I'm a seasoned cat lady, I've had cats ever since I was little and I've had amazing moments, sad losses, and everything in-between. Currently I have two kitties - Jasmine and baby Misty, three including my mum's kitty Angel (Jasmine's daughter). I've had Jasmine literally since she was born - the runt of my previous cat Tiger's litter. She's 16 years old - 17 in September, so I've had her almost my whole life, and that's a strong bond.
Three years ago Jasmine was diagnosed with Diabetes, which is a serious but manageable condition for cats. She requires insulin morning and night and eats a special diet for her condition. Recently, she hadn't been eating or drinking much and was more lethargic than usual, so I got her to the vet where she was put on fluids for dehydration and had some tests done. The vets were worried about her kidneys and her glucose being quite high, so we took her for a second day of being on fluids which finally had her improving and getting back to normal. Her bloods came back fine and it was really her kidneys she was having issues with likely due to her diabetes. This is where while it seemed like we were in the clear, things were going to go wrong. I bought a fresh vial of insulin as I was concerned the insulin she'd been taking had gone off and wasn't effective anymore. Getting fresh insulin would on almost all levels seem the perfect solution.
Jasmine was active and meowing and getting back to normal, so she came home and I gave her the fresh insulin as usual and fed her like normal around 7pm. Again, it seemed like everything was normal. Around 1am while I was laying in bed watching tiktoks, Jasmine laying next to me, I noticed that she was randomly twitching. At first I thought she may be having a nightmare, then thought she may be trying to move her arm that had a bandage on it constricting her a bit. I petted her and she was still twitching, and as I pulled her to me I realised something wasn't right. I quickly took her to mums room asking for the emergency vets number, and as I placed her down she fell onto her side no longer able to stand. This sent me from panicked to absolutely freaking out and distressed. I quickly got the vets number, called them and they said to bring her in.
It was maybe 2 minutes from the start of the twitching to her being unable to stand/move. The drive to the emergency vet took just under 10 minutes, and she'd begun seizing just before we turned into the vet. That's how fast it happened. She had to be resuscitated and I honestly thought I'd lost her, it was just awful.
When the vet finally came in and said she was stable I was shocked but so relieved. Her glucose had dropped too low (2.2) and she'd gone into hypoglycaemia - diabetic shock. If I'd been asleep, or been a few minutes later, it could've been too late. In retrospect, and speaking to the vet about it, it seems like the old insulin had gone off and was ineffective for so long, that purchasing and using the fresh and effective insulin was too much for her and dropped her sugars right down.
Thankfully, she was able to be stabilised and is alert and able to move again. She'll be at the emergency vet all night and I'll be up until I literally cannot stay awake because I'm still incredibly shaken and concerned, but at least I know she's currently doing well and receiving the care she needs.
This has been such a scary and stressful experience, and while this isn't the usual content I'd be writing on my blog I first of all needed to get it all out and do something as I try to calm down and process everything, and secondly wanted to share this in the hopes that it helps someone else to know the signs to watch out for and how quickly things can take a turn for the worse with a diabetic kitty.
I'm just grateful she is doing okay for now and we are going to hopefully get answers to what we can do to get my precious baby girl back under control and well again.
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