Ozzy Pawzbourne
Member Since 2016
Hi Kitty Committee- Ozzy Pawzbourne’s mama here checking in. We are not on the board much anymore. Ozzy has been diabetic going on 5 years now and he has stabilized well on his insulin regime We def have the whole routine down now for quite a few years now and are proud of where he is today, and mostly happy he’s still here to provide his sweet loving companionship! For those out there that are new to having a feline diabetic, know that it will get easier but it takes a tremendous amount of dedication and commitment but you can do it and your kitties are worth it!
Update on Ozzy: so Ozzy for the most part is doing really well. He has had 2 boughts of pancreatitis over the last few years and last September he had a cancerous growth removed from his back, but he recovered well in all those instances and just keeps proving he still wants to be here to love us. The one thing that has been a constant struggle though has been his vomiting issues. For those who may remember us from years past, Ozzy was a chronic vomiter and our vet had us convinced it was just because Of the diabetes. But our kitty committee folks here knew better and convinced me that chronic vomiting is not normal and that it could likely be food allergies. So we eliminated all poultry proteins and he improved tremendously! We even tested back in some chicken to see and he blew chunks everywhere so we are certain he is allergic to poultry. So then we tried some novel proteins like venison and pork. Those were going ok for awhile and then he started vomiting one or both of those. I can’t remember. We decided to just keep him on beef, rabbit, and salmon and he’s been eating that well for quite sometime. For some reason, he didn’t seem to do as well with a purely raw diet which we fed him for years. So he now is on primal nuggets (freeze dried raw) as well as some high quality canned food supplemented in (open farm). Quite a science experiment this cat has been!!!!
So now recently, he started throwing up again. I went away on a weeklong vacation with my son (this was the real first vacation I’ve ever taken since Ozzy became diabetic) and my husband was quite neglectful to our cats feeding situation. I found out he gave the freeze dried food for a week straight and failed to rehydrate it. He also didn’t give our cat water. I came home to a bone dry water bowl and found my cat trying to drink water from the toilet. He seemed a little dehydrated too. I flushed all his food with extra liquids to get his hydration back up (that seemed to work), but that’s when the vomiting started. Not sure if he was about to get into another run with pancreatitis.
So I’m trying to get ahead of it. I started adding back in probiotics, some George’s aloe Vera, and I just got digestive enzymes yesterday. He also does the vomit protest sometimes in the morning before being fed so suspect he has a bit of an acid problem. We had been recommended Pepcid in the past but never tried it. My questions are: how long can we give digestive enzymes? Forever? Same for the Pepcid? How long can we give it? Forever? And what is the recommended dosing? 1/4 or 1/2 10mg tablet? Ozzy is 14 pounds. I wrote my vet for dosing instructions but she hasn’t responded yet.
Also- any advice on the food situation? Have recommendations on favorite brands? We tried to do home made raw food but it was too time consuming to make in our busy home and I feel as always afraid I was not using the supplements correctly. I honestly also got soooo tired of trying to clean up raw food vomit. It’s the worst. Absolute worst!
Thanks if you read this far! Hope our kitty friends are all well.
Update on Ozzy: so Ozzy for the most part is doing really well. He has had 2 boughts of pancreatitis over the last few years and last September he had a cancerous growth removed from his back, but he recovered well in all those instances and just keeps proving he still wants to be here to love us. The one thing that has been a constant struggle though has been his vomiting issues. For those who may remember us from years past, Ozzy was a chronic vomiter and our vet had us convinced it was just because Of the diabetes. But our kitty committee folks here knew better and convinced me that chronic vomiting is not normal and that it could likely be food allergies. So we eliminated all poultry proteins and he improved tremendously! We even tested back in some chicken to see and he blew chunks everywhere so we are certain he is allergic to poultry. So then we tried some novel proteins like venison and pork. Those were going ok for awhile and then he started vomiting one or both of those. I can’t remember. We decided to just keep him on beef, rabbit, and salmon and he’s been eating that well for quite sometime. For some reason, he didn’t seem to do as well with a purely raw diet which we fed him for years. So he now is on primal nuggets (freeze dried raw) as well as some high quality canned food supplemented in (open farm). Quite a science experiment this cat has been!!!!
So now recently, he started throwing up again. I went away on a weeklong vacation with my son (this was the real first vacation I’ve ever taken since Ozzy became diabetic) and my husband was quite neglectful to our cats feeding situation. I found out he gave the freeze dried food for a week straight and failed to rehydrate it. He also didn’t give our cat water. I came home to a bone dry water bowl and found my cat trying to drink water from the toilet. He seemed a little dehydrated too. I flushed all his food with extra liquids to get his hydration back up (that seemed to work), but that’s when the vomiting started. Not sure if he was about to get into another run with pancreatitis.
So I’m trying to get ahead of it. I started adding back in probiotics, some George’s aloe Vera, and I just got digestive enzymes yesterday. He also does the vomit protest sometimes in the morning before being fed so suspect he has a bit of an acid problem. We had been recommended Pepcid in the past but never tried it. My questions are: how long can we give digestive enzymes? Forever? Same for the Pepcid? How long can we give it? Forever? And what is the recommended dosing? 1/4 or 1/2 10mg tablet? Ozzy is 14 pounds. I wrote my vet for dosing instructions but she hasn’t responded yet.
Also- any advice on the food situation? Have recommendations on favorite brands? We tried to do home made raw food but it was too time consuming to make in our busy home and I feel as always afraid I was not using the supplements correctly. I honestly also got soooo tired of trying to clean up raw food vomit. It’s the worst. Absolute worst!
Thanks if you read this far! Hope our kitty friends are all well.
