Crisis: Diabetes diagnosis + ketoacidosis

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Sasha

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Hi. I really need some help here from people who've been through this.

Because I've been between jobs, I waited too long to take my Siamese female to the vet when I noticed that she was losing weight. Some misleading Web research made me think that it was normal for spines to become prominent at middle age which apparently that's more of a geriatric thing. I told myself that I'd get all my cats under regular care as soon as money started coming in again.

Anyway, the point is that she didn't get a diagnosis of diabetes until Sunday when I took her to the emergency animal hospital, and then it was with ketoacidosis and lots of bad numbers. Her potassium on Sunday was apparently lower than some people have ever seen -- it was something like 1.5. Today it is subnormal at over three. Sunday her body temperature was only 97, which I understand is about four degrees under normal at least. Today it is actually lower. She has been on IV since Sunday and had potassium in her drip though even that started much later in the day on Sunday that I would have wanted -- apparently when you take a cat in for emergency care you have to haggle over estimate over estimate and pay up front to even begin one thing -- maybe it's possible at some places to ask them to get the IV line in but I was certainly confused and frustrated about why it took so long to begin care. It sounds like in an emergency situation like that, your cats can be gravely disadvantaged if you don't have an established relationship with the vet. Today they are trying to give her short-acting insulin and trying to get some food into her. I think they are also giving her some thing to try to improve her phosphorous levels. The hope, I guess, is that dealing with some blood sugar issues might also begin to bring up her body temperature. I understand that this extremely low body temperature could be a very, very bad sign. But I'm neither a vet nor a person who has any idea that the likelihood is of a cat rebounding from such a low body temperature.

She looked so bad yesterday that I figured she might be lost overnight but she made it through, alone at the vet with the IV in. Today I've dropped by twice to show my face to her, trying not to get in the way... just to let her know that I'm not abandoning her. She's really out of it.

It sounds like they'll tell me it's no use in another day or two if she doesn't improve. I'm hoping to at least get until Friday. The diagnosis came and beginning of the IV began Sunday night, probably between 6pm and 8pm. Now it's Tuesday afternoon. The vet will probably call me at the day's end to tell me about whether the administrations of short-acting insulin and the (dropper?) feeding seem to be meeting with any response.

She'd be in 24-hour hospital but it seems impossible to find one that is willing to really work with people. I've talked to all of them now I think. I only got her into the first one because she required half of their low side estimate, after which they allowed a six-month payoff time. I couldn't afford more than one day since I had to pay half of whatever the estimate was and haven't yet started working again. If I'd been working for at least a few weeks, this would be no problem. I'm at the begging and borrowing stage now but the additional options are few. I even stopped by one hospital to see if I might have something for which they were interested in bartering and I didn't even care if it was free, only that they'd treat her and be willing to deal with me. Though I prefer to be anonymous, I'm in the Seattle area if anyone knows of any other options here for getting someone to work with me for long enough to give her a chance.

I've done some research into homeopathic remedies that might help to stabilize her but since my financial options are so bad it's hard to try to press the vet to allow even a pellet to be dropped into water or food. They're not used to it; on one hand they think homeopathy is placebo though they're not inclined to say, "Why not try it if nothing else is working"? I need them to not walk away so don't want to push. I did call a local vet who is a homeopath and holistically inclined, however, to ask the question I want to ask here, basically, when do you quit? If some other vet feels that Sasha might respond with a complementary therapy to what she's getting now, I want to give her the chance. She's only middle aged and she's been such a spirited, dominant and vital cat. I'm hoping that she'll begin to respond, but I don't know where this is going and I need to figure out what I'm going to do if she doesn't.

One emergency hospital said that they often see cats with ketoacidosis being hospitalized for a good seven days -- some respond, some do not.

I don't want to be selfish but I do want her back. If she has a chance, I want to make sure she gets it. At this point, her chances are limited because of my financial condition and I hate that. I don't have the credit to finance it and I don't have access to people who would loan it to me. Since I'm at the end of months of unemployment, my options truly are few. I even did research last night to see if I could get a grant for kitty care for her so I could move her back to 24-hour care to really give her a chance -- hell, I'd settle for a loan with a usurious interest rate -- but it seems like the lending non-profs I've looked at so far are all strapped and have generally stopped granting. It's very sad. A human can go to the county hospital. If you're a cat, you have no right to care.

