Thomasina & Jennifer
By Karen Lease written the 3rd
September 2002
It is hard to
be 21 years old and be a diabetic. This
is the opinion of Thomasina and Jennifer. Jennifer
is bright and lively young woman who comes and help me with the cats each day.
Thomasina is my brown Burmese cat. There
exists this special bond between these two who both share this common medical
condition.
For Jennifer, it is daily insulin after blood testing 4 times a day; for Thomasina, it is twice daily insulin with urine testing weekly or twice weekly. For both, diets play an important part of the management of this condition. They both drink a lot of water and do spend some time in the loo because of it. Thankfully they both like rice, pasta and carbohydrates dishes so feed them special diets are not really necessary at the moment. Thomasina requires more proteins as a cat while fruit and vegetables are a major component of Jennifer’s diet.
There are times for both of them when they get disoriented and stressed as well as the times when they would like to sleep forever. Sleeping forever is not for suicidal reasons just extreme tiredness. For both of them there is the risk of cancers induced by their diabetes and, of course, kidney infections and failure.
A positive
attitude is essential for both of them. Thomasina
needs love and attention with daily grooming with her special brushes and
special treats to make her feel the well-loved cat but also the closeness of her
human and feline families who love and respect her.
It is the most marvellous thing about Burmese is their devotion to their
families both human and feline. These
things are important to Jennifer too but she is often rebellious against the
restrictions that diabetes has placed on her life.
She likes to party and rage and that is hard to do when diabetes dictates
so much of your life.
The veterinarian has said that Thomasina will not die of diabetes that he can control; but at her age, it will be her kidneys that will eventually fail. For our lovely human friend, Jennifer, there are many positive hopes for the future with new medical procedures and new technologies changing the future for those with long-term medical problems like diabetes. For both of them, there are terms and conditions that dictate their lifestyles; but the world would be a lesser place for their families and friends without these two very special people.