Here we go

[jenwales]

Hi everyone. I'm Jennifer and I am so nervous. You see, last weekend we took in a relative's almost 17 year old cat. We were there helping them move when George walked into the room, skinny as a rail, meowing loudly, and obviously unwell. I asked and apparently George was diagnosed in July with diabetes (BG of 397 at the time, other blood work was good) but they chose not to do anything about it. Of course we took George home.

We have an appointment this afternoon with my vet. I've read everything I can on managing feline diabetes and I think I'm informed enough to ask the right questions at the appointment, but if you were going into this for the first time, in retrospect, what would you ask?

George is now in a new home after being with his original family for 16 years. He's adjusting well, but I want to stress him out the least amount possible. I don't know how he's going to react to all of this. If it were one of my cats (I have 4 others), I'd know which ones would tolerate which treatments the best but I don't know George. He's friendly, hasn't hissed, clawed, bit at all, but he obviously doesn't feel well. I switched his food immediately to Wellness grain free canned and a small amount of Evo dry. The dry is because he's eaten nothing but Deli Cat and is an addict. I know I have to cut out the Evo but I'm not doing this yet for this geriatric, stressed, cat.

What would you ask and how would you choose to treat this old guy? I want whatever time he has left to be quality time. He's a nice boy.

 

[Elizabeth and Bertie]

Hello, and welcome to FDMB, Jennifer and George!

And bless you, Jennifer, for taking George on! :smile:

In hindsight I'd love to have asked - first and foremost; 'How many diabetic cats are you treating, and how are they doing?' That, I think, if answered honestly, should tell you a lot about the vet...

Other questions I'd like to have asked would have been;

How long do you think my cat has been diabetic?
How does insulin work?
How do I give the shots? Will you show me..?
What if I give the insulin and then my cat throws up his food? What do I do?
How should I monitor my cat's diabetes at home?
I'd like to test my cat's blood glucose myself. How do you feel about that?
Are there any complications of diabetes that I should be aware of? What should I look out for?
How do I contact you in an emergency?

...And probably a whole load more questions that will come to me in a minute, I expect!

But basically, I think you need to be confident that your vet is going to be a good partner to you in managing your cat's diabetes...