Feeding, advice needed

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HelenR

HelenR

Member Since 2022
I have just taken delivery of insulin and intended to start injections today. But Footfoot has, over the last days, decided to become a picky eater!
She has developed a very annoyingly-timed aversion to the Hills d/d, which she has loved up till now She eats some and then leaves most of it scattered around. At her next meal, she will eat a little of what is newly put out but still leave most of it. She seems to have an appetite - she's begging for food - but seems not to like the Hills any more. :-/
We've been adding a little tuna (in spring water) for the last few weeks, because I was away working for most of August (home at weekends) and my husband can't get tablets down her throat, so he smuggled them into some tuna, which luckily, she loves. Maybe she's decided she prefers that, and doesn't want boring old Hills d/d any more? She eats every speck of the tuna we give her (a few teaspoons a day, I guess).

I gave her a couple of tiny pieces of raw chicken while I was cooking last night, to see if she liked it - she does! In order to lower the carbs in her diet, I'm considering raw meat. She has a lot of food allergies, so most commercial cat foods won't work, given they have so many different ingredients. So, I'm considering raw meat - raw, or steamed - but crucially, unadulterated meat, though I will probably also need to add some bone/nutrient powders to give her the full nutritional range.

The general opinion seems to be that I should keep her on her regular diet while we begin the insulin - but Footfoot appears to be deciding otherwise. My main concern now is that she eat (anything!) after receiving an injection. I know you're supposed to make diet changes gradually, but she may not be giving me an opportunity to do that. Should I start giving her venison / chicken / tuna / whatever she will actually eat?
Has anyone faced this problem before (with a food-allergic cat)?
 
Has she eaten anything yet this morning? If so, did you get a BG test before she ate?

Does she seem nauseous?

How did that first test go last night? Do you think you'll have any problems testing a lot going forward if needed?

This is day 5 of the antibiotics for the UTI, correct?

Not sure if Melissa @FrostD will be around this morning, let's tag @Suzanne & Darcy too, she has first hand experience with so many different ailments.

She needs to eat. Not just for the insulin but for the risk of DKA too.
DKA happens when there is not enough insulin, not enough food and an infection or inflammation happening. This combination is the recipe for DKA. The body starts to form ketones and if they are not treated quickly, the electrolytes get out of kilter and DKA develops.
 
Thanks Shelley. She ate a reasonable amount of the Hill's d/d, I think, but not all of it - my husband fed her. We didn't test beforehand (I was still asleep, and I'll be doing the testing). I now have the GlucoNavii set up, though, and will be testing her today. Yes, I think day 5 today, for the antibiotics. She seemed much more herself over the last few days.
Maybe I should wet the Hill's d/d and smoosh it up with tuna?
 
Well, my first attempts at testing didn't go well. I didn't get enough blood for the strip - twice - and she got fed up with me pricking her ear! We're going to take a break and then I'll try again.
I have honey to hand, but because of her allergies, I have no idea what high-carb treat I should keep in the hypo kit. For her lunch I'm going to see if smooshing her Hill's d/d up with tuna will persuade her to eat it. I'll also go and buy some various treats, the ones with the shortest lists of ingredients I can find - better for her to have a skin breakout than go hypo...
She hasn't had any insulin yet though. If smooshing her kibble with tuna persuades her to eat it in one go for lunch, I'll try the same again later for her dinner and will (attempt to) give her the first insulin shot.
Yikes, this is a very nerve-wracking day...
 
HelenR said:
Well, my first attempts at testing didn't go well. I didn't get enough blood for the strip - twice - and she got fed up with me pricking her ear! We're going to take a break and then I'll try again.
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Don't get discouraged! It's a totally new thing for both of you. What size lancet are you using? The 26g or 28g are usually a bit better to start out with then you can move to thinner gauge - 30 or 33's.