So, finally, if there are other options, please tell me. I'm trying to figure out whether to listen if I'm told that all medical options have been exhausted. I seems like from the moment it turned serious, they were prepared for me to say I'm not willing to do this... I'm not sure, for that reason, that I can really trust that the vet is making the right decision for my cat, especially not when they might be nervous about whether I'll actually pay them.

It's hard for me to even write about this so I hope that I've expressed myself clearly and articulated some kind of question.

Thank you for your help.
 
wow .. what a situation you are in .. I hope someone stops by with a few ideas for you. I can really only think of carecredit. Have you tried that?? I know others will be here soon so please stick around, ok?
 
I went though this 3 weeks ago, and were going though it again. Woden was in for 5 days, I applied for care credit you should to. It's good for more then just the vet.

Learn everything you can about how to take care of your kitty from thr vet, Get ketone strips and when your baby comes home test once a day for a few weeks then you can go every other day the stips are not that expensive.
Kittyies that have high ketones are more unlikely to eat on their own, all the acid in the tummy makes it hurt to have food in there. assist feeding and appitite stimulents are often needed and in some cases feeding tubes are used. have your vet show you how to seringe feed.
Alot of cats with ketoacidtosis need electrolie suplements, more often then not administerd though a IV, I had pills to give woden once he was out of the hospital. If you beg and plead enough and have a vet who will go with it see if they will allow you to continue treatment at home with a IV or pills.
It's essential to keep the cat hidrated as well, if they are vomiting or peeing alot as the body is trying to rid itself of the excess ketones as well as it helps with the acidity of the blood. sub-q fluids or IV
Do you have a Blood Gucose moniter and test strips? fast acting insulin can be used, though I have not done it and am not confedent in giving advice on how to use that Hopefully someone will come along with more info on that.

You can beat this. But as I leaned it can happen again. Read as much as you can about whats happeing to your cat and talk to your vet before doing anything on your own.


And apply for care credit!
 
I've investigated Credit Care and the other credit-card or credit-line based options and they don't work for me since I have not yet resumed work. I dearly wish it were otherwise and I hate the fact that my being unprepared is limiting my cat's options for care. But this is why I transferred my cat out of the hospital and into less expensive day care -- I was trying to stretch what I had.

I hope that some of you have some thoughts based on experience and anecdotal information about how much time a cat requires to begin to respond to treatment. I don't want to rely solely on the advice of my vet when they do need to also protect their financial exposure here.

Thanks again.
 
Hey Woden's_mom,

Is it really possible to do this at home?

I did also talk to a mobile vet or two briefly early on before I was aware it was diabetes -- at first the emergency place suspected renal issues alone so the idea was rehydrate -- anyway, I did try to ask several people about whether it was possible to continue IV at home and got a fairly strong NO, that it required a machine. But the emergency place did release my kitty to me with the IV catheter in place so it has also crossed my mind that if I transferred her anywhere else or took her home, I could do it with the catheter.

It sounds like in your case you'd been trained on insulin administration already, that Woden was, at least momentarily, considered stabilized and released to you for home care. They're not even talking about syringes and training or anything with me yet because they're waiting to see if my kitty responds and she's only on the short-acting stuff as of today so nobody knows about dosages yet. So I'm not sure how all that would even be worked out if the vet that would train me concludes that I should give up.

Thanks for bringing it up though. It's an option I'd be more than open to if I could get the appropriate support and could know that I wasn't going to cause my kitty needless pain.
 
Well.. considering I just got off the phone with my vet with yet another confirmed case of Keto.. and my only option is home treatment and my vet said it's going to be very very hard and not as good a scucess we are doing home treatment.

Not doing IV, as yes that does need equipment, I don't have but were going for sub-q and other medicens I guess in anycase.

I said it was possible not that it is feseable. But without propper instuction, guideance and tools it's all a loseing battle.I also just went over what the vet would do did not say feel free to try this at home. I allways say please only do this with a vets guideance.
 
Hi Woden's mom.

