Le'ah
Member Since 2013
Hi gang,
I'm new here and to feline diabetes. A quick introduction and then I'll get on with my insecurities and inquiries! My husband and I have had Loki and Lilah for almost 8 years now. We can't have human babies of our own, so you can imagine how spoiled rotten our feline kids are. They are strictly indoor babies and have both gotten a bit chubby over the years. They are pretty active and play alot, but loki has always been more relaxed and laid back compared to his feisty sister.
About 2 weeks ago Loki started making growling noises while was using his litter box and we were worried it was UTD at first, we lost one of our babies years ago to UTD, almost exactly a year after he had surgery done for it, so you can imagine we may have been in a bit of a panic. We decided to take him to the vet the next morning. While the vet was checking him over and grooming him, he urinated on the table and it was very sticky. We hadn't really thought about it until the doc asked if his litter box was heavier than usual that he had been urinating more frequently. Diabetes was confirmed a week later with his BG at 274 and the doctor put him on 2 ml of human insulin twice a day and taught us how to give him his shots. He also had us get the Kato Diastix to test his urine for Glucose and Keetones.... and here is where it got tricky.
Loki is very private when it comes to using his litter box. We rarely even knew when he went before this and now that we are having to follow him in there and try to get a sample he does not want to go. We have even closed up his litter room for an hour or more with one of us in there just waiting for him to go, but he just won't do it while we're in there, we have also tried closing just him up in there and waiting until we heard him use it, but it doesn't happen! We both work from about 8am to 6 pm and he and Lilah are home alone during this time. It's like he waits until we're gone or asleep! I've only been able to test his urine twice since all of this started and that was by pure luck that I just so happened to get home and catch him peeing just outside of his box. He and Lilah also share a box, so we got another one and put it out when we're home and are hoping to catch a sample, but again he's very leary and private about it. If you so much as look at him while he's in there he will stop what he's doing and come out. It was the same both times I tested it and that was about 4 days apart.
The vet did not mention doing Blood testing with Loki, just the urine test. We have discussed it and my husband really doesn't want to have to do that if we can help it, and since the doc didn't say anything at all about it, we decided not to go that route unless we had to. I'm hoping that maybe some of you wonderful people might have some suggestions on what we can try. I'm at my wits end and am very frustrated that I can't seem to help my baby the way I should and we want to make sure he's okay. We are still a bit confused and new to all of this and learning little by little what we're doing. If the color on the strips doesn't look like it's going down, do we just take him back to the vet? We are doing very good with the shots, Loki is such a good boy and we give them to him at the same times everyday. We also have to pretend we're giving Lilah a shot as well or she gets a bit jealous and thinks he's getting something she's not. lol Silly girl. He seems to be responding well to them and we have not seen any odd behavior that would suggest he's gotten faint or anything like that.
So basically after all that babbling I guess what I'm asking for is any advice that can help a couple of newbies do the very best for their baby. Any suggestions on how we can get this thing under control would be greatly appreciated. I've already gotten so much more knowledge just reading through some of the posts here, some comments really helped me with giving the shot ect. so I know you all have loads more experience than me! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, I hope it makes sense, I'm afraid I ramble a bit when I'm nervous and I feel like I am failing my Loki in some way. I look forward to getting to know you all.
P.S I tried to order one of those Smart Cat Boxes from Amazon and they are unavailable now, I had hoped if nothing else that would help getting the urine sample easier, once we could get one that is, and I was very dissappointed that I was unable to pick one up. Does anyone know of other litter boxes that have the seperate resevoirs? Thanks!
P.s.s Sorry! I forgot to ask! Since this started I've noticed that Loki has a little bald spot that has formed on the top outside of his ear and looks to be starting on the other ear as well. I have never noticed this before, could it be related or am I just seeing complications where there are none because I have a sick baby? Geez, I sound like a nut. :roll:
I'm new here and to feline diabetes. A quick introduction and then I'll get on with my insecurities and inquiries! My husband and I have had Loki and Lilah for almost 8 years now. We can't have human babies of our own, so you can imagine how spoiled rotten our feline kids are. They are strictly indoor babies and have both gotten a bit chubby over the years. They are pretty active and play alot, but loki has always been more relaxed and laid back compared to his feisty sister.
