Ashley & Harry
Member Since 2016
hi all! my name is Ashley, and my patient is a nine year old orange tabby named Harry. fortunately, he is doing well and is "cured" of his diabetes. I'm here to help others who have diabetic cats and who have questions about stuff. Harry only needed insulin for about two months before we were able to get him off of it, but we caught the diabetes pretty early, I think.
here's my story:
back in November, I moved in with my boyfriend -- I left my mom's house behind, as well as two other cats who belonged to my sister. Harry, being my baby, came with me. I was told that when moving, cats are prone to getting bladder infections. I kind of kept an eye out for it, but he seemed fine, so I pretty much just dismissed it. in the first month or so, after he adjusted to the new environment, he was the happiest cat ever. he'd run to the door and greet us when we got home from work, he'd trill and his tail would quiver if we even looked at him, he meowed a ton because he felt like he had a voice. he's always been an alpha male, so being the only cat in the new place made him really happy.
however, in the weeks following, I started noticing little things. his paws would have little bits of litter on them and would be stained grey from the dust from the litter. he wasn't cleaning himself properly and he had almost... crunchy fur along his haunches, as though he was just ignoring it and letting urine dry wherever it ended up. he was losing weight (about three pounds in six weeks). I was concerned, but at the same time, thought it was a mix of stress from moving out mixed with his personality changing some now that he was the sole king of the house.
that attitude completely flipped around one morning before work. I walked into the closet (where his box is) to grab clothes to start my day, looked down, and saw white, fuzzy, crystalish stuff on top of some of his urine spots. that immediately freaked me out. I went to work, called the vet, set up an appointment, asked for an estimate on a bladder infection diagnosis and treatment, because I still thought it was a bladder infection.
a few hours later we were in the vet's office. they took Harry back, brought him back to the room, and told me it would be a few minutes. boyfriend and I sat there, anxiously waiting, gently petting Harry as he explored the room.
the vet came in and blindsided me. he didn't hesitate, he didn't start by saying that it wasn't a bladder infection. just: "Harry's diabetic."
my blood went cold. my aunt had a diabetic cat who passed a few years ago, so both she and my mother were pretty familiar with taking care of them. I remembered seeing my aunt give her cat a shot of insulin once, and I remembered that on the way to the vet that day that image had been in my head and I was thinking of how awful it would be if I had to do that.
jinx, guess what I get to do.
over the course of the next week, after the hustle bustle of getting insulin, going back to the vet to learn how to give him shots, etc etc etc, we were giving him 2 units of insulin twice a day and he was eating royal canin glycobalance. my mother had been talking to me about other food options that might have been better, but my relationship with Harry is ridiculous -- he's like my son, not my cat. I'm stupid attached to him. so I didn't want to think about it, I was already so scared and stressed and upset. we went back in for a glucose check a week later, and they said that 2 units was good.
so we kept at that for a few weeks, but my mother was adamant about the other food options until she ended up calling the vet on my behalf and asking about it.
god, am I glad she did.
after she finally talked me into buying the different food, I gave it to Harry, and I instinctively dropped him to 1 unit of insulin while we were transitioning. the transition was difficult because he hated the new food at first. he'd go for the dry food instead of the wet food every time because he was disgusted by the wet food. after a few days, though, he realised that it was fantastic and he ate it. his dry food had been about 25% carbs, while the wet food was less than 1%. so dropping him to 1 unit when he was 50/50 dry/wet was something I just instinctively needed to do. when we took him in for another check, they said his blood sugar was still good... but I had adjusted his insulin (without them knowing, which I feel bad for, but whatever). so when we put him entirely on the wet food, I knew his blood sugar was getting too low. I took a day off work to monitor him to make sure nothing serious happened, but they wanted me to keep him on 1 unit (even though I explained it to them) and the checkup was several days after he was entirely on wet food.
that was too long for me. we took him in on the second day of wet food, they checked his blood.. and told us to stop giving him insulin, and come back in a week.
I cried from happiness. we went in a week later and it was still the same thing: no more insulin.
we have another appointment in the next few days to make sure that he's still doing well, and then if he is, we'll have appointments every six months to a year to keep an eye on it.
but ultimately, Harry is diabetes-free. (I know that technically medically he's not, once diabetic always diabetic sort of thing, but because his food gives him so few carbs he essentially is cured).
so now, he's on 100% wet food, he LOVES it. I used to always share pieces of my food with him, and I could eat a piece of cardboard and he'd come over and eat it too just cause he saw me eating it. now, I could be holding a steak in front of him and he'd sniff it in curiosity then move on. he's at a healthy weight, but is very lean instead of fat now (he used to be sooo fat lol). he trills constantly, his tail never stops quivering, he is extremely playful -- he never used to play, ever, not even before the diagnosis. now, he'll come over and meow at me until I pick up the laser for him. it is fantastic. he sleeps on the bed with us now and is much more snuggly and he is just overall extremely, extremely happy (and consequently, as his momma, I am too).
no more shots, no more insulin, just somewhat expensive wet food that's composed of raw meat that was ground up (and still has bones in it, yuck!) needless to say, I'm a massive fan of the food he's on and I am so happy that he's healthy and happy. every day when we get home, we can see him sitting in the window, waiting for us, meowing at us, rubbing against the glass because I can totally reach the third floor from the ground
so that's my story. I'm here to help people help their kitties, because I have never been so happy with Harry.
