Jasper

Jasper prompts funding of diabetes app

The Rumba Foundation funded the development of a revolutionary App that is helping cat owners take an active part in monitoring and managing their pets’ diabetes.

Burmese cats can be prone to diabetes – as discovered by The Rumba Foundation’s Founding Trustees, Fiona and Jim Hindle, who had two diabetic boys, Jasper and Theo. Jasper’s diabetes was diagnosed when he was 17 and was particularly difficult to control, so their local vet referred them to the Royal Veterinary College (RVC). 

The RVC has a fantastic reputation for being at the forefront of pioneering treatment of feline diabetes. Fiona and Jim met two brilliant vets there, who closely monitored his blood glucose and, after changing Jasper’s insulin type, were able to bring his diabetes under control.
Dr Stijn Niessen, Co-Head of the Internal Medicine Referral Clinic, was leading the RVC’s dedicated Diabetic and Acromegalic Cat Clinic. He was looking to develop a revolutionary App that would help owners take an active part in controlling their pets’ diabetes. It would also provide a means for owners to share data about their cats’ conditions, which would be of enormous value in advancing research into the disease and its treatment.

Fiona and Jim were so inspired by Stijn’s plans that they decided to allocate £15,000 of Rumba’s funds, which would cover the costs of developing the project. 

“Although the App wasn’t available in time to benefit Jasper, our conversations with Stijn and our experience at the RVC prompted us to actively support its development.” 

The App, which is free and available from Android and iPhone App stores, was an immediate success, quickly achieving over 10,000 downloads in four languages! 

Looking to the future, Stijn Niessen said:
“Although this is a diabetes app, it represents a movement towards development of tools to get vets and owners working better together, and at the same time gain data for research to understand these diseases better.”

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