Owner Is Exhausted From Looking After A Cat Newly Diagnosed With Cat Diabetes

I recently saw a post where the owner is exhausted from looking after a cat newly diagnosed with cat diabetes and is wondering how having a diabetic cat impacts other owners lives.

Yes, I have explained many times before, initially it can be quite daunting. You need to check blood sugar levels at home, you need to be able to give insulin shots and you need to ensure that feeding occurs at the correct times. But after a short while it will become routine and almost second nature.

“..we have just started caring for our newly diabetic cat. Our vet said many people do it and it is an entirely manageable disease. That didn’t seem too bad. After the last four days, our lives are consumed by exhaustion, worry, incompetency, and doubts.

My husband and I both work…me, usually at home. As I have been following your posts, it appears that diabetic cat care is all-consuming. What I want to know from you is this:
HOW DOES DIABETIC CAT CARE IMPACT YOUR LIFE? Questions like: Are you able to work out of the home, what is your daily cat-care schedule like? How much time is involved in caring for your cat?

Do you feel like you are running a cat hospital? Do you get much sleep? Has it affected your social life…can you travel? Financial impact? etc. “

Here are some of the replies that should give this owner and you, if you have recently started caring for a diabetic cat some encouragment and hope:-

“I don’t find care to be all that consuming at all. I’ve been doing this for years and now am owned by several diabetic cats and an amazing CH kitty who has neurological problems.
Both my husband and I work away from home. I test my diabetic cats before each shot, I am able to come home during the day and feed, so my kitties get canned food four times a day. I sometimes test at night before bed, sometimes I may get a few tests in on weekends.”

” In the beginning I’m not going to kid you..it is stressful, there is worry and a steep learning curve, but then you get the steps down, establish a routine and it becomes like brushing your teeth each morning.”

” It absolutely gets easier, even with my husband and I both working full-time. We’re in a routine now–my husband feeds Lily when he gets up at 7:30, then when I get up about an hour later I test her blood (usually) and give her a shot. I leave out food during the day, so she basically grazes all day. Then test and shot at 8:30 p.m. ”

“I will say that while my cats consumed some of my time, and limited my ‘social life’, I regard my cats as others would their children. I will also say that I adopted another diabetic cat 6months after my first was diagnosed. I knew about what was needed and not needed by then, and all the worry/stressful/overwhelming feelings were long gone. It’s all in how you look at it.”

It is quite understandable that this owner is exhausted from looking after a cat newly diagnosed with cat diabetes. And although the care after a while will become routine, things can never be as they used to be, so on some occasions social life is going to be affected, there are going to be additional costs due to need for syringes, insulin and the occasional additional vet visit.  But on the bright side, by changing diet to a natural diet you could find that the diabetes reverses as it does in some cases.