Kitty won’t eat

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Lou’s Granny

Member Since 2018
I am cat-sitting, and kitty refuses to eat. His Lantus was due an hour and a half ago. Won’t drink either. Otherwise OK. 8 y.o. Kitty weighs < 8 lbs. Howlong can he go without eating before I should be concerned?
 
It is unsafe for a cat to go for much more than 24 hours without food.
For a diabetic cat who is on insulin he really needs to eat for you to give insulin.
Are you home testing the blood sugars for the owner? If not we have no idea if it is safe for you to give insulin.
How long has the cat been a diabetic?
What dose of Lantus are you giving?
Are you giving insulin every 12 hours?
What type of food does he eat? Canned or dry?
Does he seem alert and playful? Or lethargic?
Sorry for all the questions but it will give us an idea of how to help you.

Do you have ketostix to test for ketones in the urine? If a cat is on insulin and not eating it is very important that you test the urine for ketones. The ketostix can be bought at the pharmacy for about $10 a bottle.

Try and tempt him with some cooked (lightly boiled) chicken, or Parmesan cheese lightly sprinkled over the food.
Can you ring the owner to see what they might suggest to get him to eat/drink?
 
Lou was diagnosed on July 3rd and placed on Lantus every 12 hours, 1 unit for every 2 oz of dry food. Diet is 1/2 and 1/2 mix of Royal Canin Glycobalance and Hill’s m/d Glucose Weight Management. Usual meal is 4 oz with 2 units and nothing in between. His original BG was 486, that is now running in the high 200s pre-parandial. He lost 3lbs between Feb and March and was holding at 8.4# two weeks ago. Shows signs of what, to me, looks like neuropathy, but vet said it looked more like “an old hip injury”. Funny, it just started about A month ago.
 
(Owner is my adult son.). Cat is indoor only and not very active. Has taken to hiding since diagnosed. He is better with my son, but equates my scent and voice with vet trips. He was eating, drinking, and eating excessively before we took him in. Now he eats 4 oz at each meal, but is only drinking about 6 oz of water every 24 hours. Strips show no signs of keto, breath is normal. Coat and dandruff much improved. Eyes clear and slightly dilated, nose warm and dry, ears cool. Not urinating much today. Son reports normal stools, although none in last 12 hours.
 
Vet said to feed only dry food, but he loves and will eat white albacore and salmon. Do we dare mixing a little of that with dry mix. If so, how much is too much, and how to gauge Lantus adjustments. Vet said no insulin if he eats less than 1 oz.

Also really need to get him back on schedule before tomorrow afternoon when son works. How long is considered too much? Can we go earlier by 1 hour at the next 2 feeds to get him back on schedule?

Really appreciate the help from you all.
 
Had to take him to the emergency room same day he was diagnosed, 2 was ago, because prescription was not received by pharmacy. Gave him sub-cutaneous fluids. Red cell count was 9.42, lymphocytes 0.88, Blood urea nitrogen 49, creatinine 0.9, phosphorous 4.6, everything else within normal limits. I finally poured tuna water over the dry food, and he ate 2 oz. Gave 1 unit lantus about 10 minutes after he ate. Last vet visit was one week ago. She said continue routine and return in 4-6 months for fructosamine test.
 
Thanks for all that info, Lou.

Lantus is not dosed based on food. Starting with 1 unit twice a day is the recommended starting dose and it's raised in 0.25 unit increments. We have two different dosing protocols on our lantus forum. Tight Regulation and SLGS start low go slow. Read through them and decide which is a better fit.

Your vet gave you terrible advice on food. Dry food is not good for diabetic cats. Perscription food is overpriced and not necessary. Your better to give a low carb wet food such as fancy feast classic or Friskies pate foods.
 
Thank you so much, Janet. Do I need to wait until next regular feeding time to introduce FF? And is it ok to switch without mixing if he will eat it?
 
