Derry: A bit more than the eye issue

I'll skip over the lab and med delays that have frustrated me this past Thursday and Friday. I still do not have the vet's preferred eye antibiotic, so I've kept on with her second choice, and he will be rechecked on Wednesday (or at least that's his current appointment).

However, his blood glucose level came back very high, at 24.7 (range 4-ish to 9-ish), and that coupled with the protein in his urine (though he's had protein in his urine for many years, so I don't put a lot of stock in that), plus his incessant drinking and peeing, indicate diabetes. (He's peeing every hour or two most of the time; I thought it might be a UTI, but there was no sign of that in his urinanalysis results.)

Now, his blood glucose reading at the end of April was fantastic, couldn't ask for better. However, he did have crystals in his urine at the time (April), and our regular vet suggested that I switch to a urinary food. Choices are limited to hydrolyzed protein because of his IBD/SIBO. (I spent seven months last year and into early this winter trying one limited ingredient or premium food after another with the same results, until I gave up and tried the vet food.) One of the well-known vet brands makes a urinary hydrolyzed protein dry, filled with (ugh) soy. (He'd been on the other vet brand of hydrolyzed protein; they don't make that for urinary issues.)  So I switched Derry to the second brand, and about four months later, this is the result. Is there a direct correlation? I believe so, rightly or wrongly.

Now I'm waiting for the results of the specialized, add-on blood test that measures fructosamine levels over the previous two to three weeks and is not influenced by stress. Yes, I KNOW that stress can elevate a cat's glucose levels, but I think, with the other obvious signs, that it's definitely diabetes. I had been prepared for him to be in stage 3 kidney failure, I was not prepared to hear this. (His kidneys are still find, by the way.)

I'm waiting to touch base with one of the full-time vets on Monday (not the vet we saw last week); she'll pass me off to a vet tech to show me how to do the injections.

In the meantime, Derry now won't touch any Hills z/d canned, which is the only canned that does not give him awful diarrhea, even though I've tried sprinkling it liberally with FortiFlora and various freeze-dried food toppers. Today he has only nibbled on and off at the dry, even with aid of an appetite stimulant. This is what happens EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. he has to go to the vet for long, traumatic visits. 

I was able to pick up a bag of the former brand of hydrolyzed protein this morning (which, while carb-heavy, at least has meat-based protein) and will see if he'll eat it again. (He prefers the taste of the soy cr*p.)

EVERYONE underestimates how terribly timid and fearful his nature is. I knew that three+ hour vet visit last week would tip him over the edge, even with getting a Cerenia injection before we left.

So here we are. He's currently sporting the pink flower cone to prevent him from rubbing his eye, and he's sleeping out in his lawn chair, definitely not feeling well.

I will do the best I can for him to manage the diabetes, his IBD, and the eye issues. But IF constantly being poked and prodded and medicated causes him to become fearful of me, to spend his days hiding, if he has poor quality of life as a result of all the various treatments, and if he requires frequent ongoing vet visits, I will reevaluate this. 

I do not want my little "bear" to leave me, and I do not think that this is on the immediate horizon. But neither will I let him deteriorate so that he has more bad days than good, so that he has no dignity.

Every person is different, every cat is different, but I believe with all my heart that living well is preferable to just living. I will do what I can to ensure Derry lives well.