Sickly One

For the past couple of weeks I've been noticing that someone has been peeing an extreme amount. And I mean extreme -- I was having to change the litter every second day, and there was so much pee in it that I had to take a wad of toilet paper to loosen it up so I could get it out of the box. I wasn't sure if it was Pumba or Nala at first, of course I never saw anyone in it. But I had the feeling right off that it was Pumba because Nala always goes to the basement litter box.

So finally one morning I see that sure enough, it is Pumba. He started to get a little on the stinky side, too, from going to the bathroom so much. And then he lost weight, really quickly, and he started turning his head from his sof-foo-foo that he has every morning and night. (And goes on and on an on until he gets it!) He stopped harassing me -- following me everywhere I went to either sit on my lap or sit in front of the computer monitor to block the view, and he didn't meow much, and normally he's very, very vocal.


So right from the start I thought diabetic, and in doing some research and picking Wandering Cat Studio's brain (her Tux is diabetic, and so is new housemate, Mopar) I decided to YouTube how to test a cat's blood sugar. I went for Hubs's spare metre we keep at home (he carries one in his truck, too), and there was only one strip left in the drum, and he had all the other drums with him. So of course you know, too, that I didn't get enough blood and ruined the one and only strip I had, and it was five minutes before the drug store closed. So off I go first thing in the morning for more strips. I tested him two times that day and three times the next. His readings were 19.3, 16.6, 18.1, 21.9, and 19.1.


Before the testing began I did call the vet to make an appointment and was told that I had to wait a week, even though I said how feeble he was, how much weight he lost, how he wasn't eating hardly anything, and that I suspected he's diabetic. So as soon as I took the first reading I called back and told them, she said she'd talk to the vet and call me back. I gave her my work and cell number, didn't hear anything all day, so when I got home from work I did his test again, called the vet again, and was told there was a note saying to bring him down first thing Friday morning. (This was Wednesday when I called.)


So yesterday he went to the vet for the day. When they tested him his sugar was 21.8. They did a glucose curve on him and started him on 2 units of caninsulin. At 5pm his sugar was down to 7.0. He wouldn't pee for them, so they gave (or I should say sold) me some absorbent things to try and get a pee sample to drop off. (They said high sugar can cause urinary tract infection, so they want to check for that.) She showed me how to give him his needles, giving me some saline in a needle for practice. He is starting at 2 units in the morning and 1 unit at night, about 12 hours apart. They also put him on some diabetic food. I gave him his first needle this morning.

So here are some before and after pictures. This one shows how plump he was. He has always been overweight, before he weighed 20+ lbs, and he's kind of short compared to other cats.

After, sitting in the same chair. I took this last night after his bath. He was super stinky when we got home from the vet. He couldn't hold it any longer and ended up peeing a bit in the carrier, so he went right from the carrier to the tub, lol. He weighs a little over 12lbs now, so he's lost at least 8lbs!

He's so boney, I'm not used to it. For the first time ever since adulthood Nala weighs more than him! He definitely doesn't look like he swallowed a beach ball now.

So the poor guy is going to have to put up with pricked ears, needles twice a day, and laxative medicine twice a day (he's also got megacolon from chronic constipation -- he has no tail at all and long fur, so if he doesn't take his medicine he can't poop). He just turned 13, but we want to keep him around for as many more years as possible!! So now he and Daddy are insulin dependent diabetics.

Happy knitting!