heymickey
Member Since 2017
Hello everyone!
This is my first post, although I've been lurking for the past month, trying to get as much information as I could. My tuxedo kitty, Mickey, was diagnosed mid-June and have been treating him with Insulin (caninsulin) for almost a month now. We are on a bit of a rocky road atm but my boyfriend and I are trying to stay positive.
Mickey is a 9 year old male cat that I adopted at the SPCA when he was a few months old. I remember seeing him climbing all over his cage, just so estatic to see us! I picked him up and he climbed right on my shoulder/head, and I thought, "This is the one!" We've been best buddies since.
Last year my elderly cat (and Mickey's friend) had to be put down, as he was having TIAs every day and would not eat, drink, or move. The vet offered costly treatment, or the option to euthanize him. My whole family made the latter decision but I have never felt more guilty in my life. I felt like we could have done more, but decided to call it quits while we were ahead. This is relevant later.
After his friend passed away Mickey became depressed: looking for his friend, less social and lethargic. Soon after this we also moved, creating more stress for him. Then we got a kitten (Puma), which was stressful at first, but seemed to get Mickey out of his funk. We slowly introduced them and they are good buddies now. Mickey became more social, put on some weight he had lost (originally 15lbs, then down to 13lbs) and all was normal again. However in May, it all changed again when I started noticing he was losing weight again for no apparent reason. On one day it was particularly bad when I noticed that he wouldn't come when I shook the treat bag. He looked thin and half awake. We rushed him to our (new) vet and hospitalized him for 3 days. They ran IVF and did multiple tests to try and find out what had gone wrong. This was very costly for us, but the only other option was to leave him untreated, or put him down. I already put one cat down without closure, and I could not bring myself to do that to my best friend. If we eventually HAD to put him down, I needed to know why he had become sick, and I needed to know that I did everything in my power to make that the last option.
Mickey ended up having extremely high blood sugar reading (18) and we did a second blood test to confirm the diagnosis. We took him home and started giving him insulin shots of 1.5ml twice daily. We also changed our kitty's diets to wet food only. The initial couple weeks worked wonders on Mickey; he had energy back, and though thin, was eating normally. My Mickey was back!
Unfortunately, less than a week ago Mickey started behaving "odd" at night. He would become tired, lose all energy in his limbs, pupils were dialated, and face was twitching. This would usually clear up in a few hours and it would be like nothing happened. We brushed it off to him just being hot, but my gut told me it was something else. That gut feeling turned out to be right; he had a full on grand mal seizure at around midnight on Friday. His "odd behaviour" turned out to be auras. The vet warned us about the possibility of a seizure and told us to give him honey if that ever happened. We did that and he recovered quickly. He was back to walking, running, eating within 10 minutes after the seizure ended.
We took him to the vet the day after and they advised we take a day to monitor his blood sugar. Since then he seems to have Auras every night (no seizures) and occasionally during the day. I'm thinking it has something to do with the insulin dosage, since they start shortly after I give him his shots. Once I have the full chart I will consult with my vet.
So that is where I am at now. This whole thing is extremely stressful and trying. Just a long emotional roller coaster. Sorry if this got long, or isn't the right place. I just needed a place to get this off my chest. Does anyone have any advice, or happy stories of their own diabetic kitty? I could really use positivity. Thanks
TL;DR My 9 year old cat was recently diagnosed with diabetes. We are treating it but still have a long way to go until we are out of the danger zone. Advice or happy stories welcomed (and needed)!
This is my first post, although I've been lurking for the past month, trying to get as much information as I could. My tuxedo kitty, Mickey, was diagnosed mid-June and have been treating him with Insulin (caninsulin) for almost a month now. We are on a bit of a rocky road atm but my boyfriend and I are trying to stay positive.
Mickey is a 9 year old male cat that I adopted at the SPCA when he was a few months old. I remember seeing him climbing all over his cage, just so estatic to see us! I picked him up and he climbed right on my shoulder/head, and I thought, "This is the one!" We've been best buddies since.
Last year my elderly cat (and Mickey's friend) had to be put down, as he was having TIAs every day and would not eat, drink, or move. The vet offered costly treatment, or the option to euthanize him. My whole family made the latter decision but I have never felt more guilty in my life. I felt like we could have done more, but decided to call it quits while we were ahead. This is relevant later.
After his friend passed away Mickey became depressed: looking for his friend, less social and lethargic. Soon after this we also moved, creating more stress for him. Then we got a kitten (Puma), which was stressful at first, but seemed to get Mickey out of his funk. We slowly introduced them and they are good buddies now. Mickey became more social, put on some weight he had lost (originally 15lbs, then down to 13lbs) and all was normal again. However in May, it all changed again when I started noticing he was losing weight again for no apparent reason. On one day it was particularly bad when I noticed that he wouldn't come when I shook the treat bag. He looked thin and half awake. We rushed him to our (new) vet and hospitalized him for 3 days. They ran IVF and did multiple tests to try and find out what had gone wrong. This was very costly for us, but the only other option was to leave him untreated, or put him down. I already put one cat down without closure, and I could not bring myself to do that to my best friend. If we eventually HAD to put him down, I needed to know why he had become sick, and I needed to know that I did everything in my power to make that the last option.
Mickey ended up having extremely high blood sugar reading (18) and we did a second blood test to confirm the diagnosis. We took him home and started giving him insulin shots of 1.5ml twice daily. We also changed our kitty's diets to wet food only. The initial couple weeks worked wonders on Mickey; he had energy back, and though thin, was eating normally. My Mickey was back!
Unfortunately, less than a week ago Mickey started behaving "odd" at night. He would become tired, lose all energy in his limbs, pupils were dialated, and face was twitching. This would usually clear up in a few hours and it would be like nothing happened. We brushed it off to him just being hot, but my gut told me it was something else. That gut feeling turned out to be right; he had a full on grand mal seizure at around midnight on Friday. His "odd behaviour" turned out to be auras. The vet warned us about the possibility of a seizure and told us to give him honey if that ever happened. We did that and he recovered quickly. He was back to walking, running, eating within 10 minutes after the seizure ended.
We took him to the vet the day after and they advised we take a day to monitor his blood sugar. Since then he seems to have Auras every night (no seizures) and occasionally during the day. I'm thinking it has something to do with the insulin dosage, since they start shortly after I give him his shots. Once I have the full chart I will consult with my vet.
So that is where I am at now. This whole thing is extremely stressful and trying. Just a long emotional roller coaster. Sorry if this got long, or isn't the right place. I just needed a place to get this off my chest. Does anyone have any advice, or happy stories of their own diabetic kitty? I could really use positivity. Thanks
TL;DR My 9 year old cat was recently diagnosed with diabetes. We are treating it but still have a long way to go until we are out of the danger zone. Advice or happy stories welcomed (and needed)!
I am not experienced enough to give dosing advice but I am thinking that dose is too high now for Mickey especially in light of the food changes.
