Advice

My cat as just had a prelimary diagnosis of diabetes which needs more tests.
She is 17 years old and as lots a lot of weight and as started looking her age.
I have had her for over 5 years and got her from a rescue.
I'm not worried about cost or doing treatment but am torn on wether it will be fair to her to get treatment.
She hates traveling and gets very stressed . She also gets really stressed of you restrict her movement.
I'm worried that the stress of the first weeks of back and forth to the vets will make her worse as will catching and holding her for injections.
I had another cat who was similar and he had to be put down a few weeks into treatment due to him suffering complcations due to stress.
I'm torn between trying treatment risking her suffering due to all the stress or letting her go before she starts suffering.
Any advice would be welcomed but please be gentle as she's my soul mate and this is breaking my heart.

 

Hi, Adrian. What's your baby's name? My two girls also HATE going to the vet, and one of them also gets instantly tense and begins to struggle if you restrain her or pick her up. So, I feel you. The thing with diabetes is that you really do not have to make a lot of trips to the vet. Once you have the diagnosis and insulin, if you are willing to home test, you can pretty much manage this at home. If you set up a testing routine .. always do it in the same spot, always give a tasty treat and lots of love.. it really stops being stressful fairly quickly. When I first started testing Mia, it was pretty terrible for us the first few times, but within a week, it stopped being bad, and at this point, she runs over and jumps up in her testing spot then leans her ear toward me for me to do the test then gobbles up her shredded chicken. (So precious!) As far as the shots, I have had success giving them while she is eating. Once you have given a few, you can get 'in and out' pretty quickly. I do not have to restrain for either testing or shots.

Only you can decide what to do, but the advice I want to give you is that this is manageable and not as horrific and overwhelming as you probably think it is at this moment. Will you be okay with it if you don't try?

By the way, why are more tests needed to determine if she has diabetes? What has your vet done at this point, and what more are they wanting to do? If a blood glucose test was done and was high and a urinalysis was done and there was glucose in the urine, that pretty much tells you it is diabetes.

 

Diabetes is NOT a death sentence!!

We are big advocates of home testing here, so there's no reason in the world to take your sweet kitty back and forth to the vet for expensive (and mostly useless) testing anyway!!

Testing done at the vets office is very unreliable anyway. Cats suffer from vet stress and it can cause their blood glucose to go up to 200 points higher......then once you're home again and kitty relaxes, their numbers come down again (kind of like what happens to us humans and our blood pressure at the doctor's office!)

Unfortunately, the vet see's those higher numbers, thinks the cat needs more insulin and if you listen to them and increase, once your kitty is home, it could lead to a tragedy.

The sad truth is that vets just don't have the time to stay up to date on the latest treatments for every disease in every type of animal they see, and they only get 5 hours of "formal" education on diabetes in school (and that covers ALL animals, not just cats!).....Unless they have a special interest in feline diabetes, they tend to treat their cat clients like small dogs and that just doesn't work.

The people here live and breath feline diabetes 24/7/365.....we can teach you how to home test, how to evaluate how your kitty is doing and learn to make your own decisions on dosing.......all you need from your vet is the initial diagnosis and the script for a good insulin for cats like Lantus, Levemir or ProZinc.

There are lots of us here that can teach you everything else you need to know!!

 

Her name is Beauty.
She's still got to have a urine test conformation and they were testing for other things.
Thank you for your reassurance. As she's 17 I'm worried about just making her last year's miserable

 

Testing doesn't hurt.....the edges of the ears have few pain receptors ...but most cats will take a little time to get used to the idea that you're fooling with their ears at all. It's not the poking they object to as much as just the fact you're touching their ears at all!

Most of our kitties come running to get tested....it's all about getting the right reward!! Most get some special (low carb) treat that they don't get any other time like a little piece of baked chicken or a freeze dried treat they really like. If they're not motivated by food, a grooming session, a cuddle or just special time with you is usually enough!! Whatever they like is the best reward!!

The needles in the insulin syringes are very tiny.....Most cats never even notice they're getting their shots, especially if they have their head in a bowl of food at the time! The needles are less than 1/2" long and very thin and sharp.

You can do this!!

 

Testing is more stressing for you than it is for them, the hard thing usually is for her to get used to you handling her ears, once you are past that most of the kitties don't even notice the poke or the shoot for that matter.

Also as soon as her glucose levels start to go down she is going to feel better and more active so what little discomfort she may feel for a few seconds while testing and shooting will be greatly compensated.

You can do it and you do not have to be taking her to the vet for her diabetes you can manage it at home as long as you are home testing, even the curves you can do them and send them to the vet if he wants to see them

Hang in there

 

Once I started home testing my cat didnt go back to the vet until it was time for her yearly physical. Testing is a piece of cake once you get the hang of it. Giving insulin takes just a few seconds. Some with high strung cats find it easier to inject as they are eating.

Speaking of eating, ditch all dry food and switch to fancy feast classic. This will drop bg levels significantly.

I have a video in my signature showing how I test my cat CC.

 

ETA: A beautiful name for a beautiful kitty!

My Squallie was 16 when he was diagnosed. He also had lost a lot of weight, and we had a little bit of a rough time getting started with his treatment, mostly due to poor veterinary advice. But we persevered, he gained back the weight (plus some!) and is very healthy. He's 19 now, and still going strong! He plays like a kitten and is all-around a very happy kitty!

 

[QUOTE="JanetNJ,

I have a video in my signature showing how I test my cat CC.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for doing the video! I am still nervous about testing!

 

Thanks for doing the video! I am still nervous about testing![/QUOTE]
I hear ya... I was too. Now I promise after a week or two it's no big deal.