Sushi (GA 5/05-3/14)
Active Member
Sushi - Background, Concerns, History, etc.
Here's our board history: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=49273
Okay, this is insanely, ridiculously long, but here’s our whole story…
>>I’ve noted questions I have with a :?:
Here’s an outline (ha! I don’t think I’ve ever actually used an outline in real life!)
I. Some background and how we arrived at our current schedule
II. Some current concerns and issues I need to make decisions on soon—PLEASE ADVISE!!
III. Sushi’s vet history (I complied all my notes from our vet visits as well as lists of questions and concerns I prepared for some of our visits)
IV. My vet—what to do?
V. Sushi now
I. Some background and how we arrived at our current schedule
I’m originally from Baton Rouge, LA. Last September, I moved to a little city an hour way for my job. Even before I moved, I had a sneaking suspicion that I wouldn’t be here long. It was and is very important to me that I maintained my life back in Baton Rouge; that I still attend all parties, weddings, social events, stay a part of my Book Club, church and Bible Study, continue my friendships and stay close with family. It was a deal I made with myself: I would move here for work, but hold on to my personal/social life in Baton Rouge. And it’s worked out fine. The entire time I’ve been here, I go to Baton Rouge at least once a week, and before Sushi was diagnosed, I would stay days at a time. On top of that, my job was an outside sales job. I covered 16 parishes, so it was a lot of travelling. The only time I stayed overnight was when I worked in Baton Rouge, however, no two days were the same. My schedule varied from day to day. Some days had ridiculously early mornings, others had late nights, others had both.
So you can see how much of a problem it was when Sushi was diagnosed with diabetes. My life was so fluid, my schedule was so irregular and I spent so much time away from home that I had NO idea how in the world I would pull off giving him insulin at the same time twice a day. It seemed so impossible that I agonizingly considered putting him down for 3 days. Those were probably the 3 worst days of my life; I’ve never been that out of it (there were a LOT of other things going on at the same time; in fact Sushi was in the hospital at the same time my mom was—whew it was rough!). It also so happened to be the month of the year that my job required more travelling and more irregular hours than usual, including a week-long conference in California. The timing was just awful. As I processed it all, I decided I could pull off giving him insulin ONCE a day. That first month there was just no way I could have given it to him more than that. So I talked it over with my vet. He told me that of course that wasn’t ideal, but giving insulin once a day was a do-able option. And to me it was a MUCH better option than putting him down!
So we started out with me giving him insulin once a day (I did my best to outline the progress of his dosage below in part III—he’s been on Lantus the entire time), but as time went on it was apparent that we were going to have to go twice a day. By this time life had settled down a bit, however, it was and is of upmost importance to me to still be able to go to Baton Rouge often. After talking this over with my vet, we decided this meant there would be times I would have to skip a dose, or give a dose later than usual. So we set up a plan. Most of the time, whatever I’m attending in Baton Rouge starts at 7pm. That means I have to leave at 5:30pm. So, we set a schedule that would give me the ability to leave at 5:30pm: [AM]6:45-7ish [PM]5:30. This meant that there wouldn’t be a full 12 hours between each dose. Most days, I am able to give him his PM dose a full 12 hours after his AM dose; 5-6 days out of the week. But, my vet said that we should keep the same schedule every day.
II. Some current concerns and issues I need to make decisions on soon—PLEASE ADVISE!!
:?: Is it better to: (a) go the full 12 hours between doses 5-6 days (and sometimes all 7!) out of the week and give the PM dose an hour early 1-2 days out of the week
or
(b) pick a schedule and stick to it, even if it doesn’t allow the full 12 hours between doses?
This will soon become a moot point as I’m trying to move back to Baton Rouge, but it is still an issue at the moment.
>>I try to avoid it as much as possible, but there are also still times where I need to stay the night in Baton Rouge, meaning I’m either really late on his AM dose or have to skip it completely. Each situation is different, but these are the times I could SO use your advice!!
:?: For example, next Saturday I have to be in Baton Rouge for 1pm, and will return Sunday morning around 9am. So I would be skipping his Saturday PM dose and late on his Sunday AM dose. How do I handle that?
