I did read a few years ago about dogs that smell cancer in patients.
Our furry friends are attuned to us, so kitty probably did notice something different and wanted to wake her up.
Posted on 06/19/2014 5:48:04 PM PDT by who knows what evil?
As readers of the garden thread already know; I grow loads of vegetables to supplement my wife's diet in order to manage her diabetic condition. My wife is under tremendous stress due to a dispute with neighbors here in Red Hampshire. This has been a contributing factor in the deterioration of her pancreas, and she is now on insulin.
The other night, my wife was awakened by one of our Siamese rescue cats sniffing and poking around her face. This is a rescue cat that is considered 'her' cat. He waits at the door for her to come home from work, lays on her lap in the evenings, and sleeps in the crook of her leg every night. He's her little boy. Since she feeds them at five in the morning weekdays before she goes to work; they will wake us at 5 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday; not understanding the concept of 'weekend'. It was very out of character for him (or any of our other cats) to waken either of us in the middle of the night.
Upon wakening; she realized she had a pounding headache, and when she stood up, she realized her body was trembling...classic symptoms of low blood sugar...hypoglycemia. She went downstairs (bad idea at the time), had a half bowl of cereal and a mini-carton of Juicy Juice to 'normalize' her blood sugar. Back to bed, where she informed me that her blood sugar was only 66. I was 90% asleep, and that didn't register.
She had told me what had happened the next morning...I thought she had just gotten up to use the restroom, although I noticed that the downstairs light had stayed on for some time. I have been busy with my garden, and what she had told me didn't click until today. The cat woke her up in the middle of the night at the onset on hypoglycemia? Wait...what?
It's all there...the readings from her monitor were downloaded at the doctors' office the other day, and there it was. A reading of '66' at 1:30 in the morning.
I used to call her cat 'Satan'. He is a small adult Red Point Siamese that beats up on the other cats, knocks over my prized tomato seedlings, and otherwise gets in my hair. Well..if you saved my wife, buddy; no more 'Satan'. (He was one of the two Siamese kittens we had rescued from the 'Green Mile' in Maryville, TN.)
I did a bit of research, and have found similar stories on the net and in other newspapers. Did Apollo detect some change in my wife's metabolism that caused him to wake her up in time to address her dangerous condition?
I have no idea...and Apollo isn't (and won't be) talking.
The train dogs for this stuff. It has to do with your breath. Don’t know why a cat could not do it.
I’ve heard similar stories, enough that I really do believe cats do this.
Well, that’s a Siamese for ya. Siamese are very smart and perceptive. I have one that s only half Siamese and that cat is smart as a whip. I’m diabetic as well with other health problems and she seems to know when I’m “off”. Her sister, who passed away this winter was the “get well kitty”. If either me or my ex-wife were getting sick she’d climb up in bed with us, stare the sick one straight in the face and “mraow?”. She would then curl up with whoever was sick. And would tend to stay close until that person was feeling better. Just accept that animals have perceptive skills we don’t entirely understand. And listen to Dr. Satan! (lol)
CC
We had considered that possibility, as well. She clearly trembles when her sugar is low...is that what the cat picked up on?
Indeed. I USED to refer to him as 'Satan' because he is a little stinker. But now? "That's DR. Satan to you, hoomin!"
There was a story recently about a school taking a picture of a girl’s service dog and putting it in the yearbook. The dog detects the girl having a seizure and positions itself to keep her from hurting herself when she falls, etc. Pretty impressive.
They had examples of the dog detecting the seizure enough in advance of the event to prevent terrible harm; like fussing at the edge of a pool when the girl was swimming. Something like 10 minutes before the event.
That's funny...I am a big fan of old time movie serials. There had been plans for a 'Superman' serial in which he would battle a mad scientist and his 'giant' robot. They couldn't get the rights to the Man of Steel or some such; so they replaced Superman with a character called 'Copperhead', an ordinary man who wore a copper hood over his head.
The title of the serial? 'Mysterious Dr. Satan'.
LOL. Now I’m guilty of copywright theft! Hope your wife is feeling better, been there, done that, got the t-shirt.
CC
I did read a few years ago about dogs that smell cancer in patients.
Our furry friends are attuned to us, so kitty probably did notice something different and wanted to wake her up.
Not sure about that serial, but many of them are 'public domain'. :-)
If anyone is interested, I would recommend the book and website by Dr. Richard K. Bernstein, M.D.
He is a type I diabetic of long standing. He was able to reverse some of the diabetic sequeleae in hi own bdy through long-term strict control of blood sugars.
He is an advocate of counting carbohydrate grams and dealing with “small numbers” in controlling diabetes.
He pioneered the use of blood glucometers in keeping blood sugar within a narrow range. He himself has normal blood sugars.
H believes in timing meals, and eating prettty much the same amount of different components (proteins versus carbohydrates) to keep blood sugars on more of an even keel. He himself takes very small doses of insulin.
His book is available on Amazon.com. He also has a website with forums, where you can ask questions.
We had a German Shepherd who could sense seizures coming. I can certainly believe the cat knew what was going on. I know someone else who had cancer and her little dog had developed a habit of sniffing and trying to lick the area right where the cancer was diagnosed. These are dogs, so obviously, it’s a little different but I suspect animals can sense these things. Maybe we humans emit smells?
Found it.
Great cat!
He reminds us as often as he can...
Just a suggestion. Keep something next to the bed. Wandering around in the dark with the low blood shakes is not a good idea.
She does...a couple of boxes of Juicy Juice, and some assorted snacks. Lesson learned.
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