Eukanubo the Cat (not the food) update and concerns

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hbs60

hbs60

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Hello, I haven't posted here in about a year, mostly because both my kitty and I have been doing well. To recap, my Russian Blue (currently aged 13) was diagnosed with diabetes around September 2009, he was on insulin until March of 2010, and by switching from dry food to wet food (Friskies Mixed Grill), he was able to get off the insulin, and for a while he has been doing great. He used to be overweight, and after this bout with diabetes, he did lose weight and has never been the same since, always a little on the underweight side, but doing great otherwise, active and playful, until about 1 month ago. His behavior has changed, as he got extremely clingy and needy for a while, we had a few battles after which he stopped sleeping with me, but lately he has changed his usual nap spot and has been climbing on strange places like the dresser and the kitchen counter, which he never ever did before. He and his sister kitty had a nasty flea infection which I attempted to treat by an over the counter product which didn't work, but I've found out that it had horrible side effects on cats and dogs (Sentry Purrscriptions Plus). This was around 2 weeks ago. Neither of my cats had a noticeable severe reaction, but he's become much less active lately and has been losing weight, he lost 2 pounds since the last time he was weighted at the vet in October, but I can't tell if the weight loss is recent or not, but the poor cat is only skin and bones. His glucose readings are in the 80s and the vet did a panel which was also fine, including glucose, thyroid, urine, he had no parasites either. So, tomorrow he will have an X-ray, but I'm fearful that I'm about to get bad news. It's possible that he's not eating as much the Friskies as I've seen other comments on the board, so that's a possibility, but in any case, I've been supplementing with dry food only because I think he needs the calories but I don't know what else I should be doing. In the remote case that he may still be absorbing the toxic medicine, he'll have a bath tomorrow, but at this point I doubt it will make any difference. So, even though I hold hope that whatever it is can be addressed, because of his age I'm not optimistic, then again, I don't know what's a reasonable life expectancy for a Russian Blue. Any thoughts will be appreciated.
Thanks!
HB
 
Russian Blues are lovely, hope you can figure out what is going on with your guy. If you want to avoid the dry, you could feed the higher calorie wet food on the food charts.

As far as life expectancy, I haven't heard that it is any different than any other cat. That is, every cat is different. Some live to the mid teens; some live to be twenty or more.
 
hi there, i can't help as far as to what might be wrong with your kitty cause as i was reading i thought perhaps hyperthyroid but then saw that you said his thyroid was ok.

i can chime in as to life of a russian blue i suppose as i have one. in all honesty i don't know that the breed has any different expected life span than other kitties but for what it's worth, we've had Smokey now for about 14.5 years and he was grown when we got him. i was lead to believe he was less than a year old when we took him in to babysit but my fiance has always thought he was a bit older, perhaps a year or two old so he could be as much as 16.5 years old at this point.

i do hope whatever you find out is easily fixable.
 
Update: X-rays are normal, good that there's nothing horrible in there, but it is still a mystery why he's losing weight.
I checked his sugar this morning, it was 186, much higher than his normal of 85. So my dilemma is, his sugar is normal on his wet food, but he loses weight, but supplementing with dry food to boost his calorie intake seems to make his sugars higher. I'm almost tempted to keep doing this, even if he has to go back on insulin, because it would help with the weight gain, otherwise, any suggestions for higher calorie wet food that's not too high in carbs? I checked the table and his current Friskies Mixed grill has 176 calories per can, pretty much like many others, and the higher calorie ones that I see seem to have very high carbohydrate content, so, any suggestions?
On another note, it is remotely possible that the whole problem could be caused by the flea medicine, so he got a bath today at the vet's I'll pick him up and watch how he does. Anybody ever had this happen because of a flea remedy?

Thanks
HB
 
Another update:

After I picked him up at the Vet, (with negative X-rays and a much needed bath), I tried to feed him but he wasn't interested, only nibbling a couple of bites. So I had the idea of going to the store and get a different kind of canned food, as his Mixed Grill lately has been looking unapettizing, and so I offered him a spoonful of Fancy Feast chicken florentine with garden greens, he devoured it, I served the rest on the plate and he really attacked the food like he's been starving all along. Best of all, I checked his glucose afterwards and it was 95, I was expecting it to be much higher from vet stress and the dry food.
He is still not doing well but this was very encouraging, I hope that the food change is not too abrupt, but the boy has to eat!!
I wonder if all this weight loss was just being finicky from the food or whether something has been going on with the food, although the other cat seems to do fine on it, so who knows?
Thanks for listening to my ramblings,
HB
 
This is just a thought, but did the vet check his teeth and gums? If there is problem there, he may not be eating as much as normal, so is loosing weight.
 
Update:

He seems to doing somewhat better. Since I switched his food, he's been eating although sometimes he needs encouragement. I was very worried yesterday because he never left his bed, not even to use the litter box, but towards the evening, I was headed to the yard and he went right along, he then peed in the yard like it was an eternity, stayed out for about 20 minutes and went back in (he is allowed out on the yard only occasionally and only under my supervision). He's been rubbing his head against my hand and purring, then he would eat as long as I'm petting him, last night he used the litter box and even got up on the couch with me, but I guess I was fussing so much I was so happy that he went back to his bed. His sugars yesterday were pretty decent, 115-118, not high enough for insulin, just a bit higher than normal. He just used the litter box again this morning and he looks more livelier. As for the teeth, I don't know if the vet checked or not (I forgot to ask and she didn't say), but my hunch is that either the bath removed any of the residual flea poison or he desperately needed a diet change.

So, he's doing better, probably better than I am. I've been a wreck, and I'm doing a lot of anticipatory grieving, I feel like a basket case, I didn't know this would be so painful and the cat isn't even dead yet (and looks like he'll pull through). :cry: So thanks for listening, just writing helps a lot. I'll keep updating for now.

Thanks!
HB
 
Oh, this sounds like good news. Incredible if it turns out that the flea treatment did this. Hope you can find a way to get a warning out to others.

Wonderful news that he is eating and peeing. Yeah! You may need to encourage the eating for a while until he gets back in the groove. Offer food with favorite treats on top. Add some warm water to make a gravy. Have you heard about FortiFlora? It is a probiotic that has the digestive enzymes that makes dry food so irrestible. You can get it online. Some people also get it from their vet or the vets at some PetSmarts. I have even heard that lightly scratching their rear ends while they are eating will make them eat better. Who knows?
 
Thanks!

He seems to have an appetite, as he's been eating small portions throughout the morning. He does seem to eat better when he's been petted, and last night he avidly ate from a spoon. I haven't heard of the Forti Flora but will keep it in mind if he keeps sliding, but for now he seems to be on the mend. I still can't figure out if the problem was from the flea remedy or from the cat food. He's been on Friskies since he got diabetes, and either he's just tired of it and wants something different, or there's something wrong with the food, but the other cat seems fine despite the exact same variables. Of course, he could still have something undetectable lurking, but so far, he is doing better than I am.

I signed up for the pet grief board because even though he is better, I'm a basket case and I'm concerned that I won't be able to handle it if that dreaded moment comes, whether it's now or down the road.
 
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