Modified 2/21/04
Ellen & Kismet
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| Felix: | |||||||||||||||||||||
| A Diabetic with a Passion for the "Great Outdoors" | |||||||||||||||||||||
| My mother and father have adopted and been adopted by many a cat over the years. Felix is one of those special kitties fortunate enough to find such a loving home. Because of issues he has always had with "spraying" anything and everything that he deemed was "his", he became a full fledged "Outdoor Kitty" early on, which I truly believe was his heart's greatest desire anyway. His domain consists of a beautiful backyard garden, complete with a fish pond as well as a heated/fan-cooled garage to stay in when the weather isn't as nice. Felix lives every cats' dream and has his own little piece of heaven here on earth. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Felix has always had trouble with being overweight. His diet consisted of good quality dry food, but because he never knew "when to say when", he had a tendency towards over-eating. As he grew older, my mom and dad were concerned about how his weight may compromise his health. We slowly began changing his diet to one that was higher protein / lower carb in hopes that this approach would help him to feel more "satisfied" and thus, he would eat less. This diet seemed to help him for awhile, however in June of this year, a spot check of his blood glucose revealed that he was most likely diabetic. After a vet visit and further blood work comfirmed our suspicions, we reduced his carb intake even further and started limiting the amount of food he received a day. This helped for a few months to keep his glucose levels in the low 200's, but on August 19, another spot check revealed that his blood glucose was climbing once again. Felix spent the day at the vet for further evaluation and it was determined that diet alone was not enough: he would need insulin to help control his blood sugar. Thus, on August 25, 2003, Felix began receiving insulin injections and after the very first shot, he appeared to feel much better. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Felix is an extremely good-natured kitty. He doesn't mind the occasional vet visit and actually purrs whenever he receives fluids, shots or when blood is being drawn for a blood panel. His veterinarian has commented several times about his uniquely sweet "purrsonality" and about the fact that he never seems to be stressed out at all when he goes to the clinic. He is also known as the "clinic hero" because on one occasion when he was there for evaluation, he donated blood to a deathly ill kitten who was there for emergency treatment. Felix is a true "sweetie" for more reasons than one! | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Despite the fact that Felix received insulin injections twice a day, his life did not change in the slightest. He enjoyed spending his days out by the pond or lounging around in the garage - just as he did before diagnosis. In September of 2003, Felix became one of those few, lucky diabetic kitties whose blood sugar could be kept under control by diet alone. By feeding him a good quality, high protein/low carb canned food, his glucose numbers stayed between 90 and 130 mg/dl throughout the day - thus insulin injections were no longer needed. His is just one more story of how a kitty can still have a full and wonderful life despite this disease. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Created 8/26/03 Modified 2/21/04 Ellen & Kismet |
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