Poor KitKat

You can see poor old KitKat's front legs have been shaved for all the IV's and blood work.

Despite the grouchy look she is giving the camera, she really is glad to be home.

We've had KitKat for ten years - I've never had a cat this long. Eleven days ago, she was diagnosed with diabetes and has been staying at the vet's office for them to try to regulate her on insulin.

I was told to pick her up yesterday and they showed me how to give her her insulin. After they gave her the insulin, they told me to always give her the insulin after she's eaten well - and hurry up and get her home because she hasn't eaten yet. Her blood sugar started to crash before we left the office - they gave her some NutriCal and said she'd be okay, just get her home and have her eat.

We go home - she wouldn't eat. I finally got a tablespoon into her (this was NOT an easy task - hand feeding a cat who doesn't want to eat), but it didn't matter. By the time the insulin peaked, her blood sugar had plummeted and she was seizing. I called the vet's office (by this time it was after hours - of course) and she had me give her a LOT of NutriCal three separate times, but she continued to seize. So she met us at the vet's office.

By this time, I truly thought KitKat was about to die. Actually, she probably was. The on-call vet (an older lady, not the two young vets who saw me before we left the office) worked to save her and after giving her fluids to increase her blood pressure, she was finally able to get an IV into her and give her dextrose to raise her blood sugar. She continued to seize for almost two hours and the vet finally gave her medicine to stop the seizures.

After almost two hours of working on her, the vet finally had time to read her charts. She told me that even with insulin, KitKat probably wouldn't live another year. She also said that there were many signs that KitKat would would be very difficult to regulate on insulin and that she really would not have recommended her for insulin in the first place.

We brought her home still on an IV and decided to just let things happen as they happened. We padded the bathtub with towels for a bed for the night. I set my alarm and checked on her every thirty minutes through the night. By 4:30 a.m., she was actually better, and when Brooke got up in the morning, she called Steve and asked how to take out her IV and did it. She did a good job, too.

KitKat is still weak, but she's doing much better than last night. The insulin and supplies will go back to the vet's office. As for this vet, WE will not be going back. I asked so many questions originally about her quality of life and whether or not there was other organ damage. I don't feel they were honest with me. The last vet who was on-call, I feel, was the only one who gave me a realistic view of KitKat's condition. I felt so guilty - I was the one who brought her there. My poor old Mama cat.