The Diabetes

I took Smokey to the vet the other week....he didn't look "right." Now, those of us who are pet owners are not to proud to admit that we spend way too much time paying attention to all the little habits of our animals. I knew that Smokey was drinking. A lot. So much so that our tub was covered in fur & kitty litter detritus, because that's where he was spending his time. And when he wasn't drinking, he was peeing. A lot. And not doing such a great job of covering it up, which meant that he was flinging nasty litter clumps everywhere. And, he just seemed to be laying around. More than usual.

So, off to the vet we went. I just still feel bad that I didn't take Roo sooner--maybe there was nothing they could have done, but maybe if I'd called them when she first didn't seem to be her kitty-self....

Smokey was not happy at the vet's office. Now, I know that cats don't like going to the vet, but usually he's just a wuss & takes it. Not this time. He was really, really vocal--and hissing. He hardly ever hisses. It just takes too much energy. They weighed him--he normally weighs in around 18-20 lbs., depending on how much vomiting he does on the way to the vet's. He weighed 16 lbs. Four lbs. less than the last time the Henderson vet weighed him...not good.

The vet's office kept him for a bit; apparently they needed him to pee, and even though my cat had been a veritable peeing machine the week leading up to the visit, I guess he became shy.

The Dr. called that afternoon, and said that Smokey had diabetes. Or, as the Dr. called it: "THE Dia-BEET-eez." Smokey also had a bad bladder infection, too. I guess that's opposed to the good kind of bladder infection. Anyway, the vet said Smokey's sugar levels were at 438, and they should be around 100. He gave me the low-down on insulin, and about how much it would cost...the tricky thing is, you need to really manage it closely, and the shots must be given at the same time every day. So that immediately brought to mind family--what do we do when we travel? We don't have anyone here that we like well enough to ask them if they can come over & give our cat a shot. We don't even know anyone that we don't like well enough to ask them....so, I started doing some research, and there's a ton of info out there on kitty diabetes. Who'd a-thunk it?

Anyway, one particular site seemed to think that 1) hard food is horrible for cats; 2) hard food has way more carbohydrates than kitties need; and 3) excessive carbohydrates can lead to & exacerbate "the diabetes." (They didn't refer to it as "THE diabetes" on the site, I'm just so tickled that the vet continuously refered to it as "the" that I'm trying to get a lot of mileage out of it.) The site also mentioned that there are several diabetic cats who've had the diabetes under control solely via diet with some good, high-quality soft food...so I thought we'd try that.

Luckily we're trying the soft food at the same time that I'm having to give Smokey his antibiotics. He's on amoxicillin, 3 times per day. I was just trying to pill him, but as anyone who's tried to wrestle a mad weasel covered in dandruff & grease can tell you--it ain't easy. First of all, my cat is a vomiter. I'm not sure when it started, but it's not pretty. So you get the pill down his throat (after he's moved his tongue around several times & spit it out, you pick it up, now it's all slimy, and try to hold on to the pill AND the cat, and wrench his mouth open, and shove it way back there and you think he's swallowed it, then you see it stuck to the side of his mouth, so you pull it off, it's really gross now, and...well, finally you get the pill down) and he starts that urp, urp, urp sound, with the whole head spasm motion & you know what's next. Hey, looky there! A pill in the middle of kitty vomit! Whattaya know. So I'm thinking 1) this is really gross, and 2) we've got to finish out the antibiotics. So I go in after the pill, rinse it off, and try again. I only did that for about 4 days when I found out that you can crush up amoxicillin & try to disguise it.

Now, for those of you who are saying, "Duh!" (Dad!) I thought that maybe the tablets were time-release tabs or something, and crushing them up may affect that. Well, I didn't find anything saying not to crush them, and it was down to sheer desperation. So, crush, crush, crush, and into the soft, stinky cat food. Boy, that works a whole lot better. And I've found that the stinkier the kitty food, the better--amoxicillin stinks. Really, really stinks. I wouldn't want that stinky tablet in my mouth, either!!!

So, we've got a nice routine down...in fact, last night I gave Smokey a treat and gave him a little ice cream mixed with the turkey & giblets in sauce. He really liked that. I could tell. He was smiling at me.

Only four more days to go with the antibiotics....and we're weaning both cats off of the dry food. Of course Smokey would have been diagnosed with The Diabetes after I just bought a bag of Iams cat food....at least it was only an 8lb bag....

So, we're just kind of taking a "wait & see" attitude. The vet said that he's been treating a cat for four years where the cat just won't take the insulin injections, so the owner just doesn't do the injections. The vet didn't talk to me about diet, so I'm not sure if that's something he's experimented with or not, but we're hoping it works. So far, Smokey seems to be looking better. Hopefully he will be okay; if not--well, I guess we'll have to find a big box for him & wait until it gets dark to dig a hole in the green area behind our apartment. I have a feeling that burying one's pet would cause you to forfeit your security deposit.