Stunning Senior Maine Coon in Fredericksburg, VA!

Please contact Terri Smith TJSmith3000@aol.com (@aol.com) if you or someone you know would like to adopt this beautiful kitty. The cat is located at the Central Park Banfield Pet Hospital in the CP PetSmart, Fredericksburg VA. The price of the insulin is not covered by the Banfield Charitable trust, only regular exams & vaccines.

***
Owners of a 13 year old neutered male Main Coon can no longer afford the insulin for their diabetic cat. Banfield Pet Hospital of Fredericksburg has a charitable trust that would continue to pay for it's regular exams & vaccines if someone would adopt the poor guy. He has a sweet temperament, lives & gets along with another cat. Please let me know if you have any interest in providing a much needed home to a cat that has done nothing wrong but still must leave it's home.

 

If the insulin affordability issue were addressed, would this kitty be able to stay in his home ?

 

Ditto what Karen asked.
If insulin and diabetic supplies, (monitor, strips, syringes, etc.), were not an issue, would he be able to stay with his family?

~M

 

Same question as above. IMHO he should be able to stay with the family he knows and loves. Unless there are underlying issues we don't know about.

 

I have sent an email to the contact asking this question.

 

Way to go Venita !

It's incredible how much you do.

 

I also sent an email to the contact person for more info. Sorry that I xposted. I get so many pleas for help...my brain is about to burst. :sad:

 

It sounds like if funds could be found to sponsor this cat, the owners would keep him. It is purely financial (and I know what it is not to be able to pay your bills). This is the response I got from Terri (who I do not know):

-----Original Message-----
From: Terri <tjsmith3000@aol.com>
To: Denise Arnot <darnot@aol.com>
Sent: Wed, Aug 11, 2010 4:55 pm
Subject: Re: Diabetic Maine Coon

Yes, still needs the tests to determine amount needed but they love their cat, just no money for long term insulin... But the cat is 13, so long term may only be 2, .3 yrs and maybe they will get back on their feet financially.

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 11, 2010, at 11:07 AM, Denise Arnot <darnot@aol.com> wrote:

If sponsorship could be found to pay for the insulin, would the family be willing to keep him?

 

I would love to chip in and help this helpless sweet boy, as long as we sent the check to the hospital, where the parents of the cat will go and get the prepaid insulin. It is not wise to give the parents of the cat the donation. Are there any members who are willing to do that too?

 

I think DCIN (Venita) is making inquiries for helping them.

I'm sure she has procedures in place to insure the cat gets the insulin.

 

I just spoke with Terri, the contact for the posting on this diabetic cat (we don't have his name yet, so I'll call him FD).

FD is at home with his owners, but is not being treated for his diabetes. Terri is going to call the owners tomorrow to see whether they are willing to appropriately treat FD's diabetes. The conditions of "appropriate" are BG hometesting, wet food, insulin injections, and contact with the FDMB (or if no Internet connection, contact with someone by phone who will mentor them on FD's treatment).

If Terri's screening indicates willing owners, she will get them set up with a less-expensive vet than Banfield for a script of Lantus or Levemir. (Terri will pay for that vet visit.) She also will put them in touch with me, and DCIN will provide them insulin from its own stock and all the associated diabetic supplies, at least to start. Terri will then work on finding local human diabetics who are willing to sponsor FD by providing him with their excess insulin and test strips.

If the owners aren't willing to appropriately treat FD's diabetes, then she and I will regroup to discuss next steps.

Thank you Denise, yet again, for bringing a needy diabetic cat to our attention--and early on so that there is a very good chance of keeping him healthy.

 

Wow....that's really swinging into action !!!

This could work (hoping, hoping, hoping !!)

 

I'm local to this cat. I can bring over a pen of Lev and a Relion kit, teach how to hometest, provide continuing support, etc. I can recommend my F'berg vet as well, however if the Banfield Trust is willing to provide free exams and testing then they should probably stay with Banfield? or maybe that's only if the cat gets adopted.

Unfortunately the house is full up but on the bright side, I will have some good news to post soon.

laur

 

That is great news Laur. EXCELLENT news!! Could you PM me your phone number; I don't have it. I so hope the owners are willing to appropriately treat. I can't wait for morning for Terri to call them. I expect these offers of support will really lift the burden of the diabetes DX off their shoulders.

