Sick Kitty Update

I took Reilly back to the vet yesterday to find out the blood work results. She does indeed have diabetes. The special diet the vet put her on helped a great deal to lower her blood glucose, but it's was still really high. The normal BG range for a cat is 80-150. On Friday Reilly had a BG of 419! After a weekend of eating the new diet and taking an antibiotic for her bladder infection, it was down to 281. Still very high, but a huge improvement from Friday.

Below is her insulin, antibiotics and new food. The funny looking think on top of the food is called a "piller". You pull the plunger back and put a pill in the blue rubber area at the other end. Then softly pry their mouth open from the side with the piller and push the plunger, sending the pill to the back of the mouth! Much easier than trying to put it in her mouth or disguising it in her food.


I'm actually pretty proud of myself. When I found out she would more than likely need insulin shots, I FREAKED OUT! I hate needles. I hate getting shots. I can't watch someone get a shot. Anything syringe related makes me queasy. Until now. (I did a lot of praying from Friday evening to Monday afternoon.) Part of yesterday's office visit was to teach me how to give Reilly her shot. We practiced with saline first. The vet showed me how to hold her skin between my fingers and how to handle the syringe. After that it was my turn. The vet remarked on how flushed I was. Had she taken my pulse and felt my sweaty palms, I think she would have been a bit more concerned! :) I took a deep breath, told the vet I was OK and went for it. I don't quite know what I was expecting, but it was waaaaay easier than I thought it would be. All my prayers paid off!! I gave Reilly her first unsupervised injection this morning and she acted like nothing was happening. I petted her for a minute before the injection and she never stopped purring while I did it. HUGE load off my mind!

Below is my sharps container which comes with 100 syringes. That should last me almost 4 months.

I promise I won't make this blog into a blow-by-blow account of Reilly's diabetic care, but she is part of my life and the noteworthy stuff that happens in my life gets recorded here.

To everyone who has shown their support I would like to say thank you! It feels good that I have the support of my friends. My note at the beginning was to ward off blog lurkers who leave inappropriate comments, not to my wonderful friends. I think most people I know, if they didn't agree with me, would simply not comment.