First post, new member

Hi all, new to the group. Now on our second diabetic cat, brother of our first. We adopted two shelter cats who we were told were neutered. They were not! And that's we ended up with nine cats! We have a great vet who is willing to bend the rules (eat what and when) and a happy forever home for cats and dogs. Also have some experience with cardiomyopathy in cats, OCD in dogs.

 

Welcome!!

They say a lot of diabetes is genetic, so it's not surprising that a brother would have it too, but what luck for you!!

It's great that you have a vet that you're happy with! So many of us don't!

 

I second that! It makes such a difference to work with a collaborative, progressive vet.

Welcome to you and your kitties. I saw your post on our Grief Support board and I just want to say how terribly sorry I was to read about the absolute tsunami of loss you have experienced. My heart goes out to you and your loved ones.

I hope that we'll be able to do a lot to help you and your little sugars. In addition to help and support with things diabetic members also post about other issues on our Feline Health board. I'm sure that some time other members might be grateful for any experience you might be able to share about cardiomyopathy.

Sending more .


Mogs
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Thanks for your replies. Nice to be in a forum without politics or hysteria. Mogs, when you said tsunami that pretty much summed it up. I know it's a cliché to say "Could be worse" but our vet has told me some real horror stories. One thing my wife and I have always agreed on is when it's time to let go. We live near a big veterinary college that can perform near miracles but you have to honest about who you are doing this for. We had a neighbor with the "Dog in the baby carriage". If it's temporary that's one thing but is the dog happy or have any dignity? You learn so much from your first time. I have made that mistake and I wish someone had told me to give my head a shake. If we weren't emotional none of us would be here sharing our lives.

 

I suppose all that any of us can hope to do for our little ones is 'the best we can'.

Ultimately, we are only sure of the one life and we can only base our actions on how well we know how the little ones in our care are feeling. It's impossible for someone on the outside looking in to gauge whether another living being - human or other animal - still has enough things going on to give them a measure of happiness and quality of life. Sometimes the care one receives from a loved one can make up for shortfalls in dignity. (I'm thinking very much of my uncle who had chronic emphysema and who was bedridden for quite some time before he passed. He may have needed others to provide care for his nutritional and hygiene needs but he still had a very significant measure of happiness in his life despite the loss of independence and some of his dignity. In truth, some of my most precious memories of spending time with him were in those days - especially when he laughed and smiled and sang.

Indeed you do. I lost two cats to bad vets, the second one to hepatic lipidosis despite the fact that she had been hospitalised at the vets in question for almost a week. I didn't know as much as I do now about measures that can help an anorexic cat to overcome inappetence so I trusted the vet's advice that there was no hope for her and that it was best to let her go. With what I've learned since then about feline health and medicine - and about cats' extraordinary powers of recovery - that decision now haunts me because I don't think they knew enough about feline medicine to treat her successfully: instead they just threw in the towel on her. My Danú was only seven and had no underlying illness. I firmly believe now that she could have survived if I'd known what treatments to ask for or if she had been under the care of a better vet.

My worries over that particular practice were confirmed beyond all reasonable doubt when, four years later, they completely missed my Saoirse's diabetes when I first brought her for treatment. Saoirse was a poster kitty for FD but they refused point blank to run ANY diagnostics and simply put her symptoms down to being an "old lady." Saoirse was only 14 at the time. Six months, a different vet, and education at FDMB saw my girl in remission and climbing trees. It troubles me when I wonder how many other cats have been through their doors who might have had longer lives had they been treated at a different practice.


Mogs
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Welcome to the forum. Your love for your furkids and willingness to do everything you can will help so much as you go down the FD road and this forum will be a wonderful source of information, support and advice.

@Critter Mom

Mogs you are so dead on with your revelations. As pet parents we need to be able to educate ourselves and gather information from any available source. There are some excellent vets out there but there are also some poor ones. With humans, no one should expect a General Practitioner to know about all diseases and ailments and certainly not in depth, and the same can be said about vets. A good vet is a vet with an open mind who knows their limitations. The information on this forum, on FD and its related medical issues, as well as many other diseases is invaluable. There is a wealth of information that has been gained by people who have/are dealing with different concerns that you cannot ever get out of a textbook. Knowing what to ask your vet and knowing whether your vet is taking all the right steps can make so much difference in the health of our furkids.

 

Hi Mogs. re The vet that just won't listen! Two years ago our dog had some minor weight loss so it's off to the vet. She had a needle biopsy (no anesthetic needed) which was inconclusive, then $1,000 for the travelling ultrasound tech, and finally another ultrasound by a specialist. Diagnosis was cancer. I did some research and found out some stomach ulcers can mimic her symptoms. In reality I was in denial and grasping at straws but then her weight came back and after we counted 100 days we stopped calling her the Miracle Dog. It was NOT cancer, she lived another year and finally what got her was....The ulcerated stomach she wasn't supposed to have. The lesson is, if you don't know, DON'T GUESS! I had a series of minor strokes 10 years ago and my first emergency room visit ended with a diagnosis of a sinus infection. Maybe they thought I was looking for drugs. Very dismissive and condescending!

 

Some human doctors don't know enough to even refer you to another. one day when I was 35 I had chest pain while just watching tv. Went to the ER and because of my age and being female I was told it was gas and discharged. Yet every time I took a step the chest pain returned. At the time I had HMO insurance so referrals took 30 days to process. Finally after 2 months it was determined I had a heart attack and it was to late to do a bypass as the damage was now irreversible. Luckily it's at the bottom (apex) of the heart muscle and collateral veins and arteries were sufficient to take up the extra load.

 

I've typically found that professionals with this type of attitude are often covering for gaps in their own knowledge and/or understanding of the subject in which they are supposed to have significant expertise.


Mogs
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Chalk it down, Paula.

I'm glad that your body was able to make compensatory adjustments itself in spite of the professional incompetence you experienced.




Mogs
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When my Frankie and his brother Teddy were about 8 months old, Teddy started breathing like Darth Vadar and choking when he ate. After at first saying it was his sinuses and giving me powder to put on his food, it was only when Teddy went in to be castrated that they saw him gagging and phoned me up to tell me!! I said I knew he had been under the vet for it for a few months. Long story short, they put a camera down his throat and found a nasopharyngeal polyp which they removed. A few months later, Frankie started choking and gagging at the slightest thing. I took him back to the same vet and said he also had the same thing. The vet laughed in my face and said this was so rare he had not seen a case in over 30 years, let alone in 2 brothers and with the same owner. But I have never seen a more shamefaced vet when I arrived to pick him up. He said he would never presume he knew more than the owners again and I had taught him a valuable lesson. Then he went and retired!!!

 

What a shame that this vet retired after you got him to open his eyes and listen to you. This is so important for petparents to realize...that vets are not infalliable and if something seems wrong it needs to be pursued further. Just because a condition is rare does not mean it doesn't happen. Interesting that two siblings would both end up with polyps. I wonder if genetics plays a role there or if it was just an amazing coincidence, especially with both at such a young age.

 

I did wonder the same thing, but my friend had both the parents and there were 4 other kittens in the litter who were all unaffected (she kept them all!)

 

IDK...maybe some were more "prone" to it. I wonder since both my two ended up being diabetic even with a good home-made diet, not being overweight and being active. I often wonder about the other 2 from the litter, but since they were adopted through the shelter before I adopted mine, I'll never know.

How wonderful that your friend was willing to keep the rest of the family together