The obesity epidemic and its consequences

Behold Cleo, the diabetic cat. Her indoor, sedentary lifestyle has caught up with her. Insulin, twice a day. The weird thing (from my perspective) is the way she's oblivious to the needle. Just pinch the skin and shove it in -- and she doesn't even twitch an ear. Amazing.

As cats go, Cleo has never been a glutton -- she actually doesn't eat much, but she's definitely got that "thrifty" gene. When we've lived where she could be an outside cat, she was solid but not fat. As soon as she's indoors only, she porks up. So now she's on the prescription special (aka hideously expensive) cat chow for felines with diabetes, along with a strict feeding schedule and twice daily injections. The veterinarian did say it's fairly common for cats to stop needing the insulin after a few months and manage with just the special (hideously expensive) cat food. I can hope. The cat food is pricey; the insulin might as well come in solid gold vials. I'm also thinking that once she's back in Michigan and able to be out and about and chasing chipmunks again, she'll drop a few pounds, which should help get her blood sugar under control -- although I don't know how enthusiastic she's going to be about going outside once there's snow on the ground.  

As a side note, one of the odder (from my perspective) things I noticed yesterday at PetSmart was the variety of canned prescription pet foods. Did you know you can buy canned dog food that is 100% venison? Unreal.