Fly free, Whiskers

March 6, 2011--Today, Miss Witty lost her struggle with her failing body, and Cheryl helped her dear girl to pass. Fly free and land softly, Whiskers. Since I lasted updated this page, Whiskers was diagnosed with a malignant adrenal tumor and Cushing's Disease. DCIN helped to finance the diagnostics. During the last couple days she has been at the University of Minnesota Vet School's hospital with inappetance, dehydration, unbalanced electrolytes, and kidneys in distress. The Lantus Land Emergency Fund raised money to help with that hospitalization. Thank you LLEF, for helping dear Cheryl and Whiskers. ******************************************************************* Initial post, 1/22/11--Cheryl's Whiskers sees a University of Minnesota faculty vet on Tuesday, January 25. Visits to vet schools aren't just vet visits; they are pricey vet visits. The initial consultation fee is $169, and I am sure that Whiskers is going to need a minimum of a full blood panel, a urinalysis, and a culture and sensitivity. I am estimating those labs at $310. Therefore, DCIN has pledged to Cheryl the cost of the exam and those labs, up to $480. DCIN, as always, will pay the vet clinic directly. Why does Whiskers need a visit to the University vet clinic?

Whiskers has had reoccuring UTI's over the last couple months, she urinates outside the boxes (we have 5) on a daily basis, sometimes more than once. We are having difficulty regulating her diabetes, her BG bounces up over 300's each day (twice daily), sometimes over 400's and occasionally in the 500's. Her nadir in usually not lower than 200's even though we have been on Lantus since October and have been steadily increasing her dose since than. She currently has an infection in both ears and is being treated with Zymox hc. Our regular vet seems at a loss and so we are going to seek additional help at the university of Minnesota's veterinary school. A faculty vet was recommended to us by Carolyn and Latte, as someone who works specifically with Diabetic cats.

Whiskers has a sad story. In a nutshell, Whiskers was Cheryl's sister's diabetic cat. Cheryl's sister was murdered in December 2008. Cheryl and her husband adopted her sister's dog and Whiskers. Cheryl posted a full description of her crew of 5 animals, three of them special needs, on the FDMB Health Forum here. DCIN has helped Cheryl buy Lantus insulin. We were lucky enough to find a person selling Lantus pens on Craigslist in Cheryl's area. They were very inexpensive. When winter comes to Minnesota, it's impossible to ship insulin in, so we were very lucky to find that seller and not have to pay full US pharmacy retail of about $215/box. Cheryl was able to get two boxes, with long expiration dates, for $80.