Ready to commit but... need a little help.

My sister and I got Mowgli in university, a few years after we graduated we left Mowgli at my parents house as the family pet, so that we could pursue careers across the country. Fast forward 10 years, and Mowgli has just been diagnosed with Diabetes. My parents are unable to provide the care he needs so, instead of putting him down, I am in the process of flying my sister out with him so that I can take over caring for him.

I am definitely ready to commit to the lifestyle of taking care of a diabetic cat, but I am honestly pretty overwhelmed. I am trying my best to inform myself through this forum so that I am as prepared as possible for his arrival this week. Allow me to burden you all with a list of my concerns below:

1. Introducing Mowgli to my 7 year old female, anti-social, and anxious cat Nyx. Nyx is overly nervous of new situations and has never lived with another animal, when exposed to other animals in the past she has completely flipped, and remained stressed for a few days after.
   • Any advice on introducing a new cat into poor Nyxie's territory?
2. I know that wet food is best but Mowgli really hates wet food. I am willing to try and switch him over to wet food but my job keeps me away from the house 10hrs/day which will make it tough to stick to, and the vet has assured me that the dry food they prescribed for him is effective (PVD Feline DM)
   • If I do start feeding Mowgli wet food successfully, I'm a little nervous about adjusting the insulin even with the spreadsheet that is provided, especially since it seems that the BG can drop so suddenly with a change in diet.
   • Do you think I should continue on with the diet that the vet has recommended until he stabilizes?
3. My vet has set Mowgli up on 5 units of Caninsulin 2x/day... this seems high, although his initial BG test at the vet was 28.7mmol/L. The vet has said that he is responding very favorably to this dosage.
4. Kind of nervous about injecting insulin into anything let alone a cat I care about.
5. Wondering how people plan for vacations with a diabetic cat... who do you trust to take care of your cat when you're away?

I am planning to attempt blood glucose monitoring at home, and I will begin using the spreadsheet from this forum once I have all the gear and Mowgli is at my house. In the mean time I am excited to get Mowgli back to his best most handsome self, and have the long term goal (and short term fantasy) of getting him into remission with the help of you fine folks!

Currently accepting advice ;o)

 

Hello and welcome to FDMB from a fellow Canadian. The diagnosis of diabetes in our beloved pets is daunting in the beginning and while the learning curve can be a bit steep, I guarantee you can manage this and will find it's really not such a big deal. Kudos to you for planning to home test because that is by far the best tool to help get Mowgli (love his name!) regulated and keep him safe.

This is just the welcome mat so to speak, so I am going to ask you to repost your questions over HERE on the Health Board where we can get into specific advice and you'll get far more eyes on your concerns and questions.

I will say that I agree that the dose of insulin is way too high for a cat diagnosed on the 4th of March but we can help you deal with that problem as well as all the other things preying on your mind right now. You're in good hands in this amazing community.

 

Thanks for the welcome! I will definitely re-post my questions on the Health board. Glad to have some support from a fellow Canadian .