8/28 Tibbs amps 357 pmps 501 need help

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tibbs5

tibbs5

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i have read the article on getting cats off dry food but nothing is working for Tibbs. i make the wet food really soupy and all he does is lick the water. if i don't make it soupy, he won't even touch it. he gets a little bit of the meat in him but mostly he just leaves everything on the plate. i give him 3 different flavors at once in hopes he will eat something but he still just licks the watery "gravy" when i mush the pate with water. He had hepatic lipidosis when he was first diagnosed and i am so afraid that without eating any dry food and hardly eating any of the actual canned food that he will relapse. I don't know what to do. any suggestions.I keep testing for ketones and so far negative but if he doesn't really eat the wet food, will he go back to DKA? i am at a loss right now. any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks
 
If he absolutely won't come off dry then you find the lowest carb dry your budget and his plate will support and you shoot around the carb load. Young Again Zero Carbs is the best some cats have gone OTJ on it but it's pricey! I believe EVO makes a dry that's not too bad. I'm going to have to look at the list again been awhile since I've worried about dry food values. Lol

But for now you just keep raising the dose every three to five days until the numbers come down basically. There are always some exceptions to the rules.

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
thanks Mel. when i make the soupy mix and he licks all the water out of it, he is getting a small amount of the pate. is there any way to tell if it's enough to keep him from going dka?
 
The EVO dry is now 18% carbs - not sure if that is good option.

When I transitioned my foster kitty last year (who was stubbornly addicted to kitten chow) she also just licked the water out AT FIRST but I kept re-hydrating it and putting it back down and she kept coming back until the food was gone. Since she was getting some content with the water, I removed the dry food and just left the soaked canned food for the day. When I came home the dish was always empty. She was in high numbers at the time and appealing to her thirst was the key to her learning how to eat when she was thirsty. I first used the FF pates but then switched to the Wellness canned, Turkey, chicken and liver. She liked that food better than the FF and it is really good to soak.

Keep trying. Even if he is just licking the water, he is getting some of the contents. The good thing is that he is drinking it - he is willing to stick his tongue in it. That's the first step. Without the dry offering, the hydrated canned food is his only option and as long as he is still willing to lick it then I would say you have a very good start. If you want a longer transition, you could offer only a few kernels of the dry next to the canned and then lessen the dry offering over a slower period of time as he eats more of the other.

To this day I have an older civvie who walks away when she has licked out all of the water but comes back and finishes it when it is re-hydrated. I also put Fortaflora on top which reminds her of the taste of dry food. That really helps.
 
thanks Robin - i will try that. I am so afraid of him going back into dka. your description sounds exactly like what he is doing so that's good. maybe he will be able to get of it it completely. thanks
 
I have a dry food addict, but putting him on meal-feeding instead of free-feeding seems to be getting him to eat more wet food. Does Tibbs have access to dry at all times? If so, maybe consider switching him to dry meal-feeding.
 
Hi Nadine,
I'm so sorry to hear about Tibbsy. I had a dry food addict too and when I had to transition him to wet, I had bought a big bag of Young Again Zero Carb dry food (the forum members say in actuality it is about 5% carb but that's about as good as it gets for dry, I suppose.) I have a small amount of the Young Again dry kibbles left and my cat LOVED it. So---if you want, before you invest the $49 a bag, you could PM me your address and I could send you a packet to try Tibbs on in the difficult-feeding phase you're going through. Just a thought... Don't feel obligated if you don't think this is a good idea for Tibbsy, just thought I'd offer :smile: Hope your babe gets better soon!

Christi
 
By the way, Nadine, there IS hope for Tibbs. When Noodle, the carb addict was being transitioned, he would actually try to get into the bag of DOG food we kept in the garage to feed the raccoons. He could smell it through the door and try to slip out and get some. So we started storing it in a Rubbermaid container :shock: But he transitioned great on the Young Again and now is on all wet throughout the day. He might not like it but unless he learns to open the garage door and the Rubbermaid, it's what he's stuck with ;-)

Christi
 
Hmmm. Sounds like I need to check into Young Again for my Lucky, too. Next month, though, which thankfully is almost here....
 
