Concerned, Need Advice About Food

[Cherish4]

I haven't posted on here for a while because Little B has been doing really well overall. We're still having major issues with home testing and I'm due to take him to see the veterinary nurse next week to try and get some help with that but otherwise he's been fine.

However, he seems to be getting fed up with his food and this morning I'm concerned because he's barely eaten anything. He's also drunk a bit more water than usual. Now that could be down to it being warm here, plus I used some freeze dried treats on top of his food to try and get him to eat but I'm worried. I did put a small amount of one of my other cats food in his dish as an experiment and he ate that so I don't know what to think. He was completely fine last night, even had a play before bed. I last checked for ketones on Thursday last week and it was negative. I haven't had chance to check since, as he's been going to the toilet outside.

At time of writing this, he hasn't yet had his morning shot and I'm reluctant to give it to him when he's not had enough food (he's currently on 2.5 units twice a day).

Any advice would be appreciated. I'm on a very low income so taking him to the vets isn't a quick decision.

Edited to add: one of the cats was sick this morning and I'm not sure if it was Little B or not.

Edited again to add: I opened another can and he ate some of that. It is really warm here already and he is still unfortunately overweight so that might be stopping him from feeling very hungry. He's currently lying in the sun in the garden and seems happy enough.

Maybe I'm panicking over nothing I don't know. I do suffer from bad anxiety so I tend to jump to worse case scenario.

If it is him getting fed up with food, how do I remedy that? He has one 400g can of Butcher's Classic, spread across the day and I try to rotate the flavours so he has a different one each day (I'm in the UK so no Fancy Feast).

Sorry, I realize this post is all over the place but I have nowhere else to turn when I'm freaking out!

Edited a third time to add: We went past the one hour leeway by the time he'd had a second helping of food so decided to treat this morning as a fur shot. Providing he eats alright for the rest of the day, he'll have his evening shot as normal. In the meantime I'll monitor him closely for the next 24 hours.

Any advice on what on what to do about his food if he's fed up with it would be gratefully appreciated.

 

[Myrtlesmum]

Hi! First - don’t panic. I just had a look at your spreadsheet and your not testing his blood glucose at the moment- is that right? If I didn’t know what hisBG is doing and he hasn’t eaten, then I probably wouldn’t give insulin or maybe a reduced dose? I’m not an expert and maybe someone else will come along to advise you better. If you can’t get a BG yourself, could you call the vet’s office, explain the situation and ask if the nurse could do a BG for you? That may be at a reduced fee? I have found that cats often go off a particular food for no reason - who knows maybe they get bored bits always eating the same thing? If he’ll ate another brand/type it’s better than eating nothing at all.

 

[Cherish4]

Hi! First - don’t panic. I just had a look at your spreadsheet and your not testing his blood glucose at the moment- is that right? If I didn’t know what hisBG is doing and he hasn’t eaten, then I probably wouldn’t give insulin or maybe a reduced dose? I’m not an expert and maybe someone else will come along to advise you better. If you can’t get a BG yourself, could you call the vet’s office, explain the situation and ask if the nurse could do a BG for you? That may be at a reduced fee? I have found that cats often go off a particular food for no reason - who knows maybe they get bored bits always eating the same thing? If he’ll ate another brand/type it’s better than eating nothing at all.

I'm not able to get any tests at the moment no, we've just hit a bit of brick wall in that regard. Hopefully the nurse can help next week.

I don't know what I'm going to do about his shot this morning, we're at the end of the hour leeway now so maybe treat it as a fur shot and go back to normal tonight.

I don't know what to do about his food either as you have to be careful changing food when on insulin.

 

[Cherish4]

So thankfully yesterday I managed to get Little B to eat enough food so he could have his evening shot but it wasn't easy.

Unfortunately, things were even more difficult this morning and it took a lot of effort to make him eat enough so that he could have his shot. Afterwards he just wouldn't touch much more of the butcher's classic at all.

I was worried that maybe something was wrong with his mouth, as he seemed to be fine otherwise. I did test for ketones this morning just to be sure and it was still negative.

However before making a decision to call the vets, I thought I'd try him with a bit of another food at lunchtime and see if his reaction was the same. He ate the lot and had a bit more. I don't know if that was the right thing to do or how it's affecting his levels but I thought it was important to try and get him to eat something. So does this prove that it's not a mouth issue but that he's just completely fed up with the butcher's? If so, what do I do? I can't just go changing his food like that when he's on insulin so what's the answer? Should I still speak to the vet anyway?

He's a cat that loves his food, hence why he ended up overweight, so it's not like him to not eat plenty.

I really could do with some help here as I'm at a loss of what to do and it's sending my anxiety sky high at the moment.

 

[Sarah&Soph]

Is he showing any other symptoms? Nausea, lip licking, deep swallowing?

It could also be possible that he’s fed up with what you’re feeding him. Do you know the carb content of the butchers? Ideally you would be home testing if you do a food switch, but it’s just as important that he’s eating. Perhaps if you find something similar in carb content it might make the switch safer?

 

[Cherish4]

Is he showing any other symptoms? Nausea, lip licking, deep swallowing?

Not that I've noticed but I'll keep an eye out just in case.

It could also be possible that he’s fed up with what you’re feeding him. Do you know the carb content of the butchers? Ideally you would be home testing if you do a food switch, but it’s just as important that he’s eating. Perhaps if you find something similar in carb content it might make the switch safer?

I do know the carb content yes and I've been told by a couple of people that if I switch him to something with a similar carb content, he should be fine.

I was managing some home testing but it's not been easy and we've hit a brick wall with it right now. I've got an appointment with the veterinary nurse next week, to see if she can help me figure it out.

 

[Sarah&Soph]

Sophie would go through periods of not wanting to eat along with nausea and vomiting, and after I finally pushed her vet to test her for pancreatitis she was positive for it. I think it’s fairly common in diabetics because both affect the pancreas.

It might be worth picking up some similar in carb foods for him - maybe he’s just decided to be fussy lol.

 

[Cherish4]

Sophie would go through periods of not wanting to eat along with nausea and vomiting, and after I finally pushed her vet to test her for pancreatitis she was positive for it. I think it’s fairly common in diabetics because both affect the pancreas.

This is the first time he's been funny with his food so I'm hoping it's just fussiness but I'll keep an eye on him in case he displays any other symptoms.

It might be worth picking up some similar in carb foods for him - maybe he’s just decided to be fussy lol.

I definitely will, I've already seen a couple on the UK list that have a very similar carb content. Hopefully fussiness is all it is.