:?: Or yesterday, I had to leave around 2pm and didn’t return until 11pm. So I was 5 hours late on his PM dose. What would have been the best course of action?
Ideally, I would have a friend or someone give Sushi his medicine in these situations, but life is life and I haven’t found the right person to fill that role. I did find a pet sitter that helped me when I had to be out of town one weekend, but she charges $15/visit. That would be $30/day. I just can’t swing that.
:?: …which leads me to another forthcoming issue that I’m super anxious about: MOVING!
It looks like I’ll be commuting for a the first few weeks when I do end up finding a job in Baton Rouge because I don’t have a place to live lined up yet. It would be pretty impractical for me to drive back and forth every day to take care of Sushi. So I imagine I would stay with a friend in Baton Rouge Monday-Thursday nights. I would ask a friend in Baton Rouge to take him in for me for a few weeks, but he’s a lot to deal with between the diabetes, his pooping everywhere, his intensive shedding (meaning there's fur EVERYWHERE!) and his litter box is crazy due to the excess urination. So here are options I’m considering:
Boarding him here -BUT- it’s expensive and I don’t have a vet I trust. And Sushi HATES the vet. HATES it!!
Boarding him in Baton Rouge -BUT- it’s expensive and it would be for 2+ weeks!
Bringing him with me back and forth –BUT- I’m not sure that would go over real well even if I’m around to take care of him, and he gets so stressed in the car! Would it be too much for him?
Find a cat sitter and try to only stay in Baton Rouge 3 of the 4 nights of the work week? –BUT- at $30/day that’s expensive!!!!
…any other ideas??
:?: ALSO, a friend and I are discussing moving in together. She has 2 cats as well. What do you think about the stress of moving + the stress of moving in with a new aunt and 2 new siblings?
:?: …finally, this leads me to ask: Is this a good time for me to be switching him to canned food? I feel like my life is so up in the air right now, and there are a lot of changes coming on the horizon, that this just isn’t a good time because I’m not sure I can commit to monitoring him as much as I might need to. It could really go either way: (a) It could take me a few more weeks to find work, so I’ll be home during the day and I can monitor him and do all I need to do. This would be awesome!! OR (b) I’ll get a job next week and be gone for the workweek. This might still be okay if I board him; the vet could do all the hard work for me if I found one I trusted! ; )
I just don’t know what’s going to happen. If I wait to make the switch until after I’ve moved, things will not only be less stressful, but my schedule will be MUCH more consistent—I will be in town every single day.
III. Sushi’s History--symptoms, my concerns, vet visits, etc.
Symptoms I noticed Summer 2010:
- Pee did not clump (there was so much of it the litter couldn't take it!)
- Urine had intense smell—feels like when you sniff Listerine—nose burns, eyes water
- Increased water consumption (I thought my other cat was the culprit!)
- Not grooming himself as much as usual-mats started to form on belly/underside
- Weighed 22.9lbs--put him on Hills r/d food to lose weight
Early January-Symptoms:
- Throwing up tiny yellow foamy/mucus-ish
- Not grooming himself
- Fur felt chalky
- Not eating
- Sniffed water but walked away
- Eyes were red
- Left for the weekend on Friday at noon, left 3+ cups of food out and there was still 1/2 + cup left when I got home Monday.
- Lost weight, but I thought that was a good thing/a result of the weight loss food we put him on. Turns out it was not the good kind of weight loss; it was muscle mass weight loss.
Diagnosis:
- Liver failure/high liver enzymes/fatty liver syndrome/Pancreatitis that affected liver
:?: I had all of these things written in my notes—are they the same thing?
- His (blood glucose?): 900 | Liver enzymes: 411 (normal range is 74-159)
:?: Stage kedoesadotic (did I mean Ketoacidosis?)—body breaking down because of it. (I don’t know what I meant by this?)
Sushi’s vet visits since diagnosis:
1/18-1/21: Hospitalization and diagnosis of diabetes (mild-moderate), including subq fluids and CBC/SMAC bloodwork
1/25: Glucometer* (311)
1/28-2/5: Boarded for 8 days— CBC/SMAC bloodwork and 4 Glucometers*
2/23: Recheck exam and Glucometer* (345) – weight 17lb 2oz
3/2: Glucometer*
4/7: Glucometer*
:?: What is a glucometer? A one time test or a curve?
