it wasn’t in my budget. Then I discovered this God send of a site. Switch to all canned and Friskies is fine? Yes, please! My cats thought they were in heaven getting all wet food. No dry addicts here, thankfully. A month passes and I take Bud back to the vet. His numbers are ever so slightly better they say, give the food another month, which I stupidly agreed to. It was easy to be oblivious to what was going on inside his poor little body. It got to the point where I just couldn’t stand to look at his wasted scrawny body anymore. I made the decision to get going on insulin and made Bud another appointment. Despite the fact that I got cellulitis right before his appointment, and should have been on bed rest, I was determined to not put off insulin any longer and dragged Bud to the vet. We got ProZinc and learned how to do injections.
I was determined to home test, too. But it was going awful… You know what, plenty of people don’t home test and their cats are just fine I told myself… During all this, my family was in the middle of moving to a new house. Life was so chaotic, home testing could wait. I was testing every other night. On one of the off nights, I decided to test and I’m so glad I did! Bud was 98! I truly believe I might have killed him had I dosed that 1.6 units of ProZinc blindly. It was from that moment I decided to home test EVERY time. Bud is not one of the cats who just sits there and lets me test him. I do have to wrap a blanket around him, loosely though. I sit on the couch and pat my lap and call him like an idiot “Buddy boo! Oh Buddy boo!” in a sing songy way is the only way it works, but he will come to me and jump on my lap.
Bud did regain some weight and looks and acts much healthier, but 5 months into our ProZinc journey and I’m not seeing much progress in the numbers. In fact his numbers are all over the place and have no rhyme or reason. His spreadsheet looked like a deconstructed rainbow. I’m a total basket case and it’s affecting my home life in a way it shouldn’t. I burst into tears at the drop of the hat, I don’t want to go anywhere, and I can’t enjoy myself when I am out. After a re-evaluation at the vet, she was adamant that Bud stay on ProZinc. Now, my vet is great, don’t get me wrong. She’s not the one who originally diagnosed him. She agreed to disagree on what I was feeding him, until she did her own research and even admitted I taught her something. But I wasn’t happy with the idea of staying on ProZinc. I took it upon myself to find some Levemir on Craigslist and found a kind soul who was willing to ship from Texas to where I live in the St. Louis area.
His numbers weren’t any more predictable on Levemir, but I saw slight progress. Almost 6 months into our Levemir journey, I think there’s been a lot of progress. Bud’s preshots are mostly in the 200’s now instead of the 400’s that they used to be. Of course he had to throw me a 429 this morning just for old times sake! Somewhere in the middle of all this, I learned to let go of stressing over every single number. I don’t put so much pressure on myself to try and control what I can’t. Some of you may look at my spreadsheet and think I’ve gone too relaxed in his care. If I have to miss a shot because I’m on a much needed outing, so be it. But, for me, I have finally found the balance I needed between taking care of Bud, and taking care of myself.
A few special thanks go to @Sue and Oliver (GA) @Carl & Polly & Bob (GA) @Chris & China @julie & punkin (ga) @Marje and Gracie @rhiannon and shadow (GA) @Wendy&Neko @manxcat419
And the most super special thanks to @Blamethecats and Hannah! The friendship we have made means so much to me!
