Change in Cheeba's Treatment

We've decided to take Cheeba to a 3 times a day treatment plan in the hopes that it will better control his diabetes. He will now get insulin at 7:30 am, 3:00 pm and 10:30 pm. Feedings will be at 8:00 am, 3:30 pm and 11 pm. Sub-Q fluids will be given during the 3:30 feeding. We're slowly phasing the carafate out, since I haven't seen any teeth grinding or other signs of stomach pain in about 2 - 3 weeks. Right now he's on carafate in the morning and evening. Next I'll phase out the morning dosing, then the evening dosing if everything goes alright.

We (Dr. Edling & I) opted to give him insulin three times a day because the insulin doesn't seem to be lasting as long as it should. I tested his BG every 2 hours for a couple days and determined that the effectiveness of the insulin peaked about 4 hours after his dosage. After that point the BG started shooting up again. We started the new schedule on Wednesday, December 13, but so far I haven't seen much of an improvement. His BG yesterday afternoon was around 350, but other than that, it's still been HI (over 600). I may switch him back over to the PZI insulin and see if that helps a little more.

I keep hoping that he'll improve soon, but so far he's just holding steady. I suppose I should be thankful for that, and part of me is. But I know what this constant high BG is doing...it's destroying his kidneys. Which means that at some point, he's going to need a lower protein diet. Unfortunately, he needs a HIGH protein diet to help control his diabetes. Once we hit the point where his body can't handle the high protein it needs, little Cheeba isn't going to be around much longer.

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ferret, ferrets, Insulin, Ferret Diabetes

Sophie has come home

She's sitting in a little box above my desk, on the remembrance shelf. The box is lovely - a cherry shade of wood, with scrollwork on the top. Her name is on a gold plate mounted to the front. Inside her ashes are in a plastic bag inside of a black velvet-like material. My sweet girl is home again, next to her brother Mojo.

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ferret, ferrets

Remembering my little girl

A few things about Sophie that I never want to forget...

The way she ran around the room like a total loon the first day we brought her home. She was about a year old, and she had never been let out of her cage to play before. We could barely get her to put her back in the cage.

The way she would attack her brothers while screaming so I would think that she was the one in trouble. I would rush in to save her, and by that time Cheeba, Mojo, Jebabba or Bonk would be on top of her. They would get scolded and she would get cuddled. It took me months to figure out that she was the instigator!

The way she tried constantly to escape from the ferret room. She would climb up onto our shoulders or anything that would give her a good height, tense and wiggle her butt for a moment, and then launch herself at the half door! About 1 in every 10 times she would actually get a hold of it and be able to pull herself over. The other times she would either grab it and then slip, or smack into it and slide down. But no matter what the outcome, she would just climb right back up and do it again.

The way she would hiss when one of her brothers tried to take her NBone.

The way the tip of her little tongue would stick out after she cleaned herself or one of the others.

The way she always went to lay with whichever ferret wasn't feeling well, even when she herself wasn't feeling good - she was like a little mother.

The way she would drag her toys back to their "hiding spots" when I threw them out in the middle of the floor. If I challenged her for one of them, she would pretend she wasn't interested in it until she thought I wasn't looking, then she would run out and drag the toy backwards as quickly as she could. Her favorites always seemed to be toys that were twice as long as she was.

The way she never wanted to share Ferretone, and when the rest of them would lick it off the same dish, she had to have her own. She would look up at me expectantly until I got it for her.

The way she loved to be scritched really hard on the back of the neck as the adrenal made her skin itchier and itchier. What little hair she had left on her tail would bottlebrush out.

The way that in her last few days, all she wanted was to be with me or Steve, in our laps, the way she never did when she was healthy and whole. While I miss my little crazy girl more than anything, I also miss the sweet Sophie who slept in my lap.

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ferret, ferrets, Adrenal Disease