Hi everyone…hopefully this is the right place to post this.
My recently adopted cat Robyn turns out to be diabetic. (She's on 1.5 units of Lantus twice a day.) Now that I've educated myself more on diabetes (and lurked around this forum--thanks everyone!), I know the importance of home testing. Unfortunately we’re having a very hard time with it.
She’s a total sweetheart…as long as you don’t try to touch her. She’s TERRIFIED of being held. If you even come near her like you MIGHT pick her up, she runs! Once I finally catch her, she starts screaming, thrashing…and it’s even worse when it’s someone she doesn’t know. I had my mom drive two hours to help me take her BG reading yesterday, and she peed ALL over my mom and all of my electronics. She was so, so scared.
This morning I had to abort testing her before breakfast because she was thrashing and screaming so much (even once I got her in the kitty towel burrito!) that I was afraid she was going to injure herself. To make matters worse, I have a fractured shoulder right now (and I live alone). I actually broke it after she was thrashing so much inside her soft carrier on the way to the vet that I slipped down some steps. She was completely fine and didn't fall down any stairs, thank God! I'd rather have a fractured shoulder than a hurt kitty.
She’s now hiding from me every time I wake up and every time I get home from work because she knows I’ll try to touch her to take her BG. So it’s not even a matter of a sneak attack…she’s just constantly hiding from me now. It’s hard to see a cat that was starting to like and trust you be so scared of you ☹. And if I lock her in the bathroom (so I don't have to chase her) she pees and poops all over herself in fear and even starts compulsively licking/ripping at her fur. She gets little bald spots. It's horrible.
I know BG readings are affected by stress—there’s no way chasing a terrified cat around the house is going to give an accurate BG reading, is there? I’m afraid every test I get is going to be artificially elevated because she’s so scared. She's consistently testing over 300...this to me means her BG is way too high. Her fructosamine test just came back over 500, too. But the vet is being super cautious and isn't sure we should increase her insulin.They won't do a glucose curve at the vet because they say she's so scared the numbers will be wrong. But she seems the same level of terrified there as when she's at home and I try to do a curve! I’ve had cats all my life and I’ve never seen a cat like this. I don't know what to do...
My recently adopted cat Robyn turns out to be diabetic. (She's on 1.5 units of Lantus twice a day.) Now that I've educated myself more on diabetes (and lurked around this forum--thanks everyone!), I know the importance of home testing. Unfortunately we’re having a very hard time with it.
She’s a total sweetheart…as long as you don’t try to touch her. She’s TERRIFIED of being held. If you even come near her like you MIGHT pick her up, she runs! Once I finally catch her, she starts screaming, thrashing…and it’s even worse when it’s someone she doesn’t know. I had my mom drive two hours to help me take her BG reading yesterday, and she peed ALL over my mom and all of my electronics. She was so, so scared.
This morning I had to abort testing her before breakfast because she was thrashing and screaming so much (even once I got her in the kitty towel burrito!) that I was afraid she was going to injure herself. To make matters worse, I have a fractured shoulder right now (and I live alone). I actually broke it after she was thrashing so much inside her soft carrier on the way to the vet that I slipped down some steps. She was completely fine and didn't fall down any stairs, thank God! I'd rather have a fractured shoulder than a hurt kitty.
She’s now hiding from me every time I wake up and every time I get home from work because she knows I’ll try to touch her to take her BG. So it’s not even a matter of a sneak attack…she’s just constantly hiding from me now. It’s hard to see a cat that was starting to like and trust you be so scared of you ☹. And if I lock her in the bathroom (so I don't have to chase her) she pees and poops all over herself in fear and even starts compulsively licking/ripping at her fur. She gets little bald spots. It's horrible.
I know BG readings are affected by stress—there’s no way chasing a terrified cat around the house is going to give an accurate BG reading, is there? I’m afraid every test I get is going to be artificially elevated because she’s so scared. She's consistently testing over 300...this to me means her BG is way too high. Her fructosamine test just came back over 500, too. But the vet is being super cautious and isn't sure we should increase her insulin.They won't do a glucose curve at the vet because they say she's so scared the numbers will be wrong. But she seems the same level of terrified there as when she's at home and I try to do a curve! I’ve had cats all my life and I’ve never seen a cat like this. I don't know what to do...
confused
