Becky & Romeo
Member Since 2022
My name is Becky and this is Romeo. He is a 14-year-old neutered male cat. I picked him up off the side of the road as a kitten, so I’ve been his almost his whole life. First symptom was drinking obsessively, which I briefly ignored because he plays with his water bowls, slides them around, smacks them, that sort of stuff, and I didn’t realize he was actually drinking like a fish at first. Then he started wanting food constantly. He’s older and has arthritis and I’m more of the mind of quality over quantity, so I started giving him a bit more canned food. But then he looked like he was losing weight and then I really noticed the drinking.
First appointment was 3/2. He was diagnosed as diabetic, and vet kept him overnight. Picked him up the next day and was given Prozinc, supposed to give 1 unit 2x/day. Vet was not a lot of help as far as any kind of information. The vet tech I saw when I picked Romeo up was more forthcoming, but I was surprised that nothing I had read online overnight was mentioned and they acted like they’d never heard of it (home testing, food options).
Romeo went back 1 week later for another blood glucose. I again asked the vet about home testing and was told it’s very difficult and we don’t have our clients do that. Then he said, we’ll have you come every couple weeks or so here for a while and then you can come every 6 months. Lots of times cats go into remission, so you may not even have to do this very long.
Romeo’s numbers were still high, so he was raised to 2 units 2x/day, although I refused to go that high first thing. I was freaking out about the no home testing and picturing me giving him a shot when he didn’t need one, going to work and him going hypo and dying (I took care of my dad, who was diabetic, for 4 years). I did 1.5 for several days and then upped it to 2 and he’s improved quite a bit more. Our next appointment is April 1st.
Romeo has arthritis in his back legs, diagnosed a couple years ago, and no longer jumps (I have boxes, stools, etc., so he can get in my bed and on the couch and window). When I took him home after he was first diagnosed, his back legs were terribly weak and wobbly. When I brought this up to the vet, all he would say was sign up for the soon to come arthritis shot on my way out. However, after his insulin increase, a lot of the wobbliness is now gone, and he seems to be improving quite a bit (he improved to the point that one night last week he figured out a path to the table where I moved the other cats’ dry food and had himself quite a feast
).
I asked to switch vets and was told no (it’s a multi-vet practice. I’ve gone to this place for over 50 years - my parents took my pets there when I was a kid). Getting in anywhere else would be a several months wait for an appointment. So I’m really not sure what to do. The one thing the vet did emphasize several times was that he asked me who was going to be the expert on Romeo and told me it was going to be me. I’m kind of inclined to stay there for now and just use him to get supplies and start testing on my own, as I’ve seen some people mention both here and in the Facebook group, and either not bother telling him or just present it at my next appointment as a “you told me I was the expert.”
Romeo was already eating low carb wet food (mostly Fancy Feast pates, although I’ve had to branch out a bit into Meow Mix and a couple others thanks to Covid and availability). I have stopped the dry food (how sad to see it mentioned by name in my welcome in the Facebook group, Purina Beyond). The vet did send a bag of some kind of high protein kitten food home with me, which he really likes but I don’t think is actually that good (plus one of my other cats thinks it’s crack and I can’t keep her out of it. She actually knocked half a bookshelf over trying to get to where she saw me put the bag). I’m planning to send for samples of the 3 dry foods that were mentioned somewhere in a food spreadsheet, although I’m not sure if I will give him dry food again or stick with all wet. I’m not really sure how to handle being gone all day at work when I think he really needs a mid-day meal.
I have picked up the ReliOn meter and supplies from Walmart over the weekend and plan to start testing him tonight.
First appointment was 3/2. He was diagnosed as diabetic, and vet kept him overnight. Picked him up the next day and was given Prozinc, supposed to give 1 unit 2x/day. Vet was not a lot of help as far as any kind of information. The vet tech I saw when I picked Romeo up was more forthcoming, but I was surprised that nothing I had read online overnight was mentioned and they acted like they’d never heard of it (home testing, food options).
Romeo went back 1 week later for another blood glucose. I again asked the vet about home testing and was told it’s very difficult and we don’t have our clients do that. Then he said, we’ll have you come every couple weeks or so here for a while and then you can come every 6 months. Lots of times cats go into remission, so you may not even have to do this very long.
Romeo’s numbers were still high, so he was raised to 2 units 2x/day, although I refused to go that high first thing. I was freaking out about the no home testing and picturing me giving him a shot when he didn’t need one, going to work and him going hypo and dying (I took care of my dad, who was diabetic, for 4 years). I did 1.5 for several days and then upped it to 2 and he’s improved quite a bit more. Our next appointment is April 1st.
Romeo has arthritis in his back legs, diagnosed a couple years ago, and no longer jumps (I have boxes, stools, etc., so he can get in my bed and on the couch and window). When I took him home after he was first diagnosed, his back legs were terribly weak and wobbly. When I brought this up to the vet, all he would say was sign up for the soon to come arthritis shot on my way out. However, after his insulin increase, a lot of the wobbliness is now gone, and he seems to be improving quite a bit (he improved to the point that one night last week he figured out a path to the table where I moved the other cats’ dry food and had himself quite a feast
).I asked to switch vets and was told no (it’s a multi-vet practice. I’ve gone to this place for over 50 years - my parents took my pets there when I was a kid). Getting in anywhere else would be a several months wait for an appointment. So I’m really not sure what to do. The one thing the vet did emphasize several times was that he asked me who was going to be the expert on Romeo and told me it was going to be me. I’m kind of inclined to stay there for now and just use him to get supplies and start testing on my own, as I’ve seen some people mention both here and in the Facebook group, and either not bother telling him or just present it at my next appointment as a “you told me I was the expert.”
Romeo was already eating low carb wet food (mostly Fancy Feast pates, although I’ve had to branch out a bit into Meow Mix and a couple others thanks to Covid and availability). I have stopped the dry food (how sad to see it mentioned by name in my welcome in the Facebook group, Purina Beyond). The vet did send a bag of some kind of high protein kitten food home with me, which he really likes but I don’t think is actually that good (plus one of my other cats thinks it’s crack and I can’t keep her out of it. She actually knocked half a bookshelf over trying to get to where she saw me put the bag). I’m planning to send for samples of the 3 dry foods that were mentioned somewhere in a food spreadsheet, although I’m not sure if I will give him dry food again or stick with all wet. I’m not really sure how to handle being gone all day at work when I think he really needs a mid-day meal.
I have picked up the ReliOn meter and supplies from Walmart over the weekend and plan to start testing him tonight.
