Saturday, November 21, 2009

Introducing....


Doug.

and of course I don't have a photo. He is a large boy, solid black, quick eyes, long nose. Very regal and handsome. I very much want to call him Lord John.

Doug came to me through a plea on line from someone I know on the Feline Diabetes message board. He was surrendered to an open admission shelter and was rescued from being put down by a no kill shelter up there. The woman who contacted me isn't able to take him right now, and asked if I could. I am a little reluctant to do this, because of the slim to almost no chance diabetic cats have. Maybe this is mean of me, but there are so many cats and so few resources... that and I lived through Benny. If I just had the experiences of Bear and Reese, maybe I'd feel a little differently about it.

I am glad that diabetics have a chance that their owners aren't willing or able to give them... and since I was able to sign up for a limited time, I agreed.

I went up and got him on Friday. My own personal day went pretty miserable, since I had several errands that all blew up in my face (and didn't get done) but Doug was pretty laid back about the whole transition. I got to the shelter and got all his information. I forgot how laid back most people are about diabetic care. One test per day and their curve was three tests, one in the AM one at noon and one in the PM about the time for the next shot. His general BG was about high 200 low 300s.

He took the 40 minute drive home in stride. Not a peep or cry which is so novel for me who generally listens to my own cats swear at me any time they are even near the car.

He got home and walked right out of his cage, explored the room for a while (he's in the office) and made himself at home on the recliner. He jumped down when I put food down, and I patted him several times. He ended up letting out a very large hiss while he was looking at the food (and I was patting him). I wasn't quite sure what it meant, so I left him with the food for about an hour to see what happened. When I went back in he hadn't eaten and was once again on the recliner. I tried patting him again and he wasn't much thrilled. Not unhappy, but not happy either. I talked to him the whole way about the lancets, the meter I had, and the tissue I use. He wasn't having anything to do with it. He started hissing at me the whole way through, so I gave up and figured it would be better to not stress him out and since I didn't test him I had no idea what was going on with his BGs and since he wasn't eating, I skipped his injection. Not ideal, but it is way better to leave them high for a long time then to have them dip too low for even a moment. I left him with a small scoop of raw food, and I mashed up his canned (Wellness) and went to bed.

In the morning he had decided to consent to eat a little of the food. He at all of the raw though - smart boy. I offered him some Fancy Feast beef and chicken, which he promptly refused. I didn't go slow this time. I was all business and poked his ear and got the test. I tested on both the walmart brand glucometer and the freestyle meter I have. I thought all of my meters had dead batteries, but this one had a little juice, and since I had never used the walmart one, I thought it best to get two readings. The walmart one was 389 while the FS reading was 359. Pretty standard to have different readings, and as long as the reading is with in the standard deviation, I'm happy - and they were. So I injected him with the 3 units of PZI that was prescribed to him and went off to do my morning errands.

I came back and he still hadn't eaten the FF. at 2pm I tested him again and he was 271.

I couldn't help but wonder if he wasn't getting too much insulin. 271 is not much of a dip for three whole units of insulin on a cat. 1 unit is generally more standard of a dose. There are some cats that do need more, some that need less. But since he was in shelter hands and really wasn't getting care from someone with extensive FD experience, I wouldn't be surprised if 3 is too many for him. If it was the right dose, the half way point should be closer to 100 not 300.

So I decided to dig out the Special Kitty Turkey and Giblets dinner that I feed my own crew when we run out of raw (or forget to thaw it). it is also the food that got Miss Benny off insulin. That he decided to eat.

So I tested him again at 8pm, and his BG was 148.

Very interesting result. Was it the food? was it the insulin working slowly? we'll see what happens in the AM. I'm leaning towards it was the food, and I am expecting his AM reading to be reasonable. I wouldn't be floored if it was high again though.. FD is such an odd little disease to get a handle on. Especially since he's got pancreatitis on top of it.

So I have medication to give Eli for a few more days, testing of Doug, and the fosters downstairs, oh yea, and the rabbit who never fails to yell at me if I don't feed her fast enough :)

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