Again no food, overwhelmed

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Stephanie&Beans

Member Since 2012
Beans is again w/o food. After I got her home on Thursday she ate a bite and drank a little for me but nothing I thought was substansial. The vet started her on Lantus on Thursday while she was there, 2 units 2x daily.

On friday night my husband and I went in to learn how to inject her,I told them that she hadn't eaten all day so they gave her another shot of fluid. Beans hasn't eaten at all today again,my husband was with her while I went to work. He called the vet because he was concerned since she hasn't had anything to eat or drink really since Monday. They told him that until we get her regulated on the insulin it could take up to 2wks till she eats something! Won't she starve to death? She is just laying around and looks so sick, she is even starting to hide from us,something she has never done before :sad:

When I got home I tried a bunch of her favorites-treats,milk,ham lunchmeat,chicken pieces,Friskie Turkey and Cheese...nothing she just looks at me with a hopeless expression. I tried baby food in a syringe,she gagged same with when I tried to give her some water.

Should I just give up and hope that if and when she is hungry or thirsty she will eat or drink? Can she actually starve to death? I am so emotionally exhausted I really don't know how much more I can take :cry:
 
Has the vet tested her for ketones? It is not that normal that a diebetic cat is not hungry, they are usally starving and eating a lot. If your cat has ketones and hasent eaten since monday this can very fast be very dangerous. Call your vet asap an d ask.
 
A cat can not go that long without food. I'm surprised your vet said that she can go 2 weeks without eating.
Are you home testing her BGs?

I'm going to try to get some other eyes on this condo.

It sounds to me, like she may need to go to the vet, and hopefully a different vet than the one you saw earlier.

I'm going to try to send a PM to Karrie and Maverick. Karrie knows a lot about assist feeding a cat, and how important it is that Beans gets food into her.
 
Have you tried warming the food a little? Sprinkling it with parmesan cheese or crumbled freeze dried treats or other treats, maybe even crumbled dry food? Some people can get their cats to start eating on their own if they put some food on their finger and the cat will lick it off.

Have you been testing for ketones? If not, I would go to the pharmacy and get some ketone test strips and test her, or go to the vet and make sure he/she tests her for ketones.
 
Hi, Stephanie.

Both you and your husband's instincts are on target. A cat must eat. Food trumps pretty much everything. Generally, a cat should not go without eating for more than 24 hours because you start risking the development of hepatic lipidosis (or "fatty liver" problems). The longer your cat goes without eating, the greater the risk. Hepatic lipidosis is not trivial -- it can be an emergency and can cause liver failure.

Most diabetic cats have a ravenous appetite. Insulin helps glucose get into the cells where it is utilized. A diabetic cat is not able to get the glucose into the cells and instead, it's floating around in the blood and nutrition isn't getting where it's supposed to go. As a result, an unregulated diabetic will eat but remain hungry, malnourished, and lose weight. While it can take a couple of weeks for Beans to respond to insulin, going for 2 weeks without eating is dangerous.

There are a huge number of causes for a cat not eating. Causes can range from anything like a dental issue to pancreatitis to kidney problems to just feeling lousy. It's really important that you impress upon your vet that you are concerned or that you find a different vet. Fluids alone will not fix the problem in most cases. I hate to suggest the ER because it is expensive but if your vet is being insensitive to your concern and not looking for the cause of the problem, you need better veterinary care for Beans. I'd really encourage you to think about an ER visit so you can get this addressed. There are medications that can stimulate appetite but it would help if you knew what was causing the problem.

Karrie/Maverick has had the experience of a cat with hepatic lipidosis and is very knowledgeable about assist feeding. There is a Yahoo group that she recommends.
 
I would not let a cat miss more than three or four meals before assist feeding. The long the no eating lost the harder for the cat to recover. It take a little time to learn to syringe feed a kitty.
 
I am not testing for Keatones as she is not even using the litter box and she and her sister share so I wouldn't know who I'm testing.
I also can not afford an er visit or a test kit, I have spent over 600.00 this week alone between vet visits,tests,meds and food, so much for a mortgage payment this month. I have tried everything from gently trying to syringe feed,putting on my finger and smearing her nose,sprinkling with cheese and other treats she used to like to just plan forcing her mouth open to at least swallow some water.
I am at my wits end
 
Can you put Bean in a room by himself with a litter box and food and water for awhile so you can get a urine sample? Instead of cat litter, use fish tank gravel so that the urine doesn't get absorbed. You can then stick a urine test strip into the puddle of urine.

Contact Diabetic Cats In Need if you think you will need help with getting Bean the treatment he needs: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=29083 There are other organizations that you may be able to get financial help from: http://www.felinediabetes.com/vetbills.htm

You can buy a product called fFortiFlora to help encourage your cat to eat. The product contains animal digest which is irresistable to even sick cats. You can buy this from the vet or online.
 
Did the baby food thing,she kept gagging on me.
I do not have an extra litter box laying around or the cash to go buy one along with Ketone strips. I have borrowed enough money from friends and family this week I can't continue.
FortiFlora- all vets in the area are closed,those that do 24hr emergancy servive would charge me an emergancy fee just to make a purchase.
I will look into the finacials with DCIN if I can get her through the next few days,although I don't know if she will be ok long enough to get the help she needs.
I am really thinking I should just give up :sad: I don't know what you all do but it seems like I financialy can not keep doing this. Reading these posts and replies on this site help me but also make me feel bad because I don't have a quarter of the things on hand that I would need and I don't think she will survive long enough for me to catch up and take care of her.
 
Dear Stephanie,
honey, do the following immediately:

1) place a tiny bit of Light Karo syrup or honey on your index finger or pinkie, & rub it on her gums. Without testing, we don't know what her current blood glucose is, so this might raise it enough to give her a bit more energy to swallow water or food. It takes about 15 minutes to raise BG=blood glucose with the honey or Karo.

2) if you have a medicine dropper (but no food syringe), place a bit of well watered-down cat food in it, place it in but on the side of her mouth, and squeeze the bulb. Just a drop or two at a time. Wait a minute or two or longer & try it again. In an emergency, I used the curved so called 'eye & ear" medicine dropper on my kitty and even well-washed dropper from a baby Tylenol bottle. Do not give up on any one food: she might not take it now but might in an hour or two. So go back and use the same food.

3) Apply immediately to DCIN at link provided by squeems3. Just tell them you are totally overwhelmed (quite understandable) and beg them to evaluate your kitty and your financial situation. Do so IMMEDIATELY!!! I believe, this will make you feel a bit more in control of her care. Feel free to tell them that on July 6, I shall donate $100 to DCIN specifically meant for Beans' vet costs. No matter the outcome. I am saying this openly to encourage and give you some hope.

All my prayers, Sophie
 
STEHANIE! BIG HUG!

I'll PAY YOUR $7 FOR POSTAGE if that's the only thing keeping you from testing! I can even send you an extra meter that I have - a Beyer Contour but someone will have to help with strips as I've used them all. I UNDERSTAND trying to figure out where the next penny is coming from...if it weren't for DCIN and the wonderful people here, I doubt KT and I would still be doing this dance.

PRAYERS,
 
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