Penny has diabetes

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  • #802334
    Leeny
    Participant

    Penny has had two insulin shots thus far, one last night and the other this morning. I was worried about her because she did not eat breakfast yesterday. At the vet’s, though, they said if she ate about half of it, it would be enough to give her the shot. She’d eaten half by evening, so I gave her the shot and fresh food, which was gone by this morning.

    Pen’s getting 1 unit of insulin twice a day. The shot is so quick to administer that she doesn’t have time to complain about the needle going in before it’s come back out again! This morning, I didn’t even bother restraining her. I just let her sit on the kitchen chair from which she was watching the prep of her shot and her breakfast.

    I already had the honey on hand to deal with low blood sugar. The vet told me to use corn syrup if she seemed lethargic. He didn’t specify dark or light, though, and the light stuff had vanilla in it. I wasn’t sure if that would harm Penny until I remembered Emma’s giving Rotley vanilla bean ice cream after his sub-Q infusions. Then I knew it would be okay.

    #802346
    katzenjammer
    Participant

    Hi Leeny,

    Glad that the treatment procedure seems to be going so well for you and Penny. 🙂

    #802572
    Buttercup
    Participant

    Hi Leeny,I’m so glad to hear that the treatment is progressing so well.
    {{{{Leeny & Penny}}}}

    #802576
    prairiecat
    Participant

    There you go! Knew you could do it! Go Leeny and Penny!

    #802591
    jcat
    Participant

    Brilliant news, Leeny, we all knew you could do this. Hopefully, you will notice a real difference in Penny, she will be feeling so much better 🙂

    The lighter corn syrup is milder tasting (probably why they add the vanilla) and the darker corn syrup tastes stronger (and so maybe kitty wouldn’t be so keen to take it) but as far as I know that’s the only difference. I imagine the lighter stuff is more heavily processed. Honey is an equivalent (so is sugar water) if you don’t have corn syrup to hand but they’re all just different kinds of sugar, I think the corn syrup is probably digested a bit more more easily and faster.

    #802693
    Leeny
    Participant

    Those of you who have had diabetic cats: Is it typical for the cat to have “up” and “down” days when the insulin and feeding regimen is first being started? Penny goes back and forth between acting completely normal and acting sick. Yesterday was a “sick” day–only ate half her food (vet said she has to eat at least that much to get her shot), didn’t take part in her usual routines. This AM she only ate one bite of breakfast (not normal) before lying down on the window sill (normal).

    I keep remembering that the vet said she may have intestinal lymphoma; that was before he discovered the diabetes, which explained all her symptoms. Only way that can be diagnosed is via biopsy, which there’s really no point in doing because nothing can be done about it if it does come up positive.

    I just can’t stand the thought of coming home one evening or waking up one morning and finding what’s left of my last baby, like I did with Tigeranne.

    BTW, the glucometer hasn’t arrived yet, so I can’t test her blood sugar.

    #802695
    Marnet
    Participant

    Leeny, absolutely there are up and down days, especially when first treating diabetes. Even once everything gets into a smooth routine there will some days that aren’t good. It is just a fact when dealing with diabetes. On a brighter note, though, I will say that once you are able to test regularly at home and adjust insulin dosage as needed per instructions from your vet, Penny should have fewer sick days.

    If Penny does, by sad chance, have intestinal lymphoma, the chances are that Penny will eventually exhibit more noticeable symptoms and can be helped gently to the Bridge than that you will just find her having died while you were away from home or asleep.

    #802710
    jcat
    Participant

    Yes, it’s normal, as Marnet said, there will be a bit of up and down and to and fro while the vet sees how she’s reacting and tries to get the dosage absolutely right, it’s like putting any human patient on any new medication.

    #802716
    AZDEBRA 5/27 & crew
    Participant

    At least it’s treatable, just getting the levels right will be getting used to….hugs for Penny and you.

    #802717
    AZDEBRA 5/27 & crew
    Participant

    Kinker used to lie down near me when he needed his shots, he knew he got two treat pieces afterwards and made sure I didn’t forget 🙂

    #802723
    Jeankit
    Participant

    Continued hang in there hugs Leeny with purrs for Penny as you work thru this furry challenge.
    I bet Dot is luvingly watching out for her from the Bridge. (She also had feline diabetes and was a trooper. Realized it was best for here to take her shots and waited patiently 2x’s daily.)

    #802735
    Buttons
    Moderator

    Continued hugs for you both Leeny..

    #802739
    Leeny
    Participant

    Well, guess who had finished all of her morning meal and met me at the door last night? This morning she was meowing her head off while I was preparing her shot–and got quiet after the injection! I thought she was meowing for the food, but while I was preparing that, she just sat quietly and watched me and then followed the food bowl to her feeding station. It was like she was meowing for the shot, which she calmly watched me give her. By the time I left, she had eaten half of the meal. She also stationed herself on the window sill and was chirping fluently, probably at another cat outside–you know how they talk to each other in a different voice than they use to talk to us. My landlord has seen neighborhood cats on my outside window sill. They paw holes in my screens trying to get closer to my cats.

    So today appears to be a good one for Penny. One of my problems is that I tend to assume that any situation that happens to be going on at the moment is going to last forever. Penny’s doing well now, so it must be that she’s going to do well continuously from now on; Penny’s not doing well now, so she’s never going to do well again and is probably dying. I’ll have to ask my therapist about this.

    #802740
    Jeankit
    Participant

    Chin scritches for our special Penny, hugs for meowmy! One day at a time Leeny, that is all we have/know!

    #802742
    Commune
    Moderator

    Best wishes!

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