food question-help

[dd & savannah]

Hi all,

I seriously need to update my spreadsheet for Savannah, but in the meantime I am having a difficult time trying to figure out what to do about food.

Typically she eats only wet, until recently, we have been allowing her dry food because it is the only way to get her to eat anything. Long story short, she went to the vet a little over a week ago in which they gave her an antibiotic (we were not sure if she was on her way to getting a UTI). When the lab did further testing on her urine it did show some bacteria. The doctor felt happy that we gave her the meds and felt that it would be enough and she would not need more. In any case, she started to urinate in small amounts again later in the week, and in places other than her litter box. Her BUN numbers are up too, increased from last year. The vet felt that the numbers may have increased because of her diabetes. She mentioned that it may take 10 days for Lantus to work. I'm honestly not sure if we have ten days though. She was 6lbs last week and dropped to 5.9. She thinks something is up with her bladder and wants to do an ultrasound, but really don't have any money for that. They gave her a steroid today and prescribed an anti-inflammatory that we can pick up Wednesday.

So, what would you do? I can try and get her to eat wet food if I am persistent about getting her to do it, but then I worry about when I go back to work. Maybe I should allow her some dry food but mixed in with wet??

Thanks.

 

[BJM]

Friskies Special Diet pates - renal friendly, diabetic friendly.

If she won't eat unless you're present, calculate how many calories she needs, subtract the amount provided by the wet food, and use the remainder to determine how many she can have in dry food. It won't be much, because without the water, it is very calorie dense.

 

[Wendy&Tiggy(GA)]

Food is key - she needs to eat. However i wouldn't worry about a drop from 6 to 5.9lbs - that can just be water weight or a good poop.

Lantus takes about a week for the depot to fill up but it starts working the first day to help the cats blood sugar come down. Bad news is the steroid and UTI will spike the blood sugar so you might reach a higher dose to get her regulated.

I would watch her weight and try and slowly transition her off dry - by slowly increasing wet and decreasing dry. here are transition tips : http://www.catinfo.org/docs/TipsForTransitioning1-14-11.pdf

Wendy

 

[dd & savannah]

Thanks! Keep the advice coming please!