After Hurricane Katrina, in inherited two dopey-eyed, stumpy-tailed kittens from my friend Dana. Ok, there may some dispute as to whether she abandoned them or I refused to give them back, after caring from them all summer. The point is that I paid for their kitten visits, so Lex Luthor and Kal-El are mine now.
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| This baby Lex is mine. |
That was six years ago, and now they are big healthy grown up boy cats. Kal is an unobtrusive brown and black tabby, and Lex is a big black cat. He's the first one to the food bowl and the last to leave, after checking that the rest are empty. As a result, he was a moo-cow heifer cat for years.
A couple of weeks ago, he started loosing weight and became more whiney than usual. Lex has always been what pet adoption agencies would call 'vocal' and what I would call 'a horrible banshee cat,' but his yowling became more insistent around feeding time. He also seemed to ignore his dry food. Growing concern caused me to start feeding him wet food, which he ate happily. I made an appointment to see my vet-friend, Dr. Amy.
After an all the lab work came back in, found out that, although he is now a healthy weight, my formerly obese cat has diabetes.
Cat diabetes is the definition of a first world problem, because it's too serious to ignore, but not serious enough to have the animal put down. It is not the sort of condition for which one can hold a benefit. Not a successful benefit, anyway.
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| I demand money for gooshy food. Behold! I waste away! |
So, in a couple of weeks (my friend is at a conference this week and I am going on vacation the week after) Lex will spend a couple of nights at the Vet's. His blood sugar will (hopefully) level out, and then he'll come home where he will receive a (tiny) shot every 12 hours for the rest of his life. Cat diabetes is manageable, but very very inconvenient. Fortunately, my roommate, a far more enthusiastic cat lady than myself, is perfectly willing to help with his care. My boyfriend is also willing to let Lex stay at his house when we are over there for several nights in a row, so I won't have to go back and forth between our houses as often.
I'm giving all of this a six month adjustment period. If the insulin doesn't work well with his system, or my big crybaby cat can't tolerate baby needles, then we'll figure something else out. Until then, I'll be writing about my experiences with him and the four other cats I own with my roommate. I'll be posting pictures and maybe even videos.
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| money pit. |
I'm about to spend a lot of money on my cat. I may as well embrace the fact that I'm a crazy cat lady (CCL) and start a blog about it. Good thing the internet loves cats :D
