New to this and struggling

I want to start off with saying hello, my name is John from a Suburb of Chicago, il. 3 years ago i moved out of my parents house into an apartment with my now fiance. I left behind 2 family cats, Felix and Jack. Back in August, i was informed that my parents were moving to Wyoming and that i needed to either take them or find them a new home. Unbeknownst to me at that time, my apt did not allow cats, on top of it my fiance is "allergic" to cats. I put quotes because she lived with me for a few months before moving out with me and its the dander that affects her. Anyways, I asked everyone that i knew and at the very end of it, i only found one friend that could take them both. They reside with her but i take care of them, that was our deal. I consider them family and will not "forget" about them. My friend lives an hour away from my residence and i travel for work but am 95% of the time home at the end of the day. This makes things a bit harder than normal to see them and spend time with them. But i do it because i love them. I am only able to go out to them about once a week, usually after work and most times i am not home til 10pm, (6am start time to my work day). My friend helps take care of them since i cant be there everyday, she has 2 cats of her own and a new baby. I have a drop ship setup with chewys and usually bring about 4 buckets of litter from the local sams club when i visit. She doesnt need to buy litter or food for her cats. Things were going okay, a few months ago, Felix had to go to the vet. He was having trouble going pee and was not using the litter box. Felix is a 16yr Mainecoon. The vet ran a blood test among a few other tests and put him on a KD early support diet. I did my research and found cheaper alternatives to the prescription food and he has been doing really well. I roughly spend about $100 every 5 weeks to feed him, but its worth every penny.

3 weeks ago, My friend informed me that Jack was walking weirdly and after driving 3 hrs straight from where i ended my work day at while dead sick, I checked him over and didnt even hesitate, He had a vet visit scheduled that week ( i believe it was that following day or the next). The vet took his BG after a few questions and it was 542. Then came the diabetes diagnosis and them quoting me the starter kit. He is on 1 (i cant recall the unit) of insulin 2x a day. Ive bought the alpha pet meter, extra test strips, the methyl-b12 capsules (to help with his back legs; He has neuropathy according to the vet), fancy feast classic canned food, and all the other stuff needed to better help him. Right now he isnt really using the litter box much which is frustrating my friend alot. Our plan is to section him off to one room so he doesnt have to travel far to use the litter box and to help contain any "mess" to one room. She is doing her best to manage his diabetes but she already has so much on her plate. I have spend countless hours on my computer, on this site reading and making notes and guides via google drive for her to try and help make things easier. I am not sure what more i can do.

Money has kinda become an issue but i believe i can get by if i dont further extend myself. But i feel like i may have to take back to the vet for a glucose curve, they didnt even talk to make about that or much at all about feline diabetes, granted i was really sick at that time. Last week, when did my weekly visit, i tested him before he got his food and shot, his BG tested at 611. Tonight, it was 411. Tomorrow, if i get a lunch break, i plan to call the vet to have them answer a numerous questions i currently have.

What i really wish for is to find someone closer to me that would be able to take them and help me get jack regulated but for right now, thats just fantasy. I have tried to urge my fiance to let me bring them home, but it has not ended well; i still plan on pushing it. My biggest fear is that if we dont get Jacks BG under control and regulated soon, his neuropathy will not get better. I just dont know what more i can do in the situation i am in. I wish they were closer to me so i could be 100% there to make sure he got the very best care.

 

What a heartbreakingly unhappy situation you are in.

You might try posting in the main Feline Health forum with a subject line like "Help needed in [where you live]" and see if anyone could help with finding your cats some place to stay that isn't an hour away from where you are.

Also, have you read up on cat allergies? I believe they are commonly caused by a cat's dander. You could look into ways the dander's impact can be minimized, and what might provide relief for your fiancée's symptoms or even cure her allergy.

It does sound to me like you are doing everything you can for Jack, and all the right things.

 

First let me say I think you are pretty wonderful doing all this for your kitty..
You are in a very difficult place. I also think you should post over on the main forum and use the subject line as described by Tom..