I admire your trying and would be interesting in hearing if others have any experience with this issue. I hope that at home with you, Woden can be stabilized.

I also just got off the phone with the vet and though this is only the second day for which this day care facility has had my cat, they feel that she might not make it through this and unless there is improvement I should consider "euthenasia" (I hate that word when you're talking about the decision of an owner that an animal isn't likely to survive).

So, one day of 24-hour care and two days of day-only care. And her body temperature did come up, but now her phosphorous is falling and after three small doses of short-acting insulin her sugar (?) is only 39. They're putting in a second catheter for the night to IV her dextrose which should correct that (though I wonder how stable that will make her levels also).

She said that 24-hour care would have been best. They took her with the thought that it was a renal issue solely. The emergency clinic, I noticed when reading through the paperwork today, did actually learn that it was ketoacidosis Sunday night around 8pm and the notes say I was called but they left no message. So I made arrangements to have the kitty transferred based on poor information with neither of us knowing what the situation was until Monday morning around 10am. And since by then I was really upset about moving her around and the time it was taking to find a new treatment setting for her, I didn't want to move her again, not that I had much money to secure a facility with markedly better hours.

I did again try to bring up homeopathic remedies that I researched that have good clinical reports, even for cases with sugar in urine, but I think they might refuse to allow me to give one to my cat and there aren't a lot of mobile, homeopathic vets and the time is becoming insufficient to set up a consult to try for something more closely resembling complementary care. They don't understand homeopathy and they're unwilling to support an attempt at a less conventional treatment. Though if I moved her somewhere else, I could certainly give her a remedy on the way there. These are over-the-counter medications. However, the remedies specific to her symptoms aren't easy to come by and I'm also without time to start order them over the Web.

This is truly horrible. I'd be happy to have her as a diabetic if I only could.
 
for the moment, please disregard the notion of homeopathy. your cat is in crisis now and in the best place possible if she's in a 24-hr clinic. they need round-the-clock care, and a big part of that involves fluids and short-term insulin (they'll alternate with a sugar if blood sugar goes down too much).

many cats here started with DKA and made it through, tho there's no guarantee about that. i'd expect about a week of full-time care. i don't think most vets give DKA kitties more than a 50% chance but as i said many people have elected to try anyway and their cats are still here today, and back to good health.

if that is not a 24-hr clinic i'd try to get her transferred to one. they need to be monitored constantly. i treated DKA at home but it was not easy and i really wouldn't recommend it to anyone. a big part of that was learning to give subQ fluids. cleo's body temp wasn't as low, tho, and you're right that's not a good symptom. it tells me to trust the professionals rather than at-home care.
 
Are you located within driving distance of a Vet school? I'm not sure how they are everywhere, but the one I used two years ago was awesome, and while it is still expensive, my cat got a longer stay (10 days) for the same amount of money I normally spent on a local ER for a 3-5 day period. Again, it may just be here, but, they also had the option for half down (of estimate) and then paying out the rest over 6 months.

Look it up by state or ask your vet. I drove 2 hours to the vet school. My cat had around the clock care - and a tech was assigned to sit with her.

DKA is very difficult to treat at home (though some have, me included, but it is absolutely the last resort). If you can get her into a facility that will monitor her night and day she will have the best chance at a normal life.

My Layla was DKA at DX, and has several episodes over the years. I can control the numbers but not unknown infections.

Best,
Pam & Layla
 
I wasn't going to replace the care she's been getting with homeopathy. I was going to add homeopathy in a "complementary" fashion at least somewhat similar to that used in countries like France or England where homeopathy is often used for serious disease and where practitioners of allopathy and practitioners of homeopathy even refer back and forth in the interest of the patient. After all, if the vet thinks that the traditional methods they offer are not helping, why should it hurt to add a remedy that most Americans disregard as placebo? Why should anyone care if I want to add that? Also, even if I could afford to transfer her to 24-hour care, it's easy to give her a dose of the most commonly indicated homeopathic remedy for diabetes with sugar in the urine on the way there. Whether or not to use homeopathy isn't the issue here though since I do know something about homeopathy, if I am unable to use that as an additional resource I will feel that my cat's ability to stabilize hasn't been given a fair chance. But the issue is lack of funds preventing access to 24-hour care which certainly does seem to be critical for ketoacidosis.

