Candy&Company
Member Since 2018
Hi, my name's Candy and my FD kitty is Fena. I've posted in the Introduction section but haven't had time to set up my signature, etc. yet which I'll be hopefully doing this weekend. I wanted to ask this now though since I can't find the sheet where I wrote down all my questions to ask the vet on the phone tomorrow (they're open until 2pm EST but closed Sundays and Fena goes in at 8am first thing Monday morning) so trying to remember them all now and ask if maybe I'm forgetting something?
Fena is approximately 14 years old but I'm not sure, got her from a friend who found her on the streets. Then in Sept. 2009 when he had her at a clinic the vet estimated her age as 5 at the time. I got her (and more) just 2 months later, Nov. 2009.
Diagnosed August 26th, 2018 (BG was 444) and due to constipation issues (clean outs, enemas, etc) her vet curve was pushed back from Sept. 10th to the 17th (this Monday).
She weighed 11.5lbs on the 25th (had lost weight) but on Aug. 31st she was down to 11.
She's on 1 unit ProZinc 2x daily plus finishing an RX of metro (bowel stimulant) which she has 3 doses left of 1/2 tablet 2x daily - she takes her last one Saturday night. She'd previously been on Cerenia (2 refills) and Lactulose (finished bottle no refill).
Fena and Mao (brother but not related) are officially off ALL kibble (was Purina One Indoor + Immune Health) as of last night (13th) and ONLY eating FF or Friskies pates 3-4 times a day plus left overs over night. Treats are Halo freeze dried chicken (they love it!), tuna water, or on rare occasions if she still won't eat or eat enough with that then I'll crush 1-2 Temptations catnip treats or flake a little tuna over her food.
---I am NOT home testing yet sadly but I will be, pronto as soon as I can arrange it, probably this weekend or Monday itself while Fena's at the vet for her curve.
QUESTIONS TO ASK MY VET BEFORE MONDAY (in no particular order):
1.) They want her in at 8am, but that's her established shot/med time AFTER I've gotten her to eat enough - should I feed/shoot before bringing her or just show up even earlier? They start "checking in" patients at 7:30am they told me which MIGHT be enough time to get her fed, etc.
2.) If THEY want to feed her (see #3 below) how much will they offer? Full can all day? 1/2 can to start then 1/2 later? She's used to her mini meals now which is usually either 1/2 Friskies plus 2 cans FF a day, 1 can Friskies and 1 can FF a day or 3 cans FF a day depending on how well she's eating for me. It used to be only 1/2 can a DAY when I got her home on the 27th, still increasing slowly.
3.) Can I bring my own food? The vet fed her Hills i/d canned when they had her (11am Aug. 25th until pick up 11am Aug. 27th) and sent her home with some which I weaned her off of slowly. I want her curve to be as accurate as possible so would hate if they gave her "their" food.
4.) Will they test before they feed/shoot her if they don't want me to do it previously? Then every 2 hours after that until... what, 6pm normal preshot time or will they take her to 8pm?
5.) If they up her dose by more than I feel comfortable with (depending on how my testing her goes the first few days) can I just do the 1 unit I get my own picture of her/consult this website? Example if they want a 1-2 unit increase, etc. Just to note, this is a vet and hospital facility and Fena's vet is the one that told me to go to catinfo.org to get the food list and about the less then 10% carbs but she never mentioned a thing about home testing, this message board, etc. so I'm not sure what her stance on it is so should I bring it up that I wanna do it or let it go for now, or..? When I asked for help sheet printouts on diabetes at the bottom of one of the pages it had a section on home testing - it didn't seem to be for or against.
Can anyone think of anything else I should ask, before Fena goes in? I'll be getting copies of all her blood work so far plus the curve results and asking questions about her pancreatitis/constipation along with asking about what her anemia/potassium/phosphorous levels were. At the time, the vet only mentioned severe constipation, confirmed pancreatitis via "Senior Prof /w spec FPL Feline" and diabetes.
I'll also be mentioning possible neuropathy - when she walks, her front legs "cross" like a NY fashion model, one in front of the other like she's strutting a runway (which she's done for a long time to be honest) plus her back end is a bit weak for having BM's but she IS now able to go upstairs, downstairs, get on the back of the couch, etc. things she hadn't been able to do since she got sick initially - though she COULD still jump on the toilet seat/lid. But for BM's she starts out good then kind of slowly "melts" until she's essentially "sitting" in the box with her tail as high as it can go.
I should also mention, though I refer to Fena as a "she" - it's ACTUALLY a "he" and he's been neutered. I explained more about it in my Introduction post.
Any help is DEEPLY appreciated and I'll answer any and all questions - thank you SO much!! I also apologize if this post is a bit all over the place, it's all in my head what I wanna bring up but typing it out doesn't always come so easily to me, I need more sleep!
