janjan64
Member Since 2020
Hello all. First a little about us. I'm Jan, and I just finally made it to having my own place last year, so I could finally adopt my life companion I've always wanted. That would be Brie - she comes from a shelter across the border in Poland (really difficult to adopt here atm). She came to live with me at the beginning of June. The shelter vet said she was 4 years old, and had a clean bill of health. I've come to discover that's very much not the case.
The story is quite long - I will try to downsize it, but i hope you stick with me. When Brie first arrived, she was super cuddly and social - she wasn't shy or scared at all, very easily picked up, came for cuddles throughout the day, and slept with me on my bed at night. On the first night, i noticed she had shallow breathing. I assumed anxiety. The next day there was blood in her poop. I was assured that's just a stress poop.
About 2 weeks later I notice she is scratching a lot at her ears. I take her to the vet - her ears are completely impacted with dirt. I get cleaning solution, home we go. A week later, a lot of crap came out of her ears, but still look pretty bad, and shea got a fever. Back we go - vet cleans, get new solution and an anti-inflammatory injection.
I went away for 2 days, and when I came back I noticed she was very lethargic. I thought she was just ignoring me with the cold shoulder, since she didn't come for any cuddles or sleep with me (and hasn't since), but after several days I realised it was more. She also started sneezing. Unhappy with my previous vet, we try a new one. I get some liquid meds for her nose, another injection, and anti-ear mite medication added to the ear cleaning solution.
Her sneezing stopped, but the lethargy was increasing. When I continued to find blood in her poop, we went to the vet again - her gums were inflamed, and was given an anti biotic. Also a fecal sample was sent for testing.
A few days later - now she's started hiding and just flopping on the ground all day, which she has never done before. I'm starting to get pretty worried. Back to the vet, blood taken. Results of the fecal test - giardia. So more meds prescribed for that. Hiding and lethargy intensify.
Few days later, bloodwork comes back - it's diabetes. My vet says she is very doubtful that she is 4 years old - more like 8. She shows me how to take a blood test and give insulin.
The first night was horrible - I could barely get enough blood to take a reading, and having been shipped about, poked, prodded and generally not feeling well for over 1 month, i had a very stressed kittie, and me, on my hands. After 8 attempts, i went too hard and pretty much went through her ear. Blood everywhere. Unhappy kitty. Unhappy me. I cried for most of the rest of the night. It's gotten a little better, but not much yet.
She seemed to be responding well to the insulin, but then on sunday there was a new behaviour - she started nervous crawling around, looking for places to hide. Crying for no reason (usually she makes pretty much no noise), crying every time she takes a step, still blood in feces. My vet says I gotta take her to the hospital at this point.
She got an x-ray - it seems her intestinal walls are abnormally thickened, probably because of the giardia. Vet gives me a painkiller and some paste for healthy gut bacteria.
So that brings me to now. We have been to the vet 8 times in 2 months. Just getting in her carry bag makes her pant and hyperventilate. Now our med schedule looks like this:
2x blood sugar tests a day
2x insulin a day
2x tablets for giardia a day
2x gut paste a day
1x painkiller a day
1x nose meds a day
2x ear cleaning a week
I'm really bad at doing the blood sugar check. And she hates the giardia pills with a passion. I have to force feed them to her and manhandle her a lot, especially sincr she started hiding and withdrawing more. My sweet, happy house buddy has, in just a month, become sick, and sad, and frightened of me. No more cuddles. No more bedtime together. She pulls away from my hands, and now she wont eat either (not a lot of diabetic options on the market here, and makes me worried about giving her insulin). I am mad and frustrated that the shelter didnt seemingly check for these things. I am frustrated at the extra costs and stress I wasn't counting on, and time off sitting for hours at a vet every few days. I'm sad my fur baby looks at me like she's being violated with every med i have to administer. It breaks my heart to see her pull away from me - shes an indoor cat in a city apartment, I'm all she has, and she looks at me like Im an abuser. I'm scared our relationship cannot be reconciled and instead of being the cuddly buddies we were forever, i will have my worst fear - a lifetime in a home with a cat who hates me for family.
I am exhausted, physically and mentally, from the running around, from watching her suffer in pain, from causing her pain, from getting her to eat and to trust me, from the financial strain, everything. I am not giving up on my fur buddy, but i really need some support. Any information, suggestions, advice, all is welcome. I have wanted to be a cat mum for so many years, it's only been 2 months, and now this situation is breaking my heart.
The story is quite long - I will try to downsize it, but i hope you stick with me. When Brie first arrived, she was super cuddly and social - she wasn't shy or scared at all, very easily picked up, came for cuddles throughout the day, and slept with me on my bed at night. On the first night, i noticed she had shallow breathing. I assumed anxiety. The next day there was blood in her poop. I was assured that's just a stress poop.
