James Pearson and his wife, JoAnn Fischer,
recently released a book entitled Dagmar the Diabetic Cat: Based on the True
Story of Our Beloved Cat, Dagmar.
James and JoAnn’s journey with Dagmar began
in 1997. About a month after the couple had moved into their new house, James
suggested that they should adopt a cat. James reminisced,
“At first we thought we would stop at the Sioux Falls
Area Human Society ‘just to look’ and see what they had for cats. We ended up
adopting Dagmar, a six month old black and white kitten, into our family. He
would be a member of our family for over eighteen years. We could not have
asked for a better feline companion.”
Dagmar was diagnosed with diabetes when he
was eight years old, which is approximately middle age for a housecat. James
explained that they noticed a change in Dagmar’s behavior when they moved to
Pierre, stating,
“He was using his litterbox more often, eating and
drinking more but losing weight and his long fur became dull, thin and matted.
He was not nearly as active as he used to be. He was sleeping more and just
lackluster. From personal experience we knew something was up and one visit to
the veterinarian confirmed our suspicion: Dagmar had diabetes. He was put on
insulin and given special food formulated for diabetic cats. In no time, he was
back to normal.”
Sadly, Dagmar passed away about a year and
a half ago at 19 years of age, which is equivalent to about 92 years in human
years. It was James and JoAnn’s love for Dagmar that inspired them to write a
book in the first place, James elaborated,
“To say we loved that cat would be an
understatement. Dagmar was a wonderful and loving feline and we wanted to share
his experience with others, especially with young children that are diagnosed
with this disease. It is our hope, that after reading this book, they will get
a renewed sense of optimism knowing that if this sweet little cat can deal with
this disease then so can they.”
To learn more about Dagmar’s story, check
out James and JoAnn’s book on Amazon: