Hi There,
Firstly, let me thank those who have posted such informative comments on this board. It has been very helpful to this very stressed out mom. I'll try and give you a brief summary of my girl Scarlett and her issues.
She was just 4 weeks old when my ex found her on the 5 Freeway in Los Angeles. Seriously. The first 10 yrs were healthy, extremely happy years of an extremely happy, friendly sweetie. One day I came home from work to find her completely paralyzed from the waist down. She had been jumping on everything just that morning. Her eyes were clear and she showed no other symptoms. My then vet told me he thought it was neurological. I simply didn't and still don't have money for an MRI. He put her on prednisone and she regained use of her legs and tail albeit wobbly. He even said it was the best he'd seen of a recovery from complete paralysis.
She soon after went through bought a of kidney stones and UTI's. About a year ago she started acting ravenous. She was always a bit piggy, and became overweight. I finally was able to take her to a new vet and she told me she had diabetes. Her numbers were in the high 400's. Within a month we had her numbers in the low 100's with 3.5 Prozinc 2 x's a day. I noticed she started acting lethargic about 2 weeks ago, so I brought her to a closer vet and she was tested at 60 without having her shot the night before or in the morning. I need to now add that she becomes EXTREMELY aggressive and stressed out going to the vet since her paralysis. She has notes on her chart to be extremely careful. The recent vet trip was so traumatic I didn't think I'd ever bring her back to the vet. I called my regular vet and told her the issues. She told me she has no problem with me taking a break from injections. It's been about 10 days and she is starting to urinate a more and drink more water. Her urine strips come back 1/4 on the meter.
Now, of course, all of you are thinking I need to home test. Well I bought the meter and have tried several times. She almost took my face off! A vet tech needs to hold her down and the other has to get her blood very quickly. Even the vet told me she's understanding that I can't do it alone. The second vet wouldn't even come near her! She was once a sweetheart that wouldn't hit a fly. Now she gets so stressed going to the vet that she attacks me when I try to get her in the carrier. I've been coming to a place where I don't know what to do. She has a lot of life left, but she's so uncooperative I feel incredibly torn. She will fight with everything in her to live and I don't know at what point her quality of life is to compromised. It looks like my attempt at keeping this brief is gone. Sorry! She is just such a difficult case. I've had many animals with issues, cancer, thyroid, injuries... I'm beyond stressed and confused. Any advice would be more appreciated than you know. In summary, she's also been taking UroMaxx for UTI, gabapentin for possible pain and cosequin. She's also been struggling to defecate recently. Still eating, drinking fine. Her walking is also slower and more wobbly. Coat is pretty unkempt even though she tries to reach areas for cleaning regularly. Once on high quality dry food, she has been on Fancy Feast Classics and Friskies Pates only since diagnosis.
Firstly, let me thank those who have posted such informative comments on this board. It has been very helpful to this very stressed out mom. I'll try and give you a brief summary of my girl Scarlett and her issues.
She was just 4 weeks old when my ex found her on the 5 Freeway in Los Angeles. Seriously. The first 10 yrs were healthy, extremely happy years of an extremely happy, friendly sweetie. One day I came home from work to find her completely paralyzed from the waist down. She had been jumping on everything just that morning. Her eyes were clear and she showed no other symptoms. My then vet told me he thought it was neurological. I simply didn't and still don't have money for an MRI. He put her on prednisone and she regained use of her legs and tail albeit wobbly. He even said it was the best he'd seen of a recovery from complete paralysis.
She soon after went through bought a of kidney stones and UTI's. About a year ago she started acting ravenous. She was always a bit piggy, and became overweight. I finally was able to take her to a new vet and she told me she had diabetes. Her numbers were in the high 400's. Within a month we had her numbers in the low 100's with 3.5 Prozinc 2 x's a day. I noticed she started acting lethargic about 2 weeks ago, so I brought her to a closer vet and she was tested at 60 without having her shot the night before or in the morning. I need to now add that she becomes EXTREMELY aggressive and stressed out going to the vet since her paralysis. She has notes on her chart to be extremely careful. The recent vet trip was so traumatic I didn't think I'd ever bring her back to the vet. I called my regular vet and told her the issues. She told me she has no problem with me taking a break from injections. It's been about 10 days and she is starting to urinate a more and drink more water. Her urine strips come back 1/4 on the meter.
Now, of course, all of you are thinking I need to home test. Well I bought the meter and have tried several times. She almost took my face off! A vet tech needs to hold her down and the other has to get her blood very quickly. Even the vet told me she's understanding that I can't do it alone. The second vet wouldn't even come near her! She was once a sweetheart that wouldn't hit a fly. Now she gets so stressed going to the vet that she attacks me when I try to get her in the carrier. I've been coming to a place where I don't know what to do. She has a lot of life left, but she's so uncooperative I feel incredibly torn. She will fight with everything in her to live and I don't know at what point her quality of life is to compromised. It looks like my attempt at keeping this brief is gone. Sorry! She is just such a difficult case. I've had many animals with issues, cancer, thyroid, injuries... I'm beyond stressed and confused. Any advice would be more appreciated than you know. In summary, she's also been taking UroMaxx for UTI, gabapentin for possible pain and cosequin. She's also been struggling to defecate recently. Still eating, drinking fine. Her walking is also slower and more wobbly. Coat is pretty unkempt even though she tries to reach areas for cleaning regularly. Once on high quality dry food, she has been on Fancy Feast Classics and Friskies Pates only since diagnosis.
