It’s been awhile since I’ve joined the girls over at Chatting At The Sky for the unwrapping of life’s small but wonderful treasures.  They’re amongst us everyday it’s just sometimes we have to look closely to appreciate them.  Today I’m reminded of how blessed we are to live in a time where medicine is as advanced as it is.  Today I speak specifically on veterinarian medicine.  Not only are humans living longer these days, our pets are as well.

My close friends and family know that Pele, our 11 year old cat was recently diagnosed with diabetes.  We’ve been working very hard at getting his glucose leveled off.  A normal glucose range for cats is 64 – 170 of which Pele’s first reading was 540 (WOW . . . that is very very high).  Having a normal glucose range is vital to living, without it a human or pet will inevitiably die.

Well today Pele and I made our way to Dr Jim Micinilio’s office to pick up our Alpha Trak (Glucose Metering System) and off to training school we went.  Pele was my real live patient who receives a gold star for tolerance.  We did very well!  I obtained a drop of blood from the vein in his ear and guess what . . . glucose reading today is 280.  I’m elated that the insulin injections are working and that we can now check his glucose at home and work closely with the doctor to bring Pele to the best possible point of health attainable.    We’re not too far off from the goal of 170.  Yeah Pele, my big guy!  Next we’ll start Vitamin B12 with hopes it will fix the diabetic neuropathy he has.  He has great difficulty with walking but we’re on our way to improvement.

Wilbur, our 16 year-old kitty kat fell ill last week and we were afraid this was the beginning of the end for her.  We admitted her to the hospital on Monday February 23 where she received an IV for re-hydration and a multitude of injections ranging from vitamin B-12 to antibiotics to fight off the kidney infection she had.  Due to her age her immunity was unable to fight off the infection of which started to take over.  At the time of admission she hadn’t eaten or drank in three days which is long for a small animal.  The mere smell of food made this poor thing regurgitate and it had reached a stage where bile had entered her little belly.

Sorry for the less than desirable details, I’ll spare you any further details with exception of the good news we now have to share.  After three days in-patient she is back home with us with perky spirits, drinking water again and is slowly improving with eating food.  She’s resting a lot and is limping on her back leg which we contribute to arthritis due to age.  We’ve purchased a product to help her feel better with that ailment as well.  Will try it out once she’s 100% recovered.

So while she was hospitalized I’d go over daily to feed and spend time with her to try and keep her spirits up.  I couldn’t resist taking a picture of her in her hospital bed of which consisted of one mauroon litter box filled with oh so scratchy litter.  Indeed a comfortable bed don’t cha’s think?  HA!  On her 2nd night I left her own bed from home of which I found her sleeping on the very next morning.  That made me feel that she liked the smell and reminder of home.  Love you Woobie (my little pony) and we’re so glad you’re feeling better.