so the other day, Tiger started acting strangely. he was being normally social and everything, but he was drinking a lot of water — i mean, a LOT. sunday he drank probably between 2 and 3 cups of water — normal for a cat is 4 oz/day. yesterday while i was at work, he drank another couple of cups.
the unfortunate side effect of drinking a lot is … well, i’m sure you can guess. i have a bad habit of not picking up my dirty laundry and putting it in the hamper (i have one, i just don’t usually actually put stuff in it). … let’s just say i have to do some clothes shopping, now. and, although i hope it won’t be necessary, i’ve researched “cat playpens” to crate him in while i’m not around, if it comes to that. :(
anyways, yesterday since i was worried (it seemed strange for him to suddenly have decided he couldn’t get enough water — he actually woke me up monday morning at about 3AM howling, and wouldn’t stop until i turned on the bathtub tap for him to drink — and since i sat there waiting to turn it back off again, i saw that he drank and drank and drank and drank and drank), i called my vet, and they recommended that i bring him in. so i did, at 8 this morning.
i think i was actually more stressed out than the cat.
anyways, long story short, it turns out that Tiger has developed feline diabetes. it’s apparently relatively common in elderly male cats. and hey, the #1 symptom of its onset is drinking and peeing absurd amounts! apparently what happens is when their blood sugar gets high, their kidneys try to wash it out, so they’re constantly flushing water through their system.
i came home from the vet with a whole bucketload of worry, antibiotics, a prescription for some sort of medicine which i have to get from a people pharmacy, and a bag of prescription food. poor kitty has to go on a diet — 3/4 c. of food daily! i can foresee the kitty drama already, since i’m going to have to feed kiyoshi separately. i bet you ten bucks i’m going to get woken up early every day the rest of this week by an angry cat who wants his kibble and wants it now, goddammit. and i can tell you right now that the multiple pills a day are going to go over well. if i show up to work with a black eye tomorrow, it’s only because my cat smacked me…
it sounds like it’s a manageable condition, even if it does progress to the point where i have to give him insulin injections (and i thought pills were bad). i just worry about him a little, because he’s 16 years old, which is pretty old for a kitty, even a spoiled rotten indoor fluffball who’s never gone hungry (or unpetted) a day in his life. think of it this way, Tiger: you’re about to get a whole lot more attention!