Dosage (all Lantus):
Starting recommendation: 2u twice a day
1/28: 3u once a day
2/8: 4u once a day
2/23: Switched to twice a day AM-3u | PM-2u
3/2: 3u twice a day
4/1: 4u twice a day
~4/7: 5u twice a day
~5/9: 6u twice a day
1/28/11 Concerns:
- Groans when he lays down like he’s in pain
- Wasn’t able to jump up on the counter or couch when he first got home a week ago—would kind of land and then fall off? This lasted from Friday until about Tuesday.
- Eyes seem more reflective (looks like his eyes are glowing). They water and leave dark build up on his face.
- Water consumption and urination are still high—do we need to increase insulin?
2/23 Concerns:
- Pooping ALL OVER THE HOUSE of all varieties (normal, diarrhea, etc.) at least once a day from Thursday 2/17-Tuesday 2/22 (the day before this vet appointment)
- Coughs sometimes after drinking water; doesn’t gag. Like he’s coughing up funk.
- Poop is usually lighter color and kind of smeary.
4/8/11:
4 units @ 6:30am and 5:30pm | Grazes, but probably eats about 1 ½ - 1 ¾ c a day.
>>He was drinking over 3 cups of water a day; would drink ½ cup in one sitting. He would drink so much water he would burp up water when he was finished. He was also urinating a LOT. So, I increased him from 6 units to 8 units a day starting this past Friday. This seems to be helping. His water consumption seems normal, but his urination is still a bit excessive.
Concerns:
- Still groaning a lot like he's in pain; especially at night when he lays down and when I pet him.
- Whimper-squeak-chirps when he poops. His poop is pretty large in diameter; about the size of a quarter in diameter?
- Strange episode: Sushi was sleeping and twitching, so I raised a bunch of hell to try and wake him up, threw a coke cap at him it landed on him but he didn't wake up--picked him up and it took a while for him to wake up. His paw was covered with/caked in litter so I cleaned it. A few hours later he laid down then spazzed out and started running around licking himself rapidly > lay down for a bit > spazzing out over and over---like something was biting him?
:?: Was this hypo?
IV. My vet—what to do?
This visit was when my vet sat me down said that Sushi gets so anxious and mad at the vet that the BG levels are not accurate. He suggested that I begin checking his BG @ home with urine strips that he would order for me. A few weeks went by with several unsuccessful interactions in an attempt to obtain the strips (due to the lack of organization and communication among the vet staff). Then, I get a voicemail from the vet saying that the BG kit had come in; a kit to test his BLOOD (not urine). This was never discussed with me.
:?: I realize now that the urine strips he ordered for me were ketone strips. I thought they were strips that somehow read BG levels. But now I realize that he was telling me that if I detected ketones in Sushi’s urine to up his insulin dose. Why would he wait until ketones showed up in Sushi’s urine to increase the dose?
There were lots of red flags that had gone up until this point, but the inefficiency, disorganization and oversight of this entire process made me decide to change vets. I very much got the impression that my vet was just kind of guessing at how much insulin I should give Sushi. He would say “give him 3 units.” And I would say “well, he’s still urinating a lot.” So he’d say “okay, then give him 4 units.” I remember thinking “if that’s all there is to it, why am I paying money and torturing Sushi by dragging him to the vet every month? I’ll just play the guessing game myself.” And more than anything, I felt like I was on my own. I didn’t feel like my vet gave me all of the information or answers I needed to be able to handle this, my crazy schedule, getting Sushi regulated, etc. I felt like we got the ball rolling, but drastically lost momentum. I knew we weren’t there (regulated) but I didn’t know what to do next or how to get there! I felt like he gave me bits and pieces, but no context or idea of how they all fit together. And I felt like he was content with where Sushi is right now; like this is good enough. But I had this nagging feeling that that wasn’t the case, even before I became educated through FDMB.
