Angela & Blackie & 3 Others
Member Since 2010
This message is one that I knew was coming... eventually.
My sweet, precious, strong Blackie passed away very early Friday morning due to a seizure. She had also been losing weight for the past couple of months, as well. She had a seizure Thursday morning as she was staggering, and it looked quite uncomfortable. Unfortunately at that time, I had to get to work, and wasn't able to stay to take care of her. I did give her a Tramadol dose before I left in the hopes that it would help make her feel better. Her appetite was ok, but waned a bit towards the time I had to leave. I came home to find that she may have eaten a bit for my husband. I gave her another Tramadol dose, and decided to give her a topical nausea dose (safe for diabetic cats) in the hopes that it may have been her tummy, too. I tried feeding her, myself, but to no avail. She was walking around oddly as well... Her front end being much lower to the ground, and her rear end normal. She would take a few steps, and stop. We both decided at that point that I would take her in the next morning to have her PTS. During that evening, Blackie had another seizure, and this time laid on her side. She would rest there, and then her legs would start flailing about. She also curled up in a fetal position, and was sounding like she was gasping. My husband called me and I came quickly from the office where I was at. I knelt down beside her, held her, and told her that it was ok, Mama was there. She calmed down after that, but the flailing still continued. DH and I both knew she probably wouldn't make it till morning. I finally went to be at around 11:00 p.m. after putting her on her comfy bed instead of leaving her on the hard floor, and woke up at around 1:00 with a start. I got up, to check on her and she had passed away. My husband told me that he was up several times during that time and he already knew. I guess she let out a sound from what he told me. I put her in a box, and tucked her in the back room for the time being so that the others couldn't mess with her. I went back to bed after that, but couldn't sleep... I think I may have gotten about 2-3 hours at best. When morning finally arrived, I took care of the rest, got dressed, and got Blackie to the vet's office to have her cremated. DH picked her up from the vet's yesterday morning. We have her cremains sitting next to Daisy's on our entertainment unit. I'm pretty sure that the pancreatitis was the cause of her suffering.
FLY FREE, MY SWEET PRECIOUS BABY... AND LAND SOFTLY.
Blackie's story:
Blackie arrived on our door when she was a feral kitten along with her brother, and sister, and their Mama. It didn't take me long to tame her, and we adopted her from that point. Her brother was almost tamed, but unfortunately he was killed by a dog that we were somewhat adopting at that point. Their sister wandered out to the back road and we never saw her again. We both thought that a predator got her (coyote possibly).
Soon afterwards, she became pregnant before we could get her fixed. About 10 weeks later, she gave birth under the house to 5 kittens... Groucho, (Blackie) Jr. Mint, Tiny, Daisy, and Lil Knot (the last one died a week later). DH came home, got them out from under the house, put them in a box, and we took them inside to be raised. Blackie didn't want them in the box: she had other plans of putting them under our waterbed frame (frame with a regular mattress at the time) to raise them. A week later, Lil Knot passed away, and we buried him in our pasture the next day. Since that day, I was a vigilant Mama myself, and kept checking on them to ensure that they were all ok. Blackie decided to move them from under the bed, to behind the couch. Perfect, I thought, as I could check on them all the more. Eventually, they started to claw the couch to freedom. Scooter, our beloved big boy, never, ever harmed them. I think he was glad to have some more cats to play with, and company, too.
Like all kittens, they grew up to become very loving, happy individuals. Daisy became my best friend, and would always be with me come bedtime. Tiny, was, and still is, a bit standoffish. Groucho has a foot fetish, and would always rub on anyone's feet. Jr. Mint was also a bit standoffish, but he was born without a whole lot of sight because of it. He did, however, manage to move around the house as long as he didn't rush, otherwise he'd hit it. We had Jr. Mint for about 11 years, and Daisy for 12. We still have Groucho and Tiny, thankfully, and of course, our adopted kitty, Aurora.
