kate and lucky
Active Member
A couple of old friends emailed me about 'Oldtimers Day'. I'd thought it was for beans whose kitties were still alive and thus hadn't posted, only to be told it was everyone.
A few of you will remember Lucky o
, quite a character in her own right, others of you have just had me offer advice, help, support on your thread without knowing us.
So I thought, what the heck, maybe you might want to read our sugar dance. If you read nothing else, read the last sentence.
HAPPY CATURDAY!!!! :mrgreen:
Lucky was a black and white British short hair (a mix!)
An abandoned kitten, taken in by a family after being mistreated who were then going to throw her in a quarry when they were evicted from their home. Luckily I was looking for a kitten at the wrong time of year (end Jan) and a friend told the chap. Introduced to the tinniest ball of nothing as she waddled into the room-Lucky to find her-Lucky to find me, hence her name.
Her ears were full of ear mites and fleas the size of ladybirds. Vet said she was 6 weeks old. Took her home after treatment and worming and went back 4 days later. Vet then stated she was more likely 10 weeks old, so estimate she was born around Oct 1993 and chose the 31st as her birthday as it fitted with her nature!.
For the next 12 years she was a happy healthy cat, living on dry food entirely for 10 years. I often had to go away and did not know anything of carbs etc.
2005 she became very ill (luckily I was off work after a knee op). Nearly lost her and vet never got to bottom of it but thought she'd been poisoned. She went to vets for 1 night and they rang for me to get her as he said he'd never seen such a distressed animal. Lucky became a fan of sachets of Kitekat in gravy (previously had had the odd sachet in jelly moving from fish flavours to anything else) We got through it and after moving all round Britain over the years moved to Germany in May 2007. Apart from being very dehydrated (o/n ferry crossing and got lost!)no problems on our journey.
September 2008 whilst parents visiting noticed an increase in water consumption and food, but sadly not overly concerned.
Food and water consumption increased and took her to vets 3rd of November 2008. Diagnosis Diabetes.
ALKP 98 U/L (14-111)
ALT 40 U/L
UREA 9.5 mmol/L
CREA 126 umol/L
GLU 23.12 (416)mmol/L
TP 73 g/L
Vets response to a fractious kitty-'Do nothing, special food (Hills m/d) or PTS!!
Immediately put on Hills m/d until discover FDMB 3 days later. Swap to Felix etc .No dry. Takes to it no problem.
OOO Noo- searches/emails identified Army vet an hour away.
Blood test
Fructosamine results 15/11
582 umol/l
slight lipaemia
Thyroxine 16.3 nmol/l (14.2-66.5)
Decide can't keep using these vets (did offer to treat with Lente) due to travel time, work commitments and Lucky's stress at travelling that distance.
Virtually everyone recommends 3rd vet-German.
24/11 first visit. Luks not eating well.
Diagnosis throat infection needs antibiotics (have to go to Gibraltar for work 25/11 for a week) Accommodated in pension (vet cattery)2 nights, friend collects. Also heart problem. 5 different things given.
Blood test BG 257 mg/dl
3/12 visit.
Will not treat Diabetes as states unable to until heart problem sorted.
8/12 visit.
No Diabetes treatment. Injections given-for heart (I think)
16/12
BG 259 mg/dl
ALT 39.1 u/l
CREA O.946 mg/dl
tested for feline LV (despite saying she had been inoculated!) Ruck of injections given.
17/12
More injections
18/12
More injections.
Ask if have to keep taking her as hiding and stressed. Metcam given to put on food and syringe with 'cactus' to give orally for heart (1ml per day). Go back tomorrow if want to give insulin!!!!
19/12
Lucky lifeless. Not moving, not wanting food. Checked again mid-morning. Still not moved. Tell vet. Immediate response PTS. Agreed for tomorrow morning.
19/12 late afternoon. Lots of loving and coaxing.
Lucky rallies.
PM take Lucky to a 'special' clinic that supposedly specialises in cat diseases. Waste of time, rips me off (knows nothing in my view) but at least says no PTS not required. STOP using metcam (she won't eat with it on her food).
20/12
Cancel PTS, make appointment for 22/12. Eating much better but syringe water given.
22/12
Ate and drank without coaxing.
Vets-FINALLY AGREED TO CANNINSULIN!!!! Got me to give a 5u shot in surgery, gave me the stuff and sent us on our way. In agreement to Home testing as acknowledges how stressed Luks get in vets and blood taking.
PM-Panic at Hypo and get lots of support off FDMB members. Subsequently reduce dose to b.i.d 1u.
That was our trip to the sugar journey. I speak very little German, have not found anyone near me that treats a cat with Diabetes.
