Good Thing I'm a Nurse

My little diabetic kitty who is actually somewhat large is doing fine.  He's sweet and gentle as always.  He is on insulin twice a day and several other meds.  I never knew the cost of insulin until I bought his first vial - more than $300.00 for a bottle of about a teaspoon of insulin. I'm not sure, but I think that makes it more expensive than gold.  It does last several weeks  Then there are syringes, and trips to the vet for blood checks.  He's a mellow cat and that helps.  He never resists the injections just looks at me with a puzzled expression.  He seems to trust me which is good.  He purrs when I pick him up and since being on the insulin he seems to have lost some weight which is good for him.  He was a little pudgy which could have contributed to the diabetes.  I know he needs more exercise, but I'm not too good at that.  I run a mile every day for myself and would be  happy to include the kitty, but he objects to that, ie he lies down and I have to carry him.  I run in the house with a string to entice him to run.  He looks at me as though I'v lost my mind.  He's probably right now, that I think about it.  He is getting older -  I think he's about 11 years old now which means that he likes to sleep all day and get little exercise.  I do have to work on that. Even though I have 3 other cats they don't play with each other.  They are all olympic level sleepers. If  I'm not careful they'll all end up as diabetic  -  what a horrible thought.  One is really enough. So if anyone reading this has cats with illnesses or unusual behaviors write to me and I'll post some of the letters.  It always feels better to share problems with someone so I might post segments of the letters.  Thanks for reading my cat-centered  blog.

My diabetic kitty

Things have been OK with my special kitty.  His diabetes has been handled by me with guidence from my veterinarian and he's doing well.  I do worry about him though.  I give him insulin twice each day and 4 pills in the morning. I hate pushing them into his mouth and trying to get him to swallow before freeing him from my clenched hands.  He's a mellow, sweet, gentle kitty and so much more than that.  I'm trying hard to keep his meds on time and watch him for any problems relating to the insulin.  I also have pills to give him which I do in the morning and then at least those are done.  He objects more to the pills than to the insulin.  He's good though, so gentle and sweet.  He doesn't seem to hold a grudge either.

When I do give him the meds etc he often looks at me with a surprised expression, as though he can't believe I did that.  He is a lovable kitty - so gentle and trusting.  I'm sorry he has this problem and sometimes I feel responsible because I didn't watch his weight closely enough.  Animals are subject to so many of the same diseases as humans are subject to, and often the causes are the same ie not enough exercise & poor diet and sometimes heredity which can  lead to obesity which then  may lead to diabetes, CHF, sleep apnea and more, not to mention wardrobe problems as well.   To some extent I think it is easier to control a pets diet than my own or a child's, husband, elderly parent etc.  Most parents don't like to be controlled by their adult offsprings. My daughter is in FL and I am in New England so it's not much of an issue, though she does try to manage me from a distance thanks to the invention of that amazing thing called a telephone.  So take some advice from me ie keep your weight within normal limits,  eat a healthy diet with lots of veggies and some protein and little or no sweets, limit coffee or tea to one or 2 cups a day and alcohol  should be limited but check with your physician about this last item.  I'm inclined to think that even a small amount of alcohol could cause some problems especially as one ages or already is diabetic.  All alcoholic beverages contain high levels of sugar even if they don't taste sweet.

Where I live   (southern New England)  winter is slowing down and the sun is shining, but it's still rather cool outside.  Hat, coat, jeans or slacks, and gloves are mandatory  for maybe another month.
But better days are just ahead.  It's been hard trying to get my daily run in during these cold days. I need to buy one of those exercise machines to put in the basement, but I hate to spend the money.
An eliptical or treadmill might be great and I could avoid the freezing winter days in CT. I'll have to watch for sales and bargins on Craigs list.   I don't have statistics, but I would bet that a lot of people buy these machines and don't use them as much as planned so eventually they sell them.  I just wish they were more compact.  That would be helpful for people with small rooms in small houses.  I guess a jumprope would work but I'm not sure I'd have the energy for it.  I guess I should give it a trial before I spend a large amount of money.   Currently I just try to run up and  down the stairs 4-5 times and when it's sunny and warmish running around the block works pretty well.  I'd welcome some ideas about exercise machines, and running and anything related to exercise.  In the mean time stay healthy and get some exercise.

By the way, I'm open to sugestions related to different topics.  I'm running out of ideas.