This is the first time I’ve caught a disease that was in the media. Pretty Cool I know!
First couple of days were okay… cold/light flu kind of feeling.
Third day was pretty crap. Full on flu that day. And a wicked cough.
Fourth day is when the secondary infection started to set into my chesticles. Meh!! Took a trip to the doc again and had an x-ray that says I am pneumonia-free. Yay!
Got me lots of antibiotics and other tablets of various persuasions (no, I’m not sharing).
The chosen one is looking good these days… he’s pretty hopeless at remembering to eat in the evenings so I have to remind him (several times!).
Here he is chilling on the couch.
Mozzle - looking quite the sophisticat here.
A funny thing happened tonight.
Mozz was sitting outside on the balcony licking himself and I noticed him tumble backwards accidentally. My first reaction was, ‘Hypo!’ so I jumped up from the couch and let him in.
Then I remembered that Mozz only had hypo attacks after a dose of insulin. He been insulin free for some weeks now. So I figured it must have been a fluke that he tipped over while washing himself. Particularly after I went over to him and saw his eyes were very bright and he was acting quite playful.
I walked into the kitchen to check the state of the cat food bowls. Both the dry food and the wet cat food bowls still had food in them. I looked more closely at the wet cat food to check for tiny desert flies that swarm over open food here in Dubai. If there are any flies Mozz will not eat the cat food as he assumes it has gone bad. This can be frustrating because these little flies are very quick to find open food. However, there were no flies that I could see so I figured his food supply was plentiful and that he should not have been hungry.
From the kitchen I watched him playfully dash into the bathroom. On rounding the corner at full speed on the ceramic tiles, his back legs slipped out from under him for second before he continued his dash towards the fluffy bathroom mat that he likes to roll on.
My alarm bells went right off then despite everything. ‘Blood sugar testing time!’
Richard measured him and he gave a reading of 3.5 which is the lowest reading he has ever given while not on insulin by some way. He was low alright, although not technically in hypo (hypo is below 3).
‘There’s something wrong with the food that is out. He won’t eat it.’ I gave him some fresh food in a clean bowl (his favourite fish kind with shrimp jelly this time, just to make sure he ate it.)
While I was doing this I remembered earlier in the evening he had followed Richard around, rubbing is head on Richard’s feet, and appearing to want something. Our first thought was, ‘He’s hungry!’ but then we checked the food supply and it looked okay. ‘Hmmm, maybe he’s just being playful and wants attention’ we decided. (He has been extra playful and loving the past few weeks.)
So he had been hungry.
He gobbled up half the serve of fish and shrimp jell – which is a lot – and settled down. Half an hour later he gobbled up the rest. He’s fine now.
I guess once a diabetic – always a diabetic. They had told us this but this is the first time we had seen Mozz exhibit symptoms of hypo since he became insulin free. So I guess we hadn’t really had to acknowledge it before now.
After note: Cats, unlike dogs, do not have the digestive ability to process carrion (rotten meat). It will give them food poisoning, just like it does to humans. Food poisoning in the wild can easily lead to dehydration and death for a cat.
To protect themselves from food poisoning cats will refuse to eat anything but fresh meat, that is meat that smells like meat that they have freshly killed themselves.So when cats refuse to eat food that has been left out in the open for a while (even an hour or two), food that has flies on it, or even meat that has been defrosted in the microwave (and thus smells ‘off’) it is the cat protecting itself from food poisoning, rather than being impossibly fussy as we sometimes assume.
Mozz hasn’t had any insulin since the last time I wrote about it on the March 31 post.
He’s running around the place giving me all kinds of cheek, chirruping away and generally being a complete sleaze.
We are testing his blood sugars once a day now. It seems unnecessary to prick him in the ear twice a day if we are not giving him insulin. He has been consistently measuring around the 7.0 to 8.0 mark which is fantastic.
This evening he measured 5.3 before eating. It’s just awesome that his pancreas is producing enough insulin to get his blood sugars down that low naturally, without intervention!
Dare I say it… Is Mozz cured?
It's all smiles in Mozzle-land this week!
Mozz measured 14.9 this morning. That’s at the top end of the ideal scale. We didn’t give him any insulin.
This evening he measured 16.2 so it was time for some insulin. We gave him 2 units.
It has been 4 days since he needed his last shot. That’s a really long time.
We were discussing how low we thought the insulin shot would bring him down to. Richard thought it might bring him down as low as 10. I thought it might bring him down as low as 8, based on last time we injected him.
We made sure we had dinner at home this evening so we could watch him in case he got a hypo attack.
About an hour after the injection I noticed his back legs looked a little unsteady.’Time for a blood test’ says I. Up on the bench he goes with Richard sticking the pin in the ear. Holy crap! He’s down to 3.1 already!
He ate a bunch of cat food and I gave him a few droppers of sugar syrup because I knew he was going to fall further, because the peak is at 3 hours after the injection.
He slept for a bit while we watched him then he woke up to turn over and let out this very specific ‘hypo howl’. (Doesn’t sound like his usual noises – its louder and deeper.)
‘Okay, time for another test and some more sugar’ says I. Richard measured him a 2.3 this time and I gave him some more sugar syrup and a roast chicken wing. He’s scoffed that and gone back to sleep now.
Mozzle's Blood Sugar Levels and Insulin Injections over the past 2 weeks.
The insulin he is on is too strong for him now I think. We might need to move to something less potent. Alternatively we can try him on 1 unit of this insulin when he needs it every few days. However, the experience of the vet is that 1 unit tends to be very ineffective. It was my understanding that 1 unit is almost too small to have much impact on the blood sugar. However, it might be what he needs now.
Ideally though it would be good to give him something less potent and more regularly. Once a day would be ideal.
