My Cat the diabetic

Hopeful signs of improvement yet, k? I hope so!

He is acting normal, but still not eating much. he is sneezing less. I am more and more convinced it's got something to do with allergies. Thanks for your continuing concern, MsO.

Well he's such a gorgeous cat & you're so committed to looking after his health, k, how could I not be hoping Screech is OK?

Allergies? I'm wondering about autumn/fall allergies?
Or maybe it's something in the house?

You must be feeling really stretched, between the demands of work & looking after Screech at the same time. Make sure you look after yourself, too, hear?

MsO, I haven't been looking after myself as much as I should. Though I did spend last weekend unwinding. He is only getting 2-ish units per dose until he starts peeing torrentially. That's the new plan. It's not perfect, but it's the best plan to keep him alive while keeping me sane and in working condition.

Well, we're finally close to his original dosage. He's gotten 3.5 and 4 units for the last 2 days and seems good. He's fattening up too.

Hooray!

Well done, k! (Took a while to get there, didn't it?)

It really did! But without a vet visit - yay!

Screech had another bout with the no-eating and the screwing blood glucose levels. It'd been going on for a few days and we decided to bring him to the local vet here on the cape. I'm down here for a class, so my mother brought him in. They sent him to the cape cod emergency vet clinic to undergo more tests and to be observed for the rest of the weekend. They were worried about ketoacidosis (DKA), a sometimes fatal complication of unregulated diabetes. I pretty much knew he hadn't gone there. And he hasn't. Another concern was pancreatitis (his sister died of this), one of two tests show no problems there - good news.

He has a very elevated white blood cell count. So, they are starting him on antibiotics and have agreed to try and get me antibiotics I can inject subcetaneously (much easier then oral dosing in his case). One of his kidney values are high. I'm not sure what this indicates or leads to at this time. It's not good, whatever it means.

So, he's staying over night and I may have to bring him directly to a vet closer to home when I leave here. Right now we're looking at a vet bill close to 2000.00 bucks.

Aw poor Screech. Sigh. I do hope he's picked up a bit by now. Fingers crossed.
And poor you, k! Your dedication is incredible. (I think I say this at least once every 6 months or so, but it's absolutely true. Don't know how you do it.)
And, wow, the bill!

He spent more than 24 hours at two different vets on the Cape. We're back in the city now, but he needs to be checked into his regular vet's offices tomorrow morning. Which means I'll miss the start of school, and maybe part of what would be my first team meeting for the kid I 1:1 with.

He hasn't been throwing up, but he still has diarrhea. He was eating at the vets, but hasn't since we left there. When the radiologist looked at the xrays, they were much more concerned about pancreatitis. Ao, that's where we think he is now. Don't know if it's chronic inflammation (more mild) or something more serious (cancer). He is to have an ultrasound tomorrow to see what they can see around the pancreas.

Thanks for always being here, MsOlga.

Sympathy and wonder. I can't have another pet because I can't afford these things. But I love screech from afar..

We're at almost 1,200.00 right now.

What do you mean: "we"?

me and screech... I guess.

I had no choice, I couldn't possibly afford exploratory tests and potential surgeries for the Pacc. As he was older, it wasn't as terrible a choice as if he'd been, say, six... although it was terrible enough.

I'm not so much questioning your choice to go into long term debt as I am just asking if you know you are doing this, which I guess you do.


J

Oh dear.


Sorry to hear about the little fella.


Is pancreatitis a complication of diabetes, do they think, or another symptom of the fact that the pancreas is compromised?



I hope Screech is ok.


I am sorry you have to miss such an important day in your school life, too.

Osso, I do realize I'm getting into long-term debt. I've done it before...... I'll probably do it again. We'll see. If we define it now as chronic pancreatitis (which it seems to be), next vet stay will be less costly - no testing - mostly just fluids administered.

Dlowan, I made the conference, which was very good. I think there were 13 of us there! I only ended up missing 15 minutes of the start of school.


The pancreas regulates insulin. It does other things to help digest food as well. Usually, chronic pancreas inflammation is due to diabetes, but not always.

So, the ultrasounders feel that it is an inflammed pancreas and not cancerous. This is medium news. Best news would have been an infection. But, I knew that this wasn't all that was going on. I swear I should be the one calling the shots for testing on my cat. The only diagnosis that makes sense to me is chronic pancreatitits. It comes in bouts and passes. This being the worst was scary.

I am bringing him home tonight. Oddly, he has been wolfing food down at the vet, but not here at home. I am bringing the food he likes there home with me. They'll give him a 48-hour antibiotic shot, some fluids and a dose of the anti-diarrhea medication before I pick him up.

Good luck, k!

And let us know how he progresses.

He's going to be so pleased to be back on his own patch!

Screech is concentrating on furious digging under my bed. Not sure what's so fascinating under there, but it's usually a good sign. Maybe I'll squeeze in there one day to see what's all the rage about.

Under bed digging = good...