3/4 - Gen, AMPS 216, +3 49, +6 53, PMPS 385

Allie & Gen

Member Since 2025
Yesterday

I just don't know what to do with this boy!

Yesterday he only ate about half of both of his meals, and today he's only eating tiny bits. I cannot figure this out. He'll eat churus and treats readily, and he keeps complaining to me and looking expectantly if I come near his feeding station. I almost think he's refusing to eat his regular food unless I keep adding more and more freeze-dried tuna.

Last night he kept dipping into the 40s and waking me up with alarms. Today we had a lime at +3 and he's hanging out in the low 50s, so the alarms are going off periodically while I try to get work done.

He was very good at the vet this morning when we went in for his fructosamine and first B12 shot/demo. He's actually a bit more alert and energetic than I've seen in awhile, which is great! And he's currently getting 4mg of ondansetron (with 50mg of gabapentin) twice a day, mirataz twice a day (half the recommended dose each time), and 8mg cerenia twice a day. He had the ondansetron a little before shot time/food, almost 5 hours ago at this point.

He keeps coming into my room and yelling at me, but I can't figure out what he wants. He doesn't do this (or hasn't done this in the past) when he's nauseous, so I don't think it's that. I refilled his water dispenser and checked the litterbox to see if he 's peeing and pooping normally (yes to the first; a little sparse on the second, but then, he's not eating as much). My best guess is that he wants cuddles, but I'm sitting at my desk.

To recap: it's not really possible for me to space AM meds and food out very much at all (I generally have about an hour to do everything I need to before leaving for work 4 days/week, including pilling, insulin, administering mirataz, and feeding him.) Once I'm gone, I'm gone for 8-9 hours, sometimes a little more. I could set an autofeeder to give him his food a bit later but that just seems like it might exacerbate the big dives. Nothing else can be automated, and I don't have anyone who can assist. (My roommate who sometimes is home during workdays is leaving for another extended international stint next week.)

The new food for the elimination diet arrives today, and I've been planning to start the food transition tonight. Once he's fully transitioned, I won't be able to bribe him with treats. And I am going to get fired if I can't do better at work, which requires fewer alarms and less lost sleep. I don't know what to do.

Sorry for being so panicky. :/ I hope you guys are having calmer Wednesdays than I am, and that all your kitties are surfing safely. ❤️
 
Just now, the Libre was telling me he was at 48, and since he was curled up in one of his beds right next to me, I took the opportunity to check his blood. (He was resistant and is very upset, but still better than years ago!) My glucometer read 61. Still pretty close, although a more comfortable number.

Of course, now the Libre has retroactively corrected itself and says he's been at 53 for the last half hour. 🤷‍♂️

I gave him a treat by way of apology, and crumbled another onto his food in hopes that he'd nibble a bit more. If he did, it wasn't much. He's sulking in the other room (near all that uneaten food).
 
Sometimes it's hard to manage everything. I completely understand. Since I was diagnosed with diabetes, I've barely had any jobs to make ends meet, and that's how we get by. I work, I collect, I stop working again, I work again; I've been doing this for almost four years. Don't get discouraged.;)
 
*huge hugs for both of you*

Glad Gen's energy level seems to be up at least! :-) So frustrating when they don't eat all of their food. Gen, stop being so picky about your food! Hopefully he loves the rabbit!
 
Sometimes it's hard to manage everything. I completely understand. Since I was diagnosed with diabetes, I've barely had any jobs to make ends meet, and that's how we get by. I work, I collect, I stop working again, I work again; I've been doing this for almost four years. Don't get discouraged.;)
I appreciate the encouragement, Xelo, but losing my job would be such a disaster for me. 😰 I am barely scraping by with steady employment, and developments in this country have made it so that it's very hard to find jobs for my skillset right now. A lot of the places I could normally look are on huge budget cuts because our federal government is not a fan of higher education, scientific advancement or social advocacy. The rise of generative AI technologies has led companies to cut back on the kinds of work I do, as well. It's really grim right now. And I live in one of the most expensive cities in the country--I think it's pretty high on the global list too. I'd be out of a place to live very quickly, nevermind unable to afford vet bills. I don't have much of a safety net.
 
Here's my beloved menace earlier, poking around the top of my cupboard-style desk and getting ready to try and descend on my laptop.

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Sorry that I have not been following the latest but what is the new food? ,
If a novel protein you likely can find treats that will work. If hydrolyzed RX food not the case but perhaps a novel protein never eaten before might be an option for treats if 100% protein. For my cats not eating well means nausea and ondansetron works wonders. You can give it 30 minutes before food and that seems to be within your timeframe. It generally works about 8 hours. Has a biopsy been scheduled and will it be endoscopy or surgical? I use cyproheptadine as an appetite stimulant. I know it is old school but works better for me than mirt. Just a sliver of a 4mg pill works. Sorry you are going through this.
 
Sorry that I have not been following the latest but what is the new food? ,
If a novel protein you likely can find treats that will work. If hydrolyzed RX food not the case but perhaps a novel protein never eaten before might be an option for treats if 100% protein. For my cats not eating well means nausea and ondansetron works wonders. You can give it 30 minutes before food and that seems to be within your timeframe. It generally works about 8 hours. Has a biopsy been scheduled and will it be endoscopy or surgical? I use cyproheptadine as an appetite stimulant. I know it is old school but works better for me than mirt. Just a sliver of a 4mg pill works. Sorry you are going through this.
Sorry, I should be more thorough: my vet's request (and that of the internal medicine specialist she works with) is that once i transition him to his approved trial diet, I not feed him any other product for 4-6 weeks. I am going to do it their way, so treats are off the table.

