Rusty's Visit to The Vet

After talking to the vet this afternoon, he suggested we bring Rusty right in to have a blood test done. Into the crate Rusty went, into the car we all went, and my husband and I listened to Rusty meowing and howling all the way there. He hates, hates, hates the car.

We'll know for certain tomorrow whether or not this poor cat has diabetes. Judging from everything I told the vet, he seems certain that he is diabetic. He'll let us know as soon as the lab sends him the full report, so we'll know if he's Type 1 or Type 2. The vet told us that if a cat is prone to diabetes, it happens between the ages of 8 and 12. (Rusty is 12.)

The symptoms, so you all know... excessive eating and drinking, excessive urination. Plus, this normally mild-mannered cat has become so cranky lately. Right now he's on the screen-porch with a clean litter box, all by himself. I'm waiting to see if I can get a urine sample to bring to the vet tomorrow. He gave me a little vial and a syringe... all I have to do is get a small sample from the litter box.

On the bright side, for Rusty, is that the vet told me to give him all the food and water he wants now, at least for the time being. With the symptoms that Rusty has, his body is always going to be either hungry or thirsty till we get him on some kind of medication. Providing he's at a stage where he'll respond to the medication. But we won't discuss that right now. One day at a time.

So far, Rusty is looking at the litter box, but not wanting to use it. Instead of the box being filled with the usual litter, it just has a bunch of those foam packing-peanuts in it. Needless to say, you just can't change the litter in a cat's box and expect him to be happy. Rusty is about as far from happy as a cat can get right now. But the vet told me that when he really, really, really has to use that box, he won't care what it's filled with. So we'll see.

My other two cats keep looking out the breakfast room door and wondering why I'm not allowing them to go into the screen-porch. I keep getting these little cat-looks that seem to say "Have you lost your mind? Has the cold weather frozen your brain?"

This too shall pass.