Kelly & Vesper
Member
Hi all,
We haven't checked in awhile, and I hope you all are doing well. (special hi to @Laurie & Petey who checked in recently)
Vesper has been doing amazing. She will be turning 14 in ten days, is back up to 11lbs 3oz (after falling to 8.5 lbs during her DKA episode in January), and seems to be fully adjusted to budesonide. We haven't seen any indication that her pancreatitis is flaring, and her diabetes seems to be well-controlled (knock on wood).
We could use advice on a few things, however.
(1) Vesper's nadirs have been around 50 pretty consistently (though we admittedly need to do more night checks). I'm wondering if we should reduce her dose to 1.5?
(2) Although my husband and I are able to administer Vesper's insulin and check her glucose, it is officially impossible for us to find a catsitter who is able to care for her (aside from one woman who can do the injection most of the time as long as her husband assists her in chasing/holding Vesper down, but they cannot do glucose checks). Vesper is *extremely* aggressive, and her aggression has only increased since we've started doing glucose checks over the last few months. We have tried absolutely everything: using treats she loves, wild animal gloves, hiring trained vet techs, doing it with meals, doing it without meals. It's officially a lost cause. This is problematic for us, as we are required to travel fairly frequently (we live in Seattle with our toddler and all of our family, including elderly parents, live far away--in Vermont and Arizona). Traveling internationally is also our most cherished family activity. Boarding Vesper is also not an option, because vets have to fully sedate her in order to handle her. In light of all of this, I'm wondering a few things:
-- After recently traveling for an overnight, Vesper went 36h without insulin because the new catsitter was unable to inject her. When we checked her glucose upon return yesterday, it was at 214. What are we to make of that? I'm somewhat encouraged it wasn't worse but don't want to get too complacent. Basically, I'm just trying to judge how long she can go without insulin before needing urgent vet care, because it is bound to happen again at some point despite our best efforts.
-- We have an upcoming trip in July where we will be leaving for 10 days. The one catsitter able to administer insulin will be watching her, though her husband is only to help for part of the time, so I'm not sure Vesper will get her insulin consistently. How problematic would it be if she gets her dose most days but not all? How much should we reduce her dose for the sitter?
-- Any other suggestions?
We have traveled with Vesper occasionally (she has flown cross country 4x) but cannot do it every time, given that our relatives have dogs etc. We also obviously cannot do that for international travel. We will still do it when we can, but traveling also stresses her out too (the trip to Vermont involves 2 flights and takes 14h), so we're trying to find a balance. Anyone want to be a petsitter in Seattle?
We haven't checked in awhile, and I hope you all are doing well. (special hi to @Laurie & Petey who checked in recently)
Vesper has been doing amazing. She will be turning 14 in ten days, is back up to 11lbs 3oz (after falling to 8.5 lbs during her DKA episode in January), and seems to be fully adjusted to budesonide. We haven't seen any indication that her pancreatitis is flaring, and her diabetes seems to be well-controlled (knock on wood).
We could use advice on a few things, however.
(1) Vesper's nadirs have been around 50 pretty consistently (though we admittedly need to do more night checks). I'm wondering if we should reduce her dose to 1.5?
(2) Although my husband and I are able to administer Vesper's insulin and check her glucose, it is officially impossible for us to find a catsitter who is able to care for her (aside from one woman who can do the injection most of the time as long as her husband assists her in chasing/holding Vesper down, but they cannot do glucose checks). Vesper is *extremely* aggressive, and her aggression has only increased since we've started doing glucose checks over the last few months. We have tried absolutely everything: using treats she loves, wild animal gloves, hiring trained vet techs, doing it with meals, doing it without meals. It's officially a lost cause. This is problematic for us, as we are required to travel fairly frequently (we live in Seattle with our toddler and all of our family, including elderly parents, live far away--in Vermont and Arizona). Traveling internationally is also our most cherished family activity. Boarding Vesper is also not an option, because vets have to fully sedate her in order to handle her. In light of all of this, I'm wondering a few things:
-- After recently traveling for an overnight, Vesper went 36h without insulin because the new catsitter was unable to inject her. When we checked her glucose upon return yesterday, it was at 214. What are we to make of that? I'm somewhat encouraged it wasn't worse but don't want to get too complacent. Basically, I'm just trying to judge how long she can go without insulin before needing urgent vet care, because it is bound to happen again at some point despite our best efforts.
-- We have an upcoming trip in July where we will be leaving for 10 days. The one catsitter able to administer insulin will be watching her, though her husband is only to help for part of the time, so I'm not sure Vesper will get her insulin consistently. How problematic would it be if she gets her dose most days but not all? How much should we reduce her dose for the sitter?
-- Any other suggestions?
We have traveled with Vesper occasionally (she has flown cross country 4x) but cannot do it every time, given that our relatives have dogs etc. We also obviously cannot do that for international travel. We will still do it when we can, but traveling also stresses her out too (the trip to Vermont involves 2 flights and takes 14h), so we're trying to find a balance. Anyone want to be a petsitter in Seattle?
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). There are also some options for herbal calming remedies which shouldn't interfere with the IBD. 
