Amy and Marvin
Member Since 2020
Good morning,
My name is Amy and I am the mama to Marvin (and his new-ish roommate Roger). Marvin is 11 years old, somewhere around 14 or 15 lbs, and in general, a very laid back, toilet drinking, don't hold me, just love me kind of guy.
What follows is a rough timeline of how our lives together have been. I travel all over the country for work, and Marvin has been down for this life since the day he adopted me from the shelter in 2010. To be clear, he was the one in the shelter and reached out and grabbed me as I was walking by. He was 14 lbs, and around 1 year old.
He was basically a free-feeding dry food guy until approximately 2012, when a dog came to live with us for a while. As she liked to steal his food, he began receiving his meals on a table, and horking down a whole bowl at once. CAT, the dog, went to live with my parents in 2014, as the road life was not her style. The excessive kibble consumption continued until around 2017, when he topped out around 19lbs. He then went on a diet. I spent a ridiculous amount of time calclating calories in kibble and had him on approximately 1/4 C twice a day +1/3 can of urinary support wet food. (Purina pro plan for urinary support mixed with pro plan adult dry+pro plan urinary wet)
In early 2019, I noticed Marvin was losing weight. FINALLY. But he kept losing weight. A lot of it. I could feel his ribs and his spine, even though I had discarded the diet. He spent his days glued to his water dish/toilet and was peeing his way through a bucket of cat litter a week.
He had been to the vet several times for shots and a general wellness check to see if he was ok to go to Canada with me and the vet congratulated me on his weight loss (Oct 2019.)
In 2020, everything was closed. I couldn't get him in anywhere because it wasn't an emergency. I FINALLY got him in to see a vet and to voice my concerns that I thought he was diabetic in June 2020. The vet told me it was probably thyroid but they would check for diabetes since I was so insistent. (I had a diabetic dog growing up, as well as several loved ones with diabetes, I have a solid grasp on the symptoms) I was right, he had diabetes. She started him on 1 unit of vetsulin twice a day. That 1 unit stopped the excessive thirst, and he began to reinflate.
July 2020-his dose was upped to 1.5 after a glucose curve showed he was still in the 300-400 range.
Late July 2020-upped to 3 after another glucose curve showed the same. It was at this time I switched him to all wet food, all the time-Fancy Feast Classic (3 oz plus 1.5 oz of pro plan urinary twice a day). **Note the vet wasn't on board with this switch and wanted me to put him on diabetic dry food**
Accidentally adopted Roger, the 14 year old super skinny stray-Roger is on a get some fat on your body diet
August 2020-curve showed he was very close to being in range. Dose upped to 3.5u 2x day.
Oct 2020-went away for a week, my sister came to stay with the boys. Marvin has some separation anxiety and wouldn't eat. She tried different flavors, tuna, kibble, etc. This was the first time we had missed a dose of insulin, because he wasn't eating.
November 2020-My husband noticed Marvin was acting funny-like he was a little drunk. I'd read about low blood sugar episodes, and gave him some honey and a bit of ice cream, then a bowl of Roger food-kibble+gravy FF. He was normal after that. I started shopping for a glucose meter and reduced his dosage. He was still turning his nose up at the FF pate. Just to get food into him, I ended up having to give him kibble and/or the gravy FF.
December 2020-I received my meter, a Paws Gluco, and have learned, after a lot of attempts, and joining this forum, how to get a drop of blood from my poor cat. I also switched him to tikicat mixed with a half can of pro plan urinary. He is super stoked to get "people food" instead of mush. He says the only pate he will eat now is from taco bell.
My name is Amy and I am the mama to Marvin (and his new-ish roommate Roger). Marvin is 11 years old, somewhere around 14 or 15 lbs, and in general, a very laid back, toilet drinking, don't hold me, just love me kind of guy.
What follows is a rough timeline of how our lives together have been. I travel all over the country for work, and Marvin has been down for this life since the day he adopted me from the shelter in 2010. To be clear, he was the one in the shelter and reached out and grabbed me as I was walking by. He was 14 lbs, and around 1 year old.
He was basically a free-feeding dry food guy until approximately 2012, when a dog came to live with us for a while. As she liked to steal his food, he began receiving his meals on a table, and horking down a whole bowl at once. CAT, the dog, went to live with my parents in 2014, as the road life was not her style. The excessive kibble consumption continued until around 2017, when he topped out around 19lbs. He then went on a diet. I spent a ridiculous amount of time calclating calories in kibble and had him on approximately 1/4 C twice a day +1/3 can of urinary support wet food. (Purina pro plan for urinary support mixed with pro plan adult dry+pro plan urinary wet)
In early 2019, I noticed Marvin was losing weight. FINALLY. But he kept losing weight. A lot of it. I could feel his ribs and his spine, even though I had discarded the diet. He spent his days glued to his water dish/toilet and was peeing his way through a bucket of cat litter a week.
He had been to the vet several times for shots and a general wellness check to see if he was ok to go to Canada with me and the vet congratulated me on his weight loss (Oct 2019.)
In 2020, everything was closed. I couldn't get him in anywhere because it wasn't an emergency. I FINALLY got him in to see a vet and to voice my concerns that I thought he was diabetic in June 2020. The vet told me it was probably thyroid but they would check for diabetes since I was so insistent. (I had a diabetic dog growing up, as well as several loved ones with diabetes, I have a solid grasp on the symptoms) I was right, he had diabetes. She started him on 1 unit of vetsulin twice a day. That 1 unit stopped the excessive thirst, and he began to reinflate.
July 2020-his dose was upped to 1.5 after a glucose curve showed he was still in the 300-400 range.
Late July 2020-upped to 3 after another glucose curve showed the same. It was at this time I switched him to all wet food, all the time-Fancy Feast Classic (3 oz plus 1.5 oz of pro plan urinary twice a day). **Note the vet wasn't on board with this switch and wanted me to put him on diabetic dry food**
Accidentally adopted Roger, the 14 year old super skinny stray-Roger is on a get some fat on your body diet
August 2020-curve showed he was very close to being in range. Dose upped to 3.5u 2x day.
Oct 2020-went away for a week, my sister came to stay with the boys. Marvin has some separation anxiety and wouldn't eat. She tried different flavors, tuna, kibble, etc. This was the first time we had missed a dose of insulin, because he wasn't eating.
November 2020-My husband noticed Marvin was acting funny-like he was a little drunk. I'd read about low blood sugar episodes, and gave him some honey and a bit of ice cream, then a bowl of Roger food-kibble+gravy FF. He was normal after that. I started shopping for a glucose meter and reduced his dosage. He was still turning his nose up at the FF pate. Just to get food into him, I ended up having to give him kibble and/or the gravy FF.
December 2020-I received my meter, a Paws Gluco, and have learned, after a lot of attempts, and joining this forum, how to get a drop of blood from my poor cat. I also switched him to tikicat mixed with a half can of pro plan urinary. He is super stoked to get "people food" instead of mush. He says the only pate he will eat now is from taco bell.
