Now on to our main focus... the critters!
I thought I'd start off with a little bit about Yuki, my diabetic cat. She is ecstatic about knocking the dogs out of the main spotlight on the dog:blog with her entry. She gets the first one partly because it looks like she needs to have her insulin dosage adjusted, and partly because Heather (fellow Chicagoan and former O21G'er) is facing a recent diabetes diagnosis for her guinea pig Gaby.
Yuki turned 16 years old in February; I've had her since she was 8 weeks old. She's been an indoor cat her whole life and has been in pretty good health for most of that time. I can't remember any vet visits for her other than annual checkups, spaying and declawing (if you were planning to comment on the cruelty of declawing, spare me... I have gone back and forth on that issue many, many times on my own).
Last spring I took her in to the vet as her water consumption and urine output had increased quite noticeably over the period of a couple of weeks. Sometimes in a multiple cat household it's hard to tell what a cat is really taking in and putting out; that is why it took us a little while to determine there really was a problem. She was diagnosed with diabetes on March 10, 2001.
Once the correct dosage of insulin is determined, it's pretty easy to keep up with the daily routine. And in our case, we were fortunate that it took only a few tests to get her dosage adjusted. I found out sometime later that it is not always that quick or easy to determine the correct dosage, timing of injections, or type of insulin to use. We really were lucky, not only with the relative speed of determining her correct dosage, but with the fact that she did well for an entire year on only one injection per day (that is uncommon; most pets do best on two per day).
Lately we've noticed Yuki's water consumption increasing again, so it is definitely time to have her back to the vet to do another glucose curve and have her insulin dosage re-evaluated. More soon after that happens. It's almost 8:00am here so I'd better get this wrapped up so I can call for her appointment!
Check under MORE... for some informative pet diabetes links and a picture of Yuki taken this past summer.
Yuki
Links
Pets With Diabetes
Lots of information and lots of links; this site has more than the usual coverage of diabetic pets other than cats and dogs. Check for a link to their e-mail discussion list.
Pet Diabetes - The Muffin Group
This group was named in honor of Muffin, a diabetic dog belonging to one of the group founders, and her inspiration for creating a source of information and support for the owners of diabetic pets. Check for information on joining the Muffin e-mail discussion list.
Awww, cute kitty!! Looks just like my kitty except that he had green eyes. :) Hope everything goes well for Yuki!
while I don't have a diabetic kitty I have had plenty of pets with health problems (including my dog harley..he's going blind) so if you ever need to chat it out let me know! The URL I put in isn't my blog its a page with piccys of my dog and kitties on it so you can see them!
Yuki is adorable! =)
I still haven't got results. Apparently the lab messed up the tests and my vet is having a hissy fight with them. I might have to take Gaby bck for another blood sample, poor thing. They have to gas her to get the sample. *weep* It's rough to be a pig! =)
My mom's kitty has diabetes. Unfortunately it was caught very, very late because a series of vets seemed to have no clue what was going wrong with him. He had it for probably around two years before anyone figured out it was diabetes. I'm not sure how that can possibly happen.
His quality of life has improved since then, but I fear he will never be very up-to-snuff again.