Just thinking out loud......how big is the place you live in now? ..........do you have a spare room or area that Jack could be in that was away from your fiancé.....you could vacuum that area daily to keep the dander under control.. and maybe that could work out.
Best of luck sorting this out.
If you have any questions please ask us here. We are only too happy to help
Bron

 

First off - the reason Jack is not using the litter box is most likely due to his diabetic neuropathy. We had the same issue with Benny, and it was a frustrating few weeks until we got his blood sugar regulated and his legs became stronger. (It's very hard to squat when your legs won't hold you up, especially on shifting granules of litter.) So once you get control, you can look forward to that no longer being a problem.

How amenable is your friend to adding diabetes care to her plate? Ideally, if she could learn to give shots and monitor his blood sugar a few times a day, it's really not that burdensome (and once you can get the litterbox issues resolved, it's much easier than cleaning up messes every day!)

Although you can't physically be with Jack and your friend, you can set up a SPREADSHEET for both of you to use, so you can help to monitor and make decisions regarding his insulin dosage and overall care.

Since you've been reading here, I'm sure you've picked up a lot - it certainly sounds like you're well-prepared - so I don't want to burden you with info you already have, but please check out the Insulin Support Group specific to the kind of insulin you are on; they will have tons of good information. It really isn't necessary to take Jack to the vet for insulin curves; with home monitoring, you can keep much better track of his numbers on a day-to-day basis than a vet can with weekly or monthly visits. Not to mention, BG numbers at the vets will tend to run high due to the cat being under stress just due to the visit.

Granted, in your situation I can't tell whether this is even possible, but I'm hoping you can either work with your friend to get him back to good health, or find a foster home for him where that is possible. Best of luck!

 

If the entrance to the litter box is high he may be having difficulty. See about getting a box with a lower entrance. You are wonderful to stay so committed to him.

 

so unfortunately when i first had to find them a place to stay, i aggressively pursued resolving the allergy issue, our place doesn't have a room to spare just for the cats, though i think a large dog pen setup in the living room area would be fine but "opinions" differ. i had made an amazon list of several dander control stuff and was willing to do all the work. Still a hard no but with current events im still working for a yes. Though after some hard thoughts, where he is at might be the best since with my job I'm out of the house for minimum of 12hrs at the very least. And i doubt i could relay on the other half with her schedule and current feelings but again working at a yes

i am with then tonight, just got done with taking care of jack. His reading is still high... yesterday i did have a long phone call with the vet asking my list of questions. He's on one unit of prozinc. Read up on it last night too. Added more notes . Currently the way I'm working the information train is Google drive, my caretaker friend has a android phone and i gave access to her, read and edit rights. So i can make documents and she can read them for quick access, like in the event of a hypo emergency, yet got that document made and summarized with all the important bits. my caretaker friend has been dealing with this awesomely, just could use more practice with the meter I think. I just got done with doing control tests on the alpha trak 2 test strips and using the petsure ones, then testing me. Fairly accurate results strip to strip, cross brand strip testing, and on me. Petsure tested on me checked 137, alpha test 146. I advised to just use the alphas until we get him where he needs to be and its fairly predictable, my thoughts. The vet wants to see him next week to do a bg test amd see how he is doing, he'll prolly have an increase. Hoping they can prescribe a stronger insulin bottle rather than use having to buy more than one bottle for a month period.

with his litter box issue, we've separated him with a baby gate in a back room, plenty of space and won't have to go far for the box. We already planned on "adjusting" the box to fit him; lower cut. I also picked up another Rubbermaid container as a secondary box since last i viewed him using he peed moved, peed while moving then went outside the box and pooped. can't hurt for another one.

well ill make a post on the main at some.point but it's getting late and ive got to get the boxes clean here and take out the trash before heading home to eat, Shower, do some work paperwork, clean a few things around the house for my b-day party this weekend before finally settling in for the night. It's prolly gonna be a really late one. Idc, they are worth it. So ill check back in on another day.

