Waiting

I took my little boy, Cid, to our normal vet in November cus he was losing a lot of weight. Dr said he's old, feed him what he'll eat and sent us on our way. Today I took him to another vet. He's been drinking a lot and now he won't eat much more than the gravy off his food. The vet did blood work and I'll hear in the morning the results. Last night, Cid just laid on me and looked at me with this sad face and purred. I felt he was saying goodbye and was afraid he would be gone when I woke up. He wasn't so I took him to the vet. I think he is diabetic but I don't know if I can deal with the shots every day. I have 2 children, ages 15 months and 5 years. Our lives are hectic and often we just go on vaction, to visit grandparents, etc and end up staying longer than we intended. I don't know if I can care for him but I"m already crying afraid I"m going to lose him. Part of me says let him stop suffering. Part of me wants to know what is causing it. The doc said it's either diabetes or kidney failure. My heart aches seeing him this way. He is an indoor/outdoor cat and I have placed him in our garage because his litter box is too smelly now to keep him indoors. He will use it but it will stink up the entire house after just one use. I hate keeping him pinned up like that but I dont' want him to go off and die. Can anyone relate to me? Help me sort through my thoughts? I don't know what the results are yet and even so, I don't know what I would do either way. I need advise and I need understanding. I have a family to think of first but this cat has been my family when I had no other family. Granted he is about 11 years old so it may be time for him to go. Right now I"m just waiting to see what the results say and/or what God does. He has lost a significant amount of wt in the last 4 months, he nibbles now, drinks lots of water and doesn't groom himself. His coat is oily and greasy looking now. Waiting stinks.................

 

11 years old is not an old cat - not by a long shot.

Quality of life is the most important issue when it comes to situations like these.

Glad to see Cid is having blood work done to pinpoint the problem. Diabetes and other internal issues are entirely treatable, if not curable. If Diabetes, many cats will go off insulin within weeks or months.

Take care of him the best you can until the results come back. Don't think if he is diabetic it would automatically require life-long treatment because many times it does not - even if the Vet tells you that it does. Many Vets are entirely misinformed. Although treating Diabetes does require dedication, at least at first!

Good Luck.

 

You have come to the right place, especially if it is diabetes. Diabetes is very treatrable. Many cats go into remission after only a month or two with insulin and a diet change.

11 years old is not really that old. My little girl lasted to be almost 18 years old.

If you are waiting for a diagnosis from the vet, I would advise to read up on this website as much as you can. Food is very important. Check out the links on the first page of this forum....under health links.

Don't give up on your cat. You can do this, at least it's worth a try.

 

Cid isn't even a teenager yet.......he truly is not an old cat by any means. There are women who have come on this board with toddlers + babies and they found out that once you start treatment, it does become routine and second hand to do. I am very glad to read you do have him confined for now. If it is diabetes, it is so treatable and he will turn around and his urine will also lessen in the stink department. I would strongly suggest that you do not let him roam around outside ever again. There is also doable treatment for Chronic Renal Failure also. Please post back and let us know what the vet says. I would also suggest get a stool sample run on him to rule out parasites. He is sick and he has no one to depend on or to help him get better except you.

 

Hope the news from your vet is good. When my vet called to tell me Smokey was diabetic I cried. I cried because out of the options we were given, diabetes was the managable one, not just make her comfortable until it takes her.. but we had the hope to get her back to healthy and maintain that with insulin.

That was in December and we have been in remission for over a month now flip_cat I was thankful we could treat it, I never imagined we could beat it. Now we have our girl back and she acts like a kitten again (she'll be 13 this fall). Not all cats reach remission, but most can manage it and many more are beating it these days with the advances in insulins.

I can completely understand you worry about schedules. We don't have kids, but that just gave us the freedom to do as we pleased, when we pleased. We both work very long hours. We also travel at a moments notice, heading to our place by my parents or the casino for a long weekend, or flying somewhere for a few days on short notice. I didn't know how we'd handle one of us having to be home every 12 hours for shots and the change in the eating schedules. We became so attuned to the schedule, when we stopped needing to give shots it felt weird. If you need to, you'll make it work just like we did.

 

Hi there, and I feel your pain. You have come to the right place, for all cat info - this place is GREAT. Lots of smart, caring people.
So you're waiting for results...Do you know if your vet is doing a fructosamine test? That shows the average blood glucose level in the past two weeks. Much more accurate than the BG level form that one office visit. The stress from the vet trip can raise the levels to look like diabetic levels. So if your vet comes back with a "diabetic" number - ask him/her if they did the fructosamine test, that COULD make the difference between giving insulin or not. It did for me.
Also, are you feeding dry food? If so...dump it. It's junk. The diet change also made the difference for me and my Sweety, and many others I have seen on the board - really! You want low carb wet food - here's some food info: with a link to canned food lists:
http://catinfo.org/

Also, the symptoms sound like they could be Hyperthyroid too, so ask the vet what his T4 level is (thyroid function test) and if it is normal.
Both these things (diabetes and hyperthyroidism) are treatable. As well as kidney problems but I (thankfully) do not have any experience with that)
So, I would suggest reading absolutely everything in the health and diet section, get some understnding of what your options are and what you are/could be dealing with.