About 2 weeks later I notice she is scratching a lot at her ears. I take her to the vet - her ears are completely impacted with dirt. I get cleaning solution, home we go. A week later, a lot of crap came out of her ears, but still look pretty bad, and shea got a fever. Back we go - vet cleans, get new solution and an anti-inflammatory injection.
I went away for 2 days, and when I came back I noticed she was very lethargic. I thought she was just ignoring me with the cold shoulder, since she didn't come for any cuddles or sleep with me (and hasn't since), but after several days I realised it was more. She also started sneezing. Unhappy with my previous vet, we try a new one. I get some liquid meds for her nose, another injection, and anti-ear mite medication added to the ear cleaning solution.
Her sneezing stopped, but the lethargy was increasing. When I continued to find blood in her poop, we went to the vet again - her gums were inflamed, and was given an anti biotic. Also a fecal sample was sent for testing.
A few days later - now she's started hiding and just flopping on the ground all day, which she has never done before. I'm starting to get pretty worried. Back to the vet, blood taken. Results of the fecal test - giardia. So more meds prescribed for that. Hiding and lethargy intensify.
Few days later, bloodwork comes back - it's diabetes. My vet says she is very doubtful that she is 4 years old - more like 8. She shows me how to take a blood test and give insulin.
The first night was horrible - I could barely get enough blood to take a reading, and having been shipped about, poked, prodded and generally not feeling well for over 1 month, i had a very stressed kittie, and me, on my hands. After 8 attempts, i went too hard and pretty much went through her ear. Blood everywhere. Unhappy kitty. Unhappy me. I cried for most of the rest of the night. It's gotten a little better, but not much yet.
She seemed to be responding well to the insulin, but then on sunday there was a new behaviour - she started nervous crawling around, looking for places to hide. Crying for no reason (usually she makes pretty much no noise), crying every time she takes a step, still blood in feces. My vet says I gotta take her to the hospital at this point.
She got an x-ray - it seems her intestinal walls are abnormally thickened, probably because of the giardia. Vet gives me a painkiller and some paste for healthy gut bacteria.
So that brings me to now. We have been to the vet 8 times in 2 months. Just getting in her carry bag makes her pant and hyperventilate. Now our med schedule looks like this:
2x blood sugar tests a day
2x insulin a day
2x tablets for giardia a day
2x gut paste a day
1x painkiller a day
1x nose meds a day
2x ear cleaning a week
I'm really bad at doing the blood sugar check. And she hates the giardia pills with a passion. I have to force feed them to her and manhandle her a lot, especially sincr she started hiding and withdrawing more. My sweet, happy house buddy has, in just a month, become sick, and sad, and frightened of me. No more cuddles. No more bedtime together. She pulls away from my hands, and now she wont eat either (not a lot of diabetic options on the market here, and makes me worried about giving her insulin). I am mad and frustrated that the shelter didnt seemingly check for these things. I am frustrated at the extra costs and stress I wasn't counting on, and time off sitting for hours at a vet every few days. I'm sad my fur baby looks at me like she's being violated with every med i have to administer. It breaks my heart to see her pull away from me - shes an indoor cat in a city apartment, I'm all she has, and she looks at me like Im an abuser. I'm scared our relationship cannot be reconciled and instead of being the cuddly buddies we were forever, i will have my worst fear - a lifetime in a home with a cat who hates me for family.
I am exhausted, physically and mentally, from the running around, from watching her suffer in pain, from causing her pain, from getting her to eat and to trust me, from the financial strain, everything. I am not giving up on my fur buddy, but i really need some support. Any information, suggestions, advice, all is welcome. I have wanted to be a cat mum for so many years, it's only been 2 months, and now this situation is breaking my heart.
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, I'm worried that this behavior might have been related to the insulin and that she might have had a hypoglycemic episode. A few questions for you:
) and calms the whole situation down.
I know that this forum is mostly focused on diabetes, but i figured if anywhere would understand how stressful that is on top of a bunch of other medical issues, it's here. Just hearing similar stories and such is already a little bit of a relief.
). Now, Ive never seen this kittie go at more than a short trot since she arrived - and that was only when heading with me to the food bowl. I was so excited about this, i didnt even care it was 5am. She still tried to get me to feed her, too, but i kept firm.
. I still occasionally pierce right through her ears, and/or have to poke more than once, though.
but i couldnt help the thought i had failed her. On the one hand, she came and got on the bed with me for the 2nd night in a row last night; on the other she attacked my hand this morning, biting scratching and bunny hopping, and she has never been violent. Either she was feeling well enough to roughhouse, or she was irritated and taking it out on me. Seeing her playing with toys by herself and being entertained by all the things she had previously been ignoring totally warmed my heart though 