An Unexpected Angel.....

That is a picture of an unlikely little duo :)  Ginger was actually suppose to be Hannah's cat.  Hannah is the one who came home for dinner about 4 years ago, asking if she could have one of the kittens a neighbor the next cut-de-sac over was giving away.  To my utter shock, Craig asked if she had a carrier ready, we hopped into the car and went to see these kittens... coming home with the little spit-fire of the two sisters in the litter.  It became very clear within about 2 days, Ginger was going to claim Gracie as her girl and she has literally clung to her ever since.

We seriously wonder if Ginger actually knows she's a cat.  Gracie has raised her from 8 weeks old, treating her like a baby.  She dresses her up, totes her around in baby carriers and strollers, entertains her in baby walkers and swings, and speaks to her like she would a toddler rather than a cat.  She will sit Ginger down on my bed, tell her to "stay", and that silly cat obeys because her mama will reprimand her if she doesn't .  Ginger ADORES Gracie and tolerates the rest of us.  She literally HUGS gracie with her paws around Gracie's neck.  She purrs and mews as she snuggles in with her mama.  They spend all their time together; sleeping, watching TV, doing school work, and playing.  If Gracie is eating, Ginger is getting little bites of it too.  Sometimes I swear they share not only a heart, but a brain ;)

Over the past couple of years we started noticing that Ginger seemed to be occasionally alerting Gracie when her blood sugar would drop low.  At first we thought it was just a fluke.  I mean, this is a strange (said very lovingly;) little cat to begin with; one who doesn't even realize she's actually a cat.  But, it's become undeniable that she is intentionally alerting Gracie to her low BG.  This morning, around 5am, while Craig and I were soundly sleeping, unbeknownst to us at that time, Gracie had crashed on us.  I'd checked her less than an hour before and she was 108 and level.  Neither of us heard Dexcom alarm nor felt our phones vibrate with the warning.  When we woke up at 6:30 and saw that she had dropped to 40 and had been low for near an hour we were shocked.... the only thing keeping us from bolting out of bed and running to her room was her current BG at that moment of 233.  What on earth????  Over lunch today, Gracie asked me if I'd seen that she had crashed early this morning.  I said I had and asked her if she had woken herself up and gotten some juice.  She nodded yes, then told me "Ginger woke me up to tell me I was low."  I asked if she woke up to Ginger biting on her (that's how she usually alerts Gracie, not hard biting, just biting hard enough to get her attention, not causing any injury or breaking her skin).  She said no, that this morning Ginger kept kneading her in the chest and meowing to get her to wake up.  WOW!

We joke with Gracie about how spoiled Ginger is.  She is a cat with a diva attitude and she can be a bit of a brat at times.  But she's a sweet little diva nonetheless and we all love her like crazy.  This petite little cat, who is literally spoiled rotten and expects everyone to cater to her whims, truly has taken on the role of Diabetes Alert CAT and has decided that she is her girl's lifesaver.  We no longer think her alerts are flukes; we know that she alerts Gracie when Gracie is in danger, and she's persistent enough to keep at it until something is done about it.

It's really rare that we miss a low BG like we did this morning.  I am incredibly thankful that she has Ginger, her goofy little cat, looking out for her like she does.  I never expected or anticipated that she would grow into a service role like she has, but I also couldn't ask for a better little furry partner to keep an extra eye on my girl.  I am happy to repay her in love, snuggles, and all the tuna she could ever possibly want.  We LOVE you Miss Ginger Snap!!!!