My friend Thomas

I've been enjoying this very helpful site and its wonderful community for a while now, so it's time to join. Please forgive the long introduction...

My diabetic friend Thomas (full name Sir Thomas Whinecelot) is a thirteen-year-old gray tuxedo who has been with me since I adopted him from the local SPCA when he was about a year old. Indoor-outdoor cat. A mighty hunter, but a lousy fighter. Currently two other cats in the house, with shared spaces and food bowls.

Last November I could tell he wasn't feeling well, so we went to see our vet. He had an abscessed upper canine. Hyperthyroidism. Pre-diabetic or just stress hyperglycemia (BG 250ish, fructosamine normal). Plus, for two or three months his hind legs had been sore and stiff, with no spring left.

I'm not sure I've dealt with things in a timely manner or in the right order.

The abscessed tooth responded quickly to antibiotics, which I knew was only a temporary solution. February was the earliest I could get him in to treat the hyperthyroidism with radioactive iodine (I-131), by which time his TT4 was up to 10. As feared, after the successful I-131 treatment, he progressed to full-blown diabetic. BG hitting 500, fructosamine up to 436.

Our wet food has always been Fancy Feast patés. But Thomas had started out on just dry and remains a bit of a kibble hound. To my delight, everyone was happy to switch to Dr Elsey's. For treats, Feline Greenies were replaced by the stinky salmon flavor of Innova Evo. I started home BG testing at the end of April, and mid-May he went on 0.5 units of glargine twice daily.

In June I decided it was time to finally deal with that bad upper canine. Which had abscessed again in the spring. Sadly, resorption had progressed too far for a root canal, so the tooth had to be extracted. I feel, alas, that I let the little guy down on this one. On the upside, a week of no kibble while his gums healed seems to have broken the habit. I can feed just wet, though I'll give him a bit of dry as a treat.

With that out of the way, I hope to work with my vet on getting somewhere better than our current BG curve with peaks of 300 to 350. Turns out this is an actual clinical approach, with a name even -- Ultra Loose Control. We'll never do tight regulation here, but I'd like to get to well regulated. Staying below the renal threshold.

And I need to get back to his poor hind legs. Probably just osteoarthritis, but dasuquin never seemed to help. While he's not plantigrade, I now have to wonder whether this might instead be an early stage of diabetic neuropathy. For the three days he was on buprenex after surgery, he was leaping and bounding about. Which inclines me towards arthritis as the problem.

 

Welcome! He looks very distinguished.

 

Welcome! What a beautiful photo of Sir T-W.

 

Welcome! For specific concerns write on the main health forum where more eyes will see it. We can give suggestions for the leg weakness.

 

Welcome, Tom and Thomas. Thomas is a very handsome kitteh.

 

Kia Ora and welcome Sir Thomas Whinecelot & Tom
You find yourself among the great and the good of which I am not one.

Get thee to the Main Health forum & once there expound on one's ailments and issues + which insulin .

Much may be revealed.

 

Thank you all for the kind words. I'll confess that those glam shots of Thomas are from like ten years ago. He's still the same sweet, beautiful guy, but there might be a bit more of him now.

Yes, trying to figure out what's wrong with his hind legs -- arthritis or the start of diabetic neuropathy -- is something I'll take to the main board.

 

I had similar quandaries and issues with my PussCatPrince Ty.

-------------> this way to the action.

 

Welcome to the neighborhood!!

 

Welcome Tom and Thomas. He looks a lot like my cat, Bama. Wonder if they could be cousins. . .