Lou’s Granny said:
Thank you so much, Janet. Do I need to wait until next regular feeding time to introduce FF? And is it ok to switch without mixing if he will eat it?
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Are you testing the bg at home? It's OK to switch to the ff classic but don't give more than 1 unit of lantus as ff is lower in carb then the dry food. If you haven't started testing the bg at home we can help you guys get started on that. It is the best way to keep your cat safe and find the ideal dose of insulin. The first week of testing can be tricky but it gets easier. I have a video in my signature showing how I test my cat CC at home.
 
They are testing, but not daily, and I am not sure when. Levels are high 200s, down from almost 500 at the vet’s office. Do I always test pre-meal? And, is it ok to feed during testing, as some videos show? How do you know how much to shoot? I found the spreadsheets, but not instructions for adjusting insulin. Can you give a link,please?
 
Lou’s Granny said:
My vet said she is happy with bg in 200 to 300 range. That seems high based on what I read here. Thoughts on this anyone’s?
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Normal blood levels with a human meter is 50-120 and on a pet meter it's 68-150. Over 200 is not healthy long term. It's normal for a diabetic cat to be in that range preshot time, but mid cycle you want them down in the normal range. It doesn't always happen right away.
 
Lou’s Granny said:
They are testing, but not daily, and I am not sure when. Levels are high 200s, down from almost 500 at the vet’s office. Do I always test pre-meal? And, is it ok to feed during testing, as some videos show? How do you know how much to shoot? I found the spreadsheets, but not instructions for adjusting insulin. Can you give a link,please?
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It takes a few min for the food to hit the blood stream so it's OK. But ideally no food for at least two hours prior to the preshot test so the number is not food influenced. This is to ensure the cat is high enough to sHoot. We tell new members it's best not to shoot under 200 in the beginning until you have more data.

On the meantime can you please set up a signature with info so we don't have to ask you the same questions repeatedly. Click on your name at the top right corner and choose signature. Add info such as your pets name, date diagnosed, insulin type, food you're feeding, and any other health concerns
 
Lou’s Granny said:
My vet said she is happy with bg in 200 to 300 range. That seems high based on what I read here. Thoughts on this anyone’s?
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The renal threshold for cats is supposed to be about 250 - that is on a pet meter, so the number is lower on a human meter. That is the point at which glucose starts being dumped into the urine which is bad for the organs. So, your vet may be 'happy', but that is not the healthiest range for a cat to be in. You at least want them below that renal threshold and ideally considerably lower, like the range Janet gave.
 
Lou’s Granny said:
They are testing, but not daily, and I am not sure when. Levels are high 200s, down from almost 500 at the vet’s office. Do I always test pre-meal? And, is it ok to feed during testing, as some videos show? How do you know how much to shoot? I found the spreadsheets, but not instructions for adjusting insulin. Can you give a link,please?
Click to expand...
Here's the info on adjusting insulin for lantus users. There are two dosing protocols described.... Tight Regulation and SLGS start low go slow. See which one you are more comfortable with.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-basaglar-glargine-and-levemir-detemir.9/
 
Thanks @FurBabiesMama for jumping in with the thread about giving some insulin. I agree with that and I probably should have worded my advice much better but I wanted to get more information about the cat before suggesting giving some insulin as I didn’t know if she was testing or if the cat was a new diabetic etc.
It was late at night for me and when there wasn’t an answer I couldn’t stay up any longer so thanks for jumping in.
Bron
 
Many, many thanks to all of you for your advice and responses. Yesterday pm, Lou tested 236 pre-meal. I switched him to FF Classic and he ate 1/2 of a 2.5 oz can. I shot 1U Lantus. Tried to get a 4 hour low read, but I just simply could not get that cat's ears to bleed. He is solid black, and using flashlight even does me no good. Used rice sock, lidocaine gel, poked him 3 times, and finally gave up as both of us were getting frustrated and it wasn't doing either one of us any good.

