Diabetic cat will not eat

I have an 11 year old domestic male that was diagnosed with diabetes yesterday. Up till now, he's been hungrier than normal. He ate well last night and we gave him his insulin. This morning he would not eat at all so we held the shot. This evening, he's only taken one bite. We've offered all his favorites, tuna, chicken, kippers, regular can cat food...nothing. Force feeding is not going well and I don't want to stress him out too much. I'm wondering if cats will become anorexic when first starting insulin and what has worked for others in the past. He used to weigh 12-13lbs and is now about 7.5.

All advice is greatly appreciated!

 

Sometimes you can get them started eating again if you get a little bit of wet food on your finger and offer it. Sometimes they like the food warmed in the microwave until nice and stinky. Or a little warm water mixed in to make it kinda soupy.

It is imperative that he eat. Does he have any kind of infection that might be a making him feel bad?

 

How much insulin did you give?
How much did the vet suggest you give?
What type of insulin are you using?
Are you home testing?

I realize you may wonder why I asked these questions, it's because it could have something to do with his not eating.

Do you have any baby food available? (Make sure it doesn't have onions or garlic in it). Try spoon feeding or syringe feeding him baby food.

While it's not what we recommend, do you have dry food that he will eat? or treats that you could try giving him?

 

I gave him 2 units of PZI as the vet directed after he had eaten half of his dinner which is 1/4 cup Purina DM with a teaspoon of the DM can food. He ate almost all of it. He seemed perfectly fine. My husband saw what appeared to be a small amount of watery vomit on the floor this morning, but we don't know if it was the sick cat or one of the other animals.

I offered him everything he's ever eaten. Dry, wet, treats, milk, lunchmeat, tuna, chicken, etc. He's drinking water well but only licked the can food. What I ended up doing was blending can chicken white meat with a little milk and syringe feeding it to him to get some protein going. I backed off the insulin and gave 1.5 units and will give him a little more chicken mixture before bed. I know it is better to have high sugar than low. Cat DM is very similar in many respects to human DM, and I am comfortable doing what I need to do as I am an RN....but no vet that's for sure.

I'm not testing yet as the vet didn't have supplies and we just found out yesterday. I ordered what I need today.

Hopefully I did the right thing. I plan to call the vet tomorrow also for advice.

 

Many cats tire of the taste of DM as it is liver based. Oliver ate it for a couple days and then protested. Lots of us feed Fancy Feast , Merrick or Wellness, staying under the 8-10% carb range. I would offer him some other wet choices.

We like to start low and go slow with the insulin. We suggest starting at .5 - one unit of ProZinc, increasing as the numbers guide you. The vet's higher dose could have been based on your kitty's numbers at the vet. But those numbers are often inflated as most cats are stressed at the vet and stress raises bg levels. Once you are testing at home, you will be able to determine his dose better.

 

Thank you for the advice. His glucose was about 420 at the vet. His lack of appetite scared me as up until the first shot last night, he was eating anything and everything and lots of it. He gobbled the DM yesterday. That's why I was wondering if the insulin can cause lack of appetite at first.

 

I would get some ketone test strips if you don't already have them, and test him as soon as possible. Ruling out ketones is the first step I would do.

 

I personally would also push the vet for more tests if he continues not to eat. My cat wouldn't eat when she was diagnosed, and it turned out she had an underlying heart condition, which we only found out about via X-ray when it was already too late. So in that case it was probably the other health problem that was causing her blood sugar to run high, rather than the other way around. I'm sure it is nothing as serious with your kitty, but if you continue to feel something is not right (especially if he is displaying other unusual behavior or evidence of pain/discomfort such as lying in a "meatloaf" position, breathing very fast or in a labored manner, having trouble getting around, hiding, etc.), you may have to push the vet for more answers.

It's also possible he is just stressed from the vet visit and going through a period of not wanting to eat (and maybe there is something to your idea that this has something to do with the insulin--I haven't heard of this before, but then I don't have a ton of experience and anyway you never know), but you don't want to let it go too long, if for no other reason than cats can get sick if they go for much more than a day or two without eating.

I agree with the recommendation to get the ketone strips. They are easy to use (as long as you can catch him in the litter box, or lay some saran wrap over his litter so the urine will pool and you can dip the strip in it), not very expensive, and ketones are definitely something to keep an eye out for. You may have to ask for them at the pharmacy counter if you don't see them on the shelf, but you don't need a prescription.

Best of luck to you and your kitty.

 

Welcome!

I just wanted you to know that you can use a human glucometer to test your cat- you don't need a pet meter. Yes, it will run lower but you don't really need the "absolutely accurate" number, just numbers that would show the consistent trend of BG's to see how your boy is doing (did I say that right?). A human meter runs around 30-40 pts below the pet meter and we all base our information is on that. Very few of us have the Alpha track.

There are several pluses-
- A human meter is CHEAPER! My Relion Micro was $10 at Walmart. Other use Bayer. Don't get a Freestyle Lite meter with butterfly on the strips or ANYTHING with TRUE in the name as those have been shown to give false/low numbers and have led to many problems.
- The strips are CHEAPER! My strips cost $36/100 at WW and *most* of the time they are stocked. I have 4 WW in my area so can travel to get some if one is out. Pet meter strips cost about $1/strip and that can get expensive to test as frequently as needed ($3/day or $1/day for least possible testing? You choose what you want to spend ). And you can buy them cheaper through Amazon- same with other brands.
- The strips are EASIER to find. WW is pretty much USA-wide but that should be a consideration- you need accessibility if you are running low. Pet strips- you can buy from your vet (and they are already OUT!) or on-line.

Ask more questions- that is why we are here.

 

Hello and welcome!

My big eater, aka Pudge, occasionally won't eat. Drove me frantic when he was on insulin. Now, I think it's due to an upset stomach and/or a few hairs that he swallowed that upset his stomach, as evidenced by spittle and sometime a few hairs. Some white petroleum jelly (vaseline) or olive oil in his food help or a quarter of regular pepcid pill crushed and placed in his food or with water in a food syringe.

The weirdest thing is that during those times he seems almost intimidated by his food bowl. I tried some tiny saucers and he usually starts eating from those. In fact, all 3 of my cats (triplets, almost 11) seem to prefer eating from saucers rather than their usual bowls. This can be very messy but I wonder if the issue here (regular cat bowls vs saucers) is that they don't get their whiskers and fur all messy with food. Prior to Pudge's FD diagnosis, they had been on mostly dry food diet - no messy sticky food!

So I recommend trying your best bone china saucers set on your best tea towels :lol: , tiny amounts of fancy Feast Classic chicken or turkey with giblets (the pate style is lower in carbohydrates-beef and fish can cause some kitties digestive problems) mixed with warm water. Many cats cannot resist Fancy Feast. Also, have you tried sprinkling your kitty's food with tiny crumbs of freeze dried chicken, Forti Flora (probiotic formulated for cats - purchase from your vet or online) or Bonito flakes (tuna flakes)? I know you have a serious situation on your hands, but my best tea towels help me crack, at least, a tiny smile. Hope this helps. Best wishes, Sophie

 

Thank you to everyone who replied. The great news is that my Mickey boy is eating very well again. I think the 2 units was too much at first as some of you have said. Took him down to 1 unit and he's back to eating like a horse. Scaling it up very slowly, first a smidge over 1, now on 1 and 1/4 units. Just got the glucometer, will test ASAP and adjust as necessary. Will definitely be back here in case I have questions. For now, all is well and he appears to be happy and maybe gained a little bit of weight back.

THANKS EVERYONE!!!!