I kept telling her what a sweet kitty she was! :rimshot:
Does nobody here have a sense of humor? Or care about the kitteh? Or the poor owner who has to rush home twice a day to give insulin shots? No suggestions? Poor Natasha hates her new diet and does not seem to be thrilled about the shots either (although what she really wants is more food).
I’m worried about Tonka. He was 14½ pounds when we got him from the shelter. The vet calls him fat. (Aside from padding, he’s a large-size cat.) We switch between regular IAMS and diet IAMS. Since the Creamsicle kitty showed up, and the SO insists she be fed inside, the bag of cat food has emptied quickly. Creamsicle has put on a little weight (she’s a small-size cat), but Tonka has really porked out. When we got him, I noticed that he does the ‘anxiety eating’. That is, he eats when he’s stressed. He seems to like Creamsicle, but she won’t play with him. If he gets to close she hisses at him. ‘Get away from me!’ She freepurrs – I mean prefers – humans.
Tomorrow I’ll get a large bag of cat food. The weight-control kind.
I have a second cat with diabetes now - it is much smoother the second time for several reasons. The first cat was in to the vet several times before they finally decided it was diabetes and never really stabilized on the insulin. I lost her after just a few months to kidney failure. Second one is doing much better. We knew what to look for and she was diagnosed early. We’ve been able to control it pretty well with diet and just a small insulin dose so far. We also have a much, much better vet than several years ago.
The twice a day shots can be a problem, but one of the vet techs lives very close to us and will do home visits to give shots and food when necessary, so that has been a big help. We are coming up on a year and kitty is staying stable. The rest is just routine.
I had a cat with diabeetus. After about year or so of twice daily insulin injections, at a checkup the vet declared he no longer had it and was cured, and she said sometimes that happens with cats. He was in his mid to late teens when this happened and he made it until his early to mid 20’s.
Its not your fault…and yeah, I did get your bad joke.
If your cat is diabetic, you have probably done a lot of the right things. Most cats die of kidney failure first. How old is kitteh?
IMHO, most cats get kidney failure because they eat kibble. Cats didn’t evolve to drink water. They get it from their prey. Remember, cats are desert critters, they aren’t used regular sources of water. Cats are also obligate carnivores. They should be eating meat for every meal. Even the best kibble has to have at least 20% grain just to keep it from falling apart. Most kibble is at least 80% grain.
Feeding cats kibble and leaving a bowl of water out for them works until they get old and then they die from kidney failure. Cats that have a source of running water (fountains) and are fed canned food live much longer.
Something the OP needs to do now is try to give kitteh more water. Buy a fountain, they aren’t that expensive. Feed kitteh canned food and mix some warm water in it. When you wash your hands, wipe them on kitteh. And look at your technique when giving kitteh shots. I think you might be sticking the needle in too deep. You only need to skin pop your sweet baby, when I managed to get a cat to 20 years, he went diabetic and all I had to do was pull some skin up and stick him about an 8th inch.
But good on you for being willing to deal with that. You must love your kitteh a lot, many people get rid of cats for getting health problems.