UPDATE: I am devastated to write that we have lost Milo. He sits next to me now, waiting for his trip to the petuary. But we both wanted to take this time to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the support, kind words, and loving helpful words during our difficult time. We learned so much, and hope our experience with feline diabetes can help others have greater success! I am so sad Milo is gone, but my heart is at peace because both Milo and I knew that he would soon be leaving. Milo was never a talker, but he did a lot of happy, chirrupy, purry talking to me during his last 24 hours and I consider that his loving goodbye's. Even all my other pets, one by one, came to say goodbye to Milo in an ever so graceful manner before we went to the hospital. And Milo never was a snuggler, but he came for lots of hugs and kisses during his last six months. He even left his bed to sleep next to me where I slept on the floor next to him. Not only that, on his last night with us he was watching something with a happy twinkle in his eye, and I will always believe it was his buddy, Ferris, coming to show him the way to Rainbow Bridge. We also played a very low-level game of snake (string chasing) one last time.
We would however like to take this time to give a word of warning to kitty parents new to their baby's diabetes treatment. Avoid insulins that are known to rapidly drop levels and do not give insulin without home testing. Novolin N is one such insulin and is very dangerous to your cat. Novolin N causes rapid drops that when combined with the high levels of hyperglycemic rebound can be deadly! If your vet refuses to change your insulin to something with a gradual decrease in levels, and something more compatible with your cat's body, find another vet. I cannot stress this enough.
Rapid drops leading to hypoglycemia combined with the rebound hyperglycemia can sometimes be very detrimental to the brain. My sweet baby boy, Milo, did not recover from his hypoglycemic episode even though I acted quickly as instructed by my vet. The problem is, the initial signs of a HYPO episode can be overlooked by the untrained eye and hypoglycemia needs to be treated as quickly as it begins for the best outcome. In all my reading and learning about feline diabetes one fact stood out more than anything else I read and that was the fact that not only rapid drops leading to HYPOglycemia, but the rebound HYPERglycemia also can be very damaging to the brain; it's a double edged sword affecting the ability to perform basic bodily functions. I wholeheartedly believe this is what happened to my baby. After his HYPO, he lost the ability to eat and drink on his own and we had to resort to assisted feeding and drinking, and then to sub q fluids, and then to IV fluids--all in vain. The damage was done and he could not be saved. When we reached the point where he lost his ability to swallow properly during assisted feeding, and he began pushing my hand away, I knew he was approaching the end of his road. Additionally, he was not performing other basic "bodily" functions properly either. He lacked coordination throughout his whole body, causing him to stagger when walking and to run into walls and appear confused; he also could not use the potty properly.
We wish you all luck with managing diabetes for your babies. We will be checking in here from time to time to say hi and read about the experiences of others.