I’m worried about that as well.
I hate saying this because it has upset me. He hasn’t said this in so many words... but, I feel that he thinks Blue is too old. Maybe he’s treating him differently because of his age...he keeps asking “how old is Blue”? He’s asked every time I’ve talked to him. Also, yesterday when I was checking in at eye dr and didn’t have time to talk he said “well, maybe we can keep him going a little longer”. What? I don’t know but I am disturbed and disappointed in him. He has treated Blue all his life and now I feel he’s just giving up on him. I think Dr Bruno has gotten callous in his old age. It’s upsetting and I didn’t need that on top of everything else.
This is awful!!!
When Saoirse started displaying FD symptoms (shortly after she turned fourteen) I knew there was something wrong so I took her to the vets we were registered with at the time. Saoirse was constantly hungry, quite lethargic, her coat was a mess, plus she was drinking like a fish and peeing for Ireland. I told the vet that Saoirse had started drinking over half a litre of water a day and I asked her how much water a cat Saoirse's size on a dry diet should be drinking. She mumbled something vacuous in response. (I now realise that she didn't actually know.)
The vet in question could not offer any suggestions as to what might be wrong with Saoirse. I asked for a diagnostic work-up and she POINT BLANK REFUSED to perform any tests. She then said that Saoirse's clinical signs were "perfectly normal" for a cat her age, she issued a Dx of "old lady" who had "had a good innings", gave Saoirse a steroid jab (for her overgroomed tummy - see below) and packed us out the door. (Direct quotes, no word of a lie here, no exaggeration for effect.)
I started accurately measuring how much Saoirse was drinking. I found FDMB. I learned. I booked another appointment (different vet, same practice). By the time we attended the second consult 2 weeks later Saoirse was drinking over 1½ litres of water a day, was so hungry that she would paw at my eyelids to wake me to feed her, and - by the time it was finally tested - her blood glucose levels were too high to register on the meter. Thankfully I'd brought a urine sample with me to the consult. It proved to be rotten with glucose so they had enough to give a preliminary Dx of diabetes and she got her first dose of insulin that evening. Two days later an ultrasound revealed inflammation of the pancreas.
I am so grateful that Saoirse didn't start throwing ketones during that fortnight. I am so grateful I found FDMB.
The first vet completely failed to recognise the diabetes symptoms. She also made a unilateral decision that Saoirse was not worth treating because of her age.
For a couple of years prior to receiving her FD Dx, Saoirse had been overgrooming her tummy. Needless to say, I took her to the vets several times to see what was wrong. Again, she was given a steroid jab (something which seems to be a default treatment by that practice).
The vets who saw Saoirse attributed the overgrooming to stress because she was an indoor cat and most likely doing it because she was bored.
Shortly after Saoirse started treatment with insulin and switched to a wet, low carb diet the overgrooming stopped and all the fur on her tummy grew back. Abdominal discomfort had been the cause, not "boredom". They failed her. They failed her for
years.
They prescribed an ultra-high carb diet for her, told me not to "waste my money" on buying a glucometer, that home BG testing was "unnecessary" and "would stress her out and destroy [our] relationship", told me sod all about DKA and told me not to bother with urine ketone testing, just watch her water consumption.
They told me to only feed Saoirse twice a day before giving insulin. Within 72 hours Saoirse was having bouts of vomiting and yowling with pain from the vet-dictated protracted fasting. I called the practice to tell them that I needed to change Saoirse's feeding schedule. The response I got from the person I spoke to was: "She's just going to have to get used to it. She's had it her own way for too long." Seriously. They said that to me.
I changed Saoirse's feeding to mini meals as best I could. I told the vets that I was not going to stick to a feeding schedule that hurt my cat.
I found another vet.
At our current practice, our vets routinely consult with external specialists if a case requires additional support. Just after we moved to the practice, and while Saoirse was still on Caninsulin and w/d uber-HC dry food, our main vet asked an FD specialist to look at Saoirse's BG data. The external specialist pronounced Saoirse "a true diabetic" with "no hope of achieving remission."
I started home testing. I started feeding Saoirse a low carb food. I gathered BG data to prove that Caninsulin wasn't working well and pushed for her to be treated with Lantus. Saoirse became tightly regulated within a couple of months of treatment with Lantus.
Saoirse became a diet-controlled diabetic after three months of treatment with Lantus, six months' insulin treatment in total. So much for the "old lady" who'd "had a good innings" and who had "no hope of achieving remission."
I've shared Saoirse's story because I wanted to give a real-world example of what's possible, not what one may be told. FD is eminently treatable. I wish Lúnasa's labs were as good as Blue's.
I could crown your vet for what he's been saying to you. (I didn't take kindly to someone trying to write my girl off. And you've seen a picture of what she looked like just 4 short months after that first vet essentially refused to treat her.)
(((Patty)))
Mogs
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I hope you and Blue have a better day
