Cini Mini's Mom
Very Active Member
Hi,
My cat's name is Cini Mini, he's 13 yrs old and has been diabetic for about 3 years now.
I used to be a Vet Tech loooong ago and that's how I got him. Cini has had a myriad of issues ever since he was born. He was born with Feline Herpes and is blind, we had to remove his eyes. He's been a great cat and acts just like a cat with eyes.
Then when he was 5 years old he had a severe vaccine reaction and had to be hospitalized. I almost lost him but he pulled through and recovered fully.
Then I moved to Arizona and he developed liver disease. The Vet did his blood-work twice because his liver values were so high she thought the lab machines were malfunctioning. She said with values that high he should have been in liver failure.
Once we got the liver problem under control Cini started wheezing. The Vet thought it was feline asthma and started him on steroid injections every 6 months or so for that for 5 years. It helped, but you guessed it, he developed diabetes from the steroids.
The past 3 years have been a real education for me. We went the whole gambit of just taking home a bottle of insulin and shooting blind 2 units of Lantus twice a day. Then we were told to shoot blind 1.5 units twice a day because the Vet did a Fructosamine curve and his readings were too low. He ate dry Hill's MD food only and no canned food.
It's only been in the last 6 months since I switched Vets that I have been doing glucose readings at home. My new Vet is very supportive and is willing to work with me on trying to get him off the insulin but she says that once they have been on for that long the chances are they will stay on it forever. :cry:
So as if that wasn't bad enough Cini started wheezing really bad and the new Vet wanted to take blood for a Toxoplasmosis test because she thought what I was describing sounded more like Toxo than Feline Asthma. The Toxo test came back positive and all I could think of is "You mean to tell me this cat had toxoplasmosis all this time and the other Vet misdiagnosed it ?!?!" ohmygod_smile We did years of steroids for nothing.
We put him through the Toxo treatment which is no easy thing and he developed a stricture (narrowing of the esophagus) from the nausea that was caused by the meds for the Toxo. He lost weight and muscle mass, his diabetes went all over the place and then I had to bring him to the emergency clinic because he started choking on his own saliva.
Now, two weeks and $4000 (no that is not a typo, it was really that many 0s) later he's resting back at home but I can't get his glucose regulated. He's all over the place with the lowest reading in the low 100's but his highest has been 487. :-| And to top it all off while he was at the emergency vet for a week, they were giving his insulin at 10am and 10pm, they moved his times because of the surgery he was having for his throat. I would rather go back to 7am and 7pm but I don't know if I can just set it back by 3 hours all of a sudden or if I have to make some gradual adjustment? (Any help here would be great)
While Cini was having all this adventure at the Emergency Vet they did another Toxo test on him and it was negative (yay!) and he hasn't so much as coughed funny since he's been treated for the Toxo. All I can say is if you move to a dry climate and your cat starts wheezing, ask the Vet to do a Toxo test before they stick your cat with steroids.
So now, looking forward, his two main issues are diabetes and this stricture that we have to keep an eye on that it doesn't close up again. The best thing we can do to help with that is to feed him canned food. Well ok, no more dry food which will help with his diabetes anyway. I (and Cini) can live with that.
Thanks for letting me tell Cini's story. I have been looking around the site and I have already found loads of useful information.
My cat's name is Cini Mini, he's 13 yrs old and has been diabetic for about 3 years now.
I used to be a Vet Tech loooong ago and that's how I got him. Cini has had a myriad of issues ever since he was born. He was born with Feline Herpes and is blind, we had to remove his eyes. He's been a great cat and acts just like a cat with eyes.
Then when he was 5 years old he had a severe vaccine reaction and had to be hospitalized. I almost lost him but he pulled through and recovered fully.
Then I moved to Arizona and he developed liver disease. The Vet did his blood-work twice because his liver values were so high she thought the lab machines were malfunctioning. She said with values that high he should have been in liver failure.
Once we got the liver problem under control Cini started wheezing. The Vet thought it was feline asthma and started him on steroid injections every 6 months or so for that for 5 years. It helped, but you guessed it, he developed diabetes from the steroids.
The past 3 years have been a real education for me. We went the whole gambit of just taking home a bottle of insulin and shooting blind 2 units of Lantus twice a day. Then we were told to shoot blind 1.5 units twice a day because the Vet did a Fructosamine curve and his readings were too low. He ate dry Hill's MD food only and no canned food.
It's only been in the last 6 months since I switched Vets that I have been doing glucose readings at home. My new Vet is very supportive and is willing to work with me on trying to get him off the insulin but she says that once they have been on for that long the chances are they will stay on it forever. :cry:
So as if that wasn't bad enough Cini started wheezing really bad and the new Vet wanted to take blood for a Toxoplasmosis test because she thought what I was describing sounded more like Toxo than Feline Asthma. The Toxo test came back positive and all I could think of is "You mean to tell me this cat had toxoplasmosis all this time and the other Vet misdiagnosed it ?!?!" ohmygod_smile We did years of steroids for nothing.
We put him through the Toxo treatment which is no easy thing and he developed a stricture (narrowing of the esophagus) from the nausea that was caused by the meds for the Toxo. He lost weight and muscle mass, his diabetes went all over the place and then I had to bring him to the emergency clinic because he started choking on his own saliva.
Now, two weeks and $4000 (no that is not a typo, it was really that many 0s) later he's resting back at home but I can't get his glucose regulated. He's all over the place with the lowest reading in the low 100's but his highest has been 487. :-| And to top it all off while he was at the emergency vet for a week, they were giving his insulin at 10am and 10pm, they moved his times because of the surgery he was having for his throat. I would rather go back to 7am and 7pm but I don't know if I can just set it back by 3 hours all of a sudden or if I have to make some gradual adjustment? (Any help here would be great)
While Cini was having all this adventure at the Emergency Vet they did another Toxo test on him and it was negative (yay!) and he hasn't so much as coughed funny since he's been treated for the Toxo. All I can say is if you move to a dry climate and your cat starts wheezing, ask the Vet to do a Toxo test before they stick your cat with steroids.
So now, looking forward, his two main issues are diabetes and this stricture that we have to keep an eye on that it doesn't close up again. The best thing we can do to help with that is to feed him canned food. Well ok, no more dry food which will help with his diabetes anyway. I (and Cini) can live with that.
Thanks for letting me tell Cini's story. I have been looking around the site and I have already found loads of useful information.