I eventually went back to the army vet who agreed to give the script for Levemir. They tried to advise on dose, but due diligence, research and ‘talking’ to FDMB members, I made my own dosing decisions with the guidance of beans such as Jojo and Greg.
Within a short time Luks was beautifully regulated. I had to be creative with my job and she travelled with me often. When I couldn’t take her with me and the choice was either a whole week end at the German vets (army didn’t have cattery facilities) or miss one shot. I took a chance and she’d miss a shot.
I had a problem of a holiday abroad, my neighbour had tried to give Lucky her shots and she had literally shredded her hands.
Heather/jasper was faced with a similar dilemma and we got together and agreed to look after each others kitty. Jasper was a sweetie-just gave lots of love bites in the morning!!
Heather and Eric weren’t so lucky!! Lucky would not let them near her and Eric had to be very ingenious with a bandanna, bike leathers and all sorts! She missed more than a dozen shots in this time-a true one bean kitty.
However within a couple of days her numbers were back to regulation.
The over-riding memory of this was Jojo’s comment ‘Kudos to her shed construction crew’. She could hold her numbers.
Her bg’s were almost consistently under 120.
Then she started showing signs of nausea. Greg and Cassandra sent meds to help. We trekked back and forth to army vet who would NOT listen. They wouldn’t give sub q’s, would only try one thing at a time. Lucky’s Pancreatitis results were off the scale.
Vets eventually agreed to take her in overnight and give her IV fluids.
Jill managed to put me in touch with Kirsten from the German Katzen forum, who identified a local vet that had been praised by her forum for their work on other cat diseases. He agreed to support sub q’s. I was to collect Lucky the next day and take her to this vet.
That night I received the call no bean wants to receive. Lucky had had a seizure and was on oxygen. My DBF drove me to the vets.
I knew when I saw her she wasn’t coming back.
There’s always if’s, why’s and maybe’s. Certainly in Lucky’s case this is true. I still don’t know if they had actually O/D her, Dian mentioned electrolyte imbalance, the vets said her organs-I will never know.
For me her memory lives on through me helping on the board. We only got an extra year, but it was still an extra year, and had we have had a vet who knew what they were doing I know it would have been a lot longer.
It’s a long story with a sad ending. I don’t regret Lucky developing Diabetes, it brought us even closer than I could have ever imagined, it brought me a lot of knowledge and understanding and it brought me friends.
The beauty of FDMB is that wherever you are in the world, you are never alone
:YMHUG:
A few of you will remember Lucky o
, quite a character in her own right, others of you have just had me offer advice, help, support on your thread without knowing us.So I thought, what the heck, maybe you might want to read our sugar dance. If you read nothing else, read the last sentence.
HAPPY CATURDAY!!!! :mrgreen:
Lucky was a black and white British short hair (a mix!)
An abandoned kitten, taken in by a family after being mistreated who were then going to throw her in a quarry when they were evicted from their home. Luckily I was looking for a kitten at the wrong time of year (end Jan) and a friend told the chap. Introduced to the tinniest ball of nothing as she waddled into the room-Lucky to find her-Lucky to find me, hence her name.
Her ears were full of ear mites and fleas the size of ladybirds. Vet said she was 6 weeks old. Took her home after treatment and worming and went back 4 days later. Vet then stated she was more likely 10 weeks old, so estimate she was born around Oct 1993 and chose the 31st as her birthday as it fitted with her nature!.
For the next 12 years she was a happy healthy cat, living on dry food entirely for 10 years. I often had to go away and did not know anything of carbs etc.
2005 she became very ill (luckily I was off work after a knee op). Nearly lost her and vet never got to bottom of it but thought she'd been poisoned. She went to vets for 1 night and they rang for me to get her as he said he'd never seen such a distressed animal. Lucky became a fan of sachets of Kitekat in gravy (previously had had the odd sachet in jelly moving from fish flavours to anything else) We got through it and after moving all round Britain over the years moved to Germany in May 2007. Apart from being very dehydrated (o/n ferry crossing and got lost!)no problems on our journey.
September 2008 whilst parents visiting noticed an increase in water consumption and food, but sadly not overly concerned.
Food and water consumption increased and took her to vets 3rd of November 2008. Diagnosis Diabetes.
ALKP 98 U/L (14-111)
ALT 40 U/L
UREA 9.5 mmol/L
CREA 126 umol/L
GLU 23.12 (416)mmol/L
TP 73 g/L
Vets response to a fractious kitty-'Do nothing, special food (Hills m/d) or PTS!!
Immediately put on Hills m/d until discover FDMB 3 days later. Swap to Felix etc .No dry. Takes to it no problem.
OOO Noo- searches/emails identified Army vet an hour away.
