Confidence in His Future

While Came is feeling good after her most recent illness, my foster-cat, Parker, is also the subject of good news.

Every month, I perform a ‘curve’ on him, as I do for my other diabetic cat, Tucker, in order to determine their levels of blood-sugar in relation to the insulin they receive. This I have described before. I and the veterinarian on the case have been adjusting Parker’s insulin dosage, to achieve the best results, and this weekend, the orange boy’s number were satisfactory.

The ‘curve’ itself was a good one, demonstrating that the insulin is having a strong beneficial effect. The lowest number, when the insulin accomplishes the most, was 12.8. This is not as low as we would like it, but it is a good result nonetheless. Parker is receiving five and a half units of insulin in both the morning and the evening and, though the doctor was ready to recommend one more half-unit, she is reluctant to do so, as five and a half is nearly too much as it is. The 12.8 reading, combined with Parker’s adequate water-consumption and disposal, and his otherwise healthy behaviour, showed us that he is doing well, and managing his diabetes. If the next ‘curve’ produces similar numbers, then he will be considered stable and healthy enough even for a dental procedure that he needs.

My furry foster-pal’s relations with water are, as mentioned, adequate, and could be better. He drinks too much still, and deposits too much in the litter-box, but both are less than they have been. With a regular, controlled dose of insulin, this matter may improve. Indeed, his drinking is deceptive: he will spend several minutes at the water-bowl, but most of the time is taken up with drinking by first dabbing his paw in the water, then licking the moisture from it. He will then stoop and drink directly, but in all, he doesn’t take in as much as it may appear.

So, while Parker has improvements to make, he has come some distance toward them, and continues in the same advantageous direction. His interaction with the other cats progresses slowly, but there have been instances of nose-sniffing among the boys, and there is less, often no, anxiety when the orange boy is roaming about. He and I are confident in his future.