I already give ondansetron, as is discussed in my post; I recently increased the dosage, in fact. I am not generally able to guarantee a full 30-minute window before morning feedings, though I do my best. (I meant to say that I have roughly one hour not only to do Gen's various tasks, but also to dress and shower and do anything else that has to happen before I leave for the day.) Part of the reason I'm so worried is that Gen is on two anti-nausea meds (ondansetron and cerenia) and an appetite stimulant (mirataz), and this is still happening.

The biopsy hasn't been scheduled yet because the internal medicine unit at the local animal hospital requires a separate consultation appointment first. That appointment is scheduled for March 17. I don't know yet what kind of biopsy they'll be able to do.

I've never heard of cyproheptadine and will look into it!

Thanks very much, I appreciate the sympathy and the suggestions.
 
Because this is the kind of day I'm having, apparently, the Libre sensor just panicked and turned itself off a couple of days early. :banghead: I'm going to have to wait a couple hours to install a new one; I have to get some more work done. I'll keep an eye on him in the meantime, of course; he's currently curled up sleeping right next to me again.
 
I appreciate the encouragement, Xelo, but losing my job would be such a disaster for me. 😰 I am barely scraping by with steady employment, and developments in this country have made it so that it's very hard to find jobs for my skillset right now. A lot of the places I could normally look are on huge budget cuts because our federal government is not a fan of higher education, scientific advancement or social advocacy. The rise of generative AI technologies has led companies to cut back on the kinds of work I do, as well. It's really grim right now. And I live in one of the most expensive cities in the country--I think it's pretty high on the global list too. I'd be out of a place to live very quickly, nevermind unable to afford vet bills. I don't have much of a safety net.
I'm so sorry to hear about your situation. I've been through similar moments, bursting into tears because everything is so frustrating with our cats. When Sinver first developed diabetes, I felt like I was going crazy, but it's been three years now and I'm managing. You're right, you can't quit your job because of your situation there. I'm sending you my best wishes.:bighug::bighug:
 
Cyproheptadine is a human antihistamine widely used as an appetite stimulant many, many years ago before pet stimulants were invented and my lymphoma cat was on it. While hospitalized she became very vocal and hyper on mirtazapine . My vet suggested cyproheptadine and it really worked. I have used it since with Max and recently for Chai successfully. I like that it can be given once or twice a day. My cats just needed a sliver of it but you can give 1/4 . Sorry I was in a hurry earlier and did not read carefully .I wanted to let you know this. There is nothing wrong with using both Cerenia and ondansetron but if not working then if my cat I would look for alternative appetite stimulants . I have also used half a regular strength Zyrtec successfully which I learned about on Tanya’s crf. Mirataz did not work for Chai. She needed ondansetron every 7 or 8 hours. It works in less than 30 minutes for some cats.
 
Cyproheptadine is a human antihistamine widely used as an appetite stimulant many, many years ago before pet stimulants were invented and my lymphoma cat was on it. While hospitalized she became very vocal and hyper on mirtazapine . My vet suggested cyproheptadine and it really worked. I have used it since with Max and recently for Chai successfully. I like that it can be given once or twice a day. My cats just needed a sliver of it but you can give 1/4 . Sorry I was in a hurry earlier and did not read carefully .I wanted to let you know this. There is nothing wrong with using both Cerenia and ondansetron but if not working then if my cat I would look for alternative appetite stimulants . I have also used half a regular strength Zyrtec successfully which I learned about on Tanya’s crf. Mirataz did not work for Chai. She needed ondansetron every 7 or 8 hours. It works in less than 30 minutes for some cats.
Thanks! My vet and I are emailing about the issue, and I have asked about cyproheptadine, as well as about my dosages in general, and the intervals that are possible for me to give ondansetron (since 6 hours is impossible and 8 might not be consistently possible).
 
Well, got a new Libre installed, but ugh, now he's up in the pink. He's also generally been very fussy about every intervention I've needed to do today (blood testing, pilling, his shots, wiping his ears, every step of Libre installation). I feel bad for both of us.

On the bright side, initial response to the rabbit seems positive! I gave him a .75/.25 split, which I'll continue for a few days, and he went for the rabbit first. (He has, as has been common lately, barely touched the other food, and he's not finishing off the rabbit just yet either, but I'll take it.)

I also heard back from my vet. She advised against splitting up the dose of mirataz as likely ineffective, so I'm going to go back to the full dose once per day. She also suggested that we might need to be thinking about pain management, maybe even some oral buprenorphine, I don't love the idea of putting him on narcotics, but I do want him to be comfortable! I dunno. He doesn't seem like he's in a lot of pain ... but also, he's a cat. And the grimace scale, while a useful tool, clearly isn't everything.
 
Because this is the kind of day I'm having, apparently, the Libre sensor just panicked and turned itself off a couple of days early. :banghead: I'm going to have to wait a couple hours to install a new one; I have to get some more work done. I'll keep an eye on him in the meantime, of course; he's currently curled up sleeping right next to me again.
Ugh. What a day. I’m so sorry you had this happen too.
You’re doing such a wonderful job balancing it all and searching for answers for Gen.
I’m so glad your vet seems so helpful and interested in finding the best way to manage his care with you.
Hang in there Allie, Gen is so lucky to have you 💕🐈‍⬛😻💗
 
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