I'd love to have her in 24-hour care but as I explained, I don't have the financial option unless someone in the Seattle area knows of solutions that I haven't already explored. Care Credit and other credit-based solutions are not an option since my new job hasn't started. I don't have things I can sell or people I can borrow enough from to take me any further when treating clinics by and large demand payment at the time services are rendered. I've looked at some of the sites that offer grants for care and they generally all seem to be out of money.

I'm very interested in hearing about others' experiences with ketoacidosis and how long it might have taken for their own cats to respond to treatment. In my case, the emergency and daytime clinic have both been quick to bring up euthenasia, much quicker than I would prefer, and if they don't see a lot of progress in my cat tomorrow morning, they've already indicated that they will be recommending that route.

It occurs to me that many clinics probably are discouraged from difficult cases that might take a lot of staying power. Of course, finding a clinic that has the confidence to work with the issue for awhile probably takes most owners of newly diagnosed cats long enough so that it's probably common to run through your funds before you get the time to work with them. And since they need to avoid the financial exposure I imagine that's why even 24-hour care facilities seem to have strict rules about payment in full at the time services are rendered. Makes it really tough. As a lowly human being, though I might not get good care, I can go to any county hospital and in some cities as an indigent person I can access services at a world class hospital.

I'm not even being told that administering sub-q fluids at home is an option at this point. The impression I've gotten is that it needs to be IV. When I asked after diagnosis about at-home hydration and I was told that was a non-op.

This is really a struggle, it seems, of trying to get the best care with usually limited funds and usually limited knowledge of things that one only learns as one runs out of time. :[

Sure, I don't want to try treating this illness at home, but I did want to find out if people have actually tried to do this since it's looking more and more like I'm going to be forced to "euthenasia" though it's not "euthenasia" to me when she hasn't even had a fair chance.
 
Pam and Layla said:
Are you located within driving distance of a Vet school? I'm not sure how they are everywhere, but the one I used two years ago was awesome, and while it is still expensive, my cat got a longer stay (10 days) for the same amount of money I normally spent on a local ER for a 3-5 day period. Again, it may just be here, but, they also had the option for half down (of estimate) and then paying out the rest over 6 months.
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Hi Pam and Layla.

What a truly great idea that hadn't even occurred to me despite having used student dental services locally in this area a few decades back. I googled it and the University of Washington apparently has a veterinary school, as does Western Washington. I'll investigate tomorrow and see if it's by any stretch of the imagination possible.

Thank you for taking the time to mention it here.

Sasha's human
 
I agree with Chris and Pam. You can NOT treat this at home nor can you treat it with homeopathic remedies.
My cat throws ketones when you look at him the wrong way and I do treat him at home...but I wouldn't if he had a body temperature of 97 or if he was in crisis...and that's a fact. To treat DKA yourself you have to be secure that you know what you're doing. You are not.

Unfortunately your kitty needs to be in a 24 hour facility and if you have a vet school nearby I agree with Pam, that would be best for your wallet. But you can't keep doing what you're doing if you want the best outcome for you kitty. I don't mean to sound harsh...DKA is serious, and there are different degrees. If you want to give your cat a chance, you have to move to a different facility. My thoughts are with you both. :YMHUG:
 
Hi Caryl and Alex.

Just wondering, how do you know that homeopathic remedies cannot help? Most people don't know much about homeopathy, especially not in the United States where it is dismissed as quackery.

Anyway, I was really just asking to hear more about others' experiences with their own kitties. So thanks for providing a bit of information about yours.

Thanks.
Sasha's human
 
Hi Pam and Layla.

Sigh. The suggestion of investigating a vet school is a great one but a bit more investigation shows that the "vet school" nearest me, the one at the University of Washington, is in fact a preparatory rather than a true veterinary school.

That seems to leave Western Washington, one of the top schools in the nation for traditional veterinary medicine. It's several hours away and their payment privileges don't allow for a plan -- they run like a regular clinic, expecting half on arrival and half on discharge.

