Karen & Biscuits
Member Since 2021
Hey Sugar Baby Friends, so sorry I haven't been here for awhile. We have been through hell the past few weeks over here with the loss of a household member to covid. The lady I have lived with and cared for the past 18 years, somehow contracted covid, went to the ER on the 11th in the middle of the night, tested positive the next day, stuck in ICU the following day, unresponsive after the 13th, passed away around 8 am on the 16th. It all happened so fast and life has been a blur through all of this. I am shattered and heartbroken and still trying to maintain a routine for the cats and dogs.
I'm having a lot of weird issues with Biscuits and some of it may be due to all the changes here with Miss Pat's passing and all the company in and out of here over the past 2 weeks. Biscuits is usually a very social cat, she loves attention, loves to be held, even by strangers, so her behavior over the course of the past few weeks has been odd and very out of character for her.
First thing - hiding. She started this a month ago. She would find weird places to hide in the house, places she never went before and it sometimes took us a long time to find her. She wouldn't come out to eat, didn't respond to treats, even though I don't generally give her any, shaking a bag usually gets her attention but not now. She barely came out to eat when she was hiding unless I found her and took her to her food bowl. She purred and was really happy when I picked her up, no aggression at all, and she would cuddle with me and throw her head back to be kissed - all typical of her when she's happy but as soon as she was done eating, she'd run back to her hiding spot, which became the center of Miss Pat's closet, sitting or laying on a box in there. She never did that in all the years she's been here and this started before Miss Pat got sick and just got worse after she went to the hospital. My Purrcey who is not diabetic, has been acting the same way, and would hang out in that closet all day with Biscuits (we discovered a few days ago he's lost most of his teeth, so that may be why). Then Biscuits started sneaking outside without anybody noticing. If anyone opened the door to let the dogs out, she'd go with them and then I'd be in a panic trying to find her in the house, only to discover her outside with my ferals and strays. Ugh! So, let's add fleas to the mix of all her issues. She was strictly a house cat until this started and fleas have never really been a problem for the inside cats.
We managed to clean up Miss Pat's room after she passed and closed that closet door so Biscuits cannot get in there anymore. She still finds ways to hide elsewhere in the house. I don't know why. She's eating well and litterbox habits are the same, when I pick her up she wants to cuddle and she loved all the attention from the company we had here, same as usual, so I don't know what to make of the hiding. Maybe she's missing Miss Pat. I know they had a bond, but as I said, this started several weeks before Miss Pat died, so I don't know what the connection is. Perhaps she sensed something like this was coming. I know animals often have a 6th sense about things like that, so maybe that's it.
Second issue......severe itching and scratching. She has a weird "rash" on her body, mostly around her neck but it's everywhere. She scratches non-stop 24/7 unless she's on a cool and hard surface. For whatever reason that calms her down. What is this????? I thought it was the Methyl B-12 tablet I have been giving her. IT IS WORKING! Her neuropathy has improved about 75% since she started and she's walking and jumping a lot better. It's still not perfect and may never be, but she is doing much better, but the itching and the rash may be from the pill. Or... is the the Levemir? She takes the pill with her food in the morning and it was a brand recommended here that I got on amazon. I'm inclined to think it's the Levemir, which is scary if it is because I was able to get it free since Miss Pat used it too, and she said I could take a pen out as needed for Biscuits and it was working out great. Now that she's gone, I only have 3 pens left. It's good enough for a few months but then what? If it IS the Levemir causing the rash and itching and excessive grooming, what do I do next? Does a cat even have allergies to insulin? She never did this with Vetsulin but I started her on the B-12 and Levemir at roughly the same time, so I'm not sure what is going on.
Third issue - bouncing. She is all over the place with her sugar. If you look at her spreadsheet, she is mostly very low in the mornings, and this started more recently and the vet told me not to give her a shot if she was below 120, so I don't but then she can bounce into the 500's by the end of the day and with all her hiding, she's been eating a lot less too - so what's that about? She is still consistent with the Weruva wet food, and not eating much dry food at all, maybe a bite or two throughout the day, so I can't blame her high sugar levels on that.
I am so frustrated with this and feeling like I'm failing my cat somewhere but can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I get excited when her sugar is below 150 because I know we're on the right track but then hours later she's back up at 300 or more.
She's been out of gabapentin for about a week now too, so maybe it's pain? I haven't been able to get to the vet to pick up another prescription with all the other issues surrounding Miss Pat.