Blood test
Fructosamine results 15/11
582 umol/l
slight lipaemia
Thyroxine 16.3 nmol/l (14.2-66.5)
Decide can't keep using these vets (did offer to treat with Lente) due to travel time, work commitments and Lucky's stress at travelling that distance.
Virtually everyone recommends 3rd vet-German.
24/11 first visit. Luks not eating well.
Diagnosis throat infection needs antibiotics (have to go to Gibraltar for work 25/11 for a week) Accommodated in pension (vet cattery)2 nights, friend collects. Also heart problem. 5 different things given.
Blood test BG 257 mg/dl
3/12 visit.
Will not treat Diabetes as states unable to until heart problem sorted.
8/12 visit.
No Diabetes treatment. Injections given-for heart (I think)
16/12
BG 259 mg/dl
ALT 39.1 u/l
CREA O.946 mg/dl
tested for feline LV (despite saying she had been inoculated!) Ruck of injections given.
17/12
More injections
18/12
More injections.
Ask if have to keep taking her as hiding and stressed. Metcam given to put on food and syringe with 'cactus' to give orally for heart (1ml per day). Go back tomorrow if want to give insulin!!!!
19/12
Lucky lifeless. Not moving, not wanting food. Checked again mid-morning. Still not moved. Tell vet. Immediate response PTS. Agreed for tomorrow morning.
19/12 late afternoon. Lots of loving and coaxing.
Lucky rallies.
PM take Lucky to a 'special' clinic that supposedly specialises in cat diseases. Waste of time, rips me off (knows nothing in my view) but at least says no PTS not required. STOP using metcam (she won't eat with it on her food).
20/12
Cancel PTS, make appointment for 22/12. Eating much better but syringe water given.
22/12
Ate and drank without coaxing.
Vets-FINALLY AGREED TO CANNINSULIN!!!! Got me to give a 5u shot in surgery, gave me the stuff and sent us on our way. In agreement to Home testing as acknowledges how stressed Luks get in vets and blood taking.
PM-Panic at Hypo and get lots of support off FDMB members. Subsequently reduce dose to b.i.d 1u.
That was our trip to the sugar journey. I speak very little German, have not found anyone near me that treats a cat with Diabetes.
I eventually went back to the army vet who agreed to give the script for Levemir. They tried to advise on dose, but due diligence, research and ‘talking’ to FDMB members, I made my own dosing decisions with the guidance of beans such as Jojo and Greg.
Within a short time Luks was beautifully regulated. I had to be creative with my job and she travelled with me often. When I couldn’t take her with me and the choice was either a whole week end at the German vets (army didn’t have cattery facilities) or miss one shot. I took a chance and she’d miss a shot.
I had a problem of a holiday abroad, my neighbour had tried to give Lucky her shots and she had literally shredded her hands.
Heather/jasper was faced with a similar dilemma and we got together and agreed to look after each others kitty. Jasper was a sweetie-just gave lots of love bites in the morning!!
Heather and Eric weren’t so lucky!! Lucky would not let them near her and Eric had to be very ingenious with a bandanna, bike leathers and all sorts! She missed more than a dozen shots in this time-a true one bean kitty.
However within a couple of days her numbers were back to regulation.
The over-riding memory of this was Jojo’s comment ‘Kudos to her shed construction crew’. She could hold her numbers.
Her bg’s were almost consistently under 120.
Then she started showing signs of nausea. Greg and Cassandra sent meds to help. We trekked back and forth to army vet who would NOT listen. They wouldn’t give sub q’s, would only try one thing at a time. Lucky’s Pancreatitis results were off the scale.
Vets eventually agreed to take her in overnight and give her IV fluids.
Jill managed to put me in touch with Kirsten from the German Katzen forum, who identified a local vet that had been praised by her forum for their work on other cat diseases. He agreed to support sub q’s. I was to collect Lucky the next day and take her to this vet.
That night I received the call no bean wants to receive. Lucky had had a seizure and was on oxygen. My DBF drove me to the vets.
I knew when I saw her she wasn’t coming back.
There’s always if’s, why’s and maybe’s. Certainly in Lucky’s case this is true. I still don’t know if they had actually O/D her, Dian mentioned electrolyte imbalance, the vets said her organs-I will never know.
For me her memory lives on through me helping on the board. We only got an extra year, but it was still an extra year, and had we have had a vet who knew what they were doing I know it would have been a lot longer.
It’s a long story with a sad ending. I don’t regret Lucky developing Diabetes, it brought us even closer than I could have ever imagined, it brought me a lot of knowledge and understanding and it brought me friends.
The beauty of FDMB is that wherever you are in the world, you are never alone
:YMHUG:
