u/nickisadogname

I'm sorry, I feel stupid. We're currently in the process of doing glucose curves at home, seeing if the dose is right, upping it, waiting a week, doing another curve... And my vet, and all online resources, say to look out for the insulin "not lasting long enough", as if it doesn't last long enough he might need a longer acting insulin.

I'm not sure what it looks like when it doesn't last long enough. If my cat is at 18 mmol in the morning, has a nadir of 16, then comes back up to 18 by the second shot, does that mean the insulin didn't last long enough? Are you looking for the PM number to be higher than the AM number? It's at its lowest about five hours after giving insulin, then starts slowly climbing. Does that mean it isn't lasting long enough? I was under the impression that you WANTED the insulin to wear off before giving a second shot as to not stack doses?

I feel so dumb not being able to comprehend what "long enough" means in this context but literally none of the plentiful resources I've read online explain it at all. It seems like everybody except me just understand what that means.

I adopted a cat about a month ago. He was diagnosed a week before that which is why he had to be rehomed. I've never had a cat before and it was a pretty hurried situation so I just took him and we've been learning together.

He has shown no signs of wanting to go outside. In fact he's a little scared of the front door, though if I open it a crack and just stand there he sometimes comes and sniffs at the air coming in. Lots of people have told me that going for walks is great enrichment for cats, especially considering I live in a small apartment. He doesn't show signs of needing more enrichment - he's eight years old, we play every day, he has his puzzle feeders that he loves, he's not destructive or restless at all. But people around me are making me feel like I'm mistreating him by never letting him go outside. And I do think walks could provide a lot of stimulation that I can't.

I'm just scared that, since he's diabetic, if he got a taste for outside and managed to run away one day, he'd get really sick. He'd eat stuff he can't have and I wouldn't be able to give him his insulin. So I'm hesitant to even introduce the outside as an option. Right now he doesn't know what he's missing.

Any thoughts?

My cat was diagnosed on the same day I adopted him about a month ago. Since then he's discovered how to get into the bread box, the closets and my backpack, and he's eaten anything in sight. He gets a smaller meal every three hours, totaling to about 370 grams of wet food, which is a little more than he should be getting. I'm tearing my hair out as I'm doing these weekly glucose curves to find his ideal dose. I know once he stabilizes he won't be this hungry anymore but it is a process.

I was hoping for stories of dumb things other diabetic cats have done in pursuit of the hunger, and some confirmation that it does get better.

I'll say something like "yes, we have that! This one is made of cotton, this other one is made of wool" while leading them to it, and the customer will pick one, and instead of carrying it themselves they hand it to me.

This is NOT a luxury shopping experience, I am NOT your personal assistant, as soon as I've answered your question/given my recommendation/whatever I will have to run to assist several other customers and/or man the register. I do not have time to follow you around and hold your stuff while you shop.

Sometimes when they hand me things, if they do it seemingly as a second thought, I just won't take it. I figure I could reasonably have missed the gesture. But some are very firm about it. Then, because they would see it as very rude to refuse or hand them the items back, I will take them and say "I'll leave these at the register for you then :)". They usually look surprised at that, and more often than not will take the items back.

I don't even know if they realize what they're doing