Elizabeth and Bertie
Member Since 2010
Bonbon, who we adopted in Feb of this year, is now in remission. 
I am so very pleased for her, especially given that she became seriously ill in April with acute kidney failure, and was thought to have only the slightest chance of survival.
It transpired that the kidney failure was due to oxalate stones, and she pulled through just fine against the odds! ...Although it's likely that she now only has one functioning kidney.
Bonbon came here on 4 units of Caninsulin, and it's thought that she had only ever eaten dry food.
Since she didn't have ketones I took her off insulin while getting her used to hometesting, and while transitioning her to a wet diet. The folks at the rescue said they thought it unlikely she'd eat wet food, but amazingly she was on wet food within 5 days (however I did try almost every food on the market, hehe!)
Hometesting was harder. I'd had years of experience of testing my lovely boy Bertie and thought testing Bonbon would be easy, but she proved to be something of a challenge initially. She absolutely hated having her ears touched, and she has small flimsy ears that don't bleed easily. ...I'll be honest, I cried, because I thought I was completely failing her at one point. But then I realised that she loved to be brushed. And I found I could incorporate the tests into a brushing and cuddling session. Getting a glucose meter that took a smaller blood sample really helped too.
I didn't want to use the Caninsulin that the rescue's vet had prescribed so tried using Bertie's leftover Hypurin PZI (from 2017!). It had been wrapped up well and still worked!
....I'm down to the last few drops of it though, and it has now been discontinued, so if/when Bonbon comes out of remission I'll need to use something else. A kind member here (whose kitty has sadly passed away) has sent me some Levemir. And I'm reasonably confident that Bonbon's vet would happy to prescribe more of the same, should that become necessary.
Meanwhile Bonbon is living a lovely life. And she has even begun to play again, which is something I didn't expect to see. Really hoping she will stay happy and healthy for a long time to come.
.
I am so very pleased for her, especially given that she became seriously ill in April with acute kidney failure, and was thought to have only the slightest chance of survival.
It transpired that the kidney failure was due to oxalate stones, and she pulled through just fine against the odds! ...Although it's likely that she now only has one functioning kidney.
Bonbon came here on 4 units of Caninsulin, and it's thought that she had only ever eaten dry food.
Since she didn't have ketones I took her off insulin while getting her used to hometesting, and while transitioning her to a wet diet. The folks at the rescue said they thought it unlikely she'd eat wet food, but amazingly she was on wet food within 5 days (however I did try almost every food on the market, hehe!)
Hometesting was harder. I'd had years of experience of testing my lovely boy Bertie and thought testing Bonbon would be easy, but she proved to be something of a challenge initially. She absolutely hated having her ears touched, and she has small flimsy ears that don't bleed easily. ...I'll be honest, I cried, because I thought I was completely failing her at one point. But then I realised that she loved to be brushed. And I found I could incorporate the tests into a brushing and cuddling session. Getting a glucose meter that took a smaller blood sample really helped too.
I didn't want to use the Caninsulin that the rescue's vet had prescribed so tried using Bertie's leftover Hypurin PZI (from 2017!). It had been wrapped up well and still worked!
....I'm down to the last few drops of it though, and it has now been discontinued, so if/when Bonbon comes out of remission I'll need to use something else. A kind member here (whose kitty has sadly passed away) has sent me some Levemir. And I'm reasonably confident that Bonbon's vet would happy to prescribe more of the same, should that become necessary.Meanwhile Bonbon is living a lovely life. And she has even begun to play again, which is something I didn't expect to see. Really hoping she will stay happy and healthy for a long time to come.
.
