Noa's Caretaker
Member Since 2024
Hello! Meet Noa. She is a 8-9 years old spayed tortie. She chose me, shimmying her way into my life 6 years ago when i was fresh off the plane in Buenos Aires, Argentina, living in a bit of a slum. For years and even as i moved to a better place, our relationship was comfotable: She could go out on her own, take care of herself, and return to me whenever she needed shelter, food and love. I had come to terms that one day she would meet her undoing outside and i would be none the wiser, i valued her freedom so much that i was okay with that.
It seems however i fell into the convenient trap of dry cat food being available 24/7. That seems to have coupled with the stress of her human family breaking apart, even if i moved to an apartment she could come back and forth from any time, i'm sure this change in status quo ended with her being diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus two monts ago; Dramatic weight loss, ravenous hunger, lots of peeing, i'm pretty sure you're all familiar.
The endocrinologist put her on a dry food diet (Royal Canin Feline Diabetic) and 1U of Lantus every 12 hours. Hyperthyroidism was discarded first with her T4 values being slightly below normal ranges.
I'll try to cut the whole story to the most important bits.
After completely failing to get her glucose under control with 1U, being authorized to increase it to 2U, then eventually knocking it back to 1U, i have drawn the following conclusions:
-Constant stress seems to be the great culprit behind her seemingly uncontrolled blood glucose. Stress from her still ravenous appetite and from imprisonment.
-2 units of lantus every 12 hours leave her on the edge of hypo, giving the impression of control, while in actuality the poor thing might feel too out of fuel to freak out. She'd regularly wake up in the mornings on the high 300's, to violently crash to 50-60 in the afternoons.
-1 Units seem to solve the issue of morning hypers, but leave her high enough during the day that she has the energy to be utterly miserable and yowl, scream and protest her way into the 300's. I don't need to prick her ear at this point: I just know. There is no consoling her in this state. She's not in the mood to play, accept affection, and certainly she's not in the mood to sleep. More experienced cat owners might shut me down on this, but, try holding 44 grams of dry food in your hand, and imagine yourself having only this to feed your 6.6lb cat with for a whole day. It might just be too little, i'm afraid.
-After becoming a raccoon, trying to raid a neighbour's backyard, and having her butt cheek bitten by one of said neighbour's poodle on her hasty retreat, i have come to the realization that my cat is no longer able to take care of herself due to her ravenous appetite, it was delusional and imprudent of me to think otherwise. Though, that incident might've acted as a reminder to her. Either way this leaves me with the crushing reality of having to be her jailer from now on.
-Indeed i have read about wet food. The endocrinologist basically ordered me to keep on this diet until this last fructosamine test. I obeyed. It was 726, one month and a half after insulin treatment started. After that morale blow, i rebelled a little, and fed her the best canned wet food i knew and had access to. (Sieger's Energy Recovery) for a day and a half. Glucose readings were good, and she was relatively at peace that day, though still prone to food theft and general goblin behavior.
-Despite it all, her water consumption and peeing are normal, and she has gained weight. That leaves me thinking she might not actually be "starving", but rather, in the face of not having food available 24/7, she has regressed into an older programming, one in which she must hunt and scavenge to survive. It might be psychological. I don't know what to do about this.
-An ultrasound has revealed her adrenal glands are elongated, but according to the endocrinologist, not to the point of immediately suspecting tumors, claiming that it might just be stress from the illness. He ordered an igf-1 test, of which i'll have a result this coming june 27th.
-Blood glucose tests are not a factor. I strike swiftly, like a ninja. Before she has time to get angry, the blood is already on the strip. She is handsomely rewarded for her troubles.
So the questions are:
Should i fully tell the endocrinologist to stick it with his dry food? Living in Argentina, i might not have access to the same brands you all are familiar with, but i can provide nutrition labels. I can cook for her too if needed be.
If i can trust her not to tread into dog territory after that wake-up call, if i can somewhat safely say she doesn't have access to trash bags or nasty things when i let her roam around the encosed neighbourhood, if i know well she's too afraid of the streets to actually cross there, is it better to let her roam even with the risk that she might find something nasty to eat? or should i just admit she's not that kind of kitty anymore, and instead focus on making the best out of her new reality?
