Confessions of a Cat Breeder

My cat has been dx with Diabetes for about 1 1/2 years. She is my assisted living animal and my roommate/partner.. much more than a pet. I live off of disability insurance (transtlates to Very limited income), so I'm having trouble getting her what would be ideal.. (eg. she hasn't had a follow up with the vet since she was diagnosed, we reuse 10 needles for a month, etc.)

She was getting 3 units of Humalin U twice a day along with ~101g of Hill's Prescription Diet Feline w/d. (To complicate things, she is also allergic to fish!) Unfortunately she had an insulin reaction in September. Very scary, and it took months to pay off the vet! Then in December, I accidently dosed her twice. Other that letting her eat all she wanted and not dosing her that night, she was fine.

Now she has had two more insulin reactions since the first of the year, which (thankfully) I caught early and treated with Karo syrup. I've tried reducing her insulin to 2 units 2x a day.. and (after the first insulin reaction) going without insulin until she was symptomatic again (drinking/urine excess).

Well, even with the reduced insulin, she had another minor reaction yesterday. I'm getting better about noticing them quickly, but the stress is starting to get to me. I know she should be seen by the vet. I would love to do home blood testing, but I can't afford the test strips!

I really don't want to give her up.. but I wonder if I am being fair to her? She's only 10 and could have many more years ahead of her if her disease is managed. But I don't know that I'm doing that well with it....

Any advice and/or support gladly welcomed and desired.

-D'nah
rodef_hayia@hotmail.com
Lakewood, WA