11/6 Onyx - Back on Insulin - dry food question

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Onyx & Klepto

Onyx & Klepto

Member Since 2013
Hi Folks.

So over the past year, Onyx has been on and OTJ 3 times. The only reason she's gone back on insulin, is because she goes through spells where she refuses to eat the YAZC, which kept her beautifully between 50 and 80. I've tried everything possible to keep her off dry food, but she wouldn't do ANY of it. So I'm one of the unlucky ones who is stuck with dry-food-only-sugar-kitty.

She gets fed-up with foods, so every month or so she rotates between YAZC, Evo and Natures Variety. I'm looking into Wysong options right now, but I'm wondering if anyone has learned of any other low carb dry foods? Onyx is suffering from pancreatitis right now, and doesn't want to eat ANY of the options, so I'm hoping something new might perk her interest. The vet is worried because she won't eat, so I'm getting desperate. She also had a bad reaction to metoclopramide last night, so she's not a happy camper today. They gave me Bupe to give her for the pain, but now I'm afraid to try it on her on an empty stomach.

anyway, if you've heard of other dry options, please let me know.

Hugs,
Brandi
 
Hi Brandi,

I'm not one of the experts on food here, just a mom of a kitty who likes variety, like Onyx. It makes things difficult because you're never sure why she's not eating, until you try a lot of different foods and find out it's partly because she's built up some aversions to what used to be her favorites. I keep hoping she'll forget! :lol:

We use wet food with Clare so I can't even help you on the dry food ideas. Just sending lots of warm wishes that Onyx will get hungry enough to try some of the earlier things again, or that someone else on the Board will have some ideas.

Have you tried PureBites freeze-dried treats? They're not a whole meal but Clare seems to like them, especially when they've been moistened a bit. She likes the salmon, chicken and turkey. They might help to get her interested in some other options.

Georgette and Clare
 
Hi Georgette & Clare.

Sadly, I've never been able to get her to even TRY freeze-dried treats. She's a little weirdo. My other cat loves them, of course. The ONLY thing she will eat on her own, besides dry food, is Catlax. She loves that stuff...lol. I guess if no one has found any new low carb food options outside of what she's already tried, I'll just go ahead and try Wysong. I'm just not sure which one to get. I emailed their tech support for a carb breakdown of their lower carb foods, so we'll see.

Thanks so much for your help and well wishes.

:smile:

Brandi & Onyx
 
Hi Brandi - sorry to hear that Onyx is back on the juice. She's a stubborn little one about her dry food isn't she. Sorry to hear about the pancreatitis. I presume you've read Marje's Primer on Pancreatitis. Have you tried any of the Stella and Chewy's? It's a freeze dried raw that is supposed to be like dry food. You might want to do a search on the Health forum for Wysong - I think I've seen mention there of people using it. ETA: Wysong Epigen is what I've seen referenced.

I wouldn't worry about giving bupe on an empty stomach. You are supposed to give it into the cheek pouch so that is is absorbed there, instead of something she swallows. Neko had a bout of being off food a couple of months ago and no problem with the bupe.
 
Hey Wendy!

Nice to see you again! And yes, she's a stubborn little thing. We have had one roller coaster of a year. Sometimes I think she LIKES being sick...lol. Or Maybe she just likes keeping me broke and out out of my mind...lol.

I just got off the phone with Wysong and they're going to send me a few samples of different Epigen foods, which are supposed to be around 6%, so hopefully she likes them. Fingers crossed. I hadn't heard of Stella and Chewy's, so I'll definitely check those out.

The vet didn't say anything about giving the Bupe in the cheek. Crap. I did give it to her a few hours ago...and only gave her half dose to see if she had a reaction to it. So far so good. She napping comfortably, so that's always good. And I will go read that Primer on Pancreatitis article. I hadn't seen that before.

And so you know, we STILL haven't figured out why she keeps pulling her hair out. She's completely bald on hear stomach and inner legs. So we go through the vomiting spells from the huge hairballs, literally everything other week. The vet sends me home with syringes of Cerenia and sub-Q fluids so I have it when it starts. But sadly, she's grown immune to the Cerenia. And now we know she can't take Metoclopramide, so the next time we're going to try Cisapride. He said he has some in transdermal to try, but I've had bad luck with the transdermals actually working. But we'll see.