Anyways, i think this is all i have to say so far. Sorry if all this info is hard to parse. It's been some hard months for me. If she is miserable, i am miserable. I hope i can find some clarity. Thank you.
It seems however i fell into the convenient trap of dry cat food being available 24/7. That seems to have coupled with the stress of her human family breaking apart, even if i moved to an apartment she could come back and forth from any time, i'm sure this change in status quo ended with her being diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus two monts ago; Dramatic weight loss, ravenous hunger, lots of peeing, i'm pretty sure you're all familiar.
The endocrinologist put her on a dry food diet (Royal Canin Feline Diabetic) and 1U of Lantus every 12 hours. Hyperthyroidism was discarded first with her T4 values being slightly below normal ranges.
I'll try to cut the whole story to the most important bits.
After completely failing to get her glucose under control with 1U, being authorized to increase it to 2U, then eventually knocking it back to 1U, i have drawn the following conclusions:
-Constant stress seems to be the great culprit behind her seemingly uncontrolled blood glucose. Stress from her still ravenous appetite and from imprisonment.
-2 units of lantus every 12 hours leave her on the edge of hypo, giving the impression of control, while in actuality the poor thing might feel too out of fuel to freak out. She'd regularly wake up in the mornings on the high 300's, to violently crash to 50-60 in the afternoons.
-1 Units seem to solve the issue of morning hypers, but leave her high enough during the day that she has the energy to be utterly miserable and yowl, scream and protest her way into the 300's. I don't need to prick her ear at this point: I just know. There is no consoling her in this state. She's not in the mood to play, accept affection, and certainly she's not in the mood to sleep. More experienced cat owners might shut me down on this, but, try holding 44 grams of dry food in your hand, and imagine yourself having only this to feed your 6.6lb cat with for a whole day. It might just be too little, i'm afraid.
-After becoming a raccoon, trying to raid a neighbour's backyard, and having her butt cheek bitten by one of said neighbour's poodle on her hasty retreat, i have come to the realization that my cat is no longer able to take care of herself due to her ravenous appetite, it was delusional and imprudent of me to think otherwise. Though, that incident might've acted as a reminder to her. Either way this leaves me with the crushing reality of having to be her jailer from now on.
-Indeed i have read about wet food. The endocrinologist basically ordered me to keep on this diet until this last fructosamine test. I obeyed. It was 726, one month and a half after insulin treatment started. After that morale blow, i rebelled a little, and fed her the best canned wet food i knew and had access to. (Sieger's Energy Recovery) for a day and a half. Glucose readings were good, and she was relatively at peace that day, though still prone to food theft and general goblin behavior.
-Despite it all, her water consumption and peeing are normal, and she has gained weight. That leaves me thinking she might not actually be "starving", but rather, in the face of not having food available 24/7, she has regressed into an older programming, one in which she must hunt and scavenge to survive. It might be psychological. I don't know what to do about this.
-An ultrasound has revealed her adrenal glands are elongated, but according to the endocrinologist, not to the point of immediately suspecting tumors, claiming that it might just be stress from the illness. He ordered an igf-1 test, of which i'll have a result this coming june 27th.
-Blood glucose tests are not a factor. I strike swiftly, like a ninja. Before she has time to get angry, the blood is already on the strip. She is handsomely rewarded for her troubles.
So the questions are:
Should i fully tell the endocrinologist to stick it with his dry food? Living in Argentina, i might not have access to the same brands you all are familiar with, but i can provide nutrition labels. I can cook for her too if needed be.
If i can trust her not to tread into dog territory after that wake-up call, if i can somewhat safely say she doesn't have access to trash bags or nasty things when i let her roam around the encosed neighbourhood, if i know well she's too afraid of the streets to actually cross there, is it better to let her roam even with the risk that she might find something nasty to eat? or should i just admit she's not that kind of kitty anymore, and instead focus on making the best out of her new reality?
Anyways, i think this is all i have to say so far. Sorry if all this info is hard to parse. It's been some hard months for me. If she is miserable, i am miserable. I hope i can find some clarity. Thank you.
in diabetic pet support facebook groups, when a diabetic pet earns their wings, this dry food is what the owners give away. When i bring up the idea of switching Noa to a wet food diet, the doc is always adamant if not outright discouraging, though not entirely opposed. I guess that's the "safe and predictable" route for him. So i'm acting a bit outside of his consent here.