How do you take care your sugar cat when out of town?

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mimi1997

mimi1997

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It sounds like many people do find sugar cats gain higher BG numbers when they come home, even find OTJ cats back to diabetes.
Besides having a petting sitter coming over to shot and feed, what can I do for my cat?
What can I expect a pet sitter?
I am thinking about buying a automatic pet feeder, like PetSafe 5-Meal Electronic Pet Feeder--- but my cat doesn't eat at same clock, what if he's late for one or two or more...
 
I suppose leaving stuff that smells like you near the places they like to sleep might be helpful.

My pet sitter is also a former housemate (who discovered a condo does not expand!), so my cats know and approach him.

If you had a really good friend to actually house sit and spend a good portion, if not all, of the day there, it might help.

Timers to turn on and off TV, radio, and lights (prudent, anyway, for security reasons). Be sure to have any mail brought in or held at the post office.

Edited to add: and my friend bailed on monitoring the diabetic cat, so now I have to board him while I'm gone. And they are not going to be happy that he isn't perfectly regulated on the 3 units twice a day that he was sent home on. Spitzer is somewhere down around .75 - 1 units, depending on whether he liked what he ate or not.
 
There might be a vet tech at your vet who would like some extra money. He/She could give shots and test. Freezing the food and leaving it out might help also.
 
you could also check if any FDMB members are in your area and available -- cjleo is somewhere near Boston

Some people take their sugar cat camping or even sailing/boating.

So far, either my DH or I have been home with the kitties. We did buy a big dog cage when i got a station wagon with intent to travel with our sugar cat, but we haven't done it yet. Probably next year when my niece gets married.
 
My husband and I will be going out of town for a week in December and we've already scheduled our Burrito to be boarded at the vet's office. It's a cat-only vet, and the whole staff loves kitties, so I feel he will be safest there. They have a kitty "condo" boarding area that's adjacent to the office. My neighbor had offered to check in on him and give him the shots, but I really don't want to burden her with the schedule of 2 shots a day at the same times each day. She's never given insulin shots before. I'll probably ask that she check in on my other two kitties (non-diabetics) who aren't on any meds.
 
I agree this is a big problem. So far we've stayed home. Missed seeing my dad before he died. My DH was there at least. I couldn't go coz of LB. I would like to visit my DD right now but can't leave LB to others to care for. Certainly at the 3 unit mark it's difficult. The risk of hypo attack is the big worry if vomits up breakfast. Have you got any friends/relatives/recommendations from the vet for a sitter who would do an ok job? The injections are nothing but you need to know that your kitty is getting small, low carb meals often.

It would be very good if this site had a registry of people, where they live and whether they are available to help out. I would certainly do this in my location within a radius of 10ks.

I expect this to come to an end soon when my cat gets OTJ. If he can do that within 6 - 8 months of starting treatment then I will be very happy. But even so, his diet will have to be monitored carefully for the rest of his life. Same for all our kitties.
 
I don't have a friend who live so close and able to shot a cat twice a day. Lucky you!

BJM said:
I suppose leaving stuff that smells like you near the places they like to sleep might be helpful.

My pet sitter is also a former housemate (who discovered a condo does not expand!), so my cats know and approach him.

If you had a really good friend to actually house sit and spend a good portion, if not all, of the day there, it might help.

Timers to turn on and off TV, radio, and lights (prudent, anyway, for security reasons). Be sure to have any mail brought in or held at the post office.

Edited to add: and my friend bailed on monitoring the diabetic cat, so now I have to board him while I'm gone. And they are not going to be happy that he isn't perfectly regulated on the 3 units twice a day that he was sent home on. Spitzer is somewhere down around .75 - 1 units, depending on whether he liked what he ate or not.
Click to expand...
 
I know my cat sitter can come once a day to feed without any problem.
Not sure she can some every 12 hours to give shots(although she say she can shot with extra charge).
And even test my sensitive cat?
My cat still gets upset when I prick, although it is getting better than the begging.

About the auto feeder, what if my cat oversleeps (he does) and missed his meal?

Sue and Oliver said:
There might be a vet tech at your vet who would like some extra money. He/She could give shots and test. Freezing the food and leaving it out might help also.
Click to expand...
 
We've had a feeder for 6 years and never had this problem. Oliver would come running through the house when he heard the feeder turning. Niko sits and waits for it to go off.
 
i played mean when i went out of town. i told fiance he had to either learn to handle a needle or pay for Mousie to be boarded. he's a cheapskate so guess what he decided? :-)

but seriously, see if someone here is close enough to help out or could possibly give a sitter recommendation? cjleo for instance is a longtime respected member here who happens to do some amazing foster work with kitties so if she's close enough she might have a reference for you at least. if you decide to go that way, start another post with something like "Boston petsitter help/references needed?"
 
