A Continuation of the Button Saga

Button continued to do well until I went to visit my family in Lafayette, LA the weekend after Independence Day.  This meant Button would need to be boarded at the Vet's office again.  When I picked her up, they said she had not eaten well during her stay.  This is not unusual for animals to not want to eat while their people are away.  The lack of eating continued after we got home.  She would go to her water dish and look at it and not drink.  If she did eat or drink anything, she would promptly throw it up (on my carpet).

My question was:  How much insulin do you give a cat who is not eating?  A phone call to the Vet.  The response was a half dose.  By Friday I was getting very concerned about my cat.  I took her to the vet on Saturday morning.  Her blood sugar level was 41.  They told me that 40 was seizure level.  She was dehydrated and showed a total lack of hatred for the veterinary staff.  They kept her over the weekend to give her IV fluids and would try to get her to eat again.  She looked pitiful.

I was scared to death over the weekend that I was going to lose her.  I moped around the rest of Saturday and Sunday.  I called Monday morning to check on her.  They were going to repeat the curve study on Monday so I knew the earliest I could bring her home would be Monday evening.  I still wanted an update on her condition Monday morning.  After waiting an hour with no return phone call, I went to the vet's office.  They led me back to her cage.  She did look better hydrated but had not eaten anything.  The vet said that if she did not start eating soon, she would put in a feeding tube.  I said no to that.  I was not going to force feed her just to keep her around.

They told me that I could stay as long as I wanted.  I spent about half an hour with her and she actually started eating a little bit.  The vet attempted to send me a picture later in the day of her eating (alas, she sent it to my home phone so I didn't see it.)  When I went to pick Button up around 5:30, they removed her IV.  They sent me home with canned prescription food and dry prescription food.  The vet said she wanted an update the next day.

She was exhausted when I got her home and all she wanted was to sleep in my lap.  Here she is sporting her "poodle leg" where the IV was placed.
 
The course of action now was to see if she could eat this prescription food and discontinue the insulin shots.  I was to watch her carefully and report back with any changes.  If all went well, I was to bring her back for a followup blood sugar test on Monday (today). 

All has gone well except that now, all she will eat is the prescription canned food.  If I tried to mix it with the dry food or a can of grocery store canned food, I got to clean my carpet.  If I only fed her the prescription canned food - no problems.  OK, I learned my lesson.  I went back to the vet's office for more food.  A case (24 cans) is $40, but I don't have to buy insulin and syringes.  This means that I won't have to board her when I leave town.

She has continued to improve and act more like herself.  She is trying to get away with things she knows she should not do.

This is Button staking out a place on my sewing table where I normally need when sewing.  If I work on my desk and get up for a minute, I return to find her sitting on the papers I was working on.

I took her back to the vet this morning for her blood test. She cried the entire way there.  She was slightly high but the vet chalked it up to the rise in stress from having to sit in the waiting room with barking dogs.  I ask how much of the canned food to give her.  She ate over 2 cans yesterday.  I was told at least 2 cans a day.

The 2 + cans a day had me running to look at my pet budget.  Everyone monitors how much you spend on your pets, don't you?  With 24 cans costing $40, at least 2 cans a day, money would need to be taken from somewhere else to be added to the pet food item.  So, I went looking elsewhere.  I looked online for other sources of this prescription food.  I was surprised to find that every place charged from $50 to $56.  They also have to charge sales tax and shipping on top of the food.  My vet had the bargain price, if you can call $1.66 a can, a bargain.

For now, Button is doing well.  She is eating, drinking, and eliminating in her box, all without shots.  Life is good, except on my budget.  My hubby is such a great guy.  He hasn't fussed, much.

We go back in a month for another test that will tell the vet how she has done for the prior 3 weeks.

At this point, I think my cat and dog eat better than we do.