I look forward to your good news.

PS--Folks please note the new DCIN Kitty of the week in my sig line---Kitty!!

 

The owners have been screened by the Banfield office manager and the person who brought this situation to our attention. The owners ARE willing to work with DCIN to save Mr. Miyagi (his real name). I was told they already have done some research and switched Mr. Miyagi to "an appropriate diet."

I have a message into the Mamabean to get this ball rolling!!

Thank you all so much for your help and concern. DCIN is accepting donations for Mr. Miyagi's insulin and diabetic supplies. Donation instructions are linked in the signature line.

 

I'm hoping for another broken FD, he'd be in good company with Bean and Mr. Darcy Food change alone may do the trick.

Laur, wonderful that you can teach them how to hometest. That will make the process so much easier.

 

Hi,
We are the thankful owners of Mr. Miyagi! Thank you so much for all of the input and advice that was posted here about him. We are so grateful to Venita for helping us keep Mr. Miyagi in our family. We know this will be a big change for all of us, but we are ready to learn as much as we can and get our cat healthy again. What a great community!

Sarah and Dee

 

Welcome to the board Sarah, Dee and Mr. Mylagl !! I'm glad things are going to work out for you to keep your friend ! I know he is happy to

I look forward to seeing you around !

 

Hi Sarah and Dee. Welcome aboard!!! Hugs to the Mr.

 

Hi Sarah and Dee and welcome. This is such wonderful news to know that beautiful Mr. M can stay in his home. We will all help and it is just fantastic that Laur is close enough to help you hometest and discuss feline diabetes with you.

 

Here's the news as I know it. Laur met Dee at her vet's office yesterday, and Mr. was seen and scripted Levemir. It turns out that his bloodwork at Banfield showed some ketones (that apparently no one was told about) and yesterday's vet also identified a urinary tract infection, which is now being treated. The ketone issue was not serious enough to warrant treatment.

Between what Laur brought for them and what Sarah and Dee bought themselves, they are all set with insulin and diabetic supplies.

Number since last night:

PMPS 378 1U Levemir
+4 200
+12 66

Mr. M did not receive a shot this morning. They will check him later and see whether he is shootable. I don't know what Laur told them about shooting range, but when I just spoke to Dee, I suggested a shoot/no shoot number of 180 mg/dl, and maybe pulling that dose down to .5U.

 

Welcome Sarah and Dee.

Can't wait to learn more about Mr. Looks like great numbers today. Keep up the great work.

 

Hello all,
Today has been our first full day at it. We gave him his first insulin shot last night and it couldn't have gone more smoothly. When we checked blood sugar before we went to sleep it was down to 201. This morning it was 66 so we didn't shoot. As the day progressed his bsl raised and by late after afternoon it was 366. He had another insulin shot a few hours ago. The most difficult part so far has been checking his blood glucose... Dee seems to be the one who is more succesful with that. Thanks for the well wishes!

Sarah, Dee and Mr. M

 

Hi Sarah & Dee,

It was great to meet Dee and Mr Miyagi yesterday. I'd suggest with a 66 at 12 hours after the very first shot, you will want to be sure to check the gorgeous Mr M tonight before going to bed. He may go low again tonight if you gave the same 1u dose. I know it's a tough when you are starting out with testing, and the long darkish fur on his ears does make it even more of a challenge. If nothing else be sure to leave plenty wet food out as he will feel hungry if he starts going too low.

I recommend you reduce his dose to 0.5 units next time, if you haven't yet. The 366 you got at +24 after the initial 1u dose was undoubtedly from the blood sugar dropping lower than his body is used to lately, so it panicked a bit and the liver dumped some sugars into the blood as a protective measure.

hugs,
laur

 

When I was getting used to testing, I shaved my cat's black ear so that I could better visualize what I was doing.

 

Welcome to the FDMB family. I'm so delighted that the stunning Mr M. gets to stay with his family. Our Maine Coon girl Angel was simply drooling over the divine Mr. M's picture. =)

Mel & Muse (GA)