diabetes, crystals, asthma

[nick8]

Hi there

A little background.

10 yr old himalayan male

My cat got asthma couple years ago so the vet started him on prednisolone.
Last year he got really sick so we found he had crystals. The vet put him on RC urinary SO food which got rid of the crystals but he was recently diagnosed with diabetes. Probably as a result of pred and SO food.

He has not been eating for the last 3-4 days. I took him to vet yesterday.
The vet force fed him water, food, and gave him insulin. His BG was 21 mmol.

The canned food that I have been feeding him since last year is Blue healthy gourmet chicken/turkey pate.

As per this chart, it looks like its ok with carbs
https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

However the vendor site differs from the chart if you look at guaranteed analysis, protein etc.
https://bluebuffalo.com/natural-cat...lthy-gourmet-adult-turkey-and-chicken-entree/

This is a bit painful for me so I would rather not inject him with anything and prefer to just change his diet.
He is very used to dry food so changing completely to canned food is also very difficult.

I just force fed him again as he didn't eat all night.


So what are my options at this time, what is the best food for him to be on? Is the Blue food good enough or should I look for something with even lower carbs (fancy feast?)? I prefer to stick with highly quality food if I can.

Also if the food is low/no carb enough, can I get by without giving him insulin?
I have not started home testing yet.

I have done quite a bit of reading so I know that dry food is a no-go. However, if there was a low carb enough dry food it could make my life much easier.


Thank you!

 

[Veronica & Babu-chiri]

He has not been eating for the last 3-4 days. I took him to vet yesterday.

The most important thing is that he eats, whatever he accepts once he starts eating on his own you can then think of the best diet for him

As per this chart, it looks like its ok with carbs
https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf
However the vendor site differs from the chart if you look at guaranteed analysis, protein etc.
https://bluebuffalo.com/natural-cat...lthy-gourmet-adult-turkey-and-chicken-entree/

Thing is the vendor is giving the guaranteed analysis, that is the food you are getting is guaranteed to have at least X amount of protein or fat or water, etc. but it could have more since it says at least and the same for the values that it says max it could have less, Dr, Pierson list in catinfo.org is based on AS FED values which is closer to what the cat will actually get every day.

So what are my options at this time, what is the best food for him to be on? Is the Blue food good enough or should I look for something with even lower carbs (fancy feast?)? I prefer to stick with highly quality food if I can.

As long as it is 10% or less in carbs in Dr Pierson list is OK for a diabetic cat and if the one that he likes is less than 10% then is ok to keep giving him that one, and contrary to what a lot of people think Fancy Feast is not a low quality food

Also if the food is low/no carb enough, can I get by without giving him insulin?
I have not started home testing yet.

Is hard to say without testing, you will have to change him to a low carb food and test to see what his blood glucose values are, for some cats that is enough to get them into remission but for most that is not the case, usually you will need to give insulin

 

[AmandaE]

Hello,

From your post I didn't gather if your cat has been formally diagnosed with diabetes or if he just had high blood sugar at the vet. It is very common for a cat's blood glucose to spike when they are in stressful situations, I can't think of anything more stressful for a cat than being at the vet! I am assuming that your vet knows this, and wouldn't give insulin to a cat without a conclusive set of lab work allowing him to make the proper diagnosis. As such I will assume for the rest of this reply that your cat is a diagnosed diabetic.

Although I don't have any experience with feline asthma, or urinary crystals, I've read a few members posts that have mentioned the relationship between these conditions and diabetes so I'm sure someone here will be able to help you out!

In the meantime, it would be really beneficial if you could set up a signature so that members can see important details about your kitty right away.That way members can help you out more efficiently. To set up your signature you just have to do the following:

1. Click on your name in the upper right hand corner of the page (beside 'Inbox' and 'Alerts')
2. Select "Signature" on the left hand side of the menu that drops down.
3. Create your signature including the following information
   • Your cat's name and age
   • The date of diabetes diagnosis
   • The type of insulin you're using and the dosage
   • What glucose meter you're using (if you're testing your cat at home)
   • What food he/she eats
   • Any medication your cat takes as well as any pre-existing conditions they might have
   • Time Zone that you live in
4. Click "Save"

It's a good idea to visit the Home page and read some of the reference material on the right side of the page. This information is really helpful when learning about feline diabetes from scratch. Again, it is a lot of information to start with, but knowledge is power!

I see that you have mentioned that you aren't home testing yet, are you planning to start? It seems intimidating, but I promise it gets easier with practice and there is a lot of reference information on the forum to help you learn. This will especially be helpful if you plan on switching to wet food before starting insulin so that you can see if kitty responds well enough to the diet change that he/she doesn't need insulin. If it ends up that your cat needs to take insulin, trust me... it's easier on the cat than it is on you, your vet will show you how to administer it, and your cat won't even notice! Once you start testing someone on the board can help you getting a spreadsheet set up and adding it to your signature.

It looks like the wet food you are using currently is perfect! as Veronica mentioned above, as long as it is wet and under 10% carbs you are in good shape! Feeding wet food should also mitigate some of the risk of urinary crystals developing - 2 birds with one stone! If you're still having a hard time, there is a great document outlining some tips for transitioning a cat from dry food to wet food HERE. For now I think it doesn't matter what your cat is eating as long as they eat. There are some very low-carb dry foods available in the US, I don't know very much about them, as I'm from Canada. I believe they are called "Young again" and "Beyond Young". They might be a good option for now since you are having appetite issues, but I believe since your kitty has a history of urinary crystals that an eventual full transition to wet will probably be best. Did your vet give you any meds to try and stimulate appetite?

I know that everything seems crazy right now, but you've found a really great resource - there are so many experienced members here that have experienced some of the same issues you are facing and more! Soon you'll be pro!

Good luck with everything, and make sure you keep us all updated with how things go