Cat continues to lose too much weight

[Marg]

Hi! I hope I'm doing this right, this is my first time to access the forum. I have a Maine Coone who was diagnosed 5 months ago - the symptom that first alerted us was that she dropped from 20+ lb to 15. I know that 20+ sounds like she was massively overweight to start, but Maine Coones are big, big cats. At any rate, she was started on insulin twice a day and I switched her to low carb wet food after having fed all four of our cats Iams for years. She continued to lose weight, after two months on insulin she was at 12.5 lbs but then she seemed to stabilize and after 3 months that weight was holding, so we hoped things were going OK. Today I rechecked her weight using the vet's scale and she's down to 10.5 lbs - half her pre-diagnosis weight. She has tons of hair, like all MCs, but when you pick her up she feels like skin and bones.
I'm looking for anyone who has had the same symptoms - advice? I know I will probably get a number of responses about what brand of food I'm using - I have been trying a variety but using Binky's list as well as reading labels carefully - everything she is getting is grain free, mostly either just chicken, or chicken/other fowl, sometimes chicken/tuna although I've been trying to limit seafood. I am varying the brand because she's finicky and seems to get tired of a food quickly so variety seems to be better to keep her eating.
I don't have a great deal of confidence in our vet, he doesn't seem very knowledgeable about feline diabetes, and am now considering getting a second opinion.
Also I am wondering if the combination of insulin with a very low-carb diet is actually not giving her enough calories - she does not eat anywhere near what they suggest on the can that she should eat - probably eating about 1/2 of what is suggested. I am also making available Royal Canin Calorie Control dry food - it's fairly low-carb, recommended by the vet for the rest of the cats since she can access what they're eating. I don't think she's eating a lot of the dry though, she prefers wet for sure.
Thanks to all! sorry for the long post.

 

[Larry and Kitties]

Do you have any blood sugar (BG) readings throughout a typical day? Maybe his BG is not controlled by the insulin.

 

[squeem3]

Welcome :smile:

What insulin are you using? Some insulins work better for cats than others. Do you test your cat's blood glucose levels at home?

Diet is important for a diabetic cat. The Royal Canine dry food is NOT low carb as the vet says it is. There are 2 calorie formulas listed on Binky's dry food chart and both are over 30% carbs, way too much for a diabetic cat. It's the equivalent of candy and potato chips. If your diabetic cat doesn't care for the dry, then there's no reason at all to feed it. All of your cats are better off on canned food. Have you read ? There info there about why dry foods can cause so many health issuse.

How often are you feeding the diabetic cat? Small frequent meals are best, especially for an unregulated diabetic. Many people here use a programmable timed feeder to allow their cats to eat small meals throughout the day.

 

[CoatCheckGirl]

She continued to lose weight, after two months on insulin she was at 12.5 lbs but then she seemed to stabilize and after 3 months that weight was holding, so we hoped things were going OK. Today I rechecked her weight using the vet's scale and she's down to 10.5 lbs - half her pre-diagnosis weight. She has tons of hair, like all MCs, but when you pick her up she feels like skin and bones.
I'm looking for anyone who has had the same symptoms - advice? .

Hi there. I've recently experienced major weight loss with my cat. In addition to his unregulated status, he was recently diagnosed with a hyperthyroid. Had a blood panel done and revealed his T4 levels were astronomically high. Perhaps you can consult with your vet and see where his T4 levels are at. Of course, there are other contributing factors to weight loss, but hyperthyroid is one to consider. Good luck to you!

 

[rhiannon and shadow (GA)]

Hello and welcome.

My first question is how often is she eating? Is it a struggle to get her to eat or would she take more?
Since she is still losing, I would give her lots of small meals all day and even at night, pretty much any time she wanted.

Are you home with her most of the time or do you work and have to leave her so that she's only really getting two meals a day.
The reason this is important because cats that are fed only twice a day with diabetes need their blood sugar to stay more stable thruout the day.
With only 2 meals a day, it's feast or famine and the large gaps of time are harder on their systems.
There are feeders with timers and I've heard of some freezing the food and setting it out all together so there is food a few hours later.

It is much harder to get fat on a high protein low carb diet. So if she'll eat more, let her have it. As soon as she starts getting the right dosage, she will taper back off to
normal. It's the carbs that make us eat more than we need.
Our cats are practically on the equivalent of the South Beach diet for humans. But it is good for them because they weren't supposed to have carbs in the first place.
For example, a 12 1/2 lb cat should have 3 cans a day of fancy feast ( they are only 3 oz cans) .


So she needs all the calories she can get since she's lost so much weight and once you get her on the right amount of insulin, her body will stop starving. Diabetes starves
our cats.
this article explains it pretty well.
http://felinediabetes.com/dummies

One of the first signs that the insulin is working and that the canned food is helping is they stop drinking so much water because their bodies start functioning better.
She can't hold onto any weight because her body isn't functioning better YET!!

We are all going to help you get her there..... :RAHCAT


I've only been doing this for a week and I don't have an appropriate scale for my cat but I'm pretty sure she's stopped losing weight.
I can feel it in her body when I pick her up. Mine was just starting to feel bonier which is why I took her to the vet in the first place.

And the post above me has a point .
I would definitely investigate the thyroid as well.

 

[Lisa and Merlyn (GA)]

Welcome aboard!

I agree that checking out other things too is in order, if it hasnt been done.

Cats that are not being treated are basically starving because their bodies cant process the food without insulin.. unregulated diabetics will eat and eat and eat and not use the food as efficiently, if not getting enough insulin.

Many vets dont think hometesting is necessary and use fructosamines and vet office curves (stress!) FRuctosamines are an average of readings over about 3-4 weeks and do not give an accurate picture of whats going on with the bgs, so some vets think oh yes this cat is regulated. The bean (human) starts hometesting and finds "oh no my cat is not regulated"

Then theres the fact that canned food is not as nutrient dense as dry, its a lot of moisture content (good!) but that means they may need more canned. At the shelter I work at we give cats on only wet food for medical or dental reasons, 3/4 of a 6 oz can 2x a day, or 1.5 cans of the 3oz size 2x a day..and then adjust as needed. So make sure -whats your cats name?- is eating enough food, especially if shes a large framed Maine Coon.