here's my story:
back in November, I moved in with my boyfriend -- I left my mom's house behind, as well as two other cats who belonged to my sister. Harry, being my baby, came with me. I was told that when moving, cats are prone to getting bladder infections. I kind of kept an eye out for it, but he seemed fine, so I pretty much just dismissed it. in the first month or so, after he adjusted to the new environment, he was the happiest cat ever. he'd run to the door and greet us when we got home from work, he'd trill and his tail would quiver if we even looked at him, he meowed a ton because he felt like he had a voice. he's always been an alpha male, so being the only cat in the new place made him really happy.
however, in the weeks following, I started noticing little things. his paws would have little bits of litter on them and would be stained grey from the dust from the litter. he wasn't cleaning himself properly and he had almost... crunchy fur along his haunches, as though he was just ignoring it and letting urine dry wherever it ended up. he was losing weight (about three pounds in six weeks). I was concerned, but at the same time, thought it was a mix of stress from moving out mixed with his personality changing some now that he was the sole king of the house.
that attitude completely flipped around one morning before work. I walked into the closet (where his box is) to grab clothes to start my day, looked down, and saw white, fuzzy, crystalish stuff on top of some of his urine spots. that immediately freaked me out. I went to work, called the vet, set up an appointment, asked for an estimate on a bladder infection diagnosis and treatment, because I still thought it was a bladder infection.
a few hours later we were in the vet's office. they took Harry back, brought him back to the room, and told me it would be a few minutes. boyfriend and I sat there, anxiously waiting, gently petting Harry as he explored the room.
the vet came in and blindsided me. he didn't hesitate, he didn't start by saying that it wasn't a bladder infection. just: "Harry's diabetic."
my blood went cold. my aunt had a diabetic cat who passed a few years ago, so both she and my mother were pretty familiar with taking care of them. I remembered seeing my aunt give her cat a shot of insulin once, and I remembered that on the way to the vet that day that image had been in my head and I was thinking of how awful it would be if I had to do that.
jinx, guess what I get to do.
over the course of the next week, after the hustle bustle of getting insulin, going back to the vet to learn how to give him shots, etc etc etc, we were giving him 2 units of insulin twice a day and he was eating royal canin glycobalance. my mother had been talking to me about other food options that might have been better, but my relationship with Harry is ridiculous -- he's like my son, not my cat. I'm stupid attached to him. so I didn't want to think about it, I was already so scared and stressed and upset. we went back in for a glucose check a week later, and they said that 2 units was good.
so we kept at that for a few weeks, but my mother was adamant about the other food options until she ended up calling the vet on my behalf and asking about it.
god, am I glad she did.
after she finally talked me into buying the different food, I gave it to Harry, and I instinctively dropped him to 1 unit of insulin while we were transitioning. the transition was difficult because he hated the new food at first. he'd go for the dry food instead of the wet food every time because he was disgusted by the wet food. after a few days, though, he realised that it was fantastic and he ate it. his dry food had been about 25% carbs, while the wet food was less than 1%. so dropping him to 1 unit when he was 50/50 dry/wet was something I just instinctively needed to do. when we took him in for another check, they said his blood sugar was still good... but I had adjusted his insulin (without them knowing, which I feel bad for, but whatever). so when we put him entirely on the wet food, I knew his blood sugar was getting too low. I took a day off work to monitor him to make sure nothing serious happened, but they wanted me to keep him on 1 unit (even though I explained it to them) and the checkup was several days after he was entirely on wet food.
that was too long for me. we took him in on the second day of wet food, they checked his blood.. and told us to stop giving him insulin, and come back in a week.
I cried from happiness. we went in a week later and it was still the same thing: no more insulin.
we have another appointment in the next few days to make sure that he's still doing well, and then if he is, we'll have appointments every six months to a year to keep an eye on it.
but ultimately, Harry is diabetes-free. (I know that technically medically he's not, once diabetic always diabetic sort of thing, but because his food gives him so few carbs he essentially is cured).
so now, he's on 100% wet food, he LOVES it. I used to always share pieces of my food with him, and I could eat a piece of cardboard and he'd come over and eat it too just cause he saw me eating it. now, I could be holding a steak in front of him and he'd sniff it in curiosity then move on. he's at a healthy weight, but is very lean instead of fat now (he used to be sooo fat lol). he trills constantly, his tail never stops quivering, he is extremely playful -- he never used to play, ever, not even before the diagnosis. now, he'll come over and meow at me until I pick up the laser for him. it is fantastic. he sleeps on the bed with us now and is much more snuggly and he is just overall extremely, extremely happy (and consequently, as his momma, I am too).
no more shots, no more insulin, just somewhat expensive wet food that's composed of raw meat that was ground up (and still has bones in it, yuck!) needless to say, I'm a massive fan of the food he's on and I am so happy that he's healthy and happy. every day when we get home, we can see him sitting in the window, waiting for us, meowing at us, rubbing against the glass because I can totally reach the third floor from the ground
so that's my story. I'm here to help people help their kitties, because I have never been so happy with Harry.
) is Purrform. But it is bloomin' pricey so my lot only sometimes get this as a supplement to their mostly canned diet. (I buy it in 500g packs rather than the much more expensive little pouches, but it's necessary to buy it in bulk in order to do that, so there needs to be a bit of space in the freezer.)