 

What a precious friend you have helping you out and you are Jack's wonderful and most precious friend, too bad your fiance is "allergic" ! It's hard at the beginning taking care of a diabetes cat but as soon as you get the hang of it, things go fine! Jack will always find help on this forum; just ask !! If you don't feel OK with this, you might want to find him a really good family where little Jack will be well taken care and happy !!

 

once he is regulated and doing alot better, jack and i will be making the trip out to Nebraska to meet up with my mom and he is going to stay with her. She has type 2 diabetes and I'm currently educating her on this all so she is ready. She was able to force the okay from my dad(not a cat person). But I'm making it a point that this won't happen til he is under control and stable for a fair period.

i want to add a bit to my last reply. when i talked with the vet, i explained that i found this website and read up on alot. what I picked up after that statement felt like skepticism. I am not doubting any info here is incorrect though. My profession involves alot of in the moment learning and applies different physical sciences to resolve a problem, mostly when I'm by myself, so a very fast paced learning curve; i can tell when i need to search for more data and review what the consensus is. She stated that she is very knowledgeable regarding feline diabetes, "treated hundred of cats" but not in a showy tone. When mention of using fancy feast classic food as his new diet, she didn't seem to like that, when i explained to her that this site showed several instances of it being good as a low carb food for FD, She moved the conversation into her possibly prescribing the prescription diabetic foods. When i brought up the topic of glucose curves, she told me that he does not need that right now, using the term "too early" and that its only needed if having trouble regulating. I can see her point on that BUT! I tried to get her to agree with my point, how could doing a curve now be a bad thing? It would show us how his numbers run throughout the day and give us more info. I fully realize that things will more than likely change as we getting his dosage adjusted and his body adjusts to the food and etc. She wouldn't agree. She did proceed to tell me that a frustomine blood test could be done, gave price and they could also do a curve there if he is having trouble, priced this as well. I have this sneaking suspicion that she may be, just slightly, trying to get more money from my pocket. I just wanted to share this, and see what peoples thoughts are. he will have an appt next week, and I'm 100% at this point that his dosage will be increased. Checked bg at 8:15ish 528. Then feed him and gave him his 1 unit of prozinc, waited about a half hour and he was still hungry for I feed him another 3-5 oz of food. Then after about an hour i tested him being leaving, his bg was 477. Granted, i know to take that with a grain of salt just because it's only night.

i also want to say thank you to everyone, you have given me back my strength and hope. When i original started this thread, i was feeling extremely lost and unworthy. I'm back in it now, in it to win it.

 

Regarding vets and their advice re: feeding and home testing - we must have won the vet lottery, because our vet actually recommended this site, saying it's where she goes when she needs to read up on feline diabetes, and she really applauded our careful tracking of data. And that was after only a week on insulin. I can't wait to hear what she thinks today when we present her with Benny's spreadsheet for the last month!

 

I'm quite new to FD and this Forum (only a few months), but I'm here because my vet didn't agree on human insulin for cats, didn't tell me to test BG before each shot and said doing a curve after a couple of weeks was enough! So many people here had that same experience with their vet. I learned so much since I found this Forum; you'll see the information and support you will get from all those experienced people who are always there to help. Don't forget to ask and ask questions until you're OK! We all did it and keep doing it!!

One suggestion I can have is to post in the Main Health Forum here and you also have the Prozinc Forum here

I'm very happy that you found a good solution for little Jack.

 

I am so glad to hear that Jack is getting his home, even if it means far from you. And forget that "unworthy" business. In my book you're a bit of a hero.

 

Exactly, I was just going to respond with the same!!! You are incredible, as are your current and future caretakers.

Some people just "dump" their cats when they are diagnosed. Period. Never even try to deal with it. You're a wonderful human being, and karma will serve you well.

 

I just want to chime in and say "me too" - I've been so touched by your determination to do the best for Jack. I really, sincerely hope that you're able to get him stable and into a good situation. You are a hero in my mind!

 

You could put some puppy training pads down as well