Here's a very special addition to our Sugarcat Monologues --
the Story of Fuzzer!

 
It all started one day when I noticed some thing was wrong with Fuzzer. She had a large wound on her shoulder. It was 1x2 inches and there was no blood and no piece of skin anywhere. I searched the house for some thing that she might have hurt herself on. I found nothing. It was fairly late in the afternoon and I had to leave for work, so I had my husband take her to the closest vet. (Soon to be known as mistake #1) TOSHIBA SATELLITE A205-S5000 REPLACEMENT LAPTOP LCD SCREEN  
  He gave her a antibiotic shot and sent her home with a bottle of Cut-N-Heal! Now that is some nasty stuff meant for horses, it contains Turpentine! It hurt her so bad that I thought that she was going to have a heart attack! I decide to put some aloe on it and leave her alone. After about 5 days she quit eating and I rushed her to my good vet.
She took her in and started testing her to find out what was wrong. I got a call the next day with the news.... it's Diabetes do you want to treat her or put her to sleep... after sitting there in shock for a moment I asked how much would it cost? She said $200 to $300 dollars. I said do it! Well 10 days later they say that I can take her home, she was very thin, she didn't eat for more than a week while there and had to be on a IV for the whole stay. The bill? Almost $800! tr certificate  

When the vet tech handed her to me she said that she wanted to show me some thing. Then she takes the skin on Fuzzer's side and opens it like a book, it looked like she was skinning a chicken breast! I almost fainted! It exposed her entire side from shoulder to hip! I snatched it way and closed it back up! I was sick, I had no idea that any thing was wrong with her skin. Then I see the original wound had grown to 3x6"! Then the story begins to unfold.. o1 visa lawyer, required to.
You see Fuzzer had been on monthly Derpo Mederol shots for the last 8 years. I gave them to her myself and some how had managed to more than triple the dose over the years. It had made her skin paper thin and it would tear off just from grooming herself. It also caused her to become a Diabetic. Over the next month she opened up more and more. 

Then I went to the Acme Pet cat board for help and they directed me to the Feline Diabetes Message board. That was the best thing that ever happened to Fuzzer!

They told me what to do, what to look for and how to treat the Diabetes. Some really wonderful folks there even sent me a One Step Ultra tester and test strips. I was touched to the point of tears! Such a wonderful gift! And from complete strangers too! And I was learning more about Diabetes than my vet knew! That gift saved Fuzzer's life, because after about 10 weeks I got in a hurry on night and forgot her shot. As soon as I got home I rushed to test her before I shot, she was over 6 hours late and she was at 160! I gave her a token dose. The next day I tested her preshot and she was at 142! No shot. The next day she was back up to 186 so I gave her 1 unit and she almost hypoed! She dropped down to 56! That was the last of the insulin for her! She has stayed in the low 100's ever since that day.

If I hadn't been home testing I would have continued pumping insulin into her and she would have died before I knew that any thing was wrong! Her skin has healed up and beautiful new black fur has grown in. The sores are gone leaving only a couple of small scars and she is eating like a little furry horse! I call her my little miracle kitty!  She was so near death at the beginning that I almost had her put to sleep, but she seemed to want to live so we tried and was richly rewarded with a happy healthy kitty 4 very long months later .

I hope that her story can give hope to other Sugar Cat owners
that Diabetes can be lived with
and even beaten!

 

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