Sounds like you've got the technique no problem, now it's just a matter of her ears 'learning' to bleed. Sometimes a quick double poke side by side at the same time helps to get enough blood along with warming the ear.
HelenR said:
I have honey to hand, but because of her allergies, I have no idea what high-carb treat I should keep in the hypo kit.
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I had sorta the same problem - my Jess had a super sensitive stomach & any oddball food usually disrupted her system pretty nasty. I used syrup - it works, but, it doesn't last. Using just syrup I had to keep a closer eye the BG in low numbers and test more often/longer because the syrup could wear off quick.
HelenR said:
She hasn't had any insulin yet though. If smooshing her kibble with tuna persuades her to eat it in one go for lunch, I'll try the same again later for her dinner and will (attempt to) give her the first insulin shot.
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Keep us posted please :)
 
Success, finally, on two fronts:
a) the kibble-mixed-with-tuna worked. First of all she licked up all the tuna, then she ate the tuna-infused-kibble! I've smooshed up another portion ready for her dinner, to let the kibble soak up the tuna.
b) I finally got blood from her ear - I warmed her ear first with rice wrapped up in cotton cloth, warmed in the microwave. I used the (28g) lancet by hand, and although she did flinch, she didn't try to escape.
The reading was 23.1.
 
I replied.in the other thread before seeing this one -

I would not fight a food transition if she wants it. I would reduce your dose though to 0.5U. I mentioned 0.25U in the other thread but given the readings here I think 0.5U should be ok.

Did they just prescribe a broad spectrum antibiotic or did they culture the urine first?
 
Probably just a broad spectrum antibiotic. I think it's working, she has seemed much more her normal self.
Why reduce the dose to 0.5U? Just so I understand the reasoning :)
 
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
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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 20 seconds until it stops
Get 26 or 28 gauge lancets
A lot of us use the lancets to test freehand
I find it better to see where I'm aiming
You can also put a thin layer of vaseline on the ear ,to help the blood bead up
 
Oh my gosh, thanks Diane! The vet nurse really misled me, she told me to go for the marginal vein. I've just given Footfoot her very first insulin injection, without being able to get a BG reading first - after a while, with Footfoot getting more and more irritated, I gave up and hoped for the best. Hopefully I'll do better later (I may do a BG reading if I can, before I go to bed - and then I want to do one in the morning before her next insulin).
 
HelenR said:
Oh my gosh, thanks Diane! The vet nurse really misled me, she told me to go for the marginal vein. I've just given Footfoot her very first insulin injection, without being able to get a BG reading first - after a while, with Footfoot getting more and more irritated, I gave up and hoped for the best. Hopefully I'll do better later (I may do a BG reading if I can, before I go to bed - and then I want to do one in the morning before her next insulin).
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You are welcome when you look at the lancet you will see one side is curved upward
that's the side you want to poke with

Oh you also need to withhold feeding 2 hours prior to testing so the BG is not food influenced then you can feed small snacks during each 12 hour cycle

The more tests you can get in the better it will be so we can see how the insulin is working and how low she's dropping
 
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Re: dose. Since the D/D wet is roughly 16% carbs, if she totally goes off that and on raw (which we'll call somewhere around 3-5%?) that can have a very big effect on BG. If she's on the dry (sorry can't remember) that's usually 30%+. Some cats see the effect more immediately, some take up to 2 weeks. So it's safer to reduce the dose just in case.

Take a look at the very beginning on my spreadsheet in 2020, the first day or two was on dry kibble. Mr Kitty did the same thing...as soon as I put wet food out, he would not touch the kibble. You can see within about 3 days his numbers were drastically down, and shortly after that his dose started coming way down as well.

(Ignore the rest of the SS as he developed underlying conditions that cause insulin resistance, hence my heck of a signature)
 
Thanks FrostD. Footfoot has been on the dry d/d for years... :-/ 30%? Yipes! I thought it was about 20%, which is bad enough...
What I'm doing for the moment is mixing some tuna in with the d/d, so she'll eat it! Hopefully the overall effect will be a reasonable fall in carbs but without too much of a violent change. I'll test as much as I can, to keep track of what's happening to her BG levels.
 
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