Kitty Rabbit

Hi!  I’m a domestic long-hair who appears to be part Maine Coon and part Persian.  I’m definitely vocal enough to be part Persian!  I currently weigh about 6 pounds.

• I’m 19 years old (20 in March 2013) and have lived with my owner for 17 of my 19 years.  She’s wonderful!  Even if she did make me move all over the country (ND, CO, NE, VA, NY).  I love her, but I could sure do without her poking me with needles.
• I was diagnosed with diabetes September 21, 2012.  The diagnosis really threw my owner into a tailspin, if you know what I mean.  

Insulin

• Currently .5u BID.  My very first shot was 1u and gave a nice 193 12 hours later, but the second .5u gave a not-so-nice 44 at +4.  Didn’t bother me any, but my owner was a bit stressed.  She opted for .25u for 5 ½ days before she upped the dose.

Hometesting

• Relion Micro since October 28th.  OneTouch Ultra Mini prior to that.
• Blood glucose levels are taken twice a day at meals.  Mom likes to get me more than that when she’s home, but fortunately for my ears that’s not too often.
• Blood glucose levels are recorded in that nifty spreadsheet you guys use.

Food

• Friskie’s, any meat (not seafood) variety in pate form
• freeze dried meat treats at testing time (those things are yummy!)
• Purina DM (dry) as a stand-by if I won’t eat anything else

Symptoms that lead to diabetes diagnosis

• short term:  blood in the litterbox (and on the bedspread and my seat and the back of the couch...).  Let’s just say it was not a fun night for me or a fun morning for my owner.  Issue diagnosed as a UTI.
• long term:  excess thirst and peeing.  Two months before I was diagnosed I was taken to the vet (yuck!) for this issue.  It was put down to my age.  Oops.

Other health issues

• I had a corneal lesion removed from my left eye around Thanksgiving 2006.  You probably can’t see the scar in this photo but it’s visible when you’re close to me.
• I’ve had a squamous growth above my lip (right side) since October 2011.  My age precludes the aggressive treatment it would require to remove it and ensure it stays gone.  It’s annoying sometimes, but it doesn’t appear to be growing.