Lou is back home with his Daddy now, so I can only trust and pray. My son was not happy with me changing his diet, but it seemed to be the only way to entice him to eat something. Hope I didn't cause too much harm. Could be that Lou was just scared to death with the new environment and lack of his "family", but all he did was sit (not lay down) behind the sofa and stare for 24 hours. I took him to the water bowl once, and he urinated in the box and drank a few sips of water. Then, back to the sofa. (BTW: keytones were barely above negative, not even half-way to trace) He seemed to be walking a little better and had no trouble jumping off the dining room table. However, son says he cannot make it from the floor to the sofa without having to claw his way up. Does anyone have experience with this back end weakness that the vet says is not DB neuropathy?

I see some of you giving sub-cu fluids. How is this done?

I am trying to get ss uploaded, but I have construction going on and internet problems. Please bear with me.
 
Why does the vet assume it’s not neuropathy? Neuropathy is common with diabetics... both people and animals. Amazon sells Zobaline which is b12 methylcobalamin and folic acid. That along with better numbers will help the neuropathy. 236 is a very good preshot number! Again, encourage your son to join our group.
 
That's the million dollar question. His gait has every characteristic of DB neuropathy. This is what has us doubting the vet's capability, despite the fact that she is a diabetic cat owner. However, the strange gait developed without warning. Trying to schedule with an AAHA clinic in Dallas for 2nd opinion. Son is not much of a joiner of anything. I will have to be the surrogate. Glad to have the encouragement on the 236. Thanks for the support.
 
Lou's Granny said:
That's the million dollar question. His gait has every characteristic of DB neuropathy. This is what has us doubting the vet's capability, despite the fact that she is a diabetic cat owner. However, the strange gait developed without warning. Trying to schedule with an AAHA clinic in Dallas for 2nd opinion. Son is not much of a joiner of anything. I will have to be the surrogate. Glad to have the encouragement on the 236. Thanks for the support.
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I sure hope you will be allowed to be the surrogate, whatever will work to get Lou treated and in better condition. I am also a granny to a four footed fur person, and love her as much as the two footed bean grandkid. I will tell you I trust the people here on this board, they helped me when we just weren't getting correct information and instruction from our vet. Idjit is healthy, alive and in remission because of them.
Ironic, you are Lou's Granny, I am Granny Lou to fur grandpuddy.
 
I agree with the others re the diabetic neuropathy. Sheba had that and she could not jump up onto anything and her legs would slip sideways on the wooden floors. It gradually went away with the methyl B12 tablets and the lowering of the BSL.

When I had to leave my cat Harry ( not a diabetic) with my daughter when I was in hospital, he hid and refused to eat for 24 hours and he is very food motivated. Gradually came around with offers of cheese which he loves.

It would be good for Lou and your son if he would join the forum. Everyone is lovely here and very knowledgeable. I wasn’t a joiner of forums either and it took me 6 months of just looking before I joined but it was the best thing I could have done for Sheba.
You are a very good Mom:)
 
Lou's Granny said:
That's the million dollar question. His gait has every characteristic of DB neuropathy. This is what has us doubting the vet's capability, despite the fact that she is a diabetic cat owner. However, the strange gait developed without warning. Trying to schedule with an AAHA clinic in Dallas for 2nd opinion. Son is not much of a joiner of anything. I will have to be the surrogate. Glad to have the encouragement on the 236. Thanks for the support.
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It can't hurt to do the b12. It's not a perscription and any excess gets peed out. As long as a potassium deficiency wasn't detected it's probably neuropathy or arthritis.
 
I didn't see this thread until just now, but I wanted to say BRAVO, Lou's Granny! Talk about jumping in to the deep end feet first! :bighug:

My mother is also a terrific granny to her 6 grandcats, and I consider it invaluable to have her as a backup. Lou and your son are very lucky to have you around.
 
Hi @Lou's Granny

I haven't seen you back since this post. How are things with Lou? Or maybe your son is posting here directly himself now and I just haven't connected the dots.

Hope you are well,
Sandi.
 
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