Diabetic remission but still no weight gain..

[Leo-Misty]

Re-posting from the Introduction forum:

Hello again, I had posted about Leo a few months ago (insert link). Leo is about 13-14 years old, was diagnosed with diabetes earlier this year as he lost weight rapidly going from 4.5 kg to 3.2 kg.

At the same time, we tested him for thyroid which came out normal.

He was briefly on insulin for a few days but his diabetes went into remission quickly and he's been off insulin for over four months now. The vet prescribed a supplement called Diamel which is mixed into his food. We monitor his BG weekly and his readings are always steady between 85-95. The problem is, he is still not gaining any weight and we are worried. He is eating quite well, though always looking for food, and active although more recently he is having trouble jumping up onto high surfaces.

He's primarily on wet food now. We feed him small frequent meals and give a combination of wet royal canin urinary s/o diet and regular wet food like whiskas as he has been prone to cystitis.

I have no idea why he's not putting on weight. He is around 3 kgs now. Any advice would be highly appreciated.

 

[Sharon14]

Do you have any recent bloodwork? If so, post it so we can see if anything sticks out there. You say he’s ‘eating quite well, though always looking for food’. What and how much are you feeding? Perhaps a larger quantity or a higher calorie food could help. If he’s having trouble jumping he may have some arthritis, have you had him checked for that?

 

[Leo-Misty]

Very worried about Leo. His diabetes is still under control with diamel (off insulin for several months now) but he lost even more weight these last few weeks and developed severe breathing difficulty. Took him to the vet who suspected anemia, and blood reports confirmed it, with low hemoglobin and RBCs, as well as thrombocytosis and a hypochromic peripheral smear (please see attached). The vet has prescribed an iron + B12 + folic acid syrup, which we started giving since last Saturday night (one week now) but I don't see any improvement. I was wondering if anyone else has dealt with this and can tell me how long it might take for him to recover.

His appetite is still ok but despite eating he seems too exhausted to even walk, has stopped climbing stairs and is constantly breathing very rapidly. He has become frail and even purring seems to tire him out. His entire body shakes when he breathes and much more so when he purrs Also noticed he is having trouble covering up his pee and poop in the litter box and sometimes poops outside, which is very unusual for him so he must be feeling really unwell. He has stopped grooming completely. He is just so weak. Perhaps it will take some time for him to recover but I am feeling so bad that he is having such a hard time. Just want to know when I can expect to see some improvement...

Thanks!

 

[membeth]

I don't know what the rest of the blood test results mean, but the B12 could suggest exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI). It means the pancreas isn't making the enzymes a cat needs to digest food. It can cause B12 deficiency as well as weight loss or failure to gain weight. It sometime has really obvious symptoms that vets look for (very weird, super stinky poop), but that doesn't always happen.

My kitty has it and it took a while to figure that out because she didn't have the poop problems, just slow weight loss despite being in remission. But it's detectable from a blood test -- fTLI. And you can add the missing enzymes to food to make it digestible for them.