Libby and Lucy
Member Since 2009
What a ride it has been. It has been a while since I have posted her whole story, so I'm putting it here today to show everyone that anyone can do this FD thing.
Lucy's story in photos
September 2007: Lucy was almost dead when she was diagnosed: DKA, lipidosis, kidney failure, neuropathy... It came on literally overnight - vet suspected pancreatitis but it was not officially diagnosed.
The only way I can describe Lucy is that she is a survivor and a real tough cookie. She was dumped at a high kill shelter at age 5 for not using the litter box. Let's see, a 5 year old cat with litter box problems in a high kill shelter - not looking good, is it? Siamese Cat Rescue Center to the rescue!!! The shelter called Siamese Rescue to see if we wanted this cat named "Precious." Our volunteer went out to evaluate her and fell in love. SCRC had no foster space available, but the volunteer offered to out-foster Precious for the shelter AND pay her medical expenses to get the UTI taken care of. She also had untreated metritis, which I understand is a retained placenta that was infected and was making her belly extremely painful - so Lucy had a kitty hysterectomy. This volunteer kept her for a month until she got into Rescue. Then she had about 3 months at her foster home, a few nasty bouts of hairballs that made her stop eating, and a very shy demeanor.
Then a funny thing happened. My other Siamese Rescue kitty, Bobbi, died of renal failure (that's not the funny part). A week later I agreed to transport some cats around for Siamese Rescue because I needed something productive to do to get my mind off Bobbi. I was dropping off another cat at a foster home, and there was Precious. I just couldn't get her out of my head, so a week later I went back to adopt her. I named her Lucy because she is slapstick comedy silly like Lucille Ball. A week later she went off her food. Even the vet thought it was another of her monster hairballs brewing - until she got much worse a few days later and bloodwork showed BG of over 600 and DKA and all kinds of other bad stuff. I guess she wanted to see if I really was going to be her mom forever.
The really ironic part? The same foster mom happened to have a diabetic foster, Neville, who I had had a crush on since the day he came into Rescue. I seriously considered adopting Neville, but his foster mom and I talked at length and I decided I just wasn't in a position to deal with diabetes so soon after losing Bobbi. I was playing with Lucy while we were having that conversation. Hmmmm.....
We started on N and then PZI. I had a couple of people from rescue helping me by phone, then I found FDMB and started lurking.
April 2008: I am very shy, so it took a few months before I was able to start posting. I did it for Lucy, when I got to a point where I truly thought she was going to die because of me. As hard as she had fought to stay alive, I wasn't going to let that happen. I found a new vet who recommended Lantus, then I forced myself to sign in to LL. The rest is history!
February 2009: after 17 months on insulin and 10 months in Lantus Land, Lucy had her last shot on 2/21/2009! I for one did not see that coming. It was truly an awesome day.
February 2013: Lucy is now 10-11 years old and is the healthiest of my cats, even though she has a few pounds to lose. She still tests in the 200s at the vet, but is consistently in the 50s at home. She is still the silly kitty too. I'm thankful I ignored that ER vet who told me I should put her to sleep back in 2007.
As bad as things may be sometimes, remember that your cat is fighting to stay here, and you can learn to help them. You're never alone in LL. And once you get to a point where you are feeling ok, then go help other newbies who may be feeling scared or alone. FDMB and Lantus Land saved Lucy's life, without a doubt. That is why I am still here four years after OTJ.
Lucy's story in photos
September 2007: Lucy was almost dead when she was diagnosed: DKA, lipidosis, kidney failure, neuropathy... It came on literally overnight - vet suspected pancreatitis but it was not officially diagnosed.
The only way I can describe Lucy is that she is a survivor and a real tough cookie. She was dumped at a high kill shelter at age 5 for not using the litter box. Let's see, a 5 year old cat with litter box problems in a high kill shelter - not looking good, is it? Siamese Cat Rescue Center to the rescue!!! The shelter called Siamese Rescue to see if we wanted this cat named "Precious." Our volunteer went out to evaluate her and fell in love. SCRC had no foster space available, but the volunteer offered to out-foster Precious for the shelter AND pay her medical expenses to get the UTI taken care of. She also had untreated metritis, which I understand is a retained placenta that was infected and was making her belly extremely painful - so Lucy had a kitty hysterectomy. This volunteer kept her for a month until she got into Rescue. Then she had about 3 months at her foster home, a few nasty bouts of hairballs that made her stop eating, and a very shy demeanor.
Then a funny thing happened. My other Siamese Rescue kitty, Bobbi, died of renal failure (that's not the funny part). A week later I agreed to transport some cats around for Siamese Rescue because I needed something productive to do to get my mind off Bobbi. I was dropping off another cat at a foster home, and there was Precious. I just couldn't get her out of my head, so a week later I went back to adopt her. I named her Lucy because she is slapstick comedy silly like Lucille Ball. A week later she went off her food. Even the vet thought it was another of her monster hairballs brewing - until she got much worse a few days later and bloodwork showed BG of over 600 and DKA and all kinds of other bad stuff. I guess she wanted to see if I really was going to be her mom forever.
The really ironic part? The same foster mom happened to have a diabetic foster, Neville, who I had had a crush on since the day he came into Rescue. I seriously considered adopting Neville, but his foster mom and I talked at length and I decided I just wasn't in a position to deal with diabetes so soon after losing Bobbi. I was playing with Lucy while we were having that conversation. Hmmmm.....
We started on N and then PZI. I had a couple of people from rescue helping me by phone, then I found FDMB and started lurking.
April 2008: I am very shy, so it took a few months before I was able to start posting. I did it for Lucy, when I got to a point where I truly thought she was going to die because of me. As hard as she had fought to stay alive, I wasn't going to let that happen. I found a new vet who recommended Lantus, then I forced myself to sign in to LL. The rest is history!
February 2009: after 17 months on insulin and 10 months in Lantus Land, Lucy had her last shot on 2/21/2009! I for one did not see that coming. It was truly an awesome day.
February 2013: Lucy is now 10-11 years old and is the healthiest of my cats, even though she has a few pounds to lose. She still tests in the 200s at the vet, but is consistently in the 50s at home. She is still the silly kitty too. I'm thankful I ignored that ER vet who told me I should put her to sleep back in 2007.
As bad as things may be sometimes, remember that your cat is fighting to stay here, and you can learn to help them. You're never alone in LL. And once you get to a point where you are feeling ok, then go help other newbies who may be feeling scared or alone. FDMB and Lantus Land saved Lucy's life, without a doubt. That is why I am still here four years after OTJ.
