Geneva
Member Since 2014
It’s Monday afternoon and I’ve been lurking here since late last Friday having just “inherited” a diabetic cat. For 10 years, I have cat-sat for a dear friend, “J”, a woman almost old enough to be my mother. J unexpectedly passed away early Friday evening and I have had her diabetic cat Alice with me since. J had two other cats, two neutered males, both of whom are much younger than Alice and in good health (I will take them in as well if the family does not want them).
Sweet Alice was diagnosed in mid-April of this year. She’s almost 12, solid black and a real sweetheart, a cuddle bug. Alice has lost some weight recently, I suppose on account of the diabetes, but she still weighs a solid 15 pounds. For years I have been telling J to stop feeding her cats Meow Mix, Cat Chow and other junk cat food. J was a well-to-do widow and could certainly have afforded to feed her cats the best canned food, but, frankly, dry was just more convenient for her. I couldn’t even get her to switch to a grain-free dry food. Whenever J was out of town, I would feed her kitties Fancy Feast and they loved it. She would not even change her cats’ food a year and a half ago after another of her cats, Pete, died of diabetes complications.
So here I am, grieving the loss of my friend and trying to find a way to save her sweet kitty, Alice. I’ve read everything at catinfo.org, Dr. Pierson’s site, which is actually what led me here.
I don’t know anything about Alice’s previous blood work yet, but I do know she is on 3 units of Lantus, twice a day.
I spoke with J’s vet after the funeral this morning and she said she would pull up Alice’s records when she got back to the office and see if Alice “might need some blood work done”. (Alice hasn’t had any other blood work done since mid-April when she started on the 3 units, twice a day. And, just for the record, I do not like this vet practice and take my own cats to a vet hospital 45 minutes away.)
As soon as I was allowed to take Alice Friday night, I knew she was immediately going off the dry food. She hasn’t had a bite of it since Friday. She’s only had Friskies pate, which is what I feed my own 6 cats. Fortunately, she loves canned food. Having read Dr. Pierson’s site, with the drastic change in diet, I knew it was imperative that I reduce that 3 units, which I’ve done. Yesterday and so far today, I have just given Alice 1 unit twice a day, which I still fear is too much. My husband and I bought a Relion Confirm meter and strips yesterday and hope to figure out the home testing tonight. We both work full-time so our goal is to get in at least 4 tests a day until the long holiday weekend when we’ll do more.
I had promised J as recently as two weeks ago, that should anything happen to her, I would make sure her kitties were taken care of. Neither of us had any idea that moment would come so soon. Right now, I’m feeling overwhelmed both with grief for my beloved friend and concern for this precious kitty.
My mind was so full of questions, but as I’m writing this, I really don’t even know what to ask first! I guess the most important thing is … what about the dosage? Is 1 unit twice a day too high, too low? Should I just stop the insulin altogether as Alice gets acclimated to a canned food diet? I want to do the right thing, for Alice and for J, may she rest in peace.
Sorry for the long-winded first post!
Sweet Alice was diagnosed in mid-April of this year. She’s almost 12, solid black and a real sweetheart, a cuddle bug. Alice has lost some weight recently, I suppose on account of the diabetes, but she still weighs a solid 15 pounds. For years I have been telling J to stop feeding her cats Meow Mix, Cat Chow and other junk cat food. J was a well-to-do widow and could certainly have afforded to feed her cats the best canned food, but, frankly, dry was just more convenient for her. I couldn’t even get her to switch to a grain-free dry food. Whenever J was out of town, I would feed her kitties Fancy Feast and they loved it. She would not even change her cats’ food a year and a half ago after another of her cats, Pete, died of diabetes complications.
So here I am, grieving the loss of my friend and trying to find a way to save her sweet kitty, Alice. I’ve read everything at catinfo.org, Dr. Pierson’s site, which is actually what led me here.
I don’t know anything about Alice’s previous blood work yet, but I do know she is on 3 units of Lantus, twice a day.
I spoke with J’s vet after the funeral this morning and she said she would pull up Alice’s records when she got back to the office and see if Alice “might need some blood work done”. (Alice hasn’t had any other blood work done since mid-April when she started on the 3 units, twice a day. And, just for the record, I do not like this vet practice and take my own cats to a vet hospital 45 minutes away.)
As soon as I was allowed to take Alice Friday night, I knew she was immediately going off the dry food. She hasn’t had a bite of it since Friday. She’s only had Friskies pate, which is what I feed my own 6 cats. Fortunately, she loves canned food. Having read Dr. Pierson’s site, with the drastic change in diet, I knew it was imperative that I reduce that 3 units, which I’ve done. Yesterday and so far today, I have just given Alice 1 unit twice a day, which I still fear is too much. My husband and I bought a Relion Confirm meter and strips yesterday and hope to figure out the home testing tonight. We both work full-time so our goal is to get in at least 4 tests a day until the long holiday weekend when we’ll do more.
I had promised J as recently as two weeks ago, that should anything happen to her, I would make sure her kitties were taken care of. Neither of us had any idea that moment would come so soon. Right now, I’m feeling overwhelmed both with grief for my beloved friend and concern for this precious kitty.
My mind was so full of questions, but as I’m writing this, I really don’t even know what to ask first! I guess the most important thing is … what about the dosage? Is 1 unit twice a day too high, too low? Should I just stop the insulin altogether as Alice gets acclimated to a canned food diet? I want to do the right thing, for Alice and for J, may she rest in peace.
Sorry for the long-winded first post!