:?: But now that I have more of an understanding, I wonder if my vet has it together a bit more than I thought, and that there’s just been a lot of miscommunication/misunderstanding between us. What do you think? Should I give him one more chance? Or does he at least have it together enough for us to stay with him until I move?
V. Sushi—now
does he breathe noisily? like wheezy at all? Sometimes. I’ve noticed that over the past year. When I put my ear up to him and listen it sounds like he has liquid in his lungs? His pur has become richer. You used to never ever be able to tell he was purring, but now it's to an audible state. Also his breathing looks really laborious. It’s like he’s breathing with the gusto of being out of breath but at a normal pace.
he looks pretty good sized in his avatar - are his feet big? He is big!! I think I would have caught his diabetes earlier if vets didn’t keep addressing my every concern with “well, he’s just a big cat.” I had to get one of the big dog kennels for him; he probably stretches out to about 3.5-4 feet. His feet might be a little on the large side but nothing out of the ordinary.
how much does he weigh? Last weight I had noted was a little over 17lbs in late Feb, but he’s definitely lost some since then. I’ve been beating myself up over the past few days because I started to notice how scrawny he’s become. It can be hard to see because he’s so fluffy.
has he grown any in the past few months? No I don’t think so. Like height or what?
:?: …what does this mean? Are these symptoms of something? : /
he really is a gorgeous cat - looks positively regal! Thank you!! Everyone says so. His avatar was taken pre-diagnosis, but it captures him well.
- He's pooped all over the house since February. It seems like he's on a one week in the litter box / one week wherever pattern.
- I've really let his schedule go. Other than feeding at 5pm and giving insulin at 5:30pm, I got pretty lax about timing. I've thought of this whole thing in 8 hour incriments; not 12. When discussing schedule variations with my vet, he said the closes you can make doses is 8 hours apart, and that it's better to give one late than early. I suppose that's where I got the 8 hour understanding from, and it's what I've based my scheduling decisions on.
You are my hero if you've read this far!! Thank you so much for caring, asking and reading! Any answers/insight you can give would be soooo helpful!!!
:YMPEACE:
Here's our board history: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=49273
Okay, this is insanely, ridiculously long, but here’s our whole story…
>>I’ve noted questions I have with a :?:
Here’s an outline (ha! I don’t think I’ve ever actually used an outline in real life!)
I. Some background and how we arrived at our current schedule
II. Some current concerns and issues I need to make decisions on soon—PLEASE ADVISE!!
III. Sushi’s vet history (I complied all my notes from our vet visits as well as lists of questions and concerns I prepared for some of our visits)
IV. My vet—what to do?
V. Sushi now
I. Some background and how we arrived at our current schedule
I’m originally from Baton Rouge, LA. Last September, I moved to a little city an hour way for my job. Even before I moved, I had a sneaking suspicion that I wouldn’t be here long. It was and is very important to me that I maintained my life back in Baton Rouge; that I still attend all parties, weddings, social events, stay a part of my Book Club, church and Bible Study, continue my friendships and stay close with family. It was a deal I made with myself: I would move here for work, but hold on to my personal/social life in Baton Rouge. And it’s worked out fine. The entire time I’ve been here, I go to Baton Rouge at least once a week, and before Sushi was diagnosed, I would stay days at a time. On top of that, my job was an outside sales job. I covered 16 parishes, so it was a lot of travelling. The only time I stayed overnight was when I worked in Baton Rouge, however, no two days were the same. My schedule varied from day to day. Some days had ridiculously early mornings, others had late nights, others had both.
So you can see how much of a problem it was when Sushi was diagnosed with diabetes. My life was so fluid, my schedule was so irregular and I spent so much time away from home that I had NO idea how in the world I would pull off giving him insulin at the same time twice a day. It seemed so impossible that I agonizingly considered putting him down for 3 days. Those were probably the 3 worst days of my life; I’ve never been that out of it (there were a LOT of other things going on at the same time; in fact Sushi was in the hospital at the same time my mom was—whew it was rough!). It also so happened to be the month of the year that my job required more travelling and more irregular hours than usual, including a week-long conference in California. The timing was just awful. As I processed it all, I decided I could pull off giving him insulin ONCE a day. That first month there was just no way I could have given it to him more than that. So I talked it over with my vet. He told me that of course that wasn’t ideal, but giving insulin once a day was a do-able option. And to me it was a MUCH better option than putting him down!