Still, it's a brilliant suggestion and I'll call tomorrow and try to get some idea of whether there is a great difference in cost. Since they are a school, there may be other issues that make it harder to secure care, especially from a distance, when time is of the essence.

Thanks though. I do at least want to investigate all my options for Sasha's survival. I'm not above begging and pleading at this point, though it hasn't gotten me very far so far.

Sasha's human
 
It appears to me that they have full vet services as well as hospital care.
http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/depts-vth/

You will need to see if there is another one near you, but if they are the closest, I would try them.

They won't be able to give you a price over the phone - pretty sure - that seems to be standard. They would need to examine your pet, but will probably tell you the cost for the initial exam over the phone.

It is worth checking into.

You might also try your local humane society, to see if they have a lower-cost vet service they can suggest.

Treating DKA at home is extremely difficult for someone with experience, and to be honest, it is still expensive because you have to take your cat back and forth to the vet for testing, etc.

Good luck,
Pam & Layla
 
Sasha said:
Hi Caryl and Alex.

Just wondering, how do you know that homeopathic remedies cannot help? Most people don't know much about homeopathy, especially not in the United States where it is dismissed as quackery.

Anyway, I was really just asking to hear more about others' experiences with their own kitties. So thanks for providing a bit of information about yours.

Thanks.
Sasha's human
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Okay let me phrase this differently..Your cat's body is in deep crisis right now and is going through all kinds of changes that have proven medical treatments. Sasha's body chemistry and electrolytes are probably all over the place and I have no idea whether or not there are homeopathic treatments that MIGHT work but if this were MY cat, I would rather not find out. I'd get him better, or try to, and then do that kind of research.

Caryl
 
Thanks for your responses.

Pam and Layla, thanks also for mentioning the Humane Society. I'll call them this morning too. It's not 8am yet PST and the clinic Sasha is at doesn't open until 8:30am so I'm waiting to see if she made it overnight and then trying to get my options together so that I'm prepared if the clinic discourages further treatment as they've indicated they are likely to do.

My own cat has not vomiting so far. Does anyone have fairly objective knowledge about whether it will be painful to her if my options are exhausted and I just bring her home? I was told if she hadn't come to the clinic she would probably have died at home in a few days and if it's a case of slipping into a coma perhaps it's possibly to say that the pain would not be much more than the discomfort she must already be suffering. I ask this because if I have no options financially, her prognosis is not good and I have little choice other than to "euthenize," I'm not interested in engaging the clinic she is at for that "service" anyway and would probably look for a better fit in a mobile vet or a holistic vet. When I have brought up the subject of pain over the last few days, I haven't gotten information about what any research might indicate. Rather, the vet changes it to a quality of life issue or just responds that nobody knows. While I'm trying to avoid projecting my own responses and feelings on my cats, it seems likely to me that some disease conditions have higher levels of discomfort than others and that some ways of dying, like coma, can in the end be less painful than what we've been through before.

I also have another question that I'm wondering about in part because I haven't had the stomach to truly address it. Does anyone know what the current thinking is on "euthenizing" a cat in the presence of her litter mate? I did see a passing reference to allowing the surviving kitty to approach and smell her departed litter mate. It's just that Sasha has a sibling. I got them both together and until Sunday they had not been separated by illness or anything else. Sasha's sibling seems fine to me outwardly. Since she is also Siamese she's kind of noisy at night but her behavior seems unchanged to me so far. There was some rivalry between the two kitties, though they were also partners in crime, and now Sasha's sibling is sticking by me pretty close but I think also that she may enjoy being the only kitty if that's where this is heading. Despite my best efforts, she seemed to be very aware and jealous of the attention that I gave Sasha. But if Sasha's not coming home, or not coming home for long, I also need to try to end her life in a way that is considerate of her sibling. Anyone know the prevailing theories are here?

Thank you.
 
I also have another question that I'm wondering about in part because I haven't had the stomach to truly address it. Does anyone know what the current thinking is on "euthenizing" a cat in the presence of her litter mate? I did see a passing reference to allowing the surviving kitty to approach and smell her departed litter mate.
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Everything I have read said that it more likely a case a comfort in the mind of an owner that for the other animals to approach and smell the deceased kitty. There is no study showing it helped. Of course every cat is different and it probably can be a help to some kitties.

