Hello everyone, nice to be here

Sorry for the long intro... I'm a mom of 2 wonderful and handsome little gentlemen named Peanut and Ginger. One of my cats (Peanut) is slightly overweight (13 - 14 lbs) and sadly diabetic as well. The other one seems underweight in comparison but he weighs 11 - 12 lbs and I think that is okay. They are never lacking for food as I free feed low carb, canned food. Peanut was diagnosed with diabetes 2 years ago and I got him into remission very quickly after first finding out, but within 6 months, he was in need of his insulin again and I have since not been able to control his diabetes. I'm sticking with him though and I'll do whatever I need to in order to get him back to good health or at least try to keep him from getting worse. I've joined this forum in hopes of learning some new things that can help me and also so that I can lend advice to others that are new to this journey.

I was under the care of a feline diabetic specialist but in the last year, I've been doing this all on my own. Sort of scary but I think that I know a lot and I'm comfortable treating Peanut without the advice of my vet. I say this because my new vet doesn't want me to give my cat insulin if his numbers are 120 or below but remission is not obtainable unless I can get the numbers into the non diabetic range and I'm aiming for 50 - 80 ish. My old vet of 15 years showed his complete ignorance towards diabetes when Peanut became insulin dependant the second time. He told me not to home test twice a day because it was torture for my cat. He told me to just wing it and give him 2 units twice a day without worry. If I had done that at that time, I would have killed him and I'm most certain of that. At the time, I had Peanut on doses of .25 - .5 units of Lantus twice daily and I was in great control of his numbers. Even after we knew that Peanut was diabetic from his first diagnosis, my vet insisted on very expensive testing (ones that I had just done 6 months prior) before he would give me more insulin. I pleaded with him to not do the testing as I was certain that my cat was still diabetic as his BG numbers would shoot into the 200 - 300 range within days of not having his insulin plus I simply knew my cat. I told him that I simply couldn't afford the testing and the insulin as well. It didn't stop there, he tried to get me to feed him Hills (Hells) W/D dry cat food against my argument for canned food and finally he tried to tell me that my cat needed 2 types of insulin now instead of just the Lantus that I had been giving. So 700 + dollars later, he agreed and gave me what I knew that I needed from the very beginning. I know that I sound angry and it's because I am, I'm upset that vets like this continue to practice with little regard and a lack of knowledge. I watched this man grow his business from when he first graduated until he became money hungry and lost his desire to help. I can't simply sit back and let people follow blindly on misguided advice. So as I am here to seek whatever advice I can from others, I do truly wish to help those that I can from the experience that I've gained along the way and I'm happy to be here.

 

Hi Sieden,

A hearty welcome to you, to sugar Peanut, and to civvie Ginger.

I think you are quite right to be angry! Both your kitty and your wallet have been paying for that vet's ignorance and arrogance!!!

I've had a similar experience. In my case, when the vet had a small practice he was excellent; I really felt like my cats were in caring and knowledgeable hands. He opened up a larger practice but sadly, as the practice facilities got fancier and the headcount larger, the level of expertise and caring went in the opposite direction. They lost one of my cats to a treatable condition (no underlying disease) and they failed spectacularly to recognise possible symptoms of a food allergy in my Saoirse and subsequently completely missed her poster kitty diabetes symptoms. I moved to another practice not long after my girl was diagnosed.

I am glad that your kitties have such a strong advocate.


Mogs
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Hello and welcome.

 

Welcome to FDMB to you Peanut and Ginger! I am one of the few lucky pet parents who has from diagnosis, had a vet who worked with me, admitted when she was over her head and sought out more experienced counsel when necessary. She also led me here and that in itself has been worth it's weight in gold. I shudder when I hear stories such as yours and Mogs and unfortunately they are all too common. I'm sure you will continue to learn here even with all the experience you have under your belt and it's wonderful that you want to share the knowledge you have gained with others. This is a great community and I'm sure you will feel quite at "home" here.

 

Thank you guys for the warm welcome. I'm sorry Mogs that you had to go through that as well. Your story was eerily familiar. Their office was calling daily about a month ago to tell me that I needed to get Peanut's rabies vaccine and I was very happy to explain to them that I would NEVER return and exactly why. I got all of my kids vet records from them and I'll be taking them to my new vet on the next visit. MrWorf, you are indeed a very lucky person.

I added a picture of the 2 together. Peanut is short hair and Ginger is long hair.

 

Awwwww! They're lovely!

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