10/11 Tigger - help with weight

[Moms2Tigger&Blu]

Looking for any ideas or recommendations to help Tig gain some weight. He is currently 11lbs 9 oz. At his prime he was 14 lbs give or take. Its important to note his current weight has been stable for a year or so (prior to diabetes). The episode of DKA that started this all took him to 10.5lbs in just 3 days! He has slowly and steadily gained all that back but he could use a few more ounces on him. I'm afraid to feed him the wrong thing with too much carbs. I m afraid to feed him too much because he has a stomach/vomit/no-teeth-so-he-wolfs-it-down problem. I'm afraid to feed him too often and skew his BG numbers. Any one using any supplements for this?

 

[Wendy&Neko]

A couple things will help Tigger gain weight. The first is getting him in better numbers, so his body can process his food. The unearned reduction down to 1.25 units will not help.

The second is to look for a higher calorie, low carb food. I liked feeding raw food, because less volume had to be consumed for the same calories. But there are higher calorie low carb canned foods out there too. Feeding every couple hours in the first half of the cycle should not impact his BG much. You don't want to feed much after nadir, or you'll reduce duration, causing higher preshot values.

 

[Moms2Tigger&Blu]

A couple things will help Tigger gain weight. The first is getting him in better numbers, so his body can process his food. The unearned reduction down to 1.25 units will not help.

The second is to look for a higher calorie, low carb food. I liked feeding raw food, because less volume had to be consumed for the same calories. But there are higher calorie low carb canned foods out there too. Feeding every couple hours in the first half of the cycle should not impact his BG much. You don't want to feed much after nadir, or you'll reduce duration, causing higher preshot values.

We are going to be increasing to 1.5 tonight. The numbers were just too erratic earlier in the week and I knew he was going to have 3 day cycles with literally no testing.
That makes sense about feeding more, early. Right now he gets a can of FF for breakfast and we leave another half can in his bowl but I never know when he actually eats it.
At night I make sure to give it when he asks - usually a midnight snack. Some days I feel like he could eat 4 cans he's so hungry. Some days he's not into it and only finishes the two. An average though is 3 full cans everyday. This is actually an improvement though. When he was "healthy" he was the WORST eater. I think the year he spent in the ditch behind our apartment really messed him up. Before he was "ours" I watched him eat a taco bell bean burrito! Even now, if you let him, he would pass up normal things cats should like and go for any bread product, toast, rolls, donuts . . . oh and spicy things! The more seasoning the better. We learned the hard way you can't leave things (things you never suspected) in a place where he could get them!

 

[Tracey&Jones (GA)]

FF is pretty calorie dense per volume. There are some Nature's Variety that are lower carb and higher calorie. I am using the 6% carb Original Instinct Rabbit and it is 115 per 3 oz can - I pick out the peas. A bit more than the FF.

Better numbers do help though.

I have the sureflap too! Godsend with 4 cats. I load Jones dish up and give him an extra 1/4 - 1/3 serving just in case he feels like eating it. Jones free feeds as that is how he always ate and I am not home during the week to give out timed snacks. A feeder doesn't work as well...his fluffy sister would just eat it. I split his daily calorie requirements in half. For Jones it is 250 for his optimum weight and he gets 150 in his dish morning and night. I noticed by observation on the weekends that most of the time his meal is 2/3 gone by +4, then there is +6 snack and then a +9/+10 snack. There may be a few bites left over.

 

[Moms2Tigger&Blu]

Its amazing. It solved like 3 separate problems at once. Tigger is a grazer and was on special diet. Blu is a snarfer and had gained like 4 pounds eating all Tig's food - (eeek! Don't worry, he's now on a diet and has lost 1 1/2 pounds).