So we started out with me giving him insulin once a day (I did my best to outline the progress of his dosage below in part III—he’s been on Lantus the entire time), but as time went on it was apparent that we were going to have to go twice a day. By this time life had settled down a bit, however, it was and is of upmost importance to me to still be able to go to Baton Rouge often. After talking this over with my vet, we decided this meant there would be times I would have to skip a dose, or give a dose later than usual. So we set up a plan. Most of the time, whatever I’m attending in Baton Rouge starts at 7pm. That means I have to leave at 5:30pm. So, we set a schedule that would give me the ability to leave at 5:30pm: [AM]6:45-7ish [PM]5:30. This meant that there wouldn’t be a full 12 hours between each dose. Most days, I am able to give him his PM dose a full 12 hours after his AM dose; 5-6 days out of the week. But, my vet said that we should keep the same schedule every day.
II. Some current concerns and issues I need to make decisions on soon—PLEASE ADVISE!!
:?: Is it better to: (a) go the full 12 hours between doses 5-6 days (and sometimes all 7!) out of the week and give the PM dose an hour early 1-2 days out of the week
or
(b) pick a schedule and stick to it, even if it doesn’t allow the full 12 hours between doses?
This will soon become a moot point as I’m trying to move back to Baton Rouge, but it is still an issue at the moment.
>>I try to avoid it as much as possible, but there are also still times where I need to stay the night in Baton Rouge, meaning I’m either really late on his AM dose or have to skip it completely. Each situation is different, but these are the times I could SO use your advice!!
:?: For example, next Saturday I have to be in Baton Rouge for 1pm, and will return Sunday morning around 9am. So I would be skipping his Saturday PM dose and late on his Sunday AM dose. How do I handle that?
:?: Or yesterday, I had to leave around 2pm and didn’t return until 11pm. So I was 5 hours late on his PM dose. What would have been the best course of action?
Ideally, I would have a friend or someone give Sushi his medicine in these situations, but life is life and I haven’t found the right person to fill that role. I did find a pet sitter that helped me when I had to be out of town one weekend, but she charges $15/visit. That would be $30/day. I just can’t swing that.
:?: …which leads me to another forthcoming issue that I’m super anxious about: MOVING!
It looks like I’ll be commuting for a the first few weeks when I do end up finding a job in Baton Rouge because I don’t have a place to live lined up yet. It would be pretty impractical for me to drive back and forth every day to take care of Sushi. So I imagine I would stay with a friend in Baton Rouge Monday-Thursday nights. I would ask a friend in Baton Rouge to take him in for me for a few weeks, but he’s a lot to deal with between the diabetes, his pooping everywhere, his intensive shedding (meaning there's fur EVERYWHERE!) and his litter box is crazy due to the excess urination. So here are options I’m considering:
Boarding him here -BUT- it’s expensive and I don’t have a vet I trust. And Sushi HATES the vet. HATES it!!
Boarding him in Baton Rouge -BUT- it’s expensive and it would be for 2+ weeks!
Bringing him with me back and forth –BUT- I’m not sure that would go over real well even if I’m around to take care of him, and he gets so stressed in the car! Would it be too much for him?
Find a cat sitter and try to only stay in Baton Rouge 3 of the 4 nights of the work week? –BUT- at $30/day that’s expensive!!!!
…any other ideas??
:?: ALSO, a friend and I are discussing moving in together. She has 2 cats as well. What do you think about the stress of moving + the stress of moving in with a new aunt and 2 new siblings?
:?: …finally, this leads me to ask: Is this a good time for me to be switching him to canned food? I feel like my life is so up in the air right now, and there are a lot of changes coming on the horizon, that this just isn’t a good time because I’m not sure I can commit to monitoring him as much as I might need to. It could really go either way: (a) It could take me a few more weeks to find work, so I’ll be home during the day and I can monitor him and do all I need to do. This would be awesome!! OR (b) I’ll get a job next week and be gone for the workweek. This might still be okay if I board him; the vet could do all the hard work for me if I found one I trusted! ; )
I just don’t know what’s going to happen. If I wait to make the switch until after I’ve moved, things will not only be less stressful, but my schedule will be MUCH more consistent—I will be in town every single day.
