Friday, October 05, 2007

Finally...That Nursing Know-How Put to Use

As you may remember, I took my cat to the vet earlier this week because she lost a shit-ton of weight in a relatively short period. That, and she was behaving funny. The vet drew blood, took some urine, and told me to call the next day for the results.

I slept through the next day with the help of Flexaril, so I completely forgot to call the vet.

I called yesterday, and Dr. Vet (who is the most awesome vet in the whole wide world), told me that Little Roo was diabetic, her blood sugar nearing the 500-range. That's not particularly good for a human, so I can only imagine how bad that would be for a cat.

While diabetes is curable, it certainly is manageable. This morning, when I went to pick up Brother from work, I toted Roo with me in her box and stopped by the vet's office where they gave her the first dose of insulin, showed me how to do it, gave me a prescription for said insulin, and sent me on my way. I then stopped by Mom's office where she had a box of insulin syringes she wasn't going to use (as she no longer needs to take insulin), then I stopped by the pharmacy to have my script filled. The pharmacist kind of looked at me funny when I told them that Roo was a cat. Apparently, they don't fill scripts from veterinary offices too often.

Pharmacist: I'll need an address for Roo.
Me: It's the same as mine.
Pharmacist: Okay (writing address down as I recite it to him). Now, does Roo have a phone number?
Me: Well, she doesn't have her own phone. She just uses mine.

Pharmacist fills my script and I pay a whopping $83 for one little bottle of insulin. I really need to look into pet insurance. That little shit has cost me almost $300 in less than a week. Fortunately, the insulin should last me until mid-next year. However, in addition to the special diet I have to provide for George and his Peehole Issues, I now have to give Roo a special diet to accommodate her diabetes. Not to mention the insulin shots I have to give her twice a day. She's 13 years old, so it's not like I would let her go untreated to the point she has to be euthanized. I've had her forever. In fact, she was given to me by my cousin because she hated my fiance at the time, and thought I would love the cat more.

She was right.
And so begins my journey to Crazy Single Cat Lady Status. Thanks for stopping by!

5 comments:

Faith said...

Aw! I love her name! Never noticed that before...

Good luck with all of that, sista. You're such a nice pet-mama...

Spyder said...

Roo is very pretty. That was my bro in law's nickname growing up. Hubby was Kanga.

Mo said...

Oh, the things we do for our fur people...been reading for a while now and truly enjoy your blather. Have a nice weekend!

Melinda said...

Im glad you figured it out. My little Rewind lost a lot of weight too, and hes got renal issues that my catsitter is watching while Im away. Hes 11. I love my furballs!!

Anonymous said...

we knew a couple who gives their cat insulin shots for several years. When one loves their cat so much they'll do about anything to keep life going on for the little guy.
I like your cats name, Roo. Its a cute name