Heatwave - effects on appetite

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Tilou

Tilou

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Hi folks

Just wondering if anyone else is having problems controlling BG due to their cat not eating during the heatwave.

Bob's BGs have been consistently good recently. I've even had to drop his insulin from 3u am & pm to 2u as he's no longer eating everything in sight.

However, with a heatwave over the last few days he's been off his food. Won't touch his meat options and only takes a bit of complementary fish and chicken etc.

As a result - and due to my not checking his BG yesterday morning (my bad!) - he had his first proper hypo... with blood meter giving a Lo reading, not even a registered number! Obviously had to treat him with honey and syringed some high carb cat gravy into him as he wouldn't eat.

Even last night his numbers were still low and he wasn't interested in eating, so I have him a modicum of diabetic kibbles (biscuits) with 0.25ui.

Needless to say this morning he was 28.9 (520)! As he didn't want any food first thing I only gave him 1.25ui to avoid him going to low.

But after +5 and having eaten nothing all morning (except some bacon fat from my breakfast plate), he's still at 26.2 (472).

Any tips on how to deal with feline diabetes in excessive heat would be appreciated, as this is our first summer dealing with the matter.

Note: have checked ketones and all is ok. Clinical signs are all good.

Thank you.
 
My problem with the heat is trying to get Noah out of the nice cool (now scrubbed clean) basement or off the air vent he sleeps on upstairs. It's scorching hot here. I nearly cooked a dog once years ago, spent and extra 5 minutes outside. It doesn't take long.
Last month Cynthia was visiting a seniors home, called me in tears later. Instead of seeing a dog left in a car on TV she was face to face with the idiots who did it. Everything turned out okay. Some people just never get it. :banghead:
 
Olive & Paula said:
I just leave it out and Olive is grazing today.
Click to expand...

I've left food out for him and he's had a nibble. Problem is if the flies get on it!

Forecast is continuing heat for at least another week, so I shall just have to adapt the insulin to the amount he eats (if I can).
 
Noah & me (GA) said:
My problem with the heat is trying to get Noah out of the nice cool (now scrubbed clean) basement or off the air vent he sleeps on upstairs. It's scorching hot here. I nearly cooked a dog once years ago, spent and extra 5 minutes outside. It doesn't take long.
Last month Cynthia was visiting a seniors home, called me in tears later. Instead of seeing a dog left in a car on TV she was face to face with the idiots who did it. Everything turned out okay. Some people just never get it. :banghead:
Click to expand...

Bob is quite good at seeking out the cool spots in the garden - which makes it difficult if he disappears in the undergrowth as I can't find him to test. That happened yesterday when he was so low the meter didn't even give a reading :(

Can't believe that people still leave dogs in cars! If take the windows out if I saw that :mad:
 
I do a few things, but most seem like common sense; In Minnesota I am lucky that we don't have to deal with 100+ degree temps, but we get 80's with high humidity. As long as I take steps to make sure Jaxa has options to stay cool she seems to eat at least enough for shots.; I make sure there is open floor space so she can lay on our cool laminate and wood, have a fan going so she can use the breeze if she wants, add ice cubes to the water and always make sure there is plenty of that, and her morning bisque is usually in the fridge unless I have to open a new packet. She has some shady overhangs to sleep under as well. We don't have air conditioning, but keeping teh windows open at night and closed in the day seems to help.

Sometimes when it has been really hot I take a wet wash cloth and wipe the pets down, then comb them. For some reason, combing makes Jaxa hungry. She likes it when I wipe the pads of her paws with a cool wet cloth, and I hold it around her ears for a few extra seconds too. When we had a Spitz I would sometimes use a cold pack from the freezer and put it in his bed, covered with a towel. He had extra layers of fur, even when shaved down, that would make him overheat very quickly.
 
You can also freeze water in plastic 2 or 3 liter size and just one down so they lay near it if they want. Bath tubs are usually cooler because of ceramic. Let them have access to it if you can.
 
Glassgoblin said:
I do a few things, but most seem like common sense; In Minnesota I am lucky that we don't have to deal with 100+ degree temps, but we get 80's with high humidity. As long as I take steps to make sure Jaxa has options to stay cool she seems to eat at least enough for shots.; I make sure there is open floor space so she can lay on our cool laminate and wood, have a fan going so she can use the breeze if she wants, add ice cubes to the water and always make sure there is plenty of that, and her morning bisque is usually in the fridge unless I have to open a new packet. She has some shady overhangs to sleep under as well. We don't have air conditioning, but keeping teh windows open at night and closed in the day seems to help.

Sometimes when it has been really hot I take a wet wash cloth and wipe the pets down, then comb them. For some reason, combing makes Jaxa hungry. She likes it when I wipe the pads of her paws with a cool wet cloth, and I hold it around her ears for a few extra seconds too. When we had a Spitz I would sometimes use a cold pack from the freezer and put it in his bed, covered with a towel. He had extra layers of fur, even when shaved down, that would make him overheat very quickly.
Click to expand...

I'm definitely going to try the wet cloth trick - thanks for the tip.

It's ridiculously hot here at the moment.

We have ceiling fans running and the cats lie on the tiled floors beneath them, which helps.
 
Update: still hot but Bob has eaten well overnight. Numbers are good this morning. I'm adjusting insulin dosage as appropriate to avoid hypos. Thanks for all your tips :bighug:
 
The AC is cranked to 73 here but I see Noah's metabolism slowing. He's just getting old, aren't we all?
He has finally accepted there is a big slobbering dog in the house. He was a kitten when we got a puppy so I hope he remembers that.
Does anyone remember those cooling mats for dogs? I don't know how they work.
 
Noah & me (GA) said:
The AC is cranked to 73 here but I see Noah's metabolism slowing. He's just getting old, aren't we all?
He has finally accepted there is a big slobbering dog in the house. He was a kitten when we got a puppy so I hope he remembers that.
Does anyone remember those cooling mats for dogs? I don't know how they work.
Click to expand...

I have a gel cooling mat for my feet - our old Joey found it at the bottom of the bed yesterday and laid on it! I wouldn't trust Bob with it... too much claw action!
 
Rachel said:
Tigress peed on it once
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Our previous dog learned everything so fast. The crate in the bedroom and the "dog won't poop where it lives" worked exactly as planned.
Then we thought we'd let her up on our nice big fluffy bed. :banghead: Submissive urination time!!!
"Oh thank you humans. Just to show I recognize you as the dominant species I'll embarrass myself by having a whiz right here.
Ohhhhh that's good. Arf arf!" :blackeye:
 
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