III. Sushi’s History--symptoms, my concerns, vet visits, etc.
Symptoms I noticed Summer 2010:
- Pee did not clump (there was so much of it the litter couldn't take it!)
- Urine had intense smell—feels like when you sniff Listerine—nose burns, eyes water
- Increased water consumption (I thought my other cat was the culprit!)
- Not grooming himself as much as usual-mats started to form on belly/underside
- Weighed 22.9lbs--put him on Hills r/d food to lose weight
Early January-Symptoms:
- Throwing up tiny yellow foamy/mucus-ish
- Not grooming himself
- Fur felt chalky
- Not eating
- Sniffed water but walked away
- Eyes were red
- Left for the weekend on Friday at noon, left 3+ cups of food out and there was still 1/2 + cup left when I got home Monday.
- Lost weight, but I thought that was a good thing/a result of the weight loss food we put him on. Turns out it was not the good kind of weight loss; it was muscle mass weight loss.
Diagnosis:
- Liver failure/high liver enzymes/fatty liver syndrome/Pancreatitis that affected liver
:?: I had all of these things written in my notes—are they the same thing?
- His (blood glucose?): 900 | Liver enzymes: 411 (normal range is 74-159)
:?: Stage kedoesadotic (did I mean Ketoacidosis?)—body breaking down because of it. (I don’t know what I meant by this?)
Sushi’s vet visits since diagnosis:
1/18-1/21: Hospitalization and diagnosis of diabetes (mild-moderate), including subq fluids and CBC/SMAC bloodwork
1/25: Glucometer* (311)
1/28-2/5: Boarded for 8 days— CBC/SMAC bloodwork and 4 Glucometers*
2/23: Recheck exam and Glucometer* (345) – weight 17lb 2oz
3/2: Glucometer*
4/7: Glucometer*
:?: What is a glucometer? A one time test or a curve?
Dosage (all Lantus):
Starting recommendation: 2u twice a day
1/28: 3u once a day
2/8: 4u once a day
2/23: Switched to twice a day AM-3u | PM-2u
3/2: 3u twice a day
4/1: 4u twice a day
~4/7: 5u twice a day
~5/9: 6u twice a day
1/28/11 Concerns:
- Groans when he lays down like he’s in pain
- Wasn’t able to jump up on the counter or couch when he first got home a week ago—would kind of land and then fall off? This lasted from Friday until about Tuesday.
- Eyes seem more reflective (looks like his eyes are glowing). They water and leave dark build up on his face.
- Water consumption and urination are still high—do we need to increase insulin?
2/23 Concerns:
- Pooping ALL OVER THE HOUSE of all varieties (normal, diarrhea, etc.) at least once a day from Thursday 2/17-Tuesday 2/22 (the day before this vet appointment)
- Coughs sometimes after drinking water; doesn’t gag. Like he’s coughing up funk.
- Poop is usually lighter color and kind of smeary.
4/8/11:
4 units @ 6:30am and 5:30pm | Grazes, but probably eats about 1 ½ - 1 ¾ c a day.
>>He was drinking over 3 cups of water a day; would drink ½ cup in one sitting. He would drink so much water he would burp up water when he was finished. He was also urinating a LOT. So, I increased him from 6 units to 8 units a day starting this past Friday. This seems to be helping. His water consumption seems normal, but his urination is still a bit excessive.
Concerns:
- Still groaning a lot like he's in pain; especially at night when he lays down and when I pet him.
- Whimper-squeak-chirps when he poops. His poop is pretty large in diameter; about the size of a quarter in diameter?
- Strange episode: Sushi was sleeping and twitching, so I raised a bunch of hell to try and wake him up, threw a coke cap at him it landed on him but he didn't wake up--picked him up and it took a while for him to wake up. His paw was covered with/caked in litter so I cleaned it. A few hours later he laid down then spazzed out and started running around licking himself rapidly > lay down for a bit > spazzing out over and over---like something was biting him?
:?: Was this hypo?
