Last week Arthur was definitively diagnosed with diabetes. He has been having a whole bunch of weird things going on for quite some time. He started avoiding the litter box over the summer; it became clear that he was having trouble getting in and out of it -- having to leap out because he couldn't step out easily and having his feet slide while in "position." His poo was either super hard or super soft. He pretty much stopped cleaning. He started losing weight despite eating regular meals. He couldn't get up or down from the bed (even with the pet steps), his legs were so sore.
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| Merry Christmas from Arthur and Awdrey |
When we were at my parents' house for Christmas this year, we assumed he wouldn't use the litter box, but he totally did. Faithfully. It was bizarre...a good house guest? But what we realized when we could see the size of the litter clumps was that he was peeing a lot. More often and just more than he used to. It was clear he wasn't feeling well either, and he was drinking a ton of water and was ravenously hungry. Though, he sort of stopped eating his dry food. We weren't sure why -- maybe trying to get us to change it, maybe he realized it was making him feel icky? Who knows. In any case, we thought something might be wrong with his kidneys so we took him to the vet when we got home. The blood test showed high blood glucose. Higher than a stress response might cause. They took a urine sample (with a sterile needle) and there was also glucose in his urine. Unfortunately, the poor guy developed a urinary tract infection from the urine sample gathering...what a miserable couple of days that was, following him around for hours, constantly cleaning up after him. :(
I took him to an internal medicine specialist last Monday for a consultation in order to figure out how to prioritize and treat all his various ailments. She confirmed the diabetes, but also recognized that his liver levels were off the chart (ten times too high!) Also, she said the swelling in the joints of his legs didn't feel like arthritis, but she didn't quite know what to make of it. She recommended doing a million other tests to the tune of hundreds and hundreds of dollars (can't afford it, so nope). We decided to begin insulin therapy immediately and to re-check his blood work while on the antibiotic for the UTI to see if the liver levels changed. Miraculously, they went down! He is on a course of antibiotics now to treat a possible liver infection.
The insulin therapy is a challenge. Actually, getting him to eat a good meal in a reasonable amount of time is a challenge. The insulin needs to be administered twelve hours apart and as consistently as possible. We thought that 7:00am/pm might be the magic number as it would allow me to get to performances in the evening if necessary. This means that I have to get up earlier and coax Arthur into eating at least half a can of wet food. This is the cat who has never really liked wet food. So far, it seems to take him at least 40 minutes to eat 3/8 of a can. It is frustrating and exhausting and nerve-wracking because I know I have to get that food in him before he can have his shot. I hope it gets better. Then, the injection itself is stressful: am I measuring it right? Why won't the plunger on this syringe move smoothly!? Is the needle even in the cat? I can't tell! Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Arthur spent today at the vet to measure his blood glucose and plot a "curve." His numbers are all within a good range, so yay! His lowest point seems to be about seven hours after the injection. This is all good news and good info. I need to get a glucose meter so I can check it at home. More needle sticks and cat manhandling (cathandling?) for me! But, truth be told, I suspect that it isn't going to be the lymphoma or the diabetes that takes this guy down. I think a day will come when he can't walk anymore. I also think he is in more pain (in his limbs) than we think. He obsessively licks his front paws and won't let me touch them. They clearly hurt a whole lot. And yet, he purrs. He gets up and down off the futon, even though it's very difficult. He sighs heavily, and I am pretty sure that's him dealing with the pain. And yet, he purrs. He had stopped purring before we started the insulin. Now he purrs. At least there's that.
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