I know firsthand how overwhelming the thought of diabetes can be, we all do so you are in good company here, we understand. so breathe...pet your baby and try not to think the worst ( I KNOW that's hard) - you don't know yet what it is.

I hope, hope, HOPE it's something treatable. Please keep us updated? We truly care.

 

Hear anything yet?

 

The vet called about 6:45 this evening. Cid's lab work was in. He is diabetic. His BG was 363 which she said is more than double the high side of normal for a cat. I pick up the insulin prescription in the morning and take Cid up there so she can show me how to give him the shots. I've spoken with the neighbor who is a nurse and he said if he is home and we are out of town, he'd be willing to come over and give the cat his shot. My cat has been loving up on me all day as if he knows I"m going to make him better. My husband said he's hoping that we can get him regulated and things will be ok again. Problem was he was an obese cat no matter what I did when he was younger....at one time he weighed 23 pounds. Now he is a mere 6.1 pounds and skin and bones to the point I"m almost afraid to touch him. I hope he puts on wt again soon. Anyway, I'm going to read up and see what I can find. LOL my vet referred me actually to this site after giving me his results....not knowing that I had already been here so that alone says a lot.

 

Cidsmommy-- something you can do about the litter-- is use pine pellet bedding-- you can get this at Petsmart-- OR-- as I tell folks go to your local feed store or Tractor Supply-- and they have the same pelleted bedding but marketed for horses. I get a 40lb bag there for 5.99 or 6.49 depending on the time of the year. You would pay twice this at a petstore for a 25 lb bag.

Anyhow, if you can get your cat transitioned to the pine pellet bedding-- the smell will almost disappear entirely. I have 9 cats in my house currently (7 are my own and 2 are fosters) and we only have 3 boxes due to space--- they are large and filled with pine and when you walk into my house you can NOT smell cat. I always double check when I return home from a vacation, business trip, etc.

My guests have said the same thing too and have been shocked. I have converted many friends to this type of litter and I have been impressed when I go to their homes and can't smell cat-- whereas before all I could smell is dusty, perfumey, poop/urine litter.

Anyhoo-- transition slowly but you will be glad you did-- plus it decreases on the dust in your home and allergens caused by cat clay litter.

Good luck with little Cid... 11 years is not old and he can have many more years. I was just newly diagnosed (my cat DoDo) with diabetes and so far it has not been that big of a deal. Even little DoDo is now a purring ball of happy when I test his ears and give him his shot (but I think that has more to do with the dried salmon treat he gets right after).

 

Well...after my chiropractic appointment it's off to the pharmacy and then the vet with Cid so they can show me how to do his injections. Good news is he's eating again. The same food he upped his nose at 2 days ago. I have no clue why unless he's just that hungry but he's eating. I offered him jarred baby food chicken last night and he ate it and then this morning he's back to his normal eating habits again. I doubt myself but like I told my husband if I don't do anything he will starve to death and that is cruel way to die. I plan to buy a pet id tag that says he is diabetic as well. More later...off to the doctor.

 

So glad to know you are going to treat Cid. Warning on the baby food......make sure there is no onion powder....believe BeechNut is the only baby meat food that does not carry onion powder.

 

Baby food and onion powder.....

Onions are toxic to dogs. The toxicity is dose dependent, so the bigger the animal, the more onion need be consumed to cause a toxicity. Onion toxicity causes a Heinz body anemia. Heinz bodies are small bubble-like projections which protrude from a red blood cell and can be seen when the cells are stained. This "bubble" is a weak spot in the red blood cell and, therefore, the cell has a decreased life-span and ruptures prematurely.
If numerous red cells are affected and rupture, anemia can result. It is a form of hemolytic anemia. Onions are only one of the substances which can cause Heinz body anemia. Other substances such as Acetominophen (Tylenol) and benzocaine-containing topical preparations can also cause Heinz body anemia in the dog.

The toxic effect of the onions are the same whether the product is raw, cooked or dehydrated. The hemolytic episode usually occurs several days after onion ingestion (lowest hematocrit around day 5 post ingestion). Daily feeding of onions could have a cumulative effect due to ongoing formation of Heinz bodies versus a single exposure with a wide gap until the next exposure, allowing the bone marrow time to regenerate the prematurely destroyed red cells.

The cat is even more susceptible. Recently, Gerber began to add onion powder to all its meat baby foods. They are labeled as "better tasting". Since baby food is often used in sick cats that are not eating (to stimulate their appetites), there was concern that the onion powder would cause a Heinz body anemia in these cats. Within a week or two of the change, there were numerous reports of Heinz body anemia in cats receiving Gerber baby food in their diets.

 

The vet said the baby food was fine as it was just ground chicken, water and corn startch in that order. Mentioned not to give a whole lot but to stimulate is appetite it was ok. He's back on a regular eating schedule now. We should be starting insulin tonight or in the morning depending on whent he vet calls and says bring him up so they can show me the first injection and such. He has been prescribed NPH.

 

If it is Gerber's baby food, it is not fine. Maybe mention to your vet about onion powder and hemolytic anemia it can cause in cats.