Hi Matya13,
I should have posted this for Nadine and everyone to see. If you go to the Young Again website and either send them an email or phone them, they will send you samples (a couple of small packets) plus some brochures on their products, including one specifically on Feline Diabetes. I think, if I remember right, that they send you a promo code for $5 off if you decide to buy a bag. Their address is
https://www.youngagainpetfood.com/ and phone # is 800-311-6646. Believe me, I know canned food is best but in a dire situation this is a possible transitioning option.

Christi
P.S. Your kitty's pic is so adorable with those crossed paws--like she is really "on" for the camera. Love it!
 
Thanks, Christi! I actually did some board trolling and found out about the possibility of a sample, so I used their "contact us" form earlier today.

Sunny really is a gorgeous kitty - and she sits like that a lot!
 
thank you SO MUCH everyone for all your great suggestions. i have been going crazy trying to figure out what to do for Tibbsy and i should have known just to ask you folks and you have given me so many things to try. thanks Christi 4 offering to send me some zero carb. i actually did what you suggested and went on their website to get sample. great idea. i am so excited that there is something i can do to help him transition. i feel so much better & hopeful now that i can do something for my baby . i have been stressing so much because he won't eat the wet food , just licks the water. i am so afraid he will get dka again but this gives me something else to try. thank you SO MUCH. xoxoxoxoxox
 
I have the young again in my house. I have 12 cats here and a few will not eat wet food. My Buttons was at vets 2 weeks ago., 501 at diagnosis. Never went DKA but she was over 1000+ in urine. She came home at around 200 they don't test real accurate at vets and only do it once a day. I found this site before I got her home. She was sent home give PZI 3 am 3 pm. Royal Canin dry fed there (38% carbs) she is now on 1 unit am and pm runs about 200-275 she seems sensative to carbs. So the young again doesn't really influence her numbers. Not there yet but feel better she is not getting a lot of insulin.just have to hit the right combination. Will be happy to just get her close to normal. I stressed a lot to. Everyone here is great. My Buttons is only 3 very young so I pray her pancreas will heal in time.
 
hi
i hope button's will heal & maybe go into remission. she is so young , maybe her pancreas WILL heal ! we're sending you healing & head butts. :-D hope she gets better fast. i am going to try the young again. hope it works. i have 11 cats so i know what you go through. good luck with ur little buttons. please keep posting so we can see how she is doing.
 
Has been crazy here hope to get her spreadsheet on my thread, Buttons diabetic journey. She is a grazer, they all love the young again. As for price, I know its expensive, but they eat less. I have 12 cats here and the bag is still 3/4 full after4 days. I was feeding "wheat free" was 45.00 for 15 lbs. I'm just a crazy cat lady and I'm on a mission to prove the vets wrong the 3 I use say u cannot control this with diet. And that is one of the reasons, cost,and the rigirous testing. When Buttons went this week she was pissed at first that I went from 3/3 to 1/1, until she saw my notes and the numbers. Remember if we can get our cats regulated, they make very little money. Buttons was 511 2 weeks ago and with the diet she is now running in the 200-300 range not great but getting there :) have you tried roasted poultry buttons seems to prefer those foods.
 
No its human turkey and chicken. I roast it for the cats lol. Will do anything to help all the kids here. She likes that better than the canned.
 
The only problem with feeding roasted poultry as a steady diet is that it doesn't contain all the nutrition a cat needs. Especially taurine. Now Dr Lisa does have a recipe for a raw diet that is nutritional complete.

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
Went to pet smart with the list bought pro plan, purina on, and wellness. They all seem to like those. Guess its hit or miss. I got the young again as I have 1 or 2 that wont eat wet no matter what kind. Luckily Buttons likes the new kinds, she wont eat Fancy Feast. Will have to donate it....
 
Can we agree to drop this thread and only post on a new one? thanks. I keep thinking Tibbs is in trouble, but its been 2 weeks since then!
 
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