Miss Sparkles is adrenal and probably has been for a while.  She was
diagnosed with insulumina (spelling?) last week.  Thursday evening was
the first time in five days she even got up and moved about, other than
to go to the litter box.  During the week, I was able to hand feed her
some food.  Now that she's feeling just a little better and came move
around for a few minutes, she doesn't want to eat anything we offer.
She was eating Nutri-Cal from the tube quite readily and is now turning
her nose up at that.  She munched down on some Totally Ferret treats
yesterday and won't touch them today.  I bought Iams kitten food canned
food and pouch food, meat based baby foods, and several ferret / kitten
treats to try with her with no luck.  Today, she's probably only eaten 1
1/2 tsp of Nutri-Cal, two pieces of Totally Feret treats and some water.
Margaret was nice enough to leave some duck soup for us, but she hates
it.  Any suggestions?  We are desperate.
 
She absolutely hates the Prednisone we have to give her and, I fear she's
using up a lot of what energy she has fighting us over it.  At first, we
could mix it w/ something and she'd lick it up.  Now, she holds her mouth
together as tightly as she can and fights with everything she has.  She's
only been getting Prednisone since Tuesday.  The vet said we could get
the Prednisone pills, but they apparently have a very bitter taste to
them and I don't see her eating that mixed in with something, any better
than she's now doing with the liquid.
 
The vet called us with her test results Friday.  At the time of her
severe crash on Monday morning, her blood glucose level was five times
higher than the highest amount with which the vet would have been
comfortable for Miss Sparkles.  Five times higher!  The vet says she
is using up sugar faster than we can get it in her.  On top of that,
without any hair, she shivers like crazy when she is out of the cage and
the shivering is using up a lot of her energy.  We've tried different
things to keep her warm when she's out of the cage, even sliding the top
part of a sock around her body.  She won't have it.
 
Yesterday and today, she was out of the cage and moved around the house
for, probably, a total of 15 minutes each day, falling over an awful lot
while she's out.  We want to make things as pleasant for her as we can
and give her a good quality of life.  However, is 15 minutes of painful
movement and catatonic sleep for the remainder of the day a good quality
of life?  Larry and I both cry and cry over the prospect of putting her
to sleep, but we also cry over the life she is now living.
 
On a personal health note, it is taking its toll on me as well.  I have a
very rare medical condition, called erythromelalgia, that makes my feet
and lower legs flare (feel like they're on fire, get really, really hot,
swell, etc.) when I get even the slightest bit warm.  When trying to take
care of Miss Sparkles by spending the time needed to try and get her to
eat and watch after her, I am dealing with some severe flaring afterward.
[Posted in FML issue 4795]