Is my cat allergic or intolerant of his new food?

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whiskysmom

whiskysmom

Member Since 2019
I have 2 male cats, around age 9-11, named Whisky and Brutus, who I adopted just under a year ago. Whisky was recently diagnosed with Diabetes (Pancreatitis and DKA) so he's been switched to a wet food only routine (Purina DM Dietetic wet) along with insulin. To keep things easier at home the vet suggested we also switch Brutus to wet food. We were giving them both the Purina DM, but given the high price for that food we've been trying some other options for Brutus. We also let Brutus have his bowl of dry food on occasion when we can supervise that Whisky won't get into it.

Up until now Brutus has almost never thrown up - maybe a handful of times in the year we've had him. But he's had about 3-4 pukes in the past month since he's been switching to wet food and I'm wondering if something doesn't agree with him. The sort of weird thing is, the pukes happen about 8 hours after his evening meal. Around 4am I get up to use the bathroom, and then when I crawl back into bed he just gets up and throws up. I can see a bit of a small hairball trying to come out but he often swallows it back down and most of what comes up is just brown liquid. Then he comes back to bed and goes to sleep again. Other than that he is completely fine behaviourally - eating, drinking, using the litter box normally, playing, and shows no signs of skin issues or anything.

In terms of health, he seems in line with a cat of his age, and the check ups at the vet have been routine. Brutus's previous owner did tell me that a few years ago when they were on vacation, Brutus refused to drink water for his cat sitter and she ended up having to take him to the vet as his kidneys started to have problems, but he recovered and has no required any ongoing treatment for it in years. So as far as we know he is in good health in line with his age.

I know this forum is intended for the diabetic cats, but everyone seems so knowledgeable I thought I'd ask since it's related to our diabetic cat household.

Thanks!
 
My cat has food intolerances and they are fairly hard to definitively diagnose. A few vets I asked insisted that she did not have food intolerances because she did not have skin problems, despite all the other issues I mentioned to them. But since switching her food, all the symptoms have stopped so :rolleyes:

If the vomiting only started after you switched Brutus to the DM then it’s possible that something in it is not agreeing with him. DM is not really a great food to begin with so I wouldn’t be surprised. The only way to “confirm” it is if you take the food away and the vomiting stops, and if you reintroduce the food and it starts back up again
 
Vomiting 8 hours after food and bringing up liquid sounds like an acid tummy to me.
Do you feed him More than twice a day?
Cats with empty tummies will vomit liquid....often clear frothy fluid.
I would try giving him a small meal before bed. If he already eats then, then I would invest in a timed feeder and get it to open around a couple of hours before the vomits.

With diabetic cats it is not necessary to feed them prescription foods. Any low carb wet food 10% or under is fine.
Here is the Canadian food list.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet..._tYNVRaoG_3Dfy64/htmlview?pli=1#gid=964479244

As he has recently had DKA, are you testing for ketones in the urine?
Following DKA it is always a good idea to test for ketones to give you a heads up if they return.
You just need to buy a bottle of Ketostix from a pharmacy and test the urine with one of the test strips and compare the colour against the colours on the side of the bottle exactly 15 seconds later. Anything above a trace and you need to talk to the vet.

It would be great if you could set up a spreadsheet and enter your data on it.
Here is a link to how to do it.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
 
Hello and welcome from another B.C. person. The Canadian food list is quite old. You can also look at the food list on the catinfo website. The majority of foods listed there are also available here. Look for something under 10% carbs. It is possible the pork in DM does not agree with him. What proteins was he eating before you switched to DM?
 
Thanks all for your help and suggestions!

And hello to my fellow BC person :-)

Brutus, our non-diabetic cat, is being fed wet food at mealtimes and has access to food at all times (a small bowl of his dry food left out for grazing - and luckily Whisky, the diabetic cat doesn't touch it!). But I will try giving him some wet food right before bed. When he's puked the past couple of times, he has literally woken up, jumped off the bed and immediately puked, and then been totally fine. But it's been about 5 days with no pukes so hopefully we're on the right track!

For Whisky, the diabetic cat, I am researching the cat food list and looking for alternative options to the Purina DM. Because his diagnosis is so new though and we're still working out his insulin dosage, I'm hesitant to make many changes to his food just yet in case it affects his BG. But from what I'm reading, there are definitely better and less expensive options out there, so I will stay on this track.

I've bought Keto Stix to test Whisky's urine, but haven't been able to successfully get a urine sample yet. But I will keep trying, and in the meantime am monitoring him very closely. And at our next vet appointment I will discuss home testing for BG. I think once we do home monitoring I'll feel more comfortable trying alternate food options.

Thanks for all your help and support!
 
Good news to update on... Brutus hasn't puked in 5 days (knock on wood!). We've got him consistently eating Fancy Feast Chicken Feast Pate, with a tiny bit of his dry food sprinkled on top, and he seems to be tolerating it well. I've also been giving him a small snack of the same food before bedtime so that his tummy doesn't get too empty during the night. Fingers crossed we found the right food and routine for him!
 
whiskysmom said:
Good news to update on... Brutus hasn't puked in 5 days (knock on wood!). We've got him consistently eating Fancy Feast Chicken Feast Pate, with a tiny bit of his dry food sprinkled on top, and he seems to be tolerating it well. I've also been giving him a small snack of the same food before bedtime so that his tummy doesn't get too empty during the night. Fingers crossed we found the right food and routine for him!
Click to expand...
That's so good to hear
 
I want to second Bron's suggestion to start testing at home. Without a test before you give an injection, you don't know if Whiskey's blood glucose is at 400 or 40. Home testing is the best way to insure that your kitty is in safe numbers. Otherwise, you are risking an avoidable episode of hypoglycemia. Human meters are fine to use with your cat. Many people here use the ReliOn meter from Walmart.
 
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