In the Dark

So far it’s been a busy and extremely frustrating Saturday all on account of my old moggy, Columbo…

Today I took him to the vets for his six-monthly check-up. All went well, even to the extent that he didn’t try to take the vets arm off when they took a blood sample for the fructosamine test that checks whether his diabetes has been under control since the last visit. He’s even lost a bit of weight, which won’t do him any harm, although at 6.8 kg he’s still not exactly slim. His only indiscretion was to have a wee in his carrying box on the way there, but that’s nothing particularly unusual and was easily dealt with.

However, when I went to pick up his supplies (food, medication, syringes, and insulin) the vet informed me that the manufacturer of the kind of insulin he normally gets is no longer supplying it. This particular type is of a flavour called “Protamine Zinc”, although I don’t know really know what’s so special about that. Anyway, given that I’m running low the vet wrote me out a private prescription for human insulin, which apparently they are allowed to do if the supply of veterinary products runs out.

So I took Columbo home with the other stuff, left him in the house and, prescription in hand, romped off to the nearest pharmacy, which turned out to be the first of many I visited this morning. The problem is that human persons who are diabetic generally don’t use the old-fashioned vial-and-syringes approach to administering insulin, but get their dose from preloaded gadgets that look a bit like pens. These won’t do for cats which have skin that’s too thick. So one after the other various pharmacists explained that they would have to order the stuff I needed, and that it might take a while to arrive since there’s not much demand for it these days. None of them had a supplier that was open on saturdays either..

Eventually I gave up trying to find the insulin today and left the chit with a pharmacist to order on monday when their supplier is open. That is, if they’re able to supply it at all.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do if I can’t get the supply Columbo needs. Probably we’ll have to switch to another type of insulin, but the problem with that is that we’ll have to establish the right dose. He’s been stable on his current dose of his normal insulin for a long time now, but it did take a long time to sort how much he needs. If I have to start again on a different type, it will probably require several tests to see how he responds.

Anyway, having hoped to get the business of his insulin supply sorted out today, I’m now forced to wait until monday to see if I can get the necessary from the pharmacist. If not, I’ll have to talk to the vet when the fructosamine results come back to see what to do about starting on a new type. It’s all a bit of a pain, and I’m knackered after traipsing around half the chemists in Cardiff on a wild goose chase.

Columbo, however, is oblivious to all this and is doing pretty well. While I’ve been running around on his behalf he has been sleeping as is his wont, this time in the bathroom. He’s a picture of him taken after he’d just woken up.

Now it’s time to do a bit of relaxation of my own, in the form of the Guardian Prize crossword.