Up to March, 2010, we had been free feeding them all, and then on a Thursday morning, I noticed that Blackie was sitting next to the water dishes, drinking. First thought, she was just warm due to the fact that March was turning into a rather warm month that year. Friday morning, I saw her doing the same thing. Doing a quick search on the internet, I determined that there's a high possibility that she was diabetic. I told DH that evening when he came home from work what I thought, and we both took her to the vet's Saturday morning. BW showed everything was normal except she was diagnosed as being diabetic. It was lifestyle change that I was willing to make for her.
We started her on Glipizide tablets, but soon that didn't work as she threw them up. Then we tried her on Vetsulin, but I think that was recalled due to the lack of zinc in it. Then we tried ProZinc, and eventually upon much more research, I found FDMB. A kind, wonderful lady, who thankfully lives in my almost immediate area came by to show me how to home test her (this being after several trips to the vet's, and a mounting vet bill because of it). Blackie and I soon became comfortable with home testing. Eventually, I put her on Lantus, and I tried in vain to get her OTJ during the 5 years.
Again, after much more research, and a whole lot of trial and error, I got her on a very good food, and I was working with her feeding schedule, and happened upon giving her a meal at around 4:00 p.m. one day. I thought it would raise her #s, but it did the opposite instead, much to my pleasure. Eventually, I managed to finally get her off the insulin after 5 years. March 5, 2015 was the last day she had insulin, and was deemed officially OTJ from that point on. I tested her on occasion to check on her, and every test came back normal.
Incontinence started, then, the pancreatitis happened. Neuropathy... I could handle for the most part, but this diabetic enemy was something that I didn't know anything about. I tried to control it with pain meds, and nausea medication, but I think it was too much for her towards the end.
I thank FDMB for all that you have offered her during the time we have been here. I'm very glad that I came upon you folks as you have given me the knowledge, hope, confidence, friendship, and most importantly, patience to help Blackie with her diabetes and other ailments. For that, I am very grateful.
Thank you. I will probably be donating her insulin soon to those that need it.
Now, I am changing out the remaining 3 (Groucho, Tiny and Aurora) cats' food to Merrick as I've heard some very good things about it through my husband's best childhood friend who works for Petco about 1.5 hours away from us. We visited with him yesterday, and I came out of there with a small bag of the Senior dry, along with quite a few cans of wet. And the transition begins... I don't want them to have any health issues if I can help it.
My sweet, precious, strong Blackie passed away very early Friday morning due to a seizure. She had also been losing weight for the past couple of months, as well. She had a seizure Thursday morning as she was staggering, and it looked quite uncomfortable. Unfortunately at that time, I had to get to work, and wasn't able to stay to take care of her. I did give her a Tramadol dose before I left in the hopes that it would help make her feel better. Her appetite was ok, but waned a bit towards the time I had to leave. I came home to find that she may have eaten a bit for my husband. I gave her another Tramadol dose, and decided to give her a topical nausea dose (safe for diabetic cats) in the hopes that it may have been her tummy, too. I tried feeding her, myself, but to no avail. She was walking around oddly as well... Her front end being much lower to the ground, and her rear end normal. She would take a few steps, and stop. We both decided at that point that I would take her in the next morning to have her PTS. During that evening, Blackie had another seizure, and this time laid on her side. She would rest there, and then her legs would start flailing about. She also curled up in a fetal position, and was sounding like she was gasping. My husband called me and I came quickly from the office where I was at. I knelt down beside her, held her, and told her that it was ok, Mama was there. She calmed down after that, but the flailing still continued. DH and I both knew she probably wouldn't make it till morning. I finally went to be at around 11:00 p.m. after putting her on her comfy bed instead of leaving her on the hard floor, and woke up at around 1:00 with a start. I got up, to check on her and she had passed away. My husband told me that he was up several times during that time and he already knew. I guess she let out a sound from what he told me. I put her in a box, and tucked her in the back room for the time being so that the others couldn't mess with her. I went back to bed after that, but couldn't sleep... I think I may have gotten about 2-3 hours at best. When morning finally arrived, I took care of the rest, got dressed, and got Blackie to the vet's office to have her cremated. DH picked her up from the vet's yesterday morning. We have her cremains sitting next to Daisy's on our entertainment unit. I'm pretty sure that the pancreatitis was the cause of her suffering.
FLY FREE, MY SWEET PRECIOUS BABY... AND LAND SOFTLY.
