I dont know what to do for my old man cat

[Bixley]

Hello! I'm Kate and I have a 15ish year old cat named Bixley. He had been occasionally peeing outside the box for over a year and it recently increased after the birth of my daughter, Frances. His appetite went from dry food to CANNED ONLY, IF YOU PLEASE in 2016 when I inherited a fat, super docile, male cat. Bixley stopped playing fetch maybe 3 years ago, and stopped with the laser about 1.5 years ago. I got really concerned when he stopped jumping up on things, his appetite went from slightly picky to extremely picky and I was filling the water fountain twice as much as I used to. I finally took him to the vet. Diabetes. Insulin twice a day. Low carb, high protein wet food.

Things improved very slightly. I guess he's not under my feet begging for food as much, but he still cannot pee in the box consistently. I have three boxes and one where he likes to pee out of convenience... he has always been 8 pounds but now he's down to 7.4 which is up from his 6.8 before Insulin. He is still slightly affectionate, but won't sit and kneed on my crochet anymore. I feel like his quality of life is in the "fair" zone, but my quality of life dealing with him is very poor. He tracks his peepee paws all over the house and I have a crawler. The extra box is in the living room and I have to sweep, vacuum, and mop daily so that Frances isn't crawling in litter. Cleaning his pee off the baseboards and wood floors take away my precious morning time with my daughter. His expenses average 70 dollars a week.

I rescued him from certain death in a kill shelter. He reached his paw out and grabbed my shirt. Bixley has been witness to so much over the last 14 years. I love him so much and I know a part of my life will be boring without him. Constant companion. My shadow. The cherry on top. My little man. I feel guilty for wanting to put him down because I feel like he still has more years to live...

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Can you tell us what type of insulin you are giving and how much? Once you get him to a good dose of insulin, the amount of pee should go almost down to normal. And it'll be less sticky.

Are you home testing his blood sugars?

 

[Bixley]

Vetsulin. Not testing blood sugars. I cant remember how much insulin it actually is, I just know that I go to the second little line... I know that's no help.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

If you can start home testing his blood sugars, you can manage his dose by yourself and get him into better blood sugar numbers. Tips and videos here: Hometesting Links and Tips That'll really help the amount that he pees. And side note, it's actually a lot cheaper than a vet visit to test his sugars or do a curve. Plus your litter costs and cleaning will go down. Another thing that might help is getting him on a better insulin. Vetsulin (called Caninsulin elsewhere in the world, ie. canine insulin) doesn't last long in the cat. Lantus or Prozinc are better options. You might want to talk to your vet about your goals with Bixley.

 

[Lisa and Witn (GA)]

Vetsulin. Not testing blood sugars. I cant remember how much insulin it actually is, I just know that I go to the second little line... I know that's no help.

The 2nd line is 2 units. Vetsulin is not a great insulin for cats. Some do fine on it but most cats respond better to long acting insulins such as Lantus, Levemir , ProZinc or BCP PZI.

We also recommend home testing This means testing your cats glucose before every shot and in between. This is so you know if it is safe to give the dose and determine how well the dose is working. You can use a human glucose meter to test There are pet meters available, but the are more expensive to use and there is not much difference in the results. We can help you learn how to test.

It sounds like Bixley's glucose levels are not under control. I think if you switch to a longer acting insulin and start home testing, you will probably see significant improvements with him.