10/28 Clare AMPS 286 More Calories for Clare?

[Georgette and Clare]

Good evening, Lantus Land neighbors!

We're sending out friendship and healing thoughts to our neighbors, kitties and beans, this evening. We hope you're having a good Caturday.

Yesterday's Condo

Today's News:

AMPS 286
+2 360

Clare's bouncing again this AM, and this afternoon she began to mew again to go out: something she hasn't done for some time. We got a baby scale and I weighed her today - she's under 6 lbs, if the scale is accurate. Her ideal weight is 7+ lbs according to the vet.

We need to get more calories into our cat! She's diabetic of course, and in the early stages of CKD, so we need some advice.

She's a good eater. I was helping her eat more the last few days, fluffing up her food so that she could eat it more easily. She's been wanting Nature's Variety Instinct - Chicken almost exclusively for the last few weeks. I was worried that maybe my constant encouragement was contributing toward her high BG numbers, since when we were gone earlier this month the cat sitters fed her on a schedule and she came down in her BGs a lot more than we expected.

Today she decided 9 Lives Super Supper was what she wanted. She hasn't liked that for awhile but I'm happy she likes to eat. I'm not sure what to do and could really use some advice.

Thanks,

Georgette and Clare

 

[carfurby (GA)]

I'm not sure on getting Clare to get more calories. How many times do you feed her? Maybe you could add a snack somewhere if she'll eat it.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Dr. Lisa has a formula for approximating the number of calories per day that your kitty should eat:

Required calories per day = [13.6 X optimal lean body weight in pounds] + 70​

This calculated to 166 calories if Clare's weight should be 70 pounds. This is an approximation. If you use this as a guide and Clare isn't gaining weight, then give her more calories.

If you are concerned about kidney issues, you will want to keep an eye on the amount of phosphorus in Clare's food. I'm going to assume that you've seen Tanya's site which is the equivalent of FDMB for kitties with renal issues. Dr. Lisa's food charts list the amount of phosphorus in most canned foods.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Do you know how many calories a day Clare is getting now? The 9 Lives Super Supper is only 165 calories/can where the Instinct Chicken is 202. Both are also a little higher in phosphorus than you'd like for a early stage CKD kitty. You want something closer to 1% on a dry matter basis. Check out Tanya's site on Calorie Needs and Weight Issues to figure out how many calories per day Clare should be eating. Tess's Ann has a shortcut list on her SS of low carb/low phos foods with calorie values.

 

[Ann & Tess GA]

See if she will go for foods that are about 40 calories and ounce, Wellness, Dave's or Wild Calling. Do you think she would eat raw? NV raw is 50 calories and ounce and so is SmallBatch, both are low Phos. Bravo raw is really high in phos though.

 

[Georgette and Clare]

Re: 10/28 Clare AMPS 286;PMPS 394 More Calories and Insulin

Thanks for your thoughts, Carla, Sienne, Wendy and Ann,

In order to help with her dives and bounces, we're now feeding her 2 oz. at PS, then free-feeding her after +2. Because we're free-feeding her, it's hard to know how much she's actually eating. She grazes on and off during the day.

Her weight was stable or increasing until just a month ago (since our last weighing at the vet's) and has been gradually declining only lately. It might be partly due to the weather and less activity.

I've read a lot now (especially on Dr. Lisa's site) about diets for diabetes and CKD, and except for restricting carbs and phosphorous, I'm not sure what else needs to be done except to find something that she'll want to eat.

It sounds like maybe a fish oil supplement might be a good idea? Has anyone tried Astro's CRF Oil or Protein Powder?

Also, shall we increase Clare's insulin? She's been on this dose for 6 cycles and it hasn't been doing much for her.

Thanks,

Georgette and Clare

 

[Marje and Gracie]

I was afraid Clare was not going to like just a fattening of her dose but she certainly got low on the 0.5u. she definitely looks like she needs to go back to 0.5u. Hopefully, she will not sink back into the 30s on it. I think it was good to be cautious instead of take her right back to the dose that got her so low.

When our CKD kitty, Gus, was getting thin, our vet had us give him coconut oil. I tried to give it to Gracie, too, and while it didn't affect her BG, it caused her triglycerides to go up. It did not affect Gus's triglycerides and I know others used (use) it without any effect to the triglycerides. Gus and Gracie loved it and it did help Gus with his weight for a while.

What I would suggest is you determine the amount of calories she needs per day and put it in a covered glass dish (we use small pyrex glass dishes). Then make sure she eats half of it in the daytime cycle and half in the evening. We don't free feed Gracie...she eats on a schedule. But any time Tobey, our civvie, walks through the kitchen area, we give him a couple tsps of his food throughout the day and then the evening.

I never used Astro's but Tanya's does discuss it. I hope you can get some weight on your little bitty girl.