AliOBaba
Member Since 2020
Good morning and Happy 2020.
This is my first post (but I put it under the "Think Tank" category by mistake).
This is the "Reader's Digest" version of the story, because there are too many details to remember and post.
My (approx) 11 year-old cat Mama was diagnosed with diabetes about 3 years ago. She has been on Vetsulin and now on Lantus. I was giving her insulin per vet recommendation, and brought her in for insuling curves when I could afford to. I took her off the "prescription food" after visiting catinfo.org, and switched her to high protein, low carb wet food only (except for a small dry snack at night). Mostly she stayed stable until the last 2-3 months.
She started peeing outside of the litter box, so I took her to the vet. They said she had a UTI, and gave her antibiotics. They suggested we reduce the insulin to 2units, twice daily after eating. Around the same time, I also started home testing with the Alphatrak 2 kit. I noticed that her blood sugar was quite unstable, and when I did a curve I saw it range from the low 200's to the low 400's randomly throughout the day. Otherwise she was eating and drinking, and toileting normally.
Flash forward to last week, when i noticed an increase in her urinating outside of the box, poor apetite, a bout of vomiting, and lethargy. We took her to the vet, and they said she now is completely blind. He was conservative with testing, but did give her a shot for nausea, checked her blood pressure (which was normal), and she did not have a UTI. He also said to try to increase her insulin incrementally to see if we can get it stabilized to 100-200.
I'm thinking she is struggling with being blind, which may be related to the peeing in wrong places (though she usually hits a part of the pee pee pad at least). Yesterday, I put her in the litter box a few times and she did pee, but seems to be a bit disoriented (which is understable). She has found the litter box by chance a few times, but mostly it's on the floor or pee pads.
I'm trying to make this work because she has perked up in terms of eating, drinking and alertness. I don't want to euthanize her just because she's peeing all over my floors, but I also don't want to keep her alive for me if she's suffering. I've had to let go of pets before and it's not easy but it was clearly appropriate in those occasions.
I'm sad, confused and overwhelmed. Just wanted some feedback..thank you.
This is my first post (but I put it under the "Think Tank" category by mistake).
This is the "Reader's Digest" version of the story, because there are too many details to remember and post.
My (approx) 11 year-old cat Mama was diagnosed with diabetes about 3 years ago. She has been on Vetsulin and now on Lantus. I was giving her insulin per vet recommendation, and brought her in for insuling curves when I could afford to. I took her off the "prescription food" after visiting catinfo.org, and switched her to high protein, low carb wet food only (except for a small dry snack at night). Mostly she stayed stable until the last 2-3 months.
She started peeing outside of the litter box, so I took her to the vet. They said she had a UTI, and gave her antibiotics. They suggested we reduce the insulin to 2units, twice daily after eating. Around the same time, I also started home testing with the Alphatrak 2 kit. I noticed that her blood sugar was quite unstable, and when I did a curve I saw it range from the low 200's to the low 400's randomly throughout the day. Otherwise she was eating and drinking, and toileting normally.
Flash forward to last week, when i noticed an increase in her urinating outside of the box, poor apetite, a bout of vomiting, and lethargy. We took her to the vet, and they said she now is completely blind. He was conservative with testing, but did give her a shot for nausea, checked her blood pressure (which was normal), and she did not have a UTI. He also said to try to increase her insulin incrementally to see if we can get it stabilized to 100-200.
I'm thinking she is struggling with being blind, which may be related to the peeing in wrong places (though she usually hits a part of the pee pee pad at least). Yesterday, I put her in the litter box a few times and she did pee, but seems to be a bit disoriented (which is understable). She has found the litter box by chance a few times, but mostly it's on the floor or pee pads.
I'm trying to make this work because she has perked up in terms of eating, drinking and alertness. I don't want to euthanize her just because she's peeing all over my floors, but I also don't want to keep her alive for me if she's suffering. I've had to let go of pets before and it's not easy but it was clearly appropriate in those occasions.
I'm sad, confused and overwhelmed. Just wanted some feedback..thank you.

