I'm back!

Hi, everyone! Some of you might remember Atticus; we were here a lot earlier this year. He's still OTJ (since March) and doing great!

I'm coming back because I've started fostering for Diabetic Cats in Need. Toby (formerly known as Trouble) has been with me for a week and a half, after flying to me in Texas from North Carolina. He has been through a lot in his four years: he was diagnosed with diabetes in February when he came into foster care after losing his person to cancer. I am his third foster home since then. He is a sweet cat, and seems to be warming up to me, but it is a very incremental process.
You can see his pictures and read about him on his DCIN blog here: http://fdmb-cin.blogspot.com/2012/06/trouble-in-north-carolina.html

So far I haven't been able to test him yet. I am trying to remember that he's still getting used to being in my house (where I also have Atticus and civvie Miranda), and we need to get used to each other. He hasn't left his guest room much yet, and hasn't really spent any time with my cats yet. He is very easily overstimulated, and it is very difficult to test him. He is about 16 lbs, and is very strong, and will knock the lancet out of my hand when I try to poke him. Several times he has come at me with claws even after I've backed off. But the last couple of days, his reactions have been less violent, so I think that's progress. I have been able to get a smidgen of blood a couple of times, but not enough to test. It is difficult to warm his ears before poking, because he gets so easily irritated by all the ear touching, I am trying to desensitize him by rubbing his ears a lot and clicking the pen at his ear before giving him a treat.

I haven't started him on insulin yet because I haven't been able to test, but we will be starting Lantus. DCIN will be connecting us to an animal communicator soon; hopefully that will help him understand why I have to poke him.

Once I'm able to test regularly, we'll be hanging out in Lantus Land. Hope all is well with everyone!

 

Hi guys, so happy to hear atticus is still OTJ and doing great! I think it's wonderful you are helping out DCIN and doing some fostering .. I hope that Toby settles into your place soon and feels comfortable enough to let you test him and get him on the road to recovery!

 

How's it going with Toby? I was searching on here to see if you were able to test/shoot yet! Happy vines to you all. . .how did it go with the outside kitties coming indoors for aerial spraying? (We had aerial spraying in Dallas for West Nile!)

 

While you're working towards blood testing, check out some of the supplemental monitoring options in my signature link.

In particular, urine ketone testing will help identify if ketoacidosis could be likely, necessitating a urgent vet trip.