Diabetic Cat Usually Only Eats Human Food

[PatchesLove]

Our diabetic cat is at least 9 years old. We have six children so over the years she has likely scooped human food off the floor more times than I can imagine. Surprise surprise she was diagnosed as diabetic last November. The problem is that since her diagnosis she has on two occasions gone on a hunger strike. Refuses to eat any cat food whatsoever and will only eat human food. She is doing it again. Won’t eat any cat food, dry, wet or even treats, yet she is begging me for pizza and stands by me when I am making a sandwich. When we leave the table to do the dishes she jumps right up and stuffs her head in the Alfredo pasta. This behavior has landed her in the animal hospital once and an emergency visit to the vet another time. Not because I give her the human food but because she just won’t eat any cat food. Suggestions?

 

[Deborah Jordan]

My cat would only eat the one brand and flavour of dried cat food that she had eaten for 12 years. She took to Fancy Feast PATE (I think she likes the texture) like a duck to water. Now she will eat cooked chicken and last night pounced on a piece of cheese. She's NEVER eaten any human food before. I think it's just what they get used to and finding what they will eat. You have a bigger issue as it needs to be low carb. Zizi is expensive in Australia but mine will eat there dried treats.

 

[tiffmaxee]

Welcome to the FDMB. Many here feed a raw or home cooked diet so I doubt that’s why your cat is diabetic. It depends on if eating a lot of carbs actually. Can you tell us more about your cat? Are you giving insulin and if so which one and at what dose? How did you discover she is diabetic? Is she overweight or underweight? Are you home testing? We can help! You are not alone.

 

[PatchesLove]

Thank you for your responses.
Our cat (Patches) receives 5 units of insulin every 12 hours. We realized she was probably diabetic in about November when she would spend her entire day laying by and drinking out of her water bowl. Vet confirmed that she is diabetic. She was very overweight but isn’t any more and our vet uses the glucose monitor but she does not have one on her now.
I do not even know how to do the test strips because it wasn’t an option with the vet so I never learned and have the Libre 2 but it only lasts about a week and the you have to buy another on for about $50 and then make an appointment and pay another $100 to have it installed. I would love to get test strips and learn how to do those.
Like I said she has had to go an emergency appointment and also a four day stay at the hospital for her glucose being too high and in about May she stopped eating and I gave her insulin and then she went into a seizure for being too low. I really think the test strips could help with that so I could know her glucose reading at any particular time.
Please tell me all about raw or home cooked diets. Seems that Patches gets bored with all foods, including human after a short time. I would love to try a raw or home cooked diet and mix it up for her a bit.
Thanks so much.

 

[tiffmaxee]

Testing at home is a game changer. The only time my cat was in the hospital was after the first shot. Most cats are easy to test. My very shy cat was and I thought he would hide all the time. He did not. Are you in the US and if not which country?

I fed my diabetic cat fancy feast pates because he was older when diagnosed. I feed the two I currently have commercial frozen raw and would love to start making my own but one has skin allergies. I was told protein related but I’m starting to think it’s not. Where you live will determine what foods are sold and which supplement packs are available to you should you to decide to make your own.

 

[PatchesLove]

Thanks you for the quick reply. Yes, I am in the United States. I just spoke with my vet and they suggested I buy a feline glucose monitor and test strips online. Do you have any suggestions on what kind to purchase? Please tell me more about what you feed your diabetic kitty. Thanks again.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Hello and welcome. You can buy and use a human blood glucose meter instead. They are way cheaper than the animal monitors and you can buy the test strips at most pharmacies. Many people here buy the Relion models from Walmart, because the test strips are the cheapest.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

I agree with Wendy. The vets tend to suggest a pet specific meter and they have no clue what the difference is cost is. The strips for a pet meter run about $1.00 each. The cost for the Relion strips are about $0.17 each. I used a Contour meter and the strips were about $0.25 each.

We have lots of information on home testing. Once you have a meter, we can link you to videos, etc. about home testing.

If your kitty is wanting human food, a raw or partially cooked diet may be ideal. Many of us do feed a raw diet. My guys are fed either ground pork or ground venison since one of them had IBS and needs novel proteins but chicken, turkey or beef or whatever is on sale is fine. You do have to add certain nutrients to the food so it's a balanced diet but there are pre-mixes (e.g., from FoodFurLife) that you mix with water and add to the food that will make it a nutritionally complete diet.

 

[PatchesLove]

Perfect. I just signed up for the FoodFurLife newsletter and I am in the going to buy a bag of their premix in the next few minutes. I am going to use my Libre2 sensor that I already have and the test strips are supposed to arrive this evening. I have no idea how to test. Guessing I need to buy needles too. Could you please send me any good links you have on testing? Thanks so much.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

I'm so sorry. I just saw your post. Here's the information on home testing.

If you need to get someone's attention, you can "tag" them. To tag someone, you type the @ sign followed by their user name. So if I tag you, I type @PatchesLove. As you type, the website will provide a name/list of names of possibilities. Click on the name you want. If you look at the top right section of the board, there is a menu item called Alerts. The tag will appear there and if you click on it, it will take you to the post where you were tagged.

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Here is the link for the meter and test strips so you don't have to search for them
Relion Premier Classic Meter at Walmart for 9 dollars
https://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Premier-CLASSIC-Blood-Glucose-Monitoring-System/552134103

The tests strips are 17.88 for 100
https://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Premier-Blood-Glucose-Test-Strips-100-Count/575088197

Always aim for the sweet spot warm the ears up first, you can put rice in a sock and put it in the microwave, test it on the inside of your wrist to be sure it's not to hot, like you would test a babies bottle. You can fill a pill bottle with warm water and roll it on the ears also.Just keep rubbing the ears with your fingers to warm them up

6. As the ears get used to bleeding and grow more capilares, it gets easier to get the amount of blood you need on the first try. If he won’t stand still, you can get the blood onto a clean finger nail and test from there.
When you do get some blood you can try milking the ear.
Get you finger and gently push up toward the blood , more will appear
You will put the cotton round behind his ear in case you poke your finger, after you are done testing you will fold the cotton round over his ear to stop the bleeding , press gently for about 10 or 20 seconds until it stops
Get 26 or 28 gauge lancets
A lot of us use the lancets to test freehand not the lancing device
I find it better to see where I'm aiming
Look at the lancet under a light and you will see one side is curved upward, that's the side you want to poke with
Here is a video one of our members made testing her kitty
She's using a pet meter that has to be coded ,with a human meter you don't have to code it.
I have always used a human meter
VIDEO: How to test your cat's blood sugar


Once you get everything set up and buy your glucose meter and start testing you can set up your signature and spreadsheet. Ask if you need help with setting them up
We have a member who will set it up for you

Here is a link helping us to help you link. If you noticed, our members have some basic information about their cat's in their signature. This helps us to not pester you by asking the same questions (your cat's name, insulin type, date of diagnosis, etc.) repeatedly. We also have a link to our spreadsheet in our signature. We are very numbers driven. The spreadsheet is a record of your cat's progress. By linking it in your signature, we can follow along and provide feedback should you need the help.