Advice for weight gain?

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equine99

Member Since 2012
My diabetic cat snowflake has been relatively well regulated for the past 6-ish months (down to 0.5u Lantus twice a day, has been diabetic for a year and a half), but has continued to slowly lose weight, and is down to a scary 4.7lbs as of this morning (has always been a small cat, but she's really skin an bones now). I'm having such a hard time getting her to eat more. I've recently upped my efforts and have been trying different foods and adding salmon oil to her meals, but I always come home to uneaten food, and wake up to uneaten food. Currently, I'm mixing ff classics with Hills a/d (I hate feeding it, but she seems to like it and it's not too offensive carb-wise). Do any of you have advice on getting a super skinny cat who has constant access to food to eat more? I hate throwing away all of this uneaten food, but I continue to give it hoping she'll one day eat more. I've also tried adding a little cat nip to help increase appetite, but it hasn't done much. Is it worth feeding slightly carbier foods that she'll eat more of and losing some of the diabetic regulation to get her to take in more calories?

Would really appreciate some input on this, as I'm at a loss, and just putting out more food has done nothing.
 
I'm sorry. I don't really have any advice since I'm in a similar boat. My Cosmo has been diet controlled for several years and has recently lost a significant amount of weight. Lately he hasn't been eating more than a few licks of watered down FF.

I've been looking for advice as well. A vet suggested baby food but I haven't tried that yet but I'm going to buy some tomorrow.
My thinking is I'd rather him eat anything even if it's not the best thing for his diabetes because it's better than not eating anything at all. He's getting so weak that I think it is worth the risk.

I'd love to hear opinions from other people, though.
 
Have you taken your kitties to the vet? Get full bloodwork done.

Weight loss can occur for many reasons: Hyperthyroid and cancer are two that have struck my household

VET VET VET!
 
I have a few thoughts

1. She isnt regulated well enough - Are you home testing? If she is unregulated then she might continue to lose weight. If her blood sugar is high sometimes they dont feel like eating. How do you define "relatively well regulated"?
2. I would take her to the vet for a checkup anyway
3. How are her poops? Smelly? Puffy? large? There is a condition called exocrine pancreatic insufficincy that some diabetic cats get that means they cant gain weight. Its easily solved with enzymes added to the food.

Wendy
 
Feed frequent meals of high calorie density foods - ex kitten foods, which are designed for growth and development.

Rule out medical problems - teeth/mouth pain issues may reduce food consumption. I had one kitty, who during a dental, was found to have a growth on her tongue. Upon removal, it was benign... and thyroid tissue. Removing it may have prevented hyperthyroidism.

Check output - is it tootsie roll consistency? or is it pudding poo? Small, hard, rocks?
The latter 2 indicate possible digestive issues such as the exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (note: the test requires fasting!!!), or problems with motility (blockage? constipation? megacolon?)
 
Thanks for all of your comments/suggestions.

She just had her teeth cleaned back in april (had one extraction but everything else looked good), so I don't think it's a dental issue. By "relatively well regulated" I mean that she's usually in the low 200's at shot time, but occasionally she'll be low 100's, so I'll skip a shot, which usually sends her up to 400's for the next shot, and then it's back into 200's for a while. Occasionally we'll be in the 500's but that's only once in a while. I think she probably needs a very slightly lower dose because of the occasional low 100's, but I'm already only giving her 0.5 units of lantus, which is a u-100 insulin, and I just can't imagine being able to give less than 0.5 units in a consistent way.

I have a hard time telling which poop is hers, since she shares a litterbox with her sister. Usually there's poop every other day, occasionally with poop twice in one day. Sometimes it's small little balls, but usually it's "tootsie roll" like. Not usually smelly. It used to be a little on the dry side, but since i've been adding salmon oil to their food, it's gotten darker and healthier looking (probably easier to pass, too).

Also, this isn't sudden onset weight loss, she's just been slowly continuing to lose weight for the last year and a half (weight loss is why I originally brought her in, and discovered she was diabetic). She's lost about 3.5 pounds in total over that time period, going from a plump 8ish now down to 4.5ish.

I've definitely contemplated kitten food, but am worried that it has too high of carb content. Is it worth the trade off of maybe having her diabetes less well regulated? I work full time, so I can't be there to constantly give her more food, but I do have one of those automatic feeders I could set up.
 
There are several "Kitten" varieties on the approved food lists that are still under 10% carbs

You also might want to try feeding small meals more often..just a teaspoon or 2 per meal and see if you end up getting more in her over the day...Like 2 1/2 cans instead of 2 cans

It also looks like she's really not regulated, so her body is still burning more calories than it takes in just because of the diabetes. A 100 number isn't necessarily a "skip" number, although when first starting this dance, we recommend 200 as a "no shot and ask for help" number. Eventually, once you learn how your cat reacts to food and insulin, you'll be more and more comfortable giving shots at lower numbers too. The goal is to get them into the healing numbers 50-150 which gives their pancreas a chance to heal

I agree the vet trip should be next...make sure there's nothing else going on, and then deal with the numbers to bring her down safely...and as she becomes more regulated, her body will be able to use the nutrients it's given much better, and the weight should come back up
 
Fancy Feast Kitten Turkey and Giblets is safe.

Since you"ve been on Lantus for several months now, if you have data showing it is safe, you may lower the no shot level downward. In other words, if you've given insulin at 150 mg/dL and the nadir was above 50 mg/dL each time you did that, then 150 mg/dL could be your no shot level. Or, slown take your no shot down by 10 mg/dL each week until you get to 150 mg/dL.

If you don't have midcycle data like that, on the next day you are able to do serial checks and have a pre-shot number between 150 and 200, test out what happens with an every 2 hour curve. Each day you can do that helps refine your dosing. A few days of testing like that on the same dose and you can evaluate the nadir for dose adjustments.

Do be prepared for surprises that may require medium or high carb food to steer the numbers - ie, fast drop, numbers in the 50s may need a teaspoon of medium carb food and periodic rechecking for safety.
 
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