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Hi All,
Our 9 year old Turkish shepherd mix, Maggie, was diagnosed with diabetes after being admitted for DKA two weeks ago. We have been trying to get her on track, but this rollercoaster is killing me. Prior to her diagnosis, she was already on a flovent inhaler and hycodan for COPD, Proin for incontinence believed to be caused by reaction to steroid inhaler, and cosequin for arthritis. Now, she has insulin for diabetes and metronidazole for diarrhea. Since the day we brought her home from her DKA crisis, she has been panting excessively and hiding every night. Nothing helps, and it is terrifying me. She has always been a picky eater and nothing is working to get her to eat twice a day so that we can give her insulin (recently increased from 15 units to 19 units following a curve that ranged from low to mid 400s). Like I said, she is a picky eater, so we know ALL of the tricks. I just called her specialist and we are taking her in tomorrow. I'm not even sure what for. If she doesn't eat, she can't be regulated. If she can't be regulated, my baby dies. They're going to tell me that tomorrow and I'm going to be in the same harrowing spot.
This diagnosis was a huge shock to my husband and me. We just lost our 19 year old cat in Aug 2016, and then our 3 year old cat in April of this year. Chloe was our 3 year old, and we endured a two and a half year battle to save her life. Following a random case of hepatic lipidosis, she needed a PEG tube, we tube fed her back to health... then she never healed from the tube removal procedure... she had five total surgeries before we discovered she had an incurable and infectious skin disease. In April, we had to let Chloe go. She wasn't reaponding to any treatments. I say all of this about her to lead my current emotional state: I have fought the chronic illness fight before, and I lost. Every night that Maggie doesn't eat, every morning when I wake up to try to coax her to eat, when she keeps me awake panting and the vet tells me "it will get better," when Maggie snarls at me for giving her an injection, when she hides from me... all I can think about is how hard I fought for Chloe and that I lost her any way. I am furious that God or the Gods or whoever makes the calls keeps taking my babies. If one more person tells me that "God chose me for this battle for a reason," I am going to scream. No one around me understands what it's like to get three hours of sleep a night, spend 90% of my time before work fighting with my girl to eat, go to work, and then come home do do it all over again. Everyone is tired of hearing about my chronically ill pets. I am tired, too. I am exhausted.
How do you guys do this? I get it - food, insulin, exercise, vet visits... but emotionally, how do I handle this? I am trying so hard to keep it together for her, but I question whether I'm putting her through hell and discomfort for my sake or for hers.
Our 9 year old Turkish shepherd mix, Maggie, was diagnosed with diabetes after being admitted for DKA two weeks ago. We have been trying to get her on track, but this rollercoaster is killing me. Prior to her diagnosis, she was already on a flovent inhaler and hycodan for COPD, Proin for incontinence believed to be caused by reaction to steroid inhaler, and cosequin for arthritis. Now, she has insulin for diabetes and metronidazole for diarrhea. Since the day we brought her home from her DKA crisis, she has been panting excessively and hiding every night. Nothing helps, and it is terrifying me. She has always been a picky eater and nothing is working to get her to eat twice a day so that we can give her insulin (recently increased from 15 units to 19 units following a curve that ranged from low to mid 400s). Like I said, she is a picky eater, so we know ALL of the tricks. I just called her specialist and we are taking her in tomorrow. I'm not even sure what for. If she doesn't eat, she can't be regulated. If she can't be regulated, my baby dies. They're going to tell me that tomorrow and I'm going to be in the same harrowing spot.
This diagnosis was a huge shock to my husband and me. We just lost our 19 year old cat in Aug 2016, and then our 3 year old cat in April of this year. Chloe was our 3 year old, and we endured a two and a half year battle to save her life. Following a random case of hepatic lipidosis, she needed a PEG tube, we tube fed her back to health... then she never healed from the tube removal procedure... she had five total surgeries before we discovered she had an incurable and infectious skin disease. In April, we had to let Chloe go. She wasn't reaponding to any treatments. I say all of this about her to lead my current emotional state: I have fought the chronic illness fight before, and I lost. Every night that Maggie doesn't eat, every morning when I wake up to try to coax her to eat, when she keeps me awake panting and the vet tells me "it will get better," when Maggie snarls at me for giving her an injection, when she hides from me... all I can think about is how hard I fought for Chloe and that I lost her any way. I am furious that God or the Gods or whoever makes the calls keeps taking my babies. If one more person tells me that "God chose me for this battle for a reason," I am going to scream. No one around me understands what it's like to get three hours of sleep a night, spend 90% of my time before work fighting with my girl to eat, go to work, and then come home do do it all over again. Everyone is tired of hearing about my chronically ill pets. I am tired, too. I am exhausted.
How do you guys do this? I get it - food, insulin, exercise, vet visits... but emotionally, how do I handle this? I am trying so hard to keep it together for her, but I question whether I'm putting her through hell and discomfort for my sake or for hers.
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