My older male cat (M, 11 years old) was diagnosed with diabetes this week and while I thought diabetes was as simple as just an insulin shot a day, I am finding myself increasingly stressed and overwhelmed with the research on it.
We basically have two options: the insulin shots or the Bexacat pills which are fairly new. The pills excited me at first, as M hates taking medication and always has - even putting flea and tick medication on his back when he was younger was a huge challenge, as he'd buck around and literally launch himself into the air. It took two of us to do flea and tick medicine! Doing more research on the pills, I've seen a glimmer of hope in the ease of it. But I'm also concerned with some of the side effects, DKA being the main one, but also it's a new drug and we don't know the long term effects of it yet. I've also seen a lot of information about testing glucose, testing ketones daily, testing blood ketones (?) and it sounds like so much.
With the insulin shots, you know more of what you're getting as that is the primary medication for diabetes, but again, giving him the shots is giving me wild anxiety, not to mention the fact that we do travel a lot (and when I mean a lot, I mean a lot. 3-5 international trips a year, and 3 domestic out of state, not including any weekend trips) and finding someone to give him the shots while watching him will be challenging - and what if he won't let them? If he's too nervous for that close contact with a stranger, how will he get his meds? How fast will it negatively effect him if he doesn't get it? What if he's finnicky with his food and doesn't eat, how can I give him his medication if he doesn't eat? I feel even more pressure because we are leaving in just under a month for an international trip and I feel like I've got to get started on this quickly so I can make it easier to have him watched next month and watch for symptoms or side effects... or else just having to cancel, which I would rather not do.
Let's not even begin on the financial costs of all of this.
I'm just overwhelmed with all of the information and I still need to talk to my vet about what they recommend, but if anyone could inform me that it just gets easier as you start the process, that would be immensely helpful. Unless it doesn't and then, well... oh well. Or if you've used Bexacat, how is that going for you? If you're using insulin for a stubborn cat, how did you get them used to it?
Signed,
An Overwhelmed Cat Mommy
We basically have two options: the insulin shots or the Bexacat pills which are fairly new. The pills excited me at first, as M hates taking medication and always has - even putting flea and tick medication on his back when he was younger was a huge challenge, as he'd buck around and literally launch himself into the air. It took two of us to do flea and tick medicine! Doing more research on the pills, I've seen a glimmer of hope in the ease of it. But I'm also concerned with some of the side effects, DKA being the main one, but also it's a new drug and we don't know the long term effects of it yet. I've also seen a lot of information about testing glucose, testing ketones daily, testing blood ketones (?) and it sounds like so much.
With the insulin shots, you know more of what you're getting as that is the primary medication for diabetes, but again, giving him the shots is giving me wild anxiety, not to mention the fact that we do travel a lot (and when I mean a lot, I mean a lot. 3-5 international trips a year, and 3 domestic out of state, not including any weekend trips) and finding someone to give him the shots while watching him will be challenging - and what if he won't let them? If he's too nervous for that close contact with a stranger, how will he get his meds? How fast will it negatively effect him if he doesn't get it? What if he's finnicky with his food and doesn't eat, how can I give him his medication if he doesn't eat? I feel even more pressure because we are leaving in just under a month for an international trip and I feel like I've got to get started on this quickly so I can make it easier to have him watched next month and watch for symptoms or side effects... or else just having to cancel, which I would rather not do.
Let's not even begin on the financial costs of all of this.
I'm just overwhelmed with all of the information and I still need to talk to my vet about what they recommend, but if anyone could inform me that it just gets easier as you start the process, that would be immensely helpful. Unless it doesn't and then, well... oh well. Or if you've used Bexacat, how is that going for you? If you're using insulin for a stubborn cat, how did you get them used to it?
Signed,
An Overwhelmed Cat Mommy