I am taking Biscuits, Purrcey and one of my ferals to the vet tomorrow to try to get this sorted out.
I need to win the lottery to pay for that. **Face palm**.
What are your thoughts about all this? Am I doing something wrong or is it just that Biscuits is a difficult case with her sugar?
I'm having a lot of weird issues with Biscuits and some of it may be due to all the changes here with Miss Pat's passing and all the company in and out of here over the past 2 weeks. Biscuits is usually a very social cat, she loves attention, loves to be held, even by strangers, so her behavior over the course of the past few weeks has been odd and very out of character for her.
First thing - hiding. She started this a month ago. She would find weird places to hide in the house, places she never went before and it sometimes took us a long time to find her. She wouldn't come out to eat, didn't respond to treats, even though I don't generally give her any, shaking a bag usually gets her attention but not now. She barely came out to eat when she was hiding unless I found her and took her to her food bowl. She purred and was really happy when I picked her up, no aggression at all, and she would cuddle with me and throw her head back to be kissed - all typical of her when she's happy but as soon as she was done eating, she'd run back to her hiding spot, which became the center of Miss Pat's closet, sitting or laying on a box in there. She never did that in all the years she's been here and this started before Miss Pat got sick and just got worse after she went to the hospital. My Purrcey who is not diabetic, has been acting the same way, and would hang out in that closet all day with Biscuits (we discovered a few days ago he's lost most of his teeth, so that may be why). Then Biscuits started sneaking outside without anybody noticing. If anyone opened the door to let the dogs out, she'd go with them and then I'd be in a panic trying to find her in the house, only to discover her outside with my ferals and strays. Ugh! So, let's add fleas to the mix of all her issues. She was strictly a house cat until this started and fleas have never really been a problem for the inside cats.
We managed to clean up Miss Pat's room after she passed and closed that closet door so Biscuits cannot get in there anymore. She still finds ways to hide elsewhere in the house. I don't know why. She's eating well and litterbox habits are the same, when I pick her up she wants to cuddle and she loved all the attention from the company we had here, same as usual, so I don't know what to make of the hiding. Maybe she's missing Miss Pat. I know they had a bond, but as I said, this started several weeks before Miss Pat died, so I don't know what the connection is. Perhaps she sensed something like this was coming. I know animals often have a 6th sense about things like that, so maybe that's it.
Second issue......severe itching and scratching. She has a weird "rash" on her body, mostly around her neck but it's everywhere. She scratches non-stop 24/7 unless she's on a cool and hard surface. For whatever reason that calms her down. What is this????? I thought it was the Methyl B-12 tablet I have been giving her. IT IS WORKING! Her neuropathy has improved about 75% since she started and she's walking and jumping a lot better. It's still not perfect and may never be, but she is doing much better, but the itching and the rash may be from the pill. Or... is the the Levemir? She takes the pill with her food in the morning and it was a brand recommended here that I got on amazon. I'm inclined to think it's the Levemir, which is scary if it is because I was able to get it free since Miss Pat used it too, and she said I could take a pen out as needed for Biscuits and it was working out great. Now that she's gone, I only have 3 pens left. It's good enough for a few months but then what? If it IS the Levemir causing the rash and itching and excessive grooming, what do I do next? Does a cat even have allergies to insulin? She never did this with Vetsulin but I started her on the B-12 and Levemir at roughly the same time, so I'm not sure what is going on.
Third issue - bouncing. She is all over the place with her sugar. If you look at her spreadsheet, she is mostly very low in the mornings, and this started more recently and the vet told me not to give her a shot if she was below 120, so I don't but then she can bounce into the 500's by the end of the day and with all her hiding, she's been eating a lot less too - so what's that about? She is still consistent with the Weruva wet food, and not eating much dry food at all, maybe a bite or two throughout the day, so I can't blame her high sugar levels on that.
I am so frustrated with this and feeling like I'm failing my cat somewhere but can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I get excited when her sugar is below 150 because I know we're on the right track but then hours later she's back up at 300 or more.
She's been out of gabapentin for about a week now too, so maybe it's pain? I haven't been able to get to the vet to pick up another prescription with all the other issues surrounding Miss Pat.
I am taking Biscuits, Purrcey and one of my ferals to the vet tomorrow to try to get this sorted out.
I need to win the lottery to pay for that. **Face palm**.
What are your thoughts about all this? Am I doing something wrong or is it just that Biscuits is a difficult case with her sugar?
