Pamiu's Story
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Pamiu's Story |
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Pamiu was an enormous classic tabby, 10 years old,
and had languished for six weeks at the cat rescue agency where I volunteer as a
"foster parent." When I heard that he was diabetic I immediately
decided to take him home. He weighed 18 lbs and took 2 units Humulin twice a
day. Evidently his elderly owner had surrendered him (due, I understood, to her
health own problems) about the time he was diagnosed. He was angelic about
taking the shots--would come and sit by me at the appropriate time. The only
problem was, I could not keep him indoor-only; he kept prying the basement door
open to get out. I decided he would be an inside-outside cat, as I had no
choice. All went well for several weeks until he began having hypoglycemic attacks. The first was marked by disorientation and ataxia; I rushed him in to the emergency vet and he was okay after treatment. The second time almost killed him; he was unconscious and seizing when I came home. Another run to the emergency vet. I thought he'd been hit by a car because he had blood in his mouth, but evidently he had bitten his tongue. His blood glucose at the time was abysmally low. His regular vet and I reduced his insulin dose to 1 unit Humulin twice daily. The third time he became only slightly hypoglycemic; I treated him with Karo-laced canned food and he recovered at home. We discontinued the insulin, and when I brought him in for a random blood glucose it was normal. The difference seems to have been moving from a shelter cage to an outdoor athletic existence. He lost enough weight that he stopped needing insulin. Until I found this website I had not heard of "transient" diabetes (nor had the shelter folk or my vet; they claimed it was a miracle)!. He's healthy and gorgeous and loving life, and is now practically solid muscle. -- Contributed by Mildred
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