How's Neko???
 
Neko is about the same. I can't remember if Neko was on Levemir when last you were here - but she's flatter on it which I like. She has had some progression on her arthritis, so she is getting two dose of bupe daily. I get it compounded chicken flavor, she loves her "chicken soup". I aim the bupe syringe between her gum and cheek at the corner of her mouth, aiming upwards, then squirt so it can be absorbed on the gum line. It does have some constipating effects, so I give Neko a little bit of babyfood squash with her meals to help out. The other day I was cooking Jack O Lantern and she started begging me for some of the cooked pumpkin. Now I've got tons of that to give her. :-D
 
Hi Brandi,
Sorry to hear that Onyx is not feeling well and not eating. We were at our vet's this morning and I had a conversation with one of the Techs about food. She feeds her cats Orijen, which is a vacuum-baged "dry"food and apparently has carefully sourced ingredients. You would have to call the company to see what the carb percentage is. Here's a link: http://www.orijen.ca/products/cat-food/

I see that their foods are on sale at Cheweys.

Good luck!
 
Wendy -

So glad you've found an insulin that works well for Neko. To be honest, I'm considering switching to something more fast-acting. With the frequency of Onyx's vomiting spells (which make her numbers fall through the floor), it's too scary for me when I go to work, never knowing what will happen during the day. We've had some close calls. Might be time to do some research on the best option.

I wish she'd eat foods like Neko. Would make life soooooooooooo much easier. And I'll try those dosing instructions when I give her next dose of Bupe. Thanks, girl! :)


Ella & Rusty -

Nice to see you again as well! Thanks so much for the food tips. I'm actually working on a Chewy's order right now, so I'll check out your suggestion. Thanks so much. :)
 
Brandi:

Have you tried baby food? It's not nutritionally complete as a steady diet but it may get you through the pancreatitis. If it's an option you've not already tried, you want Stage 2 of either Gerber or Beechnut -- these contain only a protein and broth (no veggies or anything like onion).
 
Hi Brandi!

Sorry to hear Onyx is giving you such a hard time on the food

Have you ever tried an appetite stimulant with Onyx? If she's nauseous from the pancreatitis, you wouldn't want to try it then, but if she's feeling OK otherwise, it might be something worth a try

China gets into these "moods" every once in awhile when she won't eat too, but a crumb of cypro (cyproheptadine) really helps. That's all it takes too! I can easily get 8 doses out of one 4mg. pill

Hope Onyx feels better soon!
 
perhaps you've already tried all the tricks, but just in case . . . have you tried pulverizing her favorite dry food and sprinkling it over the canned?

you might be able to get her to transition if you mixed canned with dry, gradually increasing the canned while decreasing the dry. If you want to go that route, you might just start with a teeny bit of canned mixed with the dry food. There are a lot more low-carb canned food options out there than there are low-carb dry food choices.

sorry you're having such a time right now. :YMHUG:
 
Hey, Chris!
Nice to see you again. No, I haven't tried app stimulants. The crazy thing is, although she's insanely picky about her food, she has an AWESOME appetite when she likes the food. She eats constantly. She's actually held her weight beautifully over the last year. But I'll talk to the vet about it.
Thanks for the suggestion.

Hi Julie!
Yes, I've tried every crazy trick in the book, including this one. To be honest, I think her biggest aversion to wet is the pungent smell. I think she has a really sensitive sniffer and it turns her off. The tiniest bit of it makes her run in the other room. My civie cat eats friskies pate daily, and if he comes near her after he eats, when his face/breath stinks, she swats and growls at him. No joke. She doesn't even like fish or tuna, and I've never had a cat who didn't. She my crazy, little weirdo...lol.

UPDATE: Good news is, she's actually been nibbling at her YAZC all afternoon. First time in MONTHS!!! I know it won't last, but I might as well enjoy the no insulin while I can, cuz once she goes back to the tiniest bit of carbs, she will shoot into the 400s within 24 hours. And she handled the 1/2 dose of Bupe well, which makes me happy. Fingers crossed, I might not have to give her subQ's tonight.

:-D
 
hi
if you have to use dry ( as i do sometimes with Tibbs) i bought Young Again Zero Carb dry.
i think it's really about 5% carb but still pretty low.
 
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