01/10, Piper, New to Forum and she’s not eating this morning

[chinatheressa]

Hello all,

I have recently found this forum after getting a diabetes diagnosis from our a vet in early December. Initially, we had started on 1 unit of insulin twice a day. We got a fructosamine test done which showed the insulin wasn’t doing enough so they upped her insulin to 2units twice a day. The vet has said so far he didn’t want us changing her diet yet or reading her glucose at home. I have been consistently feeding her a mix of grain free wet and dry, but for the last 2 days I gave her wet Fancy Feast mixed in instead of the usual Iams pate (just because we had ran out and I hadn’t gotten the chance to run out) Last night, I gave her the usual Iams Pate again mixed in, and about 3 hours after giving her the insulin, she threw up 3 times back to back. Now this morning, she is not eating at all. I am not sure whether to give her the insulin or not (I usually do at 7AM/PM EST), and she is smacking her lips as if she is nauseous. Please help!

 

[chinatheressa]

Also wanted to add she is on Lantus Pen!

 

[JaxBenji]

Hi - I'll preface by saying I'm not the most experienced person here but the board seems very quiet - with that said, if it was my cat, and he was not eating and I was not testing BG, I would skip this morning, get a glucometer and hypo kit supplies today and start taking BG readings. If you are in the US, walmart has the ReliOn Prime with affordable test strips.

Lantus is dosed on nadir (how low a kitty goes on a dose). I think there's a link on nauseous kitties - let me see if I can find it.

 

[JaxBenji]

Nausea Symptoms Checklist and Treatments

A simple thing to try is raising up food and water bowls a couple of inches to make it more comfortable to eat if the tummy's a bit iffy. More suggestions here (including suggestions on cat-friendly baby foods (no onion, no garlic!) that can often tempt a cat to eat when it won't touch regular foods):

Persuading Your Cat to Eat

Also, I think you should be checking for Ketones (buy urine strips at a pharmacy).

Is your vet open today? It kitty is not eating, may be worth a call there too.

Does Kitty have any other health issues? What were the conditions of her dx?

Just trying to think of info that will help others help your further...

 

[Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)]

This may be covered in one of the links posted above, but an anti nausea med is a must to have in your diabetic cat tool kit at home. Minnie is on ondansetron and I also have Cerenia since they work differently and can be given concurrently. I’d ask your vet for a prescription for either or both. Ondansetron is a human drug. Any chance anyone you know has it? I’m afraid your vet won’t be able to fill a prescription until tomorrow and diabetic cats need to eat. I really wish vets would always make sure owners of diabetic cats have anti nausea meds at hand.

In the meantime, can you try baby food or tuna? I also always have baby food and tuna and will try that to get some food in her so I don’t have to skip a shot. If you haven’t already, I’d run to the store and get the fancy feast she likes and anything else you think she may go for.

If you’re up for home testing we have lots of tips and it’s truly the best way to be in control and keep your kitty safe.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Increasing the dose from 1 to 2u is a huge increase. It's also huge given that you're to home testing. You do not need yo0ur vet's permission to home test. You can get a meter and strips at any pharmacy. You don't know if your cat's numbers have dropped too low given the dose increase. (We increase doses by 0.25u which is what is recommended for Lantus.) The problem, though is that the pens will only allow you to increase in one unit increments. We use a U100 insulin syringe and not the needle tip that comes with the pen. In most states, you need a prescription from your vet for syringes (You want U-100 3/10cc syringes with half unit markings.)

I'd encourage you to pick-up home testing supplies as soon as you can. Many people here use the Relion brand meter and strips from Walmart. They are the least expensive around.

I'd also encourage you to read the sticky notes at the top of the Lantus board. There's a ton of information on using Lantus, the supplies you're need, etc. in those notes.