About 2 weeks ago Loki started making growling noises while was using his litter box and we were worried it was UTD at first, we lost one of our babies years ago to UTD, almost exactly a year after he had surgery done for it, so you can imagine we may have been in a bit of a panic. We decided to take him to the vet the next morning. While the vet was checking him over and grooming him, he urinated on the table and it was very sticky. We hadn't really thought about it until the doc asked if his litter box was heavier than usual that he had been urinating more frequently. Diabetes was confirmed a week later with his BG at 274 and the doctor put him on 2 ml of human insulin twice a day and taught us how to give him his shots. He also had us get the Kato Diastix to test his urine for Glucose and Keetones.... and here is where it got tricky.
Loki is very private when it comes to using his litter box. We rarely even knew when he went before this and now that we are having to follow him in there and try to get a sample he does not want to go. We have even closed up his litter room for an hour or more with one of us in there just waiting for him to go, but he just won't do it while we're in there, we have also tried closing just him up in there and waiting until we heard him use it, but it doesn't happen! We both work from about 8am to 6 pm and he and Lilah are home alone during this time. It's like he waits until we're gone or asleep! I've only been able to test his urine twice since all of this started and that was by pure luck that I just so happened to get home and catch him peeing just outside of his box. He and Lilah also share a box, so we got another one and put it out when we're home and are hoping to catch a sample, but again he's very leary and private about it. If you so much as look at him while he's in there he will stop what he's doing and come out. It was the same both times I tested it and that was about 4 days apart.
The vet did not mention doing Blood testing with Loki, just the urine test. We have discussed it and my husband really doesn't want to have to do that if we can help it, and since the doc didn't say anything at all about it, we decided not to go that route unless we had to. I'm hoping that maybe some of you wonderful people might have some suggestions on what we can try. I'm at my wits end and am very frustrated that I can't seem to help my baby the way I should and we want to make sure he's okay. We are still a bit confused and new to all of this and learning little by little what we're doing. If the color on the strips doesn't look like it's going down, do we just take him back to the vet? We are doing very good with the shots, Loki is such a good boy and we give them to him at the same times everyday. We also have to pretend we're giving Lilah a shot as well or she gets a bit jealous and thinks he's getting something she's not. lol Silly girl. He seems to be responding well to them and we have not seen any odd behavior that would suggest he's gotten faint or anything like that.
So basically after all that babbling I guess what I'm asking for is any advice that can help a couple of newbies do the very best for their baby. Any suggestions on how we can get this thing under control would be greatly appreciated. I've already gotten so much more knowledge just reading through some of the posts here, some comments really helped me with giving the shot ect. so I know you all have loads more experience than me! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, I hope it makes sense, I'm afraid I ramble a bit when I'm nervous and I feel like I am failing my Loki in some way. I look forward to getting to know you all.
P.S I tried to order one of those Smart Cat Boxes from Amazon and they are unavailable now, I had hoped if nothing else that would help getting the urine sample easier, once we could get one that is, and I was very dissappointed that I was unable to pick one up. Does anyone know of other litter boxes that have the seperate resevoirs? Thanks!
P.s.s Sorry! I forgot to ask! Since this started I've noticed that Loki has a little bald spot that has formed on the top outside of his ear and looks to be starting on the other ear as well. I have never noticed this before, could it be related or am I just seeing complications where there are none because I have a sick baby? Geez, I sound like a nut. :roll:
He would not pee while anyone was watching. So I would fill a clean box with gravel and leave him in the room with it. He hated to see an unused box so would leave a sample that wouldn't be absorbed and that I could test.
