Saturday, January 21, 2012

Questions for the next vet appointment:

  • do I need to keep track of how much she eats? Any issues with leaving extra food out? How about giving her snacks between meals to "fatten her back up"? What kind of snacks? Should I feed her when she is asking for food?
  • how important is the feeding schedule? I am planning to stay close to a 12 hour cycle (8am, 8pm), but I would like to know if it's ok to be off by a couple of hours. 
  • do I need to keep track of how much she drinks? Any issue with giving her access to all the water she wants?
  • how about snacks? are there any snacks I can give her to reward her, including people food? which foods are safe for her to eat? (cheese, eggs, meats, chicken broth, any low-carb, high-protein snacks?)
  • speaking of food and drink, how closely does the insulin injection need to be to the meal? 
  • the recommended food is labeled for weight loss. Is this an issue? I don't want her to lose more weight.
  • I am planning to start making my own cat food. Any tips or issues in how to handle the transition?
  • what to do in case of emergencies, such as hypoglycemic shock?
  • who do I call when your office is closed?
  • what are your recommendations for keeping track of her health?
  • which items should I stock, what techniques should I learn? (Glucosemeter? Karo syrup?)
  • how about do's and don'ts? What mistakes should I plan for, and how do I recover from them?
  • can you remind me what her weight and blood glucose was on the previous visits? and can I have copies of the records?
  • I started a journal to track her progress. What markers should I track?
  • what should I expect for how her weight and blood glucose levels develop?
  • what else am I forgetting to ask?