Diabetic cat not eating enough food

Status
Not open for further replies.

Sheetal

Member Since 2017
hi everyone,

My boy Ace has been diabetic for 4 months now. He will be 8 years old on 19th May.

He is on Vetsulin and we give him six units twice a day. His last glucose check was 2 weeks back and his glucose is at 216. (These units are how glucose is measured here in US) He only eats dry food. He has never tried wet food, doesn't even smell it. We have tried many different things and couldn't get him to eat or smell wet food. Tried Parmesan cheese, mixing warm water to get the food to liquid consistency, almost most of the wet food flavors etc etc.

If you forcefully put little food in his mouth, he makes weird face and tries to spit out everything. He is currently on DM and royal canin diabetic dry cat food. He used to eat little bit of raw chicken and since his diabetes, he no longer eats raw chicken. I do give him freeze dried salmon and freeze dried chicken as his treats.

His last vet visit was two weeks back and his ketones are normal. He has gained some weight. So since then he is getting 1 cup of food. We had ultrasound as well last month to make sure pancreas are ok and everything turned out to be normal except for small stone in kidney.

He is doing ok however from past couple days he is not eating enough food. His water intake, pee, poop are all ok. He eats tiny amounts of food few times a day but that doesn't qualify for the amount he must eat.
We have started him on food stimulant per vet but he is still not eating enough food. What might be the cause? He does look tired at times, but is active and does play little bit. I will be checking his glucose tomorrow. He doesn't let us check his glucose level. So have a vet technician come home to check on him.

I have been reading few threads but he dental, everything else seems ok. He does eat but not enough amount. Not sure what happened. Any advice will be very helpful.

Thank you!
 
Welcome Sheetal and Ace!
Glad everything checked out with your boy. The only thing I can think of without seeing a spreadsheet of data is if his numbers really are in better control, some cats go back to eating "normal" because their body can process the nutrients more efficiently. What exactly does he not let you do when you tried to check his BG at home? We've had a few semi-feral kitty parents learn how to home test their babies :)
 
Thank you, Yong!

Ace doesn't let us poke his ear for blood sample to test for BG. We tried few times and it was very stressful experience for both of Us. He also has sharp nails which he doesn't let anyone trim.

Also where can I find spreadsheet so I can fill in information about Ace? Thanks!
 
Hi Sheetal,

HERE is the instruction for the spreadsheet. It is part of the The Basic Sticky posted at the top of the Lantus/Levemir forum.
And HERE are some testing and shooting tips - the New to the Group sticky note is very informative, there even was great video tutorial which couldn't find now, but if you'll brows thru the Sticky you'll find it.

Testing at home is your greatest tool to keep your kitty safe. And it will give control over the situation. It is awful in the beginning for everyone but with practice and patience it'll become a routine fast enough.

Ace doesn't let us poke his ear for blood sample to test for BG. We tried few times and it was very stressful experience for both of Us
Offering a little snack as reward after each testing attempt will make it easier for Ace. Even if you did not get a sample offer him a bit of what he likes to eat to reduce the stress and to associate you holding a lancet with the "snack time". :)

Best of luck to both of you.
 
Very high or sometimes low blood sugars can make a kitty lose their appetite, because you aren't home testing, it's hard to point you in the proper direction as far as managing the sugars. Ketones can also develop in a matter of hours, so even though he was negative for ketones a week or even a few days ago, it doesn't mean he is still free of them. It would be a good idea to stop by a pharmacy and pick up the urine ketone strips and test today, it could save you a very ill cat and thousands of dollars if caught early enough. Not eating is one of the first signs ketones are starting to rise.

Regarding the kidney, sometimes an electrolyte or fluid imbalance can make a cat feel sick, it may be worth getting labs retested if you think this might be an issue.

For home testing. It helps to make a "ritual" first before you actually attempt to home test. This calms both you and the cat. What I do is we have a special chair that I sit on, cat sits on my lap. When I first started, I just rubbed his ears for a minute, then gave him a treat, then let him off my lap. Did that over and over. Then take out the blood sugar kit, and move those thing a little each time so he's not scared of that. Give treats. Eventually, once you guys have a ritual down try to home test. Just poke once at first and if you don't get it, give the treat and try again later. May take a week or two.
 
I think with some desensitization exercises like Meya described with Max, would help Ace. Combined with what Tanya said, reward for each attempt / interaction so he'll learn to associate a positive experience :). Not all kitty's are ok immediately when you start home testing, there are quite a few options to get Ace let you home test. They might even work for him to let you cut his nails ;)
 
Maybe you poked the vein in his ear making it hurt.... Don't hit the vein.

6 units is a HUGE dose... Very few cats need a dose higher than 3 units. This high of a dose makes me nervous, especially without careful monitoring.
 
Thank you all. We only tried once and we didn't even poke him. He is not a huge fan of treats or food in general. So treats doesn't work well with him. Will try one more time. He is my boy. However i have needle phobia and it's my husband who gives him insulin shot and has to try checking him for BG. Will give it a try one more time. So far we have never poked him.
 
Thank you all. We only tried once and we didn't even poke him. He is not a huge fan of treats or food in general. So treats doesn't work well with him. Will try one more time. He is my boy. However i have needle phobia and it's my husband who gives him insulin shot and has to try checking him for BG. Will give it a try one more time. So far we have never poked him.
You can't give up after just 1 or two tries. Does he like catnip?
 
If there's one thing that treating FD requires, it's perseverance. If something doesn't work the first time you get advice on what to try and then you try ... and try ... and try. Then one day you try - and you're successful!
 
I'm willing to try but it's been so stressful so we decided to get his BG checked at vet. Hence I'm on this forum to learn some techniques. He is not a big fan of catnip either. We have a bowl filled with catnip out for him all the time and he doesn't use it. He used to few years back.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top