Hi everyone, I hope you can help me as the love of my life and only true friend is having problems. She’s been an indoor cat her whole life. She’s only 10 and has had weight loss. Her hind legs are especially skinny. But other areas seem to be growing. It’s hard to tell what is real and what is just my biased hope that things are getting better. She still drinks water and eats food and purrs and is mobile. She rarely talks to me unless I’ve screwed up something to her distaste and still has her personality.
Here’s the full story, sorry long post.
My cat Jade has been on diet management food for well over 6 months now and I had recently started her on insulin just before the coronavirus pandemic became known to be spreading. The vet recommended at the second to last visit that she be put down or to start her on insulin. I obviously chose the latter. We started her at 1 unit and the next visit about a few weeks later moved to 1.5 units.
Just after this time around when the news became more aware of the disease and the symptoms I started having a persistent cough after using a different taxi twice daily to an appointment and back for a couple weeks. I’ve never had one before in my life and I had a loss of taste for the first time ever. According to the CDC those were possible mild symptoms for covid-19. Also just before the cough came I got my phone replaced without the people replacing my phone giving me my old SIM back. I have no way to contact anyone except by email, so I can’t phone the vet to ask for advice.
I decided for the safety of others who are more vulnerable then I to self quarantine until the symptoms go away. My parents are either susceptible themselves or live with people who are and I don’t want to risk anyone else’s life. I don’t have friends who could help and in January my car broke down, which I haven’t been able to afford to fix yet.
During this self quarantine I’ve noticed her not getting much better on the insulin/special food combo. So, stupidly I think, I go to the internet for advice. The website I find and the people giving advice say they are all veterinarians trying to give basic advice for people with pet problems. I search for an answer to why my cat isn’t getting better and come across an article written on diabetes by a vet that says cats can take higher increases to insulin dosages then most vets recommend. It says up to a unit a week can be increased safely.
I’m still not entirely trustful of what is said, so I decide to be “cautious” and increase the dose .5 units per week until I see some improvement. Well I’m now at 5 units per dose and there still isn’t much improvement. So I go again to the internet and of course I can’t find the previous website.
I came across a post from another user years ago who talked about a similar situation with their cat and reading the advice led me to believe, rightfully I think, that I’m making things worse or that I missed her proper dosage.
So now my question: Do I stay at 5 units and backtrack slowly over weeks and months? Do I immediately take her dose down, if so how much? Do I risk the potential safety of others if I have a deadly disease and go to an unfamiliar vet to get this mess figured out? The vet hospital I usually go to is closed due to the pandemic and my current vet who is working out of a consolidated vet hospital space is only taking life and death emergency cases right now.
I’m filled with more questions then answers and will gratefully take any advice people here have. I know I was an idiot to trust what the internet says and I regret it. I’m hoping now from you all I can get the full picture and can get back on track with making sure she lives at least a few more years. Cost is an issue, but I’ll figure out a way to make it work. She’s worth going into a bit of debt for.
With hope for a brighter future, thank you in advance for taking the time to read and help. With anxiety and depression issues and living alone this is quite stressful and I really don’t know what to do.
Here’s the full story, sorry long post.
My cat Jade has been on diet management food for well over 6 months now and I had recently started her on insulin just before the coronavirus pandemic became known to be spreading. The vet recommended at the second to last visit that she be put down or to start her on insulin. I obviously chose the latter. We started her at 1 unit and the next visit about a few weeks later moved to 1.5 units.
Just after this time around when the news became more aware of the disease and the symptoms I started having a persistent cough after using a different taxi twice daily to an appointment and back for a couple weeks. I’ve never had one before in my life and I had a loss of taste for the first time ever. According to the CDC those were possible mild symptoms for covid-19. Also just before the cough came I got my phone replaced without the people replacing my phone giving me my old SIM back. I have no way to contact anyone except by email, so I can’t phone the vet to ask for advice.
I decided for the safety of others who are more vulnerable then I to self quarantine until the symptoms go away. My parents are either susceptible themselves or live with people who are and I don’t want to risk anyone else’s life. I don’t have friends who could help and in January my car broke down, which I haven’t been able to afford to fix yet.
During this self quarantine I’ve noticed her not getting much better on the insulin/special food combo. So, stupidly I think, I go to the internet for advice. The website I find and the people giving advice say they are all veterinarians trying to give basic advice for people with pet problems. I search for an answer to why my cat isn’t getting better and come across an article written on diabetes by a vet that says cats can take higher increases to insulin dosages then most vets recommend. It says up to a unit a week can be increased safely.
I’m still not entirely trustful of what is said, so I decide to be “cautious” and increase the dose .5 units per week until I see some improvement. Well I’m now at 5 units per dose and there still isn’t much improvement. So I go again to the internet and of course I can’t find the previous website.
I came across a post from another user years ago who talked about a similar situation with their cat and reading the advice led me to believe, rightfully I think, that I’m making things worse or that I missed her proper dosage.
So now my question: Do I stay at 5 units and backtrack slowly over weeks and months? Do I immediately take her dose down, if so how much? Do I risk the potential safety of others if I have a deadly disease and go to an unfamiliar vet to get this mess figured out? The vet hospital I usually go to is closed due to the pandemic and my current vet who is working out of a consolidated vet hospital space is only taking life and death emergency cases right now.
I’m filled with more questions then answers and will gratefully take any advice people here have. I know I was an idiot to trust what the internet says and I regret it. I’m hoping now from you all I can get the full picture and can get back on track with making sure she lives at least a few more years. Cost is an issue, but I’ll figure out a way to make it work. She’s worth going into a bit of debt for.
With hope for a brighter future, thank you in advance for taking the time to read and help. With anxiety and depression issues and living alone this is quite stressful and I really don’t know what to do.
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