I recently became aware of a rather startling fact that most people are likely not aware of. Felines (Cats for the laymen fools among you) can get diabetes. How did I find this out you ask….
Well I came home from work about two weeks ago to find my fav cat Tommy hiding behind the couch. He wouldn’t even crawl out for this food call (which if you’ve seen the size of this cat - isn’t normal). So I reach back and pull him out only to find that he is bleeding from an area I would rather not mention.
I immediately took him down to the pet emergency clinic and was told that he likely had a urinary tract infection. The kept him over the weekend and when I picked him up monday morning - I suggested I take him directly to the vet and was told he possibly had diabetes.
So I take him to the vet. About a week and a half later he is released after lots of tests and observations. Yes he has diabetes though it appears to be somewhat mild and that it may have been responsible for the urinary tract infection that almost killed him. I have to take him back friday for a followup.
Unforunately Wilfred Brimley won’t be delivering the testing supplies directly to my front door as I’m only required to administer a half a pill of glucontrol to Tommy each day. Has anybody here ever tried to feed a cat a pill? Do you realize how not fun the experience is for both parties? Wow. To T’s credit he is beginning to get a bit more accomodating though.
Also - a word of warning to anybody else who has to go through this. Feline diabetes is expensive. The two weeks of care ended up costing me just over $1000.00. It’s quite funny how a cat that you literally got for free suddenly becomes worth a thousand dollars so damn quickly. Well what can I say? He’s a good cat and I intend to see that he stays that way.
J