It’s Toby’s “gotcha day” anniversary today, 17 whole years ago … and I almost didn’t think we’d get any more days with him over the weekend.
He’d been getting slower and slower and using his box less and less over the last couple weeks, but in the middle of last week he got the “big sad eyes” that he had the summer he was diagnosed with diabetes. He was also not walking well, another thing that happened before we got his diabetes under control, so I thought, “Maybe he needs more insulin.” So I gave him a little higher dose than usual Thursday night and Friday morning but he still seemed so distressed and lethargic, we made a same-day vet appointment for Friday.
Reader, he was hypoglycemic. His blood sugar was at 30 (normal is 150-300). He wasn’t walking well because he HAD NO ENERGY. I feel absolutely terrible. That larger dose Thursday and Friday sent him over the edge but it’s likely he’d been getting too much long-term, which was causing the slowness and the big sad eyes. Did I mention I feel terrible?
He ended up having to be transferred from his regular vet to the 24-hour emergency vet to go on an IV drip of dextrose for a night and a day. We visited him twice in the ER and he was NOT HAPPY–this was his first night at a vet in almost 18 years, he didn’t want to eat food, he just wanted to go home. Needless to say, everybody was a wreck.
But we were able to get his blood sugar back to normal and take him home Saturday night, where he immediately had a wash and an entire can of wet food and a big nap. And now he’s like a new cat–getting on the bed with us at night, walking fast, being sassy. I am so relieved (and still feel so terrible–we’re not doing any insulin until we can consult with his regular vet and get a blood sugar monitor on him).
So Happy Adoption Day to Good Old Toby. I’m so glad we didn’t lose you.