::::About the auto feeder, what if my cat oversleeps (he does) and missed his meal?

Good question. We've been going since early June on the program. My cat wakes me up in the night when he's really hungry. I have never been able to wake up and check him or wake myself up to make sure he eats when his numbers were low when I went to bed. Needless to say that I do get up when he meow's in my face until I wake up. I think he automatically knows that he has to eat. (his body tells him its something he must to do). As Sue said, Oliver comes running when he hears the auto feeder. Cat's are pretty smart!

I can't help thinking that in the last six months LB must have been very low during the nite on various occasions. Yet we've never had a problem with him coz he wakes us up. He never did this before diabetes. He always waited until morning to eat. I think you have to let go a little. If you don't have a choice about going away you have to set up an auto feeder and get him used to it and trust that he's smart enough to use it. I would like to buy one from the US so that we can have an over night away sometimes and for feeding thru the night.
 
I am not interested to go vacation or so, but we visit my parents oversea each year since they are too old to be on such long flight (24+hours)
So this is difficult. I love them all...

Anyname said:
I agree this is a big problem. So far we've stayed home. Missed seeing my dad before he died. My DH was there at least. I couldn't go coz of LB. I would like to visit my DD right now but can't leave LB to others to care for. Certainly at the 3 unit mark it's difficult. The risk of hypo attack is the big worry if vomits up breakfast. Have you got any friends/relatives/recommendations from the vet for a sitter who would do an ok job? The injections are nothing but you need to know that your kitty is getting small, low carb meals often.
Click to expand...

Anyname said:
It would be very good if this site had a registry of people, where they live and whether they are available to help out. I would certainly do this in my location within a radius of 10ks.
Click to expand...
I agree. A member lives about one hour from me but I think it is too far to ask.I know my vet has other diabetic patients but we don't know each other, and my vet can't release other patients' info. I even wonder if they come to this board at all? .

Anyname said:
I expect this to come to an end soon when my cat gets OTJ. If he can do that within 6 - 8 months of starting treatment then I will be very happy. But even so, his diet will have to be monitored carefully for the rest of his life. Same for all our kitties.
Click to expand...

Your ss looks good. Which insulin are you using?
 
The feeder we like is the PetSafe 5. It has 5 compartments and you can set the timer to go off whenever you want. So you can set one to go off at 6 am, then at 10 am, 3 pm etc. There is a place for a cold pack but it doesn't come with one. We just freeze the food and put the pucks out. Some of the feeders are easy for kitties to break into and Oliver was a pro. This one, the bottom moves and the top is one big piece, so they can't pull or pry off the lid.

No, Oliver never came and waited for his test. :mrgreen: He reluctantly would let us grab him and patiently sit through it so he could have breakfast. Food was always a motivator for him.
 
mimi1997 said:
About the auto feeder, what if my cat oversleeps (he does) and missed his meal?
Click to expand...

If you are using the PetSafe 5 compartment feeder, the bowl doesn't continue to rotate after the last programmed time. If you have, say, 4 times programmed and your cat misses the second one, he can just wait for the third time. He'll be ok, just a little hungry :smile:

mimi1997 said:
I agree. A member lives about one hour from me but I think it is too far to ask.
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There are several members in the Boston-area who may be closer. Where abouts are you? In the city? Just outside? Within the Rt. 128 area?

I have a list of Boston-area pet sitters if you are interested. You can send me a PM. Also, a Boston-area member uses a vet tech from the clinic she takes her cat to. The vet tech can give different types of meds and fluids and stuff.
 
There's also the option of "sleepovers", if you think your cat won't flip out being around other cats. Mine tend to get over the Visitors pretty quickly. I've had other people's cats stay with us while they were away.

MJ&Donovan
 
:::No, Oliver never came and waited for his test. He reluctantly would let us grab him and patiently sit through it so he could have breakfast. Food was always a motivator for him.

Little Boy is very easy about the ear tests. Often jumps up on the chair in anticipation. Like he's a big boy now and doesn't have to be lugged up in to position for testing.
He's on Lantus.

I think it's really difficult with family living overseas. I know exactly how you are feeling. We in Australia and DD in Oxford UK. They can't really afford to come to us - both with time and money.

I love the sound of Sue's feeder. If anyone is still reading this thread, can I buy it on line?
 
Anyname said:
I love the sound of Sue's feeder. If anyone is still reading this thread, can I buy it on line?
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Yes, the PetSafe 5 compartment feeder can be bought at many online stores. You can do a Google shopping search (http://www.google.com/prdhp?hl=en&tab=wf) or use PriceGrabber.com or Shopping.com or Buy.com to find what online store has the lowest price. Amazon.com sells it. EBay may even have some. I bought mine at a PetSmart store.
 
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