TammieCA
Member Since 2011
Hi guys.
Just dropping in to scan the board. It seemed when I was a frequent visitor, I left this bored more stressed out and more worried. That's not saying this is a bad place at all, but I already have super high anxiety and coming here seemed to make it worse. I say that because I have an especially finicky cat who absolutely refuses anything except EVO dry. We've tried hundreds of wet foods over the past year and he absolutely won't eat anything else. He tried Fussie Cat for a short time and liked baby food as a treat, but now he won't touch either. The only thing my boy will eat is DRY FOOD. And he's stable and doing just fine.
Do I wish he would eat wet food? Of course, it would make my life so much easier. However, I can't force him to eat. He's a twenty pound Savannah and I'm surprised he lets me do what he does to him! Please note he is not fat and/or overweight. He is at a perfect weight for his size. He's tall, big boy! When we were trying to get him stable about four months after he was diagnosed, he dropped to 15.3 pounds. It broke my heart to see him so thin. He wasn't doing well and wasn't eating much. It was at that time we changed his insulin to Lantus and we've seen improvements, including gaining back his weight.
I test him before his shots about 85% of the time. There are some mornings I can't because I'm not home. But we do the best that we can. His numbers, over the past few months, have gone down a bit, which is really good to see. He has the occasional high number (400's) but that's not entirely too often. I always assume he probably ate something before I test him. We free feed. It's what works best in our house and for Caspian. We want him to have access to food all of the time.
Caspian has a few other health issues. After his diabetes dx, he developed three mast cell tumors on his skin. We are considering having them removed, although about 85% of the time they are benign. I'm not sure if I want to put him through the procedure. My vet totally understands my concern and doesn't push the issue, but she does highly recommend they eventually be removed. My vet is really amazing and I'm grateful for our relationship and her love and devotion to Caspian. She reminds me I'm doing the best that I can for my boy and that this is Caspian's "new normal." She saw how worried I was over the fact he wouldn't eat anything else and she reminded me that the important thing is that HE IS EATING.
So, just how much insulin does a twenty pound, kibble addict cat receive? Well, it's a pretty high dose compared to a lot of other kitties. He receives 6.5 units, morning/evening. Yea, it's a lot of insulin. But when you consider his weight and the fact that he only eats dry food, it makes sense.
Do I wish his numbers were lower? Of course I do. Do I wish I could control this better with diet? Of course. But the fact is that I can't. All I can do is THE BEST I CAN DO for my beloved boy. He's nine years old. Still so young. And I want to hold onto hope and believe he will be healthy and around a very long time.
My reason for posting this is because my circumstances are very different. I think a lot of people believe if their cat won't eat wet food, that means a death sentence. I'm here to tell you that it doesn't. While wet food is definitely the best choice, honestly, what do you do if your cat refuses it altogether? You feed them what they will eat and work around that. That's what we do with our Caspian.
Thanks for reading. Just wanted to share a different point of view from the mom of a dry food only diabetic cat.
Just dropping in to scan the board. It seemed when I was a frequent visitor, I left this bored more stressed out and more worried. That's not saying this is a bad place at all, but I already have super high anxiety and coming here seemed to make it worse. I say that because I have an especially finicky cat who absolutely refuses anything except EVO dry. We've tried hundreds of wet foods over the past year and he absolutely won't eat anything else. He tried Fussie Cat for a short time and liked baby food as a treat, but now he won't touch either. The only thing my boy will eat is DRY FOOD. And he's stable and doing just fine.
Do I wish he would eat wet food? Of course, it would make my life so much easier. However, I can't force him to eat. He's a twenty pound Savannah and I'm surprised he lets me do what he does to him! Please note he is not fat and/or overweight. He is at a perfect weight for his size. He's tall, big boy! When we were trying to get him stable about four months after he was diagnosed, he dropped to 15.3 pounds. It broke my heart to see him so thin. He wasn't doing well and wasn't eating much. It was at that time we changed his insulin to Lantus and we've seen improvements, including gaining back his weight.
I test him before his shots about 85% of the time. There are some mornings I can't because I'm not home. But we do the best that we can. His numbers, over the past few months, have gone down a bit, which is really good to see. He has the occasional high number (400's) but that's not entirely too often. I always assume he probably ate something before I test him. We free feed. It's what works best in our house and for Caspian. We want him to have access to food all of the time.
Caspian has a few other health issues. After his diabetes dx, he developed three mast cell tumors on his skin. We are considering having them removed, although about 85% of the time they are benign. I'm not sure if I want to put him through the procedure. My vet totally understands my concern and doesn't push the issue, but she does highly recommend they eventually be removed. My vet is really amazing and I'm grateful for our relationship and her love and devotion to Caspian. She reminds me I'm doing the best that I can for my boy and that this is Caspian's "new normal." She saw how worried I was over the fact he wouldn't eat anything else and she reminded me that the important thing is that HE IS EATING.
So, just how much insulin does a twenty pound, kibble addict cat receive? Well, it's a pretty high dose compared to a lot of other kitties. He receives 6.5 units, morning/evening. Yea, it's a lot of insulin. But when you consider his weight and the fact that he only eats dry food, it makes sense.
Do I wish his numbers were lower? Of course I do. Do I wish I could control this better with diet? Of course. But the fact is that I can't. All I can do is THE BEST I CAN DO for my beloved boy. He's nine years old. Still so young. And I want to hold onto hope and believe he will be healthy and around a very long time.
My reason for posting this is because my circumstances are very different. I think a lot of people believe if their cat won't eat wet food, that means a death sentence. I'm here to tell you that it doesn't. While wet food is definitely the best choice, honestly, what do you do if your cat refuses it altogether? You feed them what they will eat and work around that. That's what we do with our Caspian.
Thanks for reading. Just wanted to share a different point of view from the mom of a dry food only diabetic cat.
