Barney is an Angel Now.

[Medusa]

Oh Lara, his purr brings tears to my eyes. He's come such a long way. Forgive me if you've addressed this already but what's the story w/his diabetes or is he even diabetic? I can't recall. You've done and are continuing to do such a fabulous job w/this boy, Mr. Barnacles Barney Frog. I just love him!

[Purr-tender]

Something that I do for my cat cottage kids is have a radio going 24/7 so they have some company. My kids listen to the 70s music. By the way, the cat cottage is a small one room cottage just steps away from my back door. It has a nice picture window that opens for fresh air. I have it set up with tons of shelves, a couch, and other places for them to get up high. 8 of my fur kids live there. The rest are in the house with me. Anyway, I thought it would help Barney not feel so lonely.

[Emeraldgreen]

Oh Lara, his purr brings tears to my eyes. He's come such a long way. Forgive me if you've addressed this already but what's the story w/his diabetes or is he even diabetic? I can't recall. You've done and are continuing to do such a fabulous job w/this boy, Mr. Barnacles Barney Frog. I just love him!

When Angela brought him in for his last exam they retested his glucose and the vet said it was still 'up there'. I don't know if it came down at all. I don't think so or she would have told us. But when I spoke with the vet she said she wasn't surprised and didn't expect for the glucose level to be down by much. She said that when trying to reverse diabetes with diet, it can take awhile to see a difference. They just decided to run the glucose test I guess because they were testing everything else.

One thing that I noticed this evening when I went in to feed him and give meds and clean the litter box is that his 'pee clumps' in the clumping litter are smaller. You would not believe how much pee he was producing each time and the vet said it was related to the diabetes. The pee balls were the size of large grapefruits!! They are getting smaller each day and tonight, they are about the size of a peach. However, there are lots of pee balls in the box for one day. I cleaned it this morning and by tonight there were 4 to scoop. But I think we're making some kind of progress.

Purr Tender wrote:

Something that I do for my cat cottage kids is have a radio going 24/7 so they have some company. My kids listen to the 70s music. By the way, the cat cottage is a small one room cottage just steps away from my back door. It has a nice picture window that opens for fresh air. I have it set up with tons of shelves, a couch, and other places for them to get up high. 8 of my fur kids live there. The rest are in the house with me. Anyway, I thought it would help Barney not feel so lonely.

Thank you for this suggestion. I wish it would help but Barney is deaf. We thought at one point that he might be hearing something because his ears were twitching but he can't hear anything it seems. Maybe this will change down the road if he is healthy enough for surgery and if we can get the ear infection cleared up. But right now, when my husband and I go in there, we say his name and then shout his name and clap our hands and stuff and if he is facing in the other direction, he doesn't hear anything. If we tap on the floor with our feet, he feels the vibrations and turns around and looks a bit startled that we are all of a sudden there.

I was thinking of finding an old tv set and putting it in there. That way he'd have some images to watch. The best thing would be for me to spend more time with him though and when my coworker comes back to work, I'll be able to do that.

[Purr-tender]

Oh, I had forgotten all about him being deaf A little TV would give him something to watch, that'd be nice.

[Catty1]

Put the 'cat babysitter' video on it, or whatever it is called!

Great news about the pee reducing. He's getting there!

And wow...does his purr not make it all worth while?

[Medusa]

Once the ear infection is cleared up or the polyp removed, whichever it is, hopefully Barney will be able to hear. What a little sweetheart.

[jennielynn1970]

Oh, that croaky little meow of his!!! It's just too cute! He definitely looks like he's feeling better!

My one foster had a scabby nose for a long time, and I think it took a few months for it to totally clear up (his name was Monty). He even had a bit of it left after he was adopted. Not sure if this is the same thing that is going on with Barnacles. Maybe he's got NOSE BARNACLES!!

[pomtzu]

If you do find that he is diabetic and needs insulin, I'd be happy to help out with syringes (even tho they aren't too expensive). I have leftover 1/2 cc syringes from when my RB dogs were on it, plus I use 1 cc syringes for myself for B-12 injections twice a month. I get them in boxes of 100 and I can just get doc to write me another prescription for them.