To treat or not to treat a difficult but much loved cat

Hi, My beautiful 11 year old Felix was diagnosed a couple of weeks ago. I went to the vet because he had a small abscess on his ear and was otherwise healthy except that for a week he had been drinking lots of water. I came out with a diabetic cat!

The vet told me to dose him with 3.5 units every 12 hours. I’m using the caninsulin pen. I’ve had terrible trouble for a number of reasons. I am terrified of needles firstly (lucky me). Felix, bless him, isn’t a people lover. He is NOT a cuddly cat at all and won’t let people pat him. He does have a second home with one of our elderly neighbors though. So he is an indoor / outdoor cat who is extremely independent. He is also not very fat so not much to grab hold of. His fur is short but extremely dense.

I started trying to inject him on Sunday night. I’m injecting him at feeding up on the kitchen bench as that’s the only time he is still. I couldn’t work out how to get the air bubbles out of the vial and wasn’t sure if I actually had the needle in his skin. I kept trying each 12 hours and finally had a mobile vet nurse come by last night to help me. We finally sorted the pen out. This morning he was not happy with me injecting and tonight he won’t let me touch him at all so I decided to miss the dose and give him a break.

He is my only family apart from my elderly father so he means the world to me. So it is just me and Felix. My purpose for life is to give him a happy life. However I feel that he won’t be very happy because he will fight me if I try to inject him. I’m not so sure that I want this to be our relationship. Does anyone know what would happen if I just let the diabetes run it’s course? I can’t see him warming to being touched and pin pricked.

I’ve also been in treatment for early stage cancer for the last year and have recently had to decide to cease my own medication as I was having trouble trying to work etc. so I am totally exhausted from everything medical and have had a few meltdowns over the last few days (away from Felix and not at injection time).

Sorry for this rant! I love my baby very much and don’t want to let him down but think it might be for the best not to continue to treat him. I’m interested in your thoughts or suggestions. Please don’t think too badly of me.

Forgot to mention. By Tuesday he was back to drinking lower amounts of water and could wait 10 hours before urinating. Yey.

 

Hi Fi and Felix and welcome to the forum. I am so glad you have found us.

it can be overwhelming in the beginning so don’t be hard on yourself. It really does get much easier as both you and Felix gets used to the routine.im sorry you are dealing with health problems as well.

Not treating a kitty with diabetes and letting it run its course would not be a good idea because Felix would start to feel terrible as time went on and he would starve to death as the body needs insulin to utilise the food. .

this is a very supportive place and there are many people here who will want to help you get more comfortable with it all. There are lots of little things that you will be able to do to gain Felixs confidence. At the moment he is probably wondering what the heck you are doing but I promise it does get much easier.

And I have to say that pretty much everyone says that their relationship with their cat becomes much closer with an FD kitty. I know I had a wonderfully close relationship with Sheba.

I am concerned that the vet started you on 3.5 units of caninsulin. That is a large dose. The normal starting dose is around 1 unit.

I am going to tag @MrWorfMen's Mom as I don’t use caninsulin. She lives in Canada so won’t be around for a few hours yet.

you might like to start posting over on the main health page where there are more people. Here is the link below

Hope to see you over on the main health.
page.
Bron

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/feline-health-the-main-forum.28/

 

Hi Bron, should I retype my above info to the main health area? Cheers Fi

 

Yes it would be great if you could just copy this post and re-post over in Health. I'll keep an eye out for your post as I found some info I think you may find helpful.

 

This is complicated especially with Christmas coming and your own life which I'm sure was a difficult decision. I won't say "I know how that feels" because I don't. For now I want to set aside your own life only because you're an adult and I don't believe there's anything I can say that will change your mind.
The rest of this is about Felix and is not about guilt. Be thankful you're using pens and not syringes if you're scared of needles. There are insulins that are easier to manage and less harsh on the body than caninsulin. I'm assuming you're either in Canada or the UK?
This is more than distasteful but if you have ceased your treatment what is your prognosis? I'm sure you've explored alternatives, is there anything that will change your mind?
You said your purpose in life is to give Felix a happy life, does that include a life where you are no longer able to take care of him? 11 years is nothing, I've had many cats live past 17 and one made it to 23.
Finally, I'm dealing with my own problems right now and I almost feel physically ill intruding on a strangers life with questions like this. You did ask the questions and I'm trying my best to be a human being about it. For future reference Noah was my last sugar cat and the "me" is Dickson. We live in Ontario and their are many shelters here that find homes for older cats even if they are diabetic.
That wasn't much medical help but this is the best place to come for real person to person help. No one here will shame you or guilt you. Safe journey my friend.

 

Yes please. Copy and paste into main health page. See you over there

 

Hi “me” Dickson. Thanks for your words and thoughts. I have reposted o the main health page. I am planning to be around for a while. I do need to work full time though. I was on a hormone treatment that helps prevent the return of my cancer but it sent me crazy with pain and brain fog. Any way. Back to little Felix Higgins. For now I will keep trying to get him to accept the new attention and injecting. Fi

 

Is there any sort of treat that Felix loves? Sometimes, associating something your cat loves with the shots and/or testing can get your cat to accept the shots better.

Ideas for treats include food like some sort of pure meat - any kind of cooked meat, egg, cheese or freeze dried pure meat? Chicken baby food? Treats could be play time or brushing too.

Shaving or clipping short a spot of fur so you could see better to give the shot may be useful to you also.

(Didn't see your post over on Main Health so replying here).

 

Are you doing ok?

Anything else we can help you with?

 

How are things going? Haven't heard from you in a bit.