Blackie's story:
Blackie arrived on our door when she was a feral kitten along with her brother, and sister, and their Mama. It didn't take me long to tame her, and we adopted her from that point. Her brother was almost tamed, but unfortunately he was killed by a dog that we were somewhat adopting at that point. Their sister wandered out to the back road and we never saw her again. We both thought that a predator got her (coyote possibly).
Soon afterwards, she became pregnant before we could get her fixed. About 10 weeks later, she gave birth under the house to 5 kittens... Groucho, (Blackie) Jr. Mint, Tiny, Daisy, and Lil Knot (the last one died a week later). DH came home, got them out from under the house, put them in a box, and we took them inside to be raised. Blackie didn't want them in the box: she had other plans of putting them under our waterbed frame (frame with a regular mattress at the time) to raise them. A week later, Lil Knot passed away, and we buried him in our pasture the next day. Since that day, I was a vigilant Mama myself, and kept checking on them to ensure that they were all ok. Blackie decided to move them from under the bed, to behind the couch. Perfect, I thought, as I could check on them all the more. Eventually, they started to claw the couch to freedom. Scooter, our beloved big boy, never, ever harmed them. I think he was glad to have some more cats to play with, and company, too.
Like all kittens, they grew up to become very loving, happy individuals. Daisy became my best friend, and would always be with me come bedtime. Tiny, was, and still is, a bit standoffish. Groucho has a foot fetish, and would always rub on anyone's feet. Jr. Mint was also a bit standoffish, but he was born without a whole lot of sight because of it. He did, however, manage to move around the house as long as he didn't rush, otherwise he'd hit it. We had Jr. Mint for about 11 years, and Daisy for 12. We still have Groucho and Tiny, thankfully, and of course, our adopted kitty, Aurora.
Up to March, 2010, we had been free feeding them all, and then on a Thursday morning, I noticed that Blackie was sitting next to the water dishes, drinking. First thought, she was just warm due to the fact that March was turning into a rather warm month that year. Friday morning, I saw her doing the same thing. Doing a quick search on the internet, I determined that there's a high possibility that she was diabetic. I told DH that evening when he came home from work what I thought, and we both took her to the vet's Saturday morning. BW showed everything was normal except she was diagnosed as being diabetic. It was lifestyle change that I was willing to make for her.
We started her on Glipizide tablets, but soon that didn't work as she threw them up. Then we tried her on Vetsulin, but I think that was recalled due to the lack of zinc in it. Then we tried ProZinc, and eventually upon much more research, I found FDMB. A kind, wonderful lady, who thankfully lives in my almost immediate area came by to show me how to home test her (this being after several trips to the vet's, and a mounting vet bill because of it). Blackie and I soon became comfortable with home testing. Eventually, I put her on Lantus, and I tried in vain to get her OTJ during the 5 years.
Again, after much more research, and a whole lot of trial and error, I got her on a very good food, and I was working with her feeding schedule, and happened upon giving her a meal at around 4:00 p.m. one day. I thought it would raise her #s, but it did the opposite instead, much to my pleasure. Eventually, I managed to finally get her off the insulin after 5 years. March 5, 2015 was the last day she had insulin, and was deemed officially OTJ from that point on. I tested her on occasion to check on her, and every test came back normal.
Incontinence started, then, the pancreatitis happened. Neuropathy... I could handle for the most part, but this diabetic enemy was something that I didn't know anything about. I tried to control it with pain meds, and nausea medication, but I think it was too much for her towards the end.
I thank FDMB for all that you have offered her during the time we have been here. I'm very glad that I came upon you folks as you have given me the knowledge, hope, confidence, friendship, and most importantly, patience to help Blackie with her diabetes and other ailments. For that, I am very grateful.
Thank you. I will probably be donating her insulin soon to those that need it.
Now, I am changing out the remaining 3 (Groucho, Tiny and Aurora) cats' food to Merrick as I've heard some very good things about it through my husband's best childhood friend who works for Petco about 1.5 hours away from us. We visited with him yesterday, and I came out of there with a small bag of the Senior dry, along with quite a few cans of wet. And the transition begins... I don't want them to have any health issues if I can help it.
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