My cat is 16 years old. She has diabetes which causes her to have difficult walking and she urinates frequently. she used to be overweight but now she is normal. other than that she is very happy. the vet says it is possible for her to recover but im tight on money and dont want to treat her in vain. what should i do?
Answer
Absolutely not! This is not a death sentence, no life span lost and your cat can live along full happy rest if his life if treated. Please click on my name and read my profile.
The walking problem is in the back legs and called neuropathy. It can be totally reversed as you get the diabetes regulated.
You do not want to feed the vet’s food. It is expensive, it is garbage and holds no value over low carb commercially available canned foods. Dry food is the number 1 reason that cats get diabetes in the 1st place. I strongly recommend that you feed canned foods under 10% carbs. This list gives the breakdown
http://www.geocities.com/jmpeerson/canfood.html
Hometesting is the only way to know if it is safe to give insulin as well as giving you the info needed to treat this correctly. I can teach you how, it will save money as you will not have to keep running to the vets and your tests will be more accurate then the tests the vet does as stress can raise the numbers more then 100 points.
Many vets are not up to date on treatment. Please contact me and if you want, i will work with you every step of the way to help you help your cat. I also have a link where (if your vet is willing) your vet can get the first bottle of insulin for free
My cat is 16 years old. She has diabetes which causes her to have difficult walking and she urinates frequently. she used to be overweight but now she is normal. other than that she is very happy. the vet says it is possible for her to recover but im tight on money and dont want to treat her in vain. what should i do?
She probably won’t recover from diabetes, but insulin can help control the symptoms and extend her life.
She’s going to die no matter what. Every living animal dies. However, think of it this way.. If you developed diabetes, would you want you’re caretakers(parents, spouse) to put you down because they didn’t have “the money”? There are many groups that will help you financially.
i wouldnt put him to sleep because then youll feel guilty. i would do extra chores or if your old enough get a job to earn money
If she seems happy most of the time, then maybe you should wait. If it gets to the point where she is suffering more and more, it is time to let her go. However, if she has to take meds for the diabetes and it is costing you too much money, you can talk with the vet to see if anyone in their office would like to have her and take care of her or if they know anyone that could take good care of her. Because she is an older cat, it’s not a good idea to give her to a shelter or someone you don’t know. But, since she is an older cat she may not adjust well to living in a different environment. The vets office could give you the best advice. I would try to give her some time until she really starts to suffer every day. My parents just had to put their 18 year old cat to sleep on Valentines day. The vet said it seemed like he had a stroke because he couldn’t control any of his legs.
It was very sad, but it’s more sad to watch an animal suffer.
If you are the one who allowed the cat to become obese, then I think you should feel a certain obligation to continue caring for her now that she has become an inconvenience to you.
If you get another cat at some point, please feed it food that is high in protein and low in carbohydrates, and watch the cat’s weight carefully.
I’m not a big advocate of putting a pet to sleep, I spent several thousand dollars trying to keep my cat alive after he was diagnosed with chronic renal failure. I loved him and could not put a price tag on his life. I’m sorry but I would still treat her. Possibly your vet can recommend a lower cost treatment to help you in your financial situation?
I will answer this question again since my last answer got deleted for no good reason. I was merely stating my opinion and sharing what I’ve personally seen in the past. When you’ve seen as much as I’ve seen, you would understand, Ken. I used to work in a very trustworthy pet store, and then worked at an animal hospital. I have seen many animals come in with diabetes. It is not cheap to treat. And the animals do not like going to the vet, nor being stuck w/needles on a daily basis at home. IN MY OPINION, if I were you, I would let your kitty go. I’m not telling you to do it, and I’m not telling you not to do it. I am just saying in my opinion. I have seen enough animals suffer and don’t want to see your cat go through that for the rest of her life. Let her go and she will be happier, rather than dreading that insulin shot every day. Good luck!
PS- giving your cat canned food is not a healthy option. It will trade one problem in for another. Wet food can and will cause gum disease, infections, and will also contribute to rotting teeth. Hard food is a better option for oral health. The hard food helps to scrape tarter build up off of their teeth. Not saying that you can’t give your cat a mix of both wet and dry food, but feeding canned food, as Ken stated above, will only cause oral health problems. So like I said- you’re only trading one problem for another. The prescription food that is offered at your vet will be the better option. Yes it is more expensive but it IS worth it, if you decide to take that route.
Treat her. She’ll be happier and healthier, and you’ll feel better knowing that you didn’t let her slowly starve to death (which is what happens when a cat needs insulin and doesn’t get it).
You’ll find lots of information about diabetes, including valuable money-saving tips, at http://www.felinediabetes.com. Other great resources are http://www.petdiabetes.org and http://www.gorbzilla.com.
Wet food is fine for your cat. If you’re concerned about dental health, let your cat chew on chicken giblets. That helps remove any tartar. See http://www.catinfo.org for lots of good information about how to feed cats.
And by the way, it’s a waste of your time to contact Ken. He has no veterinary training, not even as a tech. He has actually deleted his “does your cat have diabetes” questions when people point out that there are good Internet sites for information, in order to prevent people from finding this out. If you really want to have his opinion on how to treat your cat, he posts at the message board at felinediabetes.com.
I don’t know why everybody is picking on Ken. This is not the forum for that. This person has a question and is asking for others opinions.
I think you should do everything you can to help your cat if she is happy. When she gets to the point when her quality of life is poor then you need to reevaluate.
Good Luck! I wish you and your cat the best.