Fena is approximately 14 years old but I'm not sure, got her from a friend who found her on the streets. Then in Sept. 2009 when he had her at a clinic the vet estimated her age as 5 at the time. I got her (and more) just 2 months later, Nov. 2009.
Diagnosed August 26th, 2018 (BG was 444) and due to constipation issues (clean outs, enemas, etc) her vet curve was pushed back from Sept. 10th to the 17th (this Monday).
She weighed 11.5lbs on the 25th (had lost weight) but on Aug. 31st she was down to 11.
She's on 1 unit ProZinc 2x daily plus finishing an RX of metro (bowel stimulant) which she has 3 doses left of 1/2 tablet 2x daily - she takes her last one Saturday night. She'd previously been on Cerenia (2 refills) and Lactulose (finished bottle no refill).
Fena and Mao (brother but not related) are officially off ALL kibble (was Purina One Indoor + Immune Health) as of last night (13th) and ONLY eating FF or Friskies pates 3-4 times a day plus left overs over night. Treats are Halo freeze dried chicken (they love it!), tuna water, or on rare occasions if she still won't eat or eat enough with that then I'll crush 1-2 Temptations catnip treats or flake a little tuna over her food.
---I am NOT home testing yet sadly but I will be, pronto as soon as I can arrange it, probably this weekend or Monday itself while Fena's at the vet for her curve.
QUESTIONS TO ASK MY VET BEFORE MONDAY (in no particular order):
1.) They want her in at 8am, but that's her established shot/med time AFTER I've gotten her to eat enough - should I feed/shoot before bringing her or just show up even earlier? They start "checking in" patients at 7:30am they told me which MIGHT be enough time to get her fed, etc.
2.) If THEY want to feed her (see #3 below) how much will they offer? Full can all day? 1/2 can to start then 1/2 later? She's used to her mini meals now which is usually either 1/2 Friskies plus 2 cans FF a day, 1 can Friskies and 1 can FF a day or 3 cans FF a day depending on how well she's eating for me. It used to be only 1/2 can a DAY when I got her home on the 27th, still increasing slowly.
3.) Can I bring my own food? The vet fed her Hills i/d canned when they had her (11am Aug. 25th until pick up 11am Aug. 27th) and sent her home with some which I weaned her off of slowly. I want her curve to be as accurate as possible so would hate if they gave her "their" food.
4.) Will they test before they feed/shoot her if they don't want me to do it previously? Then every 2 hours after that until... what, 6pm normal preshot time or will they take her to 8pm?
5.) If they up her dose by more than I feel comfortable with (depending on how my testing her goes the first few days) can I just do the 1 unit I get my own picture of her/consult this website? Example if they want a 1-2 unit increase, etc. Just to note, this is a vet and hospital facility and Fena's vet is the one that told me to go to catinfo.org to get the food list and about the less then 10% carbs but she never mentioned a thing about home testing, this message board, etc. so I'm not sure what her stance on it is so should I bring it up that I wanna do it or let it go for now, or..? When I asked for help sheet printouts on diabetes at the bottom of one of the pages it had a section on home testing - it didn't seem to be for or against.
Can anyone think of anything else I should ask, before Fena goes in? I'll be getting copies of all her blood work so far plus the curve results and asking questions about her pancreatitis/constipation along with asking about what her anemia/potassium/phosphorous levels were. At the time, the vet only mentioned severe constipation, confirmed pancreatitis via "Senior Prof /w spec FPL Feline" and diabetes.
I'll also be mentioning possible neuropathy - when she walks, her front legs "cross" like a NY fashion model, one in front of the other like she's strutting a runway (which she's done for a long time to be honest) plus her back end is a bit weak for having BM's but she IS now able to go upstairs, downstairs, get on the back of the couch, etc. things she hadn't been able to do since she got sick initially - though she COULD still jump on the toilet seat/lid. But for BM's she starts out good then kind of slowly "melts" until she's essentially "sitting" in the box with her tail as high as it can go.
I should also mention, though I refer to Fena as a "she" - it's ACTUALLY a "he" and he's been neutered. I explained more about it in my Introduction post.
Any help is DEEPLY appreciated and I'll answer any and all questions - thank you SO much!! I also apologize if this post is a bit all over the place, it's all in my head what I wanna bring up but typing it out doesn't always come so easily to me, I need more sleep!
To phrase it better, I guess I just hope the vet will be on board with me wanting to take control of the testing at home - she's been amazing so far, so I'd like to be able to work with her in case I need her for other things in the future where her diabetes is inevitably tied into it. Having to switch vets, again, ugh.. I don't even want to think about it right now, but I will if I have to. Just not a fun prospect.
I'm trying though and will not stop!! God bless this site!