We just lost our youngest to cancer and I can say that my other two were freaked out by her while she was sick. Taz gave her a wide bearth and hissed if Peanut so much as looked at her. Smokey always wanted to see what was the matter, but never wanted to get close to her. We unfortunately lost Peanut too fast to find a vet to come to our home and let her go so we ended up taking her to the ER, but I would not have let the others see her pts or after, it was too tramatic the way it was and our cats feed off of our emotions so seeing us that upset would have made it worse for them. Its taken us almost 2 weeks to get Smokey calmed down from the loss.

Best of luck on getting your kitty healthy again, it is such a painful situation to be to watch them be so sick. This is a serious condition and often with the most advance medical care, it is a lost battle. Homeopathy may help, but because it is often an untested field, its also possible the it can cause reactions in the kitty's body that will hinder the medical treatment from doing its job. I think that is why many members say to leave the homeopathic treatments out for now, its a very delicate dance trying to balance all of the different body needs in this disease and one wrong move could take aways the chances of recovery.

I highly suspect that the vets are suggesting pts at this point only because they can see that you do not have the resources for treating DKA (and its a pretty poor prognosis) and they know what a hard position it is to be put in. Unfortunately, that is a decision far too many owners are put in these days.
 
Hi Melanie and Smokey.

Thanks for the feedback on the whole dying at home thing often being more for the human's benefit than the kitty's.

The clinic feels it would be stressful to move her but if I knew there was a certain benefit I would bring her home. Perhaps there is not. I also asked if I could bring in my other cat for it to be with her and we ended up agreeing that it would be stressful and confusing for the surviving kitty to have to go to the vet to see her litter mate die. And I just talked to a vet who does house calls who told me that, to his knowledge, cats usually don't have a detectable reaction to the sudden absence of a litter mate.

I talked to some other clinics and the fact that her body temperature is almost too low for her to be a living creature is the most ominous issue here. Yesterday at the day's end it had gone up to normal, finally, but now it's 93 all over again. The vet said that a few degrees lower and life would not be sustainable. She was on a recycling hot water pad all night with a second IV for dextrose and blankets. But apparently body temperature should not be the greatest factor in a DKA kitty regaining some stability. It's a factor apart from DKA, one that probably indicates that she will die. At least, this is what I now understand from asking direct questions this morning and getting some direct answers.

So I don't know. I'd prefer, if she were to get euthenasia, if I could have it done with a vet she knew better and who knew her, but since they haven't had a regular vet that's not an option either. Even if I bring her home, I get an unknown quantity.

They're trying to treat her but it looks like she has just lost the ability to regulate body heat and is dying.

Thanks for the responses you've all provided.
 
Oh, I am so sorry to hear that she is not doing well. You and the vets have certainly given it a good try. As far as your questions about putting them to sleep, I have put two of my kitties to sleep, and I did hold them each time (in the vet's office) telling them over and over what good kitties they were and how much I loved them. It may have been more of a comfort for me than for them, but it felt like I had closure.

You clearly love Sasha. Whatever decision you make will be the right one. It is so hard to know whether they have a chance and whether they are in pain. Would that they could talk to us....
 
Sorry things are not improving :cry:

I just want to clarify my comment on the pts at home. For the sick kitty, I think it is very much less stressful and a better situation if they can go peacefully in familiar surroundings. For the suviving kitties is where I think it is increased stress. Because Sasha is so sick now, if she is comfortable the vets may be right that it will stress her more to be removed from their supports systems to go home rather than pass peacefully where she is now. Its a HARD decision that no one ever wants to make. It does sound like they are doing what they can and that maybe a better financial situation would not make a difference.
 
Hi all.

Well, I very nearly took her home today when I saw how poorly she looked. I was petting and talking to her and she first seemed to be becoming more alert but then seemed agitated and wanted, even with IVs in both her front paws and in her exceptionally weakened state, to jump on my shoulders. I had to restrain her in my arms. Then she gave up and lay down, her mouth opened and she began coughing. It was the "death rattle," something I'd read about a few years back when someone I cared for was in hospice. She started active dying, a vet tech checked her and called the doctor on staff, whom I liked though I hadn't seen her before. She was right there and confirmed that I already knew. Because Sasha's lungs stopped, the vet asked if I wanted the euthenasia drug applied. I asked if she was now suffocating and the answer was yes, so mine was too. She quickly grabbed the right bottle, filled the syringe and stopped Sasha's heart.

