? Always starving; when will he adjust?

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buddhasmom

Member Since 2016
Kitty has been on insulin for about 2 weeks. I know I'm probably being impatient, but when will he stop starving & crying for food every 3 hours? It's like I have a newborn child, lol. I feel really bad for him though. The last BG readings I did showed normal ranges. I don't know if he's just starving because of his severe IBD, or if it's still because of the diabetes. He has lost a lot of weight due to both conditions. He's only 5.5 lbs, but he used to be 12 lbs at his prime. He is 14 yrs old. I've been feeding him enough for a 9 lb cat, but it all just goes right through him. I feel really bad for him, but not sure what else I can do. He's on Budesonide to help w/ IBD. His diet is Nature's Variety canned Venison only. He gets human grade probiotics & pancreatic enzymes in his food daily too.
 
Until his blood glucose is under better control, he's going to need to eat more....You might consider getting an autofeeder that you can program to open and offer him food throughout the day (and night!)

It will REALLY help us to help you and Buddha if you'll start keeping track of your test results in our spreadsheet as well as fill out some information in your signature so we don't have to keep asking the same questions over and over again.

To fill out your signature, just click on your user name (top right of the page) and there's a drop down menu with "Signature" listed. Choose that and a new box will pop up. In that box put stuff like your name/cats name, age, sex, date of diagnosis, type of insulin, type of meter, type of food and any other known or past health problems....some of us also add a general location where we live too

Then when you have your spreadsheet set up, the link to it goes in your signature too so that when you post, everyone can see how he's been doing

If you look directly below my comments, you'll see an example of the information in our signature.

Here are Instructions on getting the FDMB Spreadsheet. It really is a necessary "tool" to help figure out what's going on with your sweet cat!
 
buddhasmom said:
Kitty has been on insulin for about 2 weeks. I know I'm probably being impatient, but when will he stop starving & crying for food every 3 hours? It's like I have a newborn child, lol. I feel really bad for him though. The last BG readings I did showed normal ranges. I don't know if he's just starving because of his severe IBD, or if it's still because of the diabetes. He has lost a lot of weight due to both conditions. He's only 5.5 lbs, but he used to be 12 lbs at his prime. He is 14 yrs old. I've been feeding him enough for a 9 lb cat, but it all just goes right through him. I feel really bad for him, but not sure what else I can do. He's on Budesonide to help w/ IBD. His diet is Nature's Variety canned Venison only. He gets human grade probiotics & pancreatic enzymes in his food daily too.
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which insulin are you using? i know while my cat was on vetinsulin he was always starving but i noticed this week its not as bad. its been about 3 weeks before the change happened and this week on lantus.
 
If he is hungry at 3hrs, feed him. How often are you feeding? Some of mine we did end up feeding 8 times a day order to get regulated. How much are you feeding? With ChrisFarley we also switched to a lower calorie low carb food in order to be able to feed a higher quantity in each feeding. He was overweight, it sounds like your kitty is very underweight and would be just fine with extra calories. Two of my most recent fosters were very underweight and we fed 400-425 calories a day to them until the reached a better body weight, twice what they needed at their ideal body weights. Deandra learned to eat when she was hungry and not be so crazy. Lincoln is getting better. Still loves to eat, but isn't so crazed and doesn't try to eat the plate anymore.

They usually do get better as they get healthier. Cecil was food CRAZY when we brought him home, found him twice with his head in the garbage disposal licking it out. Now he is a fussy eater.
 
Melanie and Smokey said:
If he is hungry at 3hrs, feed him. How often are you feeding? Some of mine we did end up feeding 8 times a day order to get regulated. How much are you feeding? With ChrisFarley we also switched to a lower calorie low carb food in order to be able to feed a higher quantity in each feeding. He was overweight, it sounds like your kitty is very underweight and would be just fine with extra calories. Two of my most recent fosters were very underweight and we fed 400-425 calories a day to them until the reached a better body weight, twice what they needed at their ideal body weights. Deandra learned to eat when she was hungry and not be so crazy. Lincoln is getting better. Still loves to eat, but isn't so crazed and doesn't try to eat the plate anymore.

They usually do get better as they get healthier. Cecil was food CRAZY when we brought him home, found him twice with his head in the garbage disposal licking it out. Now he is a fussy eater.
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what foods were you feeding for them to gain weight?
 
scoobydoox said:
what foods were you feeding for them to gain weight?
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I always start my fosters with Wellness since it will be a quality low carb food that is easy for a new owner to find. It is also pretty calorie dense so they gain well on it. Lincoln is eating Chicken and Turkey Wellness. Deandra couldn't eat foods with Chicken as its main ingredient so she did eat some Duck EVO along with Turkey Wellness and Beef FF. They both are relatively young cats so that did help with their being able to gain weight.

Lil' D went from 6.1 to about 8.3lbs in the 2 months we cared for her. She's a tiny cat so she should weigh around that 8 lbs I think.
Lincoln has went from 6lbs 7oz when we got him (up 5oz from intake) to 11lbs 10oz the last time I had him on a scale, could have tipped over 12 now. He should probably weigh around 12-14lbs depending on how he wears it.

Another one good for gaining weight is Wellness Core. It is pretty rich so some cats can't stomach it. Cecil was on that when we brought him home. He was gaining SO fast, we switched him to slow him down. He went from 9.7lbs (up from his low of 7-something in the shelter) to 13+ after we started to foster him. He is such a stocky little boy, 13.5 lbs is good for him.
 
I would try feeding more. My MurrFee had IBD or similal as evidenced by ultrasound showing thickening of the small intestines and had loose bowel movements. He ate about 2 1/4 5.5 oz can daily. He was also on budesonide
 
When they have high BS they tend to eat more. And they need to because they aren't processing the food. I would let him eat. Once you start getting control, he will start to leave some then you can start decreasing amount if you have to.
 
Insulin is the hunger hormone. He's going to feel starving until he's well regulated and you have a firm grip on his blood sugar. Diego woke me up at 5am this morning screaming for food because he isn't well regulated yet. It is just like waking up in the middle of the night with a baby, except that my baby pukes if his stomach is empty for more than 4 or 5 hours. What a lot of people do is feed several smalls meals throughout the day via an autofeeder
 
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