so we took pauline into paws and claws last week. it turns out that her weak and shaky legs are the result of neuropathy, a complication of feline diabetes. if that news weren’t bad enough, the vet also informed us that pauline has gone blind, also a complication of her diabetes.
depressing fucking news! we had absolutely no idea. i thought the doctor was joking! a quick demonstration (the vet repeatedly brought a couple fingers very close to pauline’s eyes, and she didn’t flinch) confirmed it. the vet put our ignorance down to the blindness coming on gradually (she may have been blind a year or more), pauline reacting to sound, knowing the layout of the loft, and trusting us. the trust part gave me chills. i thought of all the times i wanted pauline to jump somewhere by tapping a surface, and the poor blind beast just leaps!
so we took her back today for insulin, syringes and diet food. after talking with the vet and helen and i taking some practice shooting pauline up with saline solution, i have to say i feel much better. giving her a shot was a lot easier than i thought, and she didn’t seem unduly bothered. we only have to do it once a day, and have three weeks before we have to take her back to get tested to see how she’s doing. much better than i expected after reading people’s accounts of twice-a-day insulin with blood tests (from that cat’s ears—how much blood is there is a cat’s ears, fer chrissakes?) before each shot. what a nightmare that would be. i can’t imagine i’d be able to do it, or that pauline would stand for it very long.
so that’s the story. not that pauline has a long time left being thirteen years old, but it should be a lot better now that she’s getting treatment. there’s a reasonable chance the weakness and shaking in her legs should clear up over time. even if it doesn’t, at least it won’t get worse, and it could get much worse. i’m getting over the horror of her blindness, mostly because i still can’t see any signs of it. she continues to bounce back and forth between the counters in the kitchen, and i’ve never seen her bump into anything, even when furniture gets moved for parties and such. there are still points where helen and i find it hard to believe at all.
i do feel sorry for the next cat that comes when pauline eventually meets her sister... i'm going to helicopter-parent and smother-mother the hell out of that beast.