I sat with her for the longest time, first holding her and then cleaning her up, unmatting her matted hair, removing the bandages from the IVs. Then, finally, about three hours later, I took her to the busiest 24-hour care place that I couldn't afford because the had the most affordable cremation option. $32 only for a service that some of the other clinics in the area use but charge more for. It's a group cremation service but the thing that makes people want it, and that made me want it, was that the guy who runs it spreads all the ashes in an apple orchard next door to his facility or whatever. And also, the pickup from this guy for this busiest 24-hour emergency clinic is frequent and was slated for the same day there. At the other place, Sasha would have been left there alone overnight when they shut down and somehow I didn't want her body left there alone another night.

Anyway, for those of you who have sick kitties and might find hearing all this very distressing, I did learn today that by the time she begin losing weight she likely already had ketoacidosis. And I began noticing that she was slowly dropping weight a couple of months back, I think. So I would hope that others among you were able to get your own kitties to the vet far sooner than I managed to do and that their prognosis would be far better. It just never occurred to me that such a thing would happen. I grew up with Siamese cats, at times three or more, and I don't recall any of them being diabetic, though it's also possible that childhood memory fails me on why/how they died over the years.

Now I have Sasha's litter mate and, I think, cousin, to look after. Now that I should get back to work in a few weeks I will have to get her a check-up that includes some diagnostic tests, however invasive. And this kitty actually does have a significant weight problem so now that I'm not worried about the thin kitty getting enough food at the same time as worrying about the chubby kitty who keeps going back to the bowl, I will probably go back to what I did when they were kittens, before the first and only other time Sasha got really sick and I had to get her to eat by introducing them to commercial food. In other words, my surviving kitty will probably be pretty unhappy with me as wean her off or nearly off of even the good Evo dry food that I've been giving them and go back to not leaving the food out after feeding times. Anyway, lots to do to remember Sasha.

I need to sign off now and am not sure how soon I'll check back. I'm going to need some time. But I wish all of you the best.

Sasha's human, always
 
Oh, I am so sorry. I am glad you were able to be with her. I read somewhere that when their heart stops, ours does too, if only for a moment. Cuddle with your other kitty. I am happy that you can use Sasha's legacy to make her cousin a happier, healthier cat. You loved her, you cared for her - no kitty can ask for more.
 
Oh I am so sorry for your loss, there just aren't words to ease your pain right now. Please know we are all still here even if it is just a shoulder to cry on when you are ready. Go cuddle your other kitty and try to find some comfort. My heart is breaking for you.

Mel
 
I'm sorry to see that you had to let Sasha go, but glad you were there with her when she passed and that it was peaceful.
 
So sorry you had to let your Sasha go. Sounds like you were able to let her go peacefully and have found a wonderful final resting place for her. She's free of pain now and hopefully that can be of some comfort.
 
I am very sorry for your loss. This was all that you could do. Sasha was a very sick kitty and luckily for her she was able to show you this. Please take comfort in knowing that she is pain free and in a better place now. You did the right thing and Sasha couldn't have asked for a more loving human.

Take care of you and your other kitties. Big hugs to you all :YMHUG:

Caryl, Alex & Jackson
 
My deepest sympathy on the loss of your dear Sasha. Cats are very good at hiding illness and there are times when it becomes too late for us to do anything to save them.....we are only left with giving them freedom from pain. My heart goes out to you......

petsympathy.jpg
 
I'm so sorry I just saw this. Sasha is free now, you gave her that final gift of freedom. My heart just goes out...
Fly free little Sasha land softly.
jeanne
 
I'm so sorry to hear you lost your cat, but you put up a valiant fight and did all you could. I'm sure she was the sweetest cat in the world, and knew you cared and adored her. I hope the pain eases as the good memories are recalled.

RuthV
 
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