About three years ago, my 18-year-old cat Skeeter started losing weight and drinking more. A LOT more. My vet confirmed that he was diabetic and that he would need to be given one unit of Lantus insulin twice day.
Coupled with my cat’s heart murmur, FLUTD (Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease), and advanced age, I thought that this was the beginning of the end for him. I had to get over a fear of needles and the fear that I was going to get his dosage wrong and kill him. There were a lot of tears right then. I stocked up on syringes and liquid glucose for emergencies.
My friend Pam, who had just lost her lifelong-diabetic cat to old age, sent me her cat’s glucose test kit and told me how to use it. Skeeter purred the whole time!
I test him twice a day and give him a unit if he is out of normal range. He has gone months without needing insulin – enjoying “remission.”
He comes to me when it is time to test him and he is patient and sweet.
We’ve had three good years without any incidents. He is very old for a cat, but he still runs and plays. Today he climbed on the roof! I enclosed a picture of him looking smug.
Turns out, that the worst thing about his diabetes were my own fears.
By Jillo
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