Daily Archives: September 14, 2015
And That Makes Three . . .
Well, now it’s official. All three of us, me, Jan, and now Mister, have some form of diabetes. I pretty much keep mine under control with diet, Jan takes Metformin, but Mister is now insulin dependent.
Mister had been losing weight recently, something he did once before when we had a bad flea infestation, but he gained it back after that. This time however, no fleas, and no weight re-gain.
And in the last few weeks, he’s been always hungry and always thirsty, all signs of diabetes. So this morning I called a local vet and made an appointment for noon. Mister, his usual mellow self, curled up on the seat and went to sleep on the ride over.
The vet tech mentioned that his problem could also be hyperthyroidism, which I ended up hoping for, because it’s usually treatable with medication alone. But as it turned out my first thought was correct, and he does have diabetes.
Cats have pretty much the same normal blood sugar range as humans, i.e. 90 to 150. Mister’s blood sugar was 475.
Yikes!
So Mister and I came home with this.
The big container is a combination needle supply/needle disposal unit. It holds a hundred needles in the base, in 10 packs of 10 needles.
The top is a rotating sharps disposal container that holds the used needles.
Not sure yet if I can just toss it in the garbage when I’m done. I’ll have to check.
The small bottle is his insulin, and it has to be refrigerated. Unfortunately, although Mister kind of thinks he’s a dog, i.e. walks on a leash, comes when I call him, etc., he’s not. Which means he needs the more expensive cat insulin. Dogs, however, can use human insulin, which is much cheaper. Much, much cheaper.
Since Jan can’t stand the sight of needles or blood, it’s why she went into Medical Records instead of Nursing, I’m the designated shot-giver. And I don’t have a problem with it. I spent one summer during high school working as a vet assistant, so I’ve given a lot of shots.
Mister gets two shots a day, at 11 in the morning and 11 at night, and he doesn’t seem to mind. He just lays there and lets me do it. The needle is only about 1/2 long and a really small gauge. I’ll rotate the injections, the skin on both shoulders and both hips, so he won’t get sore.
He’s now had two shots today and I noticed he’s not as hungry as he was. Hope this is a good sign.
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Thought for the Day:
The latest from the UK Met Office, Britain’s weather bureau, trying to explain why there’s been no global warming in 15 years.
The AMO (Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, the Atlantic’s version of El Nino) has actually been heating the world up since the mid-1990s, though not strongly enough to raise temperatures,
Huh?
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