FauxPaw
New Member
Hi, I'm Kit, mom to Autumn (8) and Vegeta (9) and auntie to Muffin (9), our diabetic patient.
Muffin belongs to a friend of ours and was previously staying with his ex, but her landlord was threatening eviction if the animals weren't removed, so we agreed to take care of him for awhile. The whole thing happened much sooner than expected and we ended up taking Mufffin before his parents got him in to see a vet (not the original plan) and then there was some initial resistance from dad when we pointed out his symptoms (overweight, drinking lots, peeing lots, low energy) and insisted he make an appointment ASAP, but he seems to be on board with helping get Muffy's needs met now that he's been diagnosed.
He is a sweet boy, super snuggly and eager to meet my cats (if only I could say the same for them...) and he's been so brave with all the poking and prodding and vet visits. Right now we have him on 1 unit Semglee twice daily after his meal of 1/4 cup dry, 1/3 can wet (Hill's Presciption Diet GlucoSupport). We're testing his blood sugar with an iPet glucometer before every meal and halfway between meals. So far his sugar is still pretty high (18's to 20's mostly) and we're bringing him back in for a dose adjustment later this week.
Needless to say, this had ended up being a lot more work and stress than we initially expected. We want to do everything we can to help the little guy and our friend, but my partner works 12 hour shifts and I am disabled/chronically ill, so we're not sure how long we can realistically do this. Finances are also a concern. Muffin's dad is covering all the costs right now, but we're not sure how long he can afford it, since he's not working full-time and we can't afford to take on the full cost either. We have tentatively agreed to four months, but we don't have a plan for what happens after that, and of course re-homing a diabetic cat is going to be a lot more challenging than with a healthy cat.
I am planning to read though the medical information on this forum over the next week, but in the meantime, any tips from other disabled folks for managing the additional time and energy demands of caring for another chronically ill body without totally burning out would be so helpful. Plus any general "newbie" advice. One specific thing I'm wondering about (and I'll ask the vet as well) is how much wiggle room there generally is with "same time every day" meals and insulin doses? Right now my partner is working all days, but when he goes back to night shifts, he won't be able to give the morning dose at the same time every day. He leaves at 7AM when he works days, returns at around 8AM after nights, and Muffin takes about 30 minutes to finish his meals, so we'd likely be looking at 6:30 AM doses on some days and 8:30 doses on others. My sleep and wake times can vary when I'm flaring and I sometimes need to sleep more than twelve hours, so me doing both morning and evening checks every day isn't really feasible either. Any tips for saving money without compromising his help would be a big help too.
Muffin belongs to a friend of ours and was previously staying with his ex, but her landlord was threatening eviction if the animals weren't removed, so we agreed to take care of him for awhile. The whole thing happened much sooner than expected and we ended up taking Mufffin before his parents got him in to see a vet (not the original plan) and then there was some initial resistance from dad when we pointed out his symptoms (overweight, drinking lots, peeing lots, low energy) and insisted he make an appointment ASAP, but he seems to be on board with helping get Muffy's needs met now that he's been diagnosed.
He is a sweet boy, super snuggly and eager to meet my cats (if only I could say the same for them...) and he's been so brave with all the poking and prodding and vet visits. Right now we have him on 1 unit Semglee twice daily after his meal of 1/4 cup dry, 1/3 can wet (Hill's Presciption Diet GlucoSupport). We're testing his blood sugar with an iPet glucometer before every meal and halfway between meals. So far his sugar is still pretty high (18's to 20's mostly) and we're bringing him back in for a dose adjustment later this week.
Needless to say, this had ended up being a lot more work and stress than we initially expected. We want to do everything we can to help the little guy and our friend, but my partner works 12 hour shifts and I am disabled/chronically ill, so we're not sure how long we can realistically do this. Finances are also a concern. Muffin's dad is covering all the costs right now, but we're not sure how long he can afford it, since he's not working full-time and we can't afford to take on the full cost either. We have tentatively agreed to four months, but we don't have a plan for what happens after that, and of course re-homing a diabetic cat is going to be a lot more challenging than with a healthy cat.
I am planning to read though the medical information on this forum over the next week, but in the meantime, any tips from other disabled folks for managing the additional time and energy demands of caring for another chronically ill body without totally burning out would be so helpful. Plus any general "newbie" advice. One specific thing I'm wondering about (and I'll ask the vet as well) is how much wiggle room there generally is with "same time every day" meals and insulin doses? Right now my partner is working all days, but when he goes back to night shifts, he won't be able to give the morning dose at the same time every day. He leaves at 7AM when he works days, returns at around 8AM after nights, and Muffin takes about 30 minutes to finish his meals, so we'd likely be looking at 6:30 AM doses on some days and 8:30 doses on others. My sleep and wake times can vary when I'm flaring and I sometimes need to sleep more than twelve hours, so me doing both morning and evening checks every day isn't really feasible either. Any tips for saving money without compromising his help would be a big help too.
