cartmans_mommy
Member
On Friday night, I noticed that Cartman's gums were pale, but when I told my neighbor about it, she didn't seem too concerned, she chucked it up to his diabetes, and told me I worry too much. I took Cartman's blood glucose readings at home both Saturday and Sunday evening and they were 93 and 103 respectively. Didn't think anything of it, he was still active and eating well on Saturday. But when I got off work last night, in passing, I noticed his food bowl (hubby had left out dry food for him by mistake) hadn't changed but thought maybe hubby had just refilled it and tried giving him canned food, which he refused. Ok, I should of known something was wrong at this point, but thought maybe he'd ate recently and that was why he wasn't hungry. Well, when I got up, he again refused to eat, his meow was weak, he wasn't able to walk very far without getting tired, and he was dragging his back legs. I got this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach and went and got my neighbor and we took him to the vet this afternoon. Not good news. His kidneys are small and likely no longer functioning and he's in shock. The vet informed us that they could put him on IVs for fluid, but otherwise there isn't much we can do, he may make it maybe another 24 hrs at most. At this point I broke down and cried and my neighbor's voice cracked as they talked about options. She was given the option of euthanasia or taking him home to make him comfortable as possible until he passes, where he'd be in familiar enviroment (which is what the vet felt was best). When asked if he's in any pain, the vet told us he is not. It was up to my neighbor and his Mommy and she opted to bring him home. He's currently comfortably resting at home in her arms and at this time is hanging in there, although barely. I spent some time with him this afternoon also and said my goodbyes in case he doesn't make it through the night. Although the vet did say that she should of brought him in on a regular basis for blood tests, the average life span for a cat once they're diagnosed with diabetes is 2 years and Cartman wasn't diagnosed until 2008 (when he was 7 yrs old) and his diabetes have been not well controlled for years. Still, I partly blame myself for recently not reconizing the early warning signs of acute renal failure and shock in the last few days and wish I would of insisted on her taking him to get vetenary care sooner. Oh man, I'm going to miss him :sad:
