Bits and pieces

[cjsmith]

Now I have a bunch of chores left from the closet raid. Some few clothes made it into the "mending" pile - I was picky about that, but it's nonzero. The stuff "to go" isn't gone. An enormous pile of extra hangers has been stuffed into another closet to deal with later, which is cheating. I'd like a garment bag or two and some nicer hangers for the dressy stuff. Ideally I'd have sorted the closet in the spare bedroom at the same time so things could be completely reorganized, but I didn't, so "someday" some stuff will move. I also feel bad about ditching a couple items that were on the borderline and I may (horror!) pull them back.

This is always the point in a weekend where I realize I have EITHER two or three more days of stuff to do OR I may as well go back to work now. Shouldn't start anything big around the house, can't go to the post office, can't call the vet, can't drop off at the charity locations I know of -- might as well work.

Duchess continues to lose weight dramatically. She's eating, some, but it's not sticking. If I still doubted the diabetes this'd sure help clear it up. She has also taken to hiding under things a lot, and I don't know why. I had a nightmare about her last night. She was skeletal, had gone blind, and I had to force feed her. The first two are my memories of Princess coming through.

Comments

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

Eek. :( Back to the vet Monday?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

At least a phone call, wherein I get the full blood work report, and maybe a trip over there to get either a prescription or supplies. It is possible Duchess can begin treatment tomorrow. I'm scared for her.

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

My good friend Melanie, in Utah, has a cat who has diabetes. Would you like her e-mail address? She might have some bits of advice for you.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! So far I have a few LJ-friends who have been through this and are offering advice, so I'm not sure I need to pester a stranger, but thank you and I'll keep it in mind. If nothing else it's reassuring to hear how many other people are dealing with this successfully.

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

Do let me know if you'd like to contact Melanie. She is one of the sweetest people in the world.

Just the other day on the phone she was telling me about her cat patiently waiting for his shot before he got fed in the morning.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Awwww! Cats do get the hang of the daily routine. (You've seen my three line up, each in front of the proper food bowl, when I first come into the kitchen in the morning!) I suspect Duchess will figure this new stuff out pretty quickly. Now I just hope her human gets the hang of it!

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

Feed her anything that she will eat. That's what I had to do until Spike got her weight up. She hated the special food, so I went to a middle ground and got Iams wet food until she bulked up. Will she eat tuna or ground beef?

*sending eat now kitty thoughts*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Haven't tried tuna but she'll eat bacon. She's way overweight as it is, so she's not in immediate danger of starvation. But the rapidity of the drop is scary. Best I can tell, her body can't use (much of) what she's eating so it triggers the "release some fat" process (and it probably can't use that very well either). Maybe eating more won't help until I get some insulin into her.

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

Oh well I am glad she's overweight and not getting too skinny. Coz that would be scary.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've had a four-and-a-quarter-pound cat and it is definitely scary. It's good for me to think of all of Duchess's body fat as insurance. The earliest I could start treating her is tomorrow, maybe not even then, and the body fat is buying her time.

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

A problem is that when diabetics (at least humans) lose weight because they can't process the food they eat (and therefore burn fat cells at a tremendous rate), the fat cells release ketones at a remarkable rate -- and too many ketones in the blood stream are poisonous. I don't know if this happens in cats -- you might want to talk to the vet about the rate she's losing weight.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ketoacidosis does indeed happen in cats, and it's just as dangerous to them as it is to us. She's not showing the outward signs but yeah, I worry.

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

Poor Duchess and poor you. When desperate, I fed Nitro raw beef kidney chopped up and canned tuna. I understand you don't want to feed tuna a ton, but if kitty will eat it... Or maybe cooked chicken.

I never had a bathroom scale until Nitro started to lose weight. For a while, I was weighing him most days, recording what he ate, whether he vomited (and how often and how much) and how he was acting (whether he seemed 'normal' or acted like he didn't feel well).

I understand that there can be dramatic improvements in health in cats who are treated for diabetes and kidney failure, so I have my fingers crossed for you both.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I am guessing that her body simply isn't using (much of) the food it's taking in. This is scary but also offers hope that insulin will be a good answer.

Man, I can't imagine what you went through with Nitro. Poor guy. That's a lot of work for what seems like very little control of the situation. :-(

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

Sick kitties are stressful, aren't they? I'm very hopeful that Duchess will be back to her old self with treatment, so you can all take a deep breath...

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

They sure are. I hope she stabilizes quickly so I start to lose my fear of critical hypoglycemia.

[bigredpaul.livejournal.com]

Hi, I have sent you an email about calling for a dance next year...