Beth & Atlas
Member Since 2010
Good Morning Lantus Land!
Very long time .... last known condo.
Busy schedules, wonky schedules, I am surprised I have kept up with myself! A lot is happening and some days...thankfully...are filled with blissful snuggles, purrs and cat naps.
Atlas has been on another food strike for the past week or so. This always causes me great frustration and consternation as the raw diet treats his IBD so very well. BUT...he has to eat it for it to work!
Our good Dr. N has been monitoring Atlas with me ever since April and getting the link to his BG stats. Yesterday ...Gary was in for his annual wellness checkup (another whole story there) Dr. N brought up "fuzz-butts" food issues. Dr. N wanted to know about Attie's poor appetite lately, the runny poo....and maybe why I haven't dragged Atlas to the vet yet again! As I explained my viewpoint that the runny poo is IMHO...directly related to efforts to get Attie to eat ...the food that is good for him...we discussed several concerns with IBD. Attie had been eating Nature's Variety Raw Duck pretty consistiently, but his stoole was soft, he's been outright refusing the raw rabbit :sad: , even with all the tried and true temptations.
I told Dr. N ...Attie may be coming in next week to see him if we don't get over this food strike. Reminded him we tried NINE different therapies with Dr. Topham 2 years ago and to have Attie's system rejecting and Attie being THIS finicky this tme I may just have to try and manage him on the dreaded steroids again. Dr. N, was not a fan of this and while we still may end up there....he is very much of the opinion in all feline cases....less is more.
Attie has been placed on a hydrolyzed diet. There are lots of upsides to doing this, if it works, long-term. Removing the constant pain/inflammation of the intestines can go a long way in getting Attie's numbers to stabilize. Reduce the chances of intestinal lymphoma that can be triggered by poorly managed IBD, and of course no stinky runny poo! And short-term? Dr. N views getting the IBD under control and stabilized key. What good is it to tirgger Attie's IBD in an effort to get him to eat? As he put it...what good is any prescribed diet if the cat won't eat it consistently?
Now, how is this going to work if he won't eat it...like all his other good for him fuds? Well, this diet is only available right now in ...kibble. :roll: As Dr. N put it....if the diet is managed and Attie will eat consistently....we can better manage the insulin needs long-term.
As of last night, Attie started his new hydrolyzed diet, we upped his insulin to 1.5u and suspect we'll go higher over the course of the next week. I expect to settle in around 3 or 4 units. Dr. N doesn't think so or we won't hold at that high of a dose for long, if Attie's IBD responds well to the diet change.
Our only other choice is to go back to steroids ...
Attie's initial response to seeing me put kibble in his bowl last night? His eyes went wide open in shock and I don't think I've ever heard him purr as loudly as he did, while eating his first permitted bowl of kibble in over 2 years. If I am not mistaken it looked like his jaw hit the floor too.
This morning...his poo is semi-formed.
Very long time .... last known condo.
Busy schedules, wonky schedules, I am surprised I have kept up with myself! A lot is happening and some days...thankfully...are filled with blissful snuggles, purrs and cat naps.
Atlas has been on another food strike for the past week or so. This always causes me great frustration and consternation as the raw diet treats his IBD so very well. BUT...he has to eat it for it to work!
Our good Dr. N has been monitoring Atlas with me ever since April and getting the link to his BG stats. Yesterday ...Gary was in for his annual wellness checkup (another whole story there) Dr. N brought up "fuzz-butts" food issues. Dr. N wanted to know about Attie's poor appetite lately, the runny poo....and maybe why I haven't dragged Atlas to the vet yet again! As I explained my viewpoint that the runny poo is IMHO...directly related to efforts to get Attie to eat ...the food that is good for him...we discussed several concerns with IBD. Attie had been eating Nature's Variety Raw Duck pretty consistiently, but his stoole was soft, he's been outright refusing the raw rabbit :sad: , even with all the tried and true temptations.
I told Dr. N ...Attie may be coming in next week to see him if we don't get over this food strike. Reminded him we tried NINE different therapies with Dr. Topham 2 years ago and to have Attie's system rejecting and Attie being THIS finicky this tme I may just have to try and manage him on the dreaded steroids again. Dr. N, was not a fan of this and while we still may end up there....he is very much of the opinion in all feline cases....less is more.
Attie has been placed on a hydrolyzed diet. There are lots of upsides to doing this, if it works, long-term. Removing the constant pain/inflammation of the intestines can go a long way in getting Attie's numbers to stabilize. Reduce the chances of intestinal lymphoma that can be triggered by poorly managed IBD, and of course no stinky runny poo! And short-term? Dr. N views getting the IBD under control and stabilized key. What good is it to tirgger Attie's IBD in an effort to get him to eat? As he put it...what good is any prescribed diet if the cat won't eat it consistently?
Now, how is this going to work if he won't eat it...like all his other good for him fuds? Well, this diet is only available right now in ...kibble. :roll: As Dr. N put it....if the diet is managed and Attie will eat consistently....we can better manage the insulin needs long-term.
As of last night, Attie started his new hydrolyzed diet, we upped his insulin to 1.5u and suspect we'll go higher over the course of the next week. I expect to settle in around 3 or 4 units. Dr. N doesn't think so or we won't hold at that high of a dose for long, if Attie's IBD responds well to the diet change.
Our only other choice is to go back to steroids ...
Attie's initial response to seeing me put kibble in his bowl last night? His eyes went wide open in shock and I don't think I've ever heard him purr as loudly as he did, while eating his first permitted bowl of kibble in over 2 years. If I am not mistaken it looked like his jaw hit the floor too.
This morning...his poo is semi-formed.
