Practice makes perfect...
How is it that once I decided to go to school for vet tech, my pets decided to give me the opportunity to practice on them? It started with Teva and her allergies. THAT was a strange and frustrating journey. Still is, actually. Giving her shots every three weeks has been eye-opening, and helped me to realize just how lucky I am that she sees shot time as treat time (yay for positive association!). Going from injecting her to injecting animals at school is like the difference between night and day.
Losing Izzie this winter was obviously tough for us; the most difficult part of it, for me, was feeling completely helpless. She showed no symptoms until she was so far gone that treatment was doing nothing for her but prolonging her suffering. I always felt like I should have seen the signs, that there was something I had missed...and there was. But looking back on it, the symptom she did show was brief (she coughed a few times right before Christmas), and happened about a week before she started actually showing how near death's door she was. There was no way I could have connected coughing to heart failure at the time.
Now with Lucy, she started showing some symptoms a couple of months ago that worried me, but I wasn't quite sure what to make of them. She started walking with her back hunched, and I assumed it was arthritis. She's at least 10, if not older, so arthritis seemed to make sense.
Then about a month ago, Lucy stopped grooming herself, and was noticeably drinking more frequently. Her chin and chest were always damp from dribbling water on herself. At the time that this started, I wanted to get her in for a check up, but couldn't afford it. The CareCredit account I had opened when Izzie got sick didn't have enough open credit, and we certainly didn't have the cash resources available to cover the cost of any blood work she would need.
The frequent drinking (polydipsia, or PD) continued, and turned into increased urinating (polyuria, or PU), and her appetite diminished over the last week...and I started thinking, "Crap. There go the kidneys. It's time to get her in." Luckily, I had paid off enough of the CareCredit that I knew we'd be able to cover at least an exam and chemistry profile. I took her in Saturday morning, they drew blood and gave her subcutaneous fluids to treat her dehydration. It was amazing what a difference the fluids made. She perked up (as much as Lucy CAN perk...she's pretty dang mellow!) and her eyes looked brighter. Seeing the difference it made was a relief, and I knew that if it was kidney failure, giving her sub-q fluids regularly at home would be a likely outcome.
I got the call this morning from the vet, and he said that based on the chem profile results, the kidneys looked fine (YAY!), but her glucose levels were elevated, along with her BUN (which indicates liver issues). The increased BUN and PU/PD were secondary symptoms to diabetes.
I was relieved that her kidneys are just fine--you can't cure kidney failure, just manage the symptoms, and the outcome will always be the same. The only real unknown with kidney failure is whether the cat will survive for months or years with proper management.
Getting a diagnosis of diabetes is probably the best thing that could have happened. It means that Lucy will be with us for many years yet, assuming no complications. We have her on sub-q fluid therapy for the time being, which means I get to administer fluids from an IV drip set on a daily basis, as well as give her two shots of insulin a day. It's funny seeing a bag of LRS fluids hanging from the baker's rack. I gave her the first at-home fluids this morning; I didn't get all 100mLs that I was supposed to push, but I figure I'll just push a little extra tomorrow. And hopefully, once the fluids start to absorb, she'll get hungry. She needs to eat before I can give her the insulin shot.
Switching the cats from an open feed to a schedule is going to be rough on them for the first few days, but it needs to be done for Lucy. Try explaining that to a cat that's meowing at you accusingly as you're taking away the food dish.
The only thing that worries me right now is the continued cost of care. We'll make it work, we always do...it's just going to be a bit of a strain right now. However, it's worth it to make sure that Lucy's healthy and happy.
I told Beezle that he better stay healthy. I don't want to be giving shots to all three of my animals.
Losing Izzie this winter was obviously tough for us; the most difficult part of it, for me, was feeling completely helpless. She showed no symptoms until she was so far gone that treatment was doing nothing for her but prolonging her suffering. I always felt like I should have seen the signs, that there was something I had missed...and there was. But looking back on it, the symptom she did show was brief (she coughed a few times right before Christmas), and happened about a week before she started actually showing how near death's door she was. There was no way I could have connected coughing to heart failure at the time.
Now with Lucy, she started showing some symptoms a couple of months ago that worried me, but I wasn't quite sure what to make of them. She started walking with her back hunched, and I assumed it was arthritis. She's at least 10, if not older, so arthritis seemed to make sense.
Then about a month ago, Lucy stopped grooming herself, and was noticeably drinking more frequently. Her chin and chest were always damp from dribbling water on herself. At the time that this started, I wanted to get her in for a check up, but couldn't afford it. The CareCredit account I had opened when Izzie got sick didn't have enough open credit, and we certainly didn't have the cash resources available to cover the cost of any blood work she would need.
The frequent drinking (polydipsia, or PD) continued, and turned into increased urinating (polyuria, or PU), and her appetite diminished over the last week...and I started thinking, "Crap. There go the kidneys. It's time to get her in." Luckily, I had paid off enough of the CareCredit that I knew we'd be able to cover at least an exam and chemistry profile. I took her in Saturday morning, they drew blood and gave her subcutaneous fluids to treat her dehydration. It was amazing what a difference the fluids made. She perked up (as much as Lucy CAN perk...she's pretty dang mellow!) and her eyes looked brighter. Seeing the difference it made was a relief, and I knew that if it was kidney failure, giving her sub-q fluids regularly at home would be a likely outcome.
I got the call this morning from the vet, and he said that based on the chem profile results, the kidneys looked fine (YAY!), but her glucose levels were elevated, along with her BUN (which indicates liver issues). The increased BUN and PU/PD were secondary symptoms to diabetes.
I was relieved that her kidneys are just fine--you can't cure kidney failure, just manage the symptoms, and the outcome will always be the same. The only real unknown with kidney failure is whether the cat will survive for months or years with proper management.
Getting a diagnosis of diabetes is probably the best thing that could have happened. It means that Lucy will be with us for many years yet, assuming no complications. We have her on sub-q fluid therapy for the time being, which means I get to administer fluids from an IV drip set on a daily basis, as well as give her two shots of insulin a day. It's funny seeing a bag of LRS fluids hanging from the baker's rack. I gave her the first at-home fluids this morning; I didn't get all 100mLs that I was supposed to push, but I figure I'll just push a little extra tomorrow. And hopefully, once the fluids start to absorb, she'll get hungry. She needs to eat before I can give her the insulin shot.
Switching the cats from an open feed to a schedule is going to be rough on them for the first few days, but it needs to be done for Lucy. Try explaining that to a cat that's meowing at you accusingly as you're taking away the food dish.
The only thing that worries me right now is the continued cost of care. We'll make it work, we always do...it's just going to be a bit of a strain right now. However, it's worth it to make sure that Lucy's healthy and happy.
I told Beezle that he better stay healthy. I don't want to be giving shots to all three of my animals.