Cat acting sluggish, isn't eating as much

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ajravanos

Member Since 2014
Hi there.
My cat, Binx, is diabetic & is on the Purina DM dry food. Two days ago, when I woke up for work, we went through our regular routine: I got out of bed, he meowed profusely until I put food in his bowl. Usually, when I come home from work, he is sitting by the door, ready to be fed again. However, when I got home on Saturday, he was laying under the barstool, & didn't ask for food once. I filled his bowl anyway, & he eventually ate most of it. When I got up the next morning, his bowl was almost empty, but still had a little food at the bottom (he usually clears his bowl clean). Today is Monday, this has been going on since Saturday evening. I only had to fill his bowl once on Sunday, & as of right now, there is still a tiny bit in there.

I took Binx to the vet around Christmas, & everything came back normal for him. He was on 3 units of insulin, but because his weight had dropped & I'm not able to get into the vet until Wednesday, I took him off of his shots because I was told overdoing his insulin if he was losing weight/acting normal could be harmful to him. Now that he is acting sluggish, I am afraid I made a big mistake.

He sits under the barstool a lot (a place where I have never seen him sit before), but still responds wide-eyed to his name. I'm not sure what's going on or what I need to do. Any insight would be helpful. Thank you
 
When did you stop the insulin?
It could be that his BG are too high and is is going tin diabetic ketoacidosis, which is very bad. I would very quickly go to a pharmacy and get dipsticks that measure ketones in the urine. You can get dipsticks that only measure ketones and you can get ones that measure both ketones and glucose in the urine.
If ketones are found the go to vet ASP.
Almost all of us here measure our kitties' blood sugar using a human BG meter. It helps determine the right insulin dose and helps troubleshooting problems like y have.
 
By not giving any insulin, he may be breaking down fat for calories, building up ketones. Too many can lead to diabetic ketoacidosis, which can be fatal. For 2 of 3 kinds of ketones, you may detect a fruity odor or a nail polish remover odor on his breath . If you smell these, get to the vet now.

If he ever does not eat for 2 or more days, he can develop hepatic lipidosis, which also can be fatal.

I would take him to a vet now.

If you choose to keep him at home, please begin home blood glucose testing asap, using an inexpensive human glucometer like the WalMart ReliOn Confirm, Confirm Micro, or Prime which are inexpensive and have inexpensive test strips. Pick up some 26-28 gauge lancets to prick the ear edge for a blood droplet. We can teach you how.
 
Thank you both very much for your input. His health kept me up all night, so I called his vet & she moved around a few appointments to let me in today. Good news is, my cat did not have any keystones in his urine. Bad news is, he does have a urinary track infection, which is why he hasn't been eating much. It was a scare for sure, but he is okay & thankfully he will be back to normal after a few days on medication. Thank you again!
 
Glad you saw the vet and that its 'just' a UTI. These can raise the glucose levels further.

Since you just started posting, and are already giving insulin, I strongly encourage you to begin home testing his glucose levels. It is pretty simple to do and will alert you to higher or lower numbers when they happen (and they do!)

Basically, all you do is prick the outer edge of the ear, just outside the little red vein that runs along the edge. Place the edge of the test strip to the blood droplet and it'll be sucked up. The meter does the rest.

It helps to get the cat used to having his ears touched and massaged, and to warm them up a bit to improve blood flow.

Ack! Hit candle icon by mistake! Sorry!
 
BJM, why the candle icon?

BJM said:
Glad you saw the vet and that its 'just' a UTI. These can raise the glucose levels further.

Since you just started posting, and are already giving insulin, I strongly encourage you to begin home testing his glucose levels. It is pretty simple to do and will alert you to higher or lower numbers when they happen (and they do!)

Basically, all you do is prick the outer edge of the ear, just outside the little red vein that runs along the edge. Place the edge of the test strip to the blood droplet and it'll be sucked up. The meter does the rest.

It helps to get the cat used to having his ears touched and massaged, and to warm them up a bit to improve blood flow.
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