Prayers to help me through this: Updated

Amy you have NOT failed her.  You just got her diagnosed (and need I remind you that without the diagnosis you would have lost her???? You've done well!!)!!!
 
My best friend had a diabetic dog for MANY years.  Mandy was only 2 when she was diagnosed, and she went blind when she was 5.  She lived to be EIGHTEEN.  Raine gave her shots every day of her life.  She got to the point where she'd come to Raine and *remind* her. 
 
In your case, your cat sees YOU treat your diabetes so this won't be a huge deal.      Just keep it all in stride -- no sadness, no tears.  This is just what you 'gotta do' to make her feel better.  Stress to her that this WILL HELP.
 
You will be able to gauge her 'lows' by her behavior.  Write things down -- notice the change in behavior.  If you think the insulin is too high SAY SO. 
 
You'll cope (and yes, I'll surely pray and the Alpha of all Alphas will do HIS part too!!).
 
One step at a time girl -- it's how we all get thru ALL these things.  Take a deep breath to start, and my Grandma would tell you (tho she's been gone many, many years) to go sit down and have a nice cup of tea in a pretty cup.  Taking time to sit down and gather yourself together like that DOES help.  Gram was right!! It's gotten me thru a lot of things!!

Amy - so sorry you and your girl are facing this.  A remarkable number of cats (and their humans) do very well on insulin - yours is GOING to be one of them.  I know the thought of regulating her blood sugar and the invasiveness of it all is daunting, but you CAN DO THIS.
 
There are some great on-line groups dedicated to diabetic felines - wonderful support (I have an aging feline with hypertension which brought on seizures - Yahoo's epileptic feline group was a literal life saver for us). 
 
I wish you strength and courage - it will be worth it when she is feeling better!!

Amy,,, I am so sorry!
My only advise for you at this time is really important...it gets us thru lots of bad situations. 
Its TAKE ONE DAY AT A TIME!
and everyone here on this forum is here to back you up!!!     Hang in there!!!!

I want to thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers. It has been a rough couple of days. I have been trying to cram as much information as possible in to my poor brain. I have found a wonderful forum of people with diabetic cats, and the information has been tremendous.

I am trying to take it one day at a time, but it is so frustrating waiting for her body to start adjusting to the insulin. It was so high this morning that the meter couldn't read it, which means her blood sugar was over 600. Not easy to take. She didn't get all of her antibiotic yesterday - pilling a cat isn't easy! - so I am hoping that is part of it.

I may seriously consider starting her on canned as well. She has been getting Fancy Feast salmon as a treat for being such a trooper for the blood testing, and she is eating it without much fuss. If I can get her off the high carb NB, maybe that will help the numbers start coming down as well.

And as Callie always says, they know we are tyring to help them. Roo has started coming and laying down in our 'spot' for blood testing and shots. She's not happy about it, and lectures me rather soundly, but she comes and lays down next to the meter as I go about getting stuff set out. So that is one good thing! Now it is just time for her body to start using the insulin!

Your continued prayers are appreciated! I have to face my vet this week with having totally changed her medicine on my own, but I felt that I had to after the research that I have done. The US hasn't approved Vetsulin for cats, only dogs. The manufacturer's website for the US has only dosing for dogs, but the UK website has the dosing for cats. It's been used over there for awhile. So, I went with that. He isn't going to be happy, but I think going slow is better than killing my cat with too much insulin. I am just not good with confrontations!

Thanks again for understanding how hard this is. This may be a dog forum, but I know y'all are always here regardless of what trouble we may be facing.

Amy and Roo

On my other website that I moderate (very very small, very old technology but wonderful folks) we have this thing called "honorary dogs".  Meaning -- another animal that is a part of our 'pack' that we need 'support' for or just general sharing.  We've had 'honorary dogs' that were hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, rabbits, cats galore and even a few iguanas and bigger lizards.  But it's just part of the general 'helping' that sometimes we need.
 
I think it's important to label such stuff as either NDR or something so folks don't get offended, but then again -- when we love our WHOLE pack, it tends to all be 'dog related' because everything that impacts one member of the pack impacts everbuddy else.  Dogs, cats, and what-have-yous'.
 
You'll both adapt.  And knowing when you're not good at confrontation is a help because then you can plan in advance WHAT to say.  Just say  it in a way that let's your vet know you respect their input, but you also have felt really strongly about this thing.
 
Sometimes just saying 'You know, Dr. _________, I know you have years of expertise and I truly respect your opinion, so help me on this.  I've actually done a lot of talking to people, 'research' and I honestly feel pretty strongly about using    _____________ instead of the more traditional _______________ ... But I do want to listen to what you say.  What experience do YOU have with ________ and explain to me why you have drawn the conclusions you have, please???"
 
That way they don't feel dismissed or unheard.  Often times how you SAY a thing can make all the difference in how much you are heard.  Just make sure you make point by point NOTES before you go listing the pros/cons and WHY you made the decision you did. 
 
Ask for a trial and the vet's wisdom on evaluating the trial.  "I'd like to do this -- so what test do we need to do and when to know our success rate??"
 
Then at some point in the conversation you slip in "You know, Dr. __________, I'm really not good with 'confrontation' and I was really worried because I didn't want to offend you, but I have truly developed some solid reasons for using this and gosh, I appreciate your listening -- really *listening* to me!!!  I TRULY appreciate you working WITH me on this -- it's one of the reasons why I appreciate your guidance so much."
 
It's not just 'brown-nosing' (or it shouldn't be) -- but learning how to get an idea across without being confrontational (which usually doesn't work anyway) is a life-learning thing.  We never get as good at it as we want to be, but every time we practice we get better.  Good luck!!

 Actually, it is WONDERFUL news - Roo Bear is no longer requiring insulin shots!!!!!!!!!!!! As of Sept. 1st, we have not done a single shot, and her blood sugar is staying down in the normal ranges - all controlled by her own pancreas!!! Average wise, she is around 120, but she is throwing me a few 60's and 90's, so there is hope yet that it will continue to come on down. But as long as she stays under 200, I'll be happy. We really do need the happy dancing icon back!

 And even better, I cut back on my hometesting tonight. It was hard to let go of that control, but she'll only get her blood sugar tested once a day for the next week or so. I'll cut it back even more to once a week (and maybe even once a month after awhile) as long as she is staying in the normal ranges - and assuming I can stand not knowing. LOL

 
But I just wanted to share the good news, and say thank you for your prayers. We've got remission and an active pancreas again! Way to go Roo!!!!

Thanks so much!

Amy
 

That's great; hooray for  Roo Bear.   Here's hoping she won't need anymore shots.

Best news I've had ALL DAY!1! RAH!!!

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its great to have some good news!!!!  WONDERFUL!

That is really fantastic news!  Way to go to you and Roo!!!