Mozz measured 11.9 this morning, but he had eaten an early morning breakfast before measurements were taken. So that is actually very good (considering he was 11.9 yesterday evening after food).
This evening he measured 11.8. Very good!
I noticed see some of his hair growing back on his neck today too.
Tonight they escaped out the apartment door into the corridoor while we coming in with some groceries. Oh the joy of forbidden… they were so pleased with themselves it was sickening!
It had to happen eventually. Mozz is the Cooler King after all.
The last update was after Mozz had a hypo after his evening insulin. He had been needing less and less insulin and we had even skipped some doses. Skipping a dose was definitely a big milestone for Mozz.
He reached another milestone today. His blood sugar readings actually dropped without an insulin shot!
What had been happening previously was this: If Mozz’s sugars were too low to warrant an insulin injection we would simply skip it and then test him again 12 hours later. If he hadn’t reached a certain level on the sugar scale we would skip another dose and then re-test him. And so on.
The day before yesterday, he was around 8.0 all day (morning and evening). He didn’t get any insulin then either because 8.0 is still below the ‘normal’ level for cats of 10-15. (For humans it is between 5-10.)
Yesterday, he was around 9.4 all day (9.3 in the morning and 10.3 in the evening). He didn’t get any insulin then either. (We have decided only to administer it when he reaches 12.5.)
If we examine the pattern, his sugar readings go up slowly from the time of the last insulin injection, as the effect of the insulin wears off.
Except today, when this morning he measured 8.5, after measuring 10.3 the previous evening. This was despite receiving no insulin! This is a HUGE step forward for Mozz because it means his pancreas is now producing enough insulin to bring the his blood sugar reading down all by itself.
We were so excited and he looks fantastic today! He measured 11.9 this evening after eating a bowl of cat food (eating raises your blood sugars) which is in the ideal range.
We will be very interested to see if he is able to replicate his effort today when we measure him tomorrow morning. Will it be higher than 11.9? Or will his pancreas be able to cope and bring the sugar reading down again?
The magic medicine: love from a cute chick!
It’s 1am, only an hour after my last post.
I measured his sugars and he is 2.6. That’s on the road to recovery and he looks fine. Exhauted but fine. (He is always exhausted after a hypo.) I’ve put him to bed with Richard in his usual spot (under the arm) while I drink a cup of tea and check out if eBay has my dream handbag yet.
I don’t actually know what this bag is. I hope I’ll know it when I see it.
And I hope that when I see it it will be within budget.
To aid in the budget part, I have a preselected search that removes anything with Hermes or Vuitton in it. That still leaves plenty of room for damage right?
If you like bags then check out PurseBlog. I have kindly set the link to take you to the Chloe selection. Me likey.
The Edith, which I love but which tends to bang into people in the mall, and therefore might get me arrested and possibly deported. It's time to change to something more aerodynamic.
On the evening of the 25th his sugars were still low at 6.9 (remembering that ideal is between 10 and 15). We skipped the insulin again that evening.
The next morning – that’s today – his blood sugars were 11.3. That’s almost exactly ideal. So we gave him his usual 2 units of insulin. He was rather hungry during the day which to me indicates his blood sugars are a little low. However, I didn’t feel the need to take his sugars because he was full of beans and showing no real signs of any trouble.
This evening he gave a reading of 9.8 which is just under ideal. This is a situation where we could really choose to go either way… give him 2 units of insulin or not give him any at all. After a short discussion we agreed to give him 2 units and see how he responded.
Why? Historically he has been more prone to hypoglycemia in the mornings than in the evenings. That is why his regimen until recently was 2 units in the morning and 4 units in the evening (as set by the vet). For this reason we thought we would give him his insulin this evening – even though he almost didn’t need it – and skip the shot tomorrow morning if necessary (after taking his blood sugar reading of course).
Well, the theory was good… but he went into hypo anyway!
It’s becoming almost impossible to tell when he is having an attack. His body is so good at coping with it now. In earlier days he would have lost bladder and bowl control, be blind, screaming and convulsing when his sugars reached the low 1’s (1.1-1.3). Contrast that with this evening when he again gave a reading of ‘Low’ at 11pm. which is less than 1.0, and he showed so few symptoms I really wasn’t sure if I was being over-conscientious in deciding to measure them.
The clue was he was sitting down every now and then in places he wouldn’t normally sit. e.g. the middle of the bathroom floor. He was still capable of walking around and interacting with the family, having a chat and purring away. If I stared I thought I could almost see an almost imperceptible weakness in his back legs. Not a stagger by any means, but perhaps a a slight ‘lightness’ to his rear body.
When I finally decided to take his sugars I realised quickly that he was having a hypo. He didn’t resist the lancet that pricks his ear for the blood test. A surefire sign of hypo for Mozz. And then he sat down on the bench while I was testing him. Another sure sign. He will not do that unless he is in hypo – unequivocally. By the time the machine gave its reading I wasn’t surprised he was in hypo, although I was surprised that it was so low.
Lesson: when in doubt – do it!
I’ve given him some sugar and he has eaten a big bowl of cat food. I will measure him again soon at 12 midnight. That’s 1 hour after the initial reading of Low.
A glass of wine sir? (Thanks for the caption Pete!)
Interesting. His sugars were still on the low side this morning. 6.9
We felt if we gave him any insulin it would just send him into hypo(glycemia). So we have skipped the second insulin in a row.
Hope we did the right thing.?? You can really only tell if what you have done is right in hindsight with diabetes.
He looks happy today again and is hungry and eating.
It will be interesting to see what his sugar readings are this evening.
Mozz and Kell on the balcony. They are getting along a better now. She doesn't look disgusted when he sits next to her anymore. The cushion comes off the table in the evening when we eat dinner out there.
Go East: Blogs from a Western woman in Dubai 