Terry's diabetes

For as long as I've been looking after him, Terry the cat has always been rather large - he'll agree, he won't mind me saying that. A gentle giant really, very friendly and soppy, always ready with a paw to tap you on the leg if you let up from stroking him for even a few seconds.

Doesn't say much, but he has his own ways of communicating. Especially when he wants food - which used to be always. Whatever I'd put down it would be gone in a couple of minutes, no matter what it was. He has a sister, Belinda, who's less forward, and always waits for him to finish eating. Even though he's gentle, if he sees she has food, he'll nudge her out of the way. So I always made sure that she was fed upstairs, separately from him.

He would always drink loads too - and I mean LOADS!!! Whenever I turned up his water was all gone, as was the water in the second bowl I left out for them. I know it was him, because whenever I refilled the bowls he just couldn't get enough. And if it had been raining, he'd be in the garden drinking water out of the various pots lying around.

So, it was a fair bet he might be diabetic, but whenever his mum took him to the vet to be tested, there was no sign. Until recently...........

So, over this Christmas and New Year things have been a little different for him (and me). My sister's dog has also recently been diagnosed, and I spent a few days looking after her, so understand the issues around food and insulin injections. Daily visits had to be increased to twice daily (which they loved!), and I had to make sure he ate before he had his insulin.

Now, I never imagined that this would be a problem, as he's always loved his food. But there have been some changes in him - his coat is in much better condition, and he's lost a bit of weight. The one change I didn't anticipate though is how difficult it might now be to get him to eat!!! So we've tried everything. I've even been bringing some of Bella's food from home to see whether I can tempt him, and worked out that either regular tinned tuna or Sheba trays are what it takes.

The tuna was a desperate measure really, as one day he wasn't eating anything I gave him, then remembered I had some emergency tuna in the car. Lapped it up!! But this is only good now and again as cats need the taurine that's derived from meat, and the right amounts are contained in the food products created specifically for cats.

He's also eating more slowly too now (which is good for him), but it means that my half hour visits are mostly stretching to nearly an hour each time. Great for him, but not cost effective for me!!

And when he comes to his injection he doesn't object at all. In fact he just thinks he's getting more strokes, and purrs all the louder. Soppy, soppy, soppy..........