Her cat has just been diagnosed with diabetes. She was pretty overweight, then she'd been getting steadily unhappier and then lost weight all of a sudden. She's ten.
My mother is very distraught. 
She catastrophises about things anyway, and is now thinking her entire life is going to be restricted by giving her cat 2 daily insulin injections, as per the vet's recommendations. In case this sounds brutal, she is also adamant that you shouldn't put a cat down just because it needs medication, particularly if it's something that will turn its condition around and allow it to enjoy life again. But she is needle-phobic (like me! damned inherited phobias) and finds it all very daunting. She is also concerned about the cost, and also that it will be a two person job - my dad is often away from home. She also doesn't see how she can ever spend a night away from home, either on holiday or helping me out with DC.
She's very conflicted and sad about it all. I'd be the same entirely. And of course, there's a big dose of guilt because one of her options, which she doesn't like at all, is to have her cat put down.
Does anyone out there have a cat with diabetes? How hard is it to manage? Do you have to test the blood sugar levels too? How expensive is it? Do you find that some catteries will take on animals who need injectable medication?
One light at the end of the tunnel (maybe) is that the vet thinks that a course of insulin over several weeks might change the condition sufficiently to stop the medication, so I do think she needs to give it a go for the present, and then see.