IV. My vet—what to do?
This visit was when my vet sat me down said that Sushi gets so anxious and mad at the vet that the BG levels are not accurate. He suggested that I begin checking his BG @ home with urine strips that he would order for me. A few weeks went by with several unsuccessful interactions in an attempt to obtain the strips (due to the lack of organization and communication among the vet staff). Then, I get a voicemail from the vet saying that the BG kit had come in; a kit to test his BLOOD (not urine). This was never discussed with me.
:?: I realize now that the urine strips he ordered for me were ketone strips. I thought they were strips that somehow read BG levels. But now I realize that he was telling me that if I detected ketones in Sushi’s urine to up his insulin dose. Why would he wait until ketones showed up in Sushi’s urine to increase the dose?
There were lots of red flags that had gone up until this point, but the inefficiency, disorganization and oversight of this entire process made me decide to change vets. I very much got the impression that my vet was just kind of guessing at how much insulin I should give Sushi. He would say “give him 3 units.” And I would say “well, he’s still urinating a lot.” So he’d say “okay, then give him 4 units.” I remember thinking “if that’s all there is to it, why am I paying money and torturing Sushi by dragging him to the vet every month? I’ll just play the guessing game myself.” And more than anything, I felt like I was on my own. I didn’t feel like my vet gave me all of the information or answers I needed to be able to handle this, my crazy schedule, getting Sushi regulated, etc. I felt like we got the ball rolling, but drastically lost momentum. I knew we weren’t there (regulated) but I didn’t know what to do next or how to get there! I felt like he gave me bits and pieces, but no context or idea of how they all fit together. And I felt like he was content with where Sushi is right now; like this is good enough. But I had this nagging feeling that that wasn’t the case, even before I became educated through FDMB.
:?: But now that I have more of an understanding, I wonder if my vet has it together a bit more than I thought, and that there’s just been a lot of miscommunication/misunderstanding between us. What do you think? Should I give him one more chance? Or does he at least have it together enough for us to stay with him until I move?
V. Sushi—now
does he breathe noisily? like wheezy at all? Sometimes. I’ve noticed that over the past year. When I put my ear up to him and listen it sounds like he has liquid in his lungs? His pur has become richer. You used to never ever be able to tell he was purring, but now it's to an audible state. Also his breathing looks really laborious. It’s like he’s breathing with the gusto of being out of breath but at a normal pace.
he looks pretty good sized in his avatar - are his feet big? He is big!! I think I would have caught his diabetes earlier if vets didn’t keep addressing my every concern with “well, he’s just a big cat.” I had to get one of the big dog kennels for him; he probably stretches out to about 3.5-4 feet. His feet might be a little on the large side but nothing out of the ordinary.
how much does he weigh? Last weight I had noted was a little over 17lbs in late Feb, but he’s definitely lost some since then. I’ve been beating myself up over the past few days because I started to notice how scrawny he’s become. It can be hard to see because he’s so fluffy.
has he grown any in the past few months? No I don’t think so. Like height or what?
:?: …what does this mean? Are these symptoms of something? : /
he really is a gorgeous cat - looks positively regal! Thank you!! Everyone says so. His avatar was taken pre-diagnosis, but it captures him well.
Sushi's isn't; you wouldn't be able to tell that he doesn't groom himself from looking at him, except if you examined his bathroom area. That's a problem. He just sheds SO much! I call him a "furricane," because he explodes with fur if you even touch him! I do my best to brush him, but he actually tolerates testing more than brushing. :roll:
- He's pooped all over the house since February. It seems like he's on a one week in the litter box / one week wherever pattern.
- I've really let his schedule go. Other than feeding at 5pm and giving insulin at 5:30pm, I got pretty lax about timing. I've thought of this whole thing in 8 hour incriments; not 12. When discussing schedule variations with my vet, he said the closes you can make doses is 8 hours apart, and that it's better to give one late than early. I suppose that's where I got the 8 hour understanding from, and it's what I've based my scheduling decisions on.
You are my hero if you've read this far!! Thank you so much for caring, asking and reading! Any answers/insight you can give would be soooo helpful!!!
:YMPEACE:
