convincing family members to help me with my cat

My cat was recently diagnosed with diabetes. Today he is staying at the vet for 24 hours where he'll be getting a glucose curve to see how much insulin he needs.

I've been trying to convince my parents that its important that there's more than one person that knows how to give shots.
neither one wants to learn.

the vet wants me to give my cat insulin every 12 hours.

the problem is, I study in uni and my schedule will overlap with the shots I have to give my cat.. I tried figuring out a schedule and there's is not one single hour that'll work [except 3pm and 3AM.. which of course won't work well if I go out on weekends] The partying on weekends will go down a lot, I already now.. but I don't want to never go out again because my cat is sick, I think its better if I had a different schedule to give his shots... plus staying up every night until 3 am? thats impossible.
I need another person to help me.

any ideas how I can convince my family to help me out?
my cat NEEDS his shots.
my dad refuses to do it.. he sort of does this nervous thing.. as if it was the most horrible thing I'm asking him to do.
my mom.. well she used to give shots to people but she fainted when she did it so she had to quit. so she's refusing to help me now..

what can I do? I have absolutely no problem myself.. I just need someone else in case of emergency, in case I'm in uni.. in case of absolutely anything thats out of my hands and I really thought my parents would be ok learning how to do it.

I don't know what to do... any ideas how I could convince them? or maybe some suggestions on what I could do if I can't relly on them?

I have no idea how to speak with your family about this.

You can hire a pet sitter to come to your home each day at X time to give them the shot. Many FT professional sitters are trained on med stuff, including insulin shots.

What about asking a friend or a neighbor to help you out with the shots.

Personally, I'd ask them both to come into the same room and ask them to sit down. Then say the following

I have a real problem and need your help and guidance. I have a cat, as you know, that has been diagnosed with a seirous, life threatening illness. I want you to realise that I recognose the significant commitment that taking on a cat is, and that I am prepared to fight in order to ensure that my pet lives a long and contented life. I do not want my pet to suffer, and with a little care and attention there is no reason why he shouldn't.

However, I need your assistance in order to treat my pet. He must be given an insulin shot every 12 hours. Whilst I will make every effort to ensure I am available to do this, there are times when it will affect my studies if I do so, and I am anxious for this not to happen.

So, I am asking you for your assistance in treating my pet, which is precious to me. I hope I will not have to often call on your help, but I would really apppreciate knowing it is there if I need it.

Now, understand me scumbags. All I want is for my beloved pet to live a very long, full and contended life. If that's at the cost of a few human lives, then that's fine by me, in fact so much the better. Now pull yourselves together for the love of God, and help me with this sick cat before I stick a needle in your bum every twelve hours for the rest of your life and see if you get a little grouchy.





In retrospect you might want to skip the last paragraph, but I stand by the rest of my answer.

First I want to tell you what a wonderful thing I think you are doing for your baby. I know sooo many people that give the poor guys up because of diabetes. My suggestions would be the same as the previous ones listed, pet sitter, friend or neighbor. I certainly hope you get it all worked out!!

Along with telling your parents how you have learned responsibility and been taught about unconditional love from your cat (something they should respect!!!), you should tell them this will break your heart if your cat does NOT get his shots all because they are squeamish or they cannot overcome fears to help out.

As parents, they should see that you really need them. That's what parents are for!

Do you have a close friend, someone you *really* trust, to help out, IF your parents will not?

And I do commend you for staying by your baby on this one. The Humane Society (From what I heard from the lady I adopted from) says there are so many cats given up, cast off and discarded once they are diagnosed with Diabetes. Thanks for standing by your furbaby in his time of need!

Do you have a "significant other" that could help out? I recently enlisted my boyfriend for cat-care issues while I'm out of town cuz my mom flat-out refuses to now.

I second the pet sitter. Most are trained in giving shots and such and a daily visit shouldnt be to much..

My mother stopped the vet from doing the glucose curve because she called to see how Tom was doing and the vet told her he was being non compliant [understandable].. then she asked the cost of it.. she told him to just stop the whole thing!!!

I came home to have both my parents have a serious talk to me about considering putting my cat to sleep because his life will not be a good one, he's old and he has lived long enough, its to difficult, its incredibly expensive, he's suffering every time we take him to the vet.. the list goes on and one.

I started shaking and had a break down. Then I went running to the vet to talk to him.

He said that he could continue doing the glucose curve but he can't predict when he'll have to do another one [and yes, they are expensive.. unfortunately I do not have the money to pay for them on my own] so he gave me another option which I don't like but I'll take anything right now. I'm not putting my cat to sleep until I see that he is to ill to live.
The other option.. he estimated an amount of insulin and I'll have to take my cat back in a week. Its a slow process and you can never know if the amount is right he showed me a glucometer.. I was excited and told him to teach me how to use it so I could buy one.. he said I shouldn't worry about it.

He said I should call him every couple of days.
I'm so devastated and dissapointed in my family. It hurt so bad that they wanted to put to sleep my cat.. they gave up so easily!

My cats fine. He walks, he meows, he has appetite and he's thursty.. he's not ready to die! he's not 100% happy yet because he has just started to take insulin but we have to give him a chance.

BTW thanks for all your replies, I don't think I'll ask them for any help at the moment. I'll consider a pet sitter or a friend if I need one. I didn't think about that, I'm sure a friend of mine will help every once in a while

Originally Posted by ryobious

First I want to tell you what a wonderful thing I think you are doing for your baby. I know sooo many people that give the poor guys up because of diabetes. My suggestions would be the same as the previous ones listed, pet sitter, friend or neighbor. I certainly hope you get it all worked out!!

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The insulin does not have to be given EXACTLY 12 hours apart. If you can do is at 7am and 9 pm (for example) that would be good enough. Do your best to give it twice a day as close to 12 hours apart as possible. 1 or 2 hours either way will not make that much of a difference.