i just want to respond to the part of your post asking for information about the importance of testing. perhaps your boyfriend could read some of the advice on here. i can sympathize - i think everyone comes here and says "i feel like i'm hurting his/her ears and i hate it." i know i said it and i suspect we all did at the beginning. who wants to poke the cat? who wants their cat to hide from them? it sucks. i had to pull punkin out from under the furniture, hoping i didn't dislocate his little arms.
but . . . the flip side is that you have to be convinced, yourselves, that kiwi needs these tests in order to be safe. insulin is a very powerful hormone and it can be very dangerous if not used properly. i'm a mom - and i have done "things" to my children that they had to have for the same reason. I have sat on them. i have cajoled and wheedled, but when it came down to it, i made sure that they got what they needed no matter how much they didn't want it. that's what parents do.
my youngest daughter is shot phobic - and i have had to pry her fingers off of the car door and drag her in, literally kicking and screaming, for vaccinations. if i didn't and she got measles and developed encephalitis from it and died - it would be me that knew better and didn't make her do it. that's a dramatic example in order to make a point, but it's truly not far off. the only way you know what the insulin dose is doing in your child's body (kiwi) is by testing the blood sugar. unfortunately, your bf can take a peek at the Grief section of the forum and find cats whose owners came home and found them dead from hypoglycemia.
i'm not trying to scare you, but this is the truth, and if you don't know, how can you do the right thing for kiwi?
when we started this "sugar dance" i thought it was going to be like the blood pressure meds i take every day. the doc tells me how much to take, i take it, we check my bp every 6 months or so and readjust the dose if necessary. in the meantime, my bp has gone down and it stays there.
insulin is a hormone, not a drug per se. it's more equivalent to estrogen. think about how you were at age 12 or 14. my daughters were sunny happy one moment, tears and slamming doors the next. it's a crazy up and down. after taking care of my cat, i've had the light bulb moment :idea: that this is why people have complications from diabetes! this is why they might have an amputation or some other serious problems. it's extremely difficult to get regulated. between humans, dogs and cats, cats are the very hardest to get regulated. the strange thing (i think) is that you can be giving the same dose over and over and suddenly, the dose that was just right 2 weeks ago (or 3 days) is now too much! that's the hormone part of the equation. the same dose can bring about different results. that's why we test.
some of our Lantus Land cats are "well-behaved" blood sugar wise. they follow such a nice gentle curve and are relatively easy to get regulated. some of our cats are "divers." no nice gentle curve for them, they get their shot and 3 hours later they've dropped 300 points. their liver responds by letting loose hormones and then the cat's BG zooms nice and high. until we've got a better picture of Kiwi, we just don't know what she's doing or which "type" of cat she is.
and on the really great side, cats ears seem remarkably tough. when they get into a fight their ears always get torn up. i have to think it doesn't hurt that much, either, because as much as punkin didn't like it at first (i had to wrap him in a beach towel to test him), now, he comes when i call him and he hops up on the sofa to be tested. the part i think he hates is the feel of the blood bead on his ear. he takes the poke just fine, but if the blood drop gets big, he's flicking his ear and trying to get away from me to get it off. that's not so bad. if it really hurt too much, he'd never come when i called. sometimes he even hangs out at the testing spot and cries to be tested because he wants the food that comes after the test.
anyway, i'm not trying to lecture - and seriously hope it doesn't sound like i am. i'm just trying to put some perspective into it that hopefully will help with the cause.
it's hard to get started on this - we all understand!! truly! the first couple of weeks are the very worst and if you can hang in there until you understand a little more, it gets infinitely easier! we're just trying to give you the diabetes crash course on how to manage all of it and keep kiwi safe.
hugs, julie
