SMOKEY (USA): Levemir
Smokey joined DCI on February 17 2015. He was diagnosed in 2011. Smokey acquired us due to the fact that someone had abandoned him and while searching for his own survival he managed to go feral…not off the wall feral but feral none the less.
Smokey showed up in our yard in 2008 and lived across the street somewhere in the forest….he would just come to visit our yard and sometime tease our cats while they were on the screen porch. After a few weeks our cats liked Smokey to visit and they would all be calm and cool when he walked up on the porch….
My wife and I did everything to try to get friendly with him but no way…so, I began feeding him and eventually after many months we isolated our cats to another area of the house and opened the family room doors and in walked Smokey….he was a natural born lover to all…cats and humans and from that day on he has been prancing the house with his harem of friendly cats that all loved him……I kept him in the bedroom until he was tested and got his shots. Smokey was 4 yrs old when we took him in according to the vet….
Then came the day on November 6, 2011….I finally realized that someone was peeing huge pee balls in the litter box and noticed Smokey was going from water bowl to water bowl drinking up a storm….so I called the vet and in we went…..his blood glucose was 350/19.4 which to me meant nothing to us until the vet explained…..then came the treatment….buy some ProZinc and give him x-mg twice a day….once in the morning and once in the evening and come back in 1 month…. No testing, just be sure he eats before insulin injection.
Well, we could not regulate him…we would take him in and when she tested him would do a curve and wow…was he not well regulated. But she had no idea what his blood glucose was at home relaxed nor did she know what it was if he just ate or didn’t eat although she said make sure he eats first . Every time I gave him the insulin shot I didn’t know if he was going to drop dead since we did not know what his BG was…it was the dumbest thing I ever did…
This went on until I told my wife…there has to be a better way..we are going to lose him…he is a diabetic and is a ticking time bomb like this so I went on the internet and read about regulating a diabetic cat and how to test and selecting dosages etc etc and I met the person who had just starting DCI a few months earlier and she asked me if I would like to try to test and regulate Smokey and I said YYYYEEESSSSS!!!!!
My wife thought I lost my mind when I explained to her what I was going to do. My vet who writes the scrips for the insulin folded her arms across her chess , shook her head, rolled her eyes and said she never hear of such a thing…and Smokey was just looking at me with his big huge beautiful eyes saying GO FOR IT DAD….so we did on February 21, 2015.
Through the years Smokey could be a horror show…he would do better, have great numbers, and we would begin to hope he was finally getting well regulated. Then he would go up, down, sideways, you never knew what you were going to get when you tested him and most times I was afraid to look or was afraid AFTER I looked…and DCI would have to help us adjust what we were doing once again.
We noticed Smokey liked our wedding rings. If he was on my lap or at my desk or even in bed he liked to lick and sometimes chew my ring…..soooooo we thought we would bribe him….we went out and bought him a big gold star and chain and he fell in love with it the minute we put it on him…it was a natural…he thought he was JayZ or something…..
The gold star we gave him to wear when he was having really good runs….he was doing overtime and all was well….when he was all over the map the star came off and we would clean and shine it and hang up where he could see it but not to wear….the more I think of it I think it was for our benefit to do this since he didn’t have a way to control his blood sugar…..but he looked cool and he thought he was cool and that was what counted I guess….
I shared this story with the people helping us on DCI and anyone that would read Smokey’s posts and when he had great runs they would post gold stars on their messages and I would call Smokey to my desk and show him the stars on the computer, and he would just gaze at them and tap them with his paw…I guess the man likes his gold stars!!!! He had a little fun with his agony of diabetes.
My wife and I made our peace with diabetes and said well, Smokey was too old when he started insulin
and he started it the wrong way with the vet and wasted all those years with a traditional vet and he is now 15 years old…but we were committed to continue and never give up. We promised each other we would never look back and feel like we failed…I intended to take Smokey to the finish line one way or the other.
Then the day came and he took us to the finish line his way…about 2 months ago he started…..out of NOWHERE running longer and longer runs…then he hit 32 days…..WOW….we were dancing in the kitchen with him in our arms…but….this is Smokey we are talking about who has fallen off the wagon time and time again….and the next day booom….300’s in the blood sugar department….
The next run was even longer than 32 days and bang….boom right up again……
THEN came the next run…the one he is still on…+55 days and blood sugar of 85/4.72 !!!!!
Smokey is the happiest cat I ever met….even thru all his diabetes. He never complained about the neurotic daddy testing all the time and did his best to eat the low carb food
Smokey was diagonosed diabetic 8 years ago….my how the time flew by and how much we always wished and prayed that he would kick the juice….and here he is…back to normal…hopefully never to go backwards again.
Moral of the LONG SHORT STORY is…never ever give up on your champion…Smokey turned when least expected and without any sign or warning as was his M O….boom he took over the BGs and he went on his way to health…you never know when it will happen, or if it will happen but your perseverance is all your cat has and without you and your attentiveness to cure him he will wander by the wayside and go to his final sleep….so keep the faith and may God reward you and yours for one of the happiest days of your life….. you are in the best of hands and be thankful you found DCI…
Smokey is our Christmas present this year and it’s all because of DCI and all the help that we have our little Swashbuckler back to normal. At certain times when he looks up at his Gold Star hanging in the kitchen I will pick him up and let him clang it with his paw and sometimes he licks my face as to say ….thank you and thank my Lucky Star…… and YES, Smokey still takes his Star out for a test drive from time to time but he knows it can only be for a day or 2…
DCI is the best support one could ever ask for…it’s a network of determined people doing all they can to make a diabetic cat whole again…the people helping us with the dosing adjustments and all the members were always there for us day and night….I could not ask for more and cannot thank all of you enough…
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