Help for JoJo!

[Tabbikatzz]

My little girl JoJo (Joey) turned 12 in October. She was diagnosed last February after I noticed increased appetite and thirst along with weight loss and lots of peeing!

My vet prescribed ProZinc 1unit twice a day along with Hills Science m/d wet two meals a day. I also bought the dry but rarely fed it. JoJo switched over to the new food within about a week without a hitch and was she VERY consistent about eating the exact same amount that I gave her twice daily. She really seemed to love the food and had been doing really well until this past week.

Last week she was suffering with some type of stomach bug (vomiting and diarrhea). She was not eating and so I don’t give her insulin worrying about Hypo. The vet advised me to withhold the insulin and in all she was without insulin for 5 days. Her gastrointestinal symptoms seem to have resolved but she has not been eating much...I mean she will eat but not like she did before and she is almost completely snubbing the wet food now.

I took her to the vet last night and he checked her glucose and it was in the mid 300’s. He advised me that she needed some insulin but that since she was not eating as much as normal to give her only one dose today which I did at 8:30 am. I have an alpha trak 2 meter and her readings tonight was 383.

*I should note that along this process I had been doing curves at home and the vet bumped her up to 2units twice daily but then took it down to 1.5 twice a day. Ever since then when I do a curve or test her, her BG is either really high all day like 400-500 or high 300’s but never under 200. I had one good curve in May 2019 but her numbers dropped too low and that’s when the vet increased her dose from 2units ton1.5 units twice a daily.

Really long explanation I know but I was hoping someone could help me get her back on track. Any suggestions on how to get her back on her wet food and/or how to get her insulin regulated? I noticed today that she seems to be drinking/peeing more which has me worried. She ate 1/2 cup of HS m/d dry today but really only took a few licks of the wet food which she used to LOVE. She has also lost weight over the past 2 weeks due to her recent tummy troubles. JoJo weighs 7.6 now but her normal weight is 8.5.

Thanks in advance!
Trish & JoJo Bear

 

[Juls and Billy]

Hello Trish!

Take what I say with a grain of salt, my Billy was diagnosed last month. There's quite a few things you can try to get JoJo eating better. I'm going to say some things that might go against what your vet says. It's up to you to decide whether to follow any of it or not.

Many vets say only feed twice a day at shot time, but both human and feline diabetics often do better with several small meals through the day and night. As long as you pull up any food 2 hours before shot time, you'll get a more honest BGL test number and make sure JoJo is hungry enough to eat with his shot.

I don't know about JoJo, but my Billy gets tired of the same food all the time. I have to mix up his flavors a lot. Right now he's eating a variety of Fancy Feast classic pates and Friskies pates, all very low in carbs. Diabetic cats often do very well on a wet food, low-carb diet. I am convinced this is the biggest reason my Billy is going into remission. Every cat is different, but you might consider cutting the dry food completely, as it's high carb. Do make sure you do regular glucose testing, including mid-cycle test, if you lower JoJo's carbohydrates further, and it can have a big effect on his blood sugar levels. You don't want to risk a dangerous hypo event if his sugar goes too low.

There's an awesome list of low carb cat foods here. Many folks on this message board feed the Fancy Feast pates because they are less expensive than some of the other alternatives.

Other ways you can encourage JoJo to eat.
- Feed him some of the fishy flavors of canned food, stinkier the better. Too much fish in the diet can be detrimental to a cat's health, but it's great when their appetite is not where it should be.
-Warm the food just slightly in the microwave.
- Top the food with a crumbled low-carb treat like freeze dried chicken, or plain cooked chicken.

If the not eating enough continues, you might want the vet to check JoJo for signs of infection, or ask the vet if JoJo might need an anti-nausea medicine. But hopefully, changing the food up a little will help kick start his appetite.

I will also say that this ProZinc section of the forum does not get enough eyes on it at the moment. You might want to start an introduction thread in the Welcome and Main Forum section, and if you have more questions, a post there will get responses more quickly.

In the meantime, a great place to start is New? How You Can Help Us Help You.
One of the things you'll find out there is how to make a spreadsheet, which will really help experienced members here give you the best suggestions for JoJo. In my signature at the end of this post, click where it says Billy's Spreadsheet. You can see how useful it is for seeing trends in data, and you can see that my Billy had his first all green numbers today! (I'm very proud of him.)

Please feel free to ask any other questions you have. I'll help as much as I can.

 

[Marje and Gracie]

Hello Trish!

Take what I say with a grain of salt, my Billy was diagnosed last month. There's quite a few things you can try to get JoJo eating better. I'm going to say some things that might go against what your vet says. It's up to you to decide whether to follow any of it or not.

Many vets say only feed twice a day at shot time, but both human and feline diabetics often do better with several small meals through the day and night. As long as you pull up any food 2 hours before shot time, you'll get a more honest BGL test number and make sure JoJo is hungry enough to eat with his shot.

I don't know about JoJo, but my Billy gets tired of the same food all the time. I have to mix up his flavors a lot. Right now he's eating a variety of Fancy Feast classic pates and Friskies pates, all very low in carbs. Diabetic cats often do very well on a wet food, low-carb diet. I am convinced this is the biggest reason my Billy is going into remission. Every cat is different, but you might consider cutting the dry food completely, as it's high carb. Do make sure you do regular glucose testing, including mid-cycle test, if you lower JoJo's carbohydrates further, and it can have a big effect on his blood sugar levels. You don't want to risk a dangerous hypo event if his sugar goes too low.

There's an awesome list of low carb cat foods here. Many folks on this message board feed the Fancy Feast pates because they are less expensive than some of the other alternatives.

Other ways you can encourage JoJo to eat.
- Feed him some of the fishy flavors of canned food, stinkier the better. Too much fish in the diet can be detrimental to a cat's health, but it's great when their appetite is not where it should be.
-Warm the food just slightly in the microwave.
- Top the food with a crumbled low-carb treat like freeze dried chicken, or plain cooked chicken.

If the not eating enough continues, you might want the vet to check JoJo for signs of infection, or ask the vet if JoJo might need an anti-nausea medicine. But hopefully, changing the food up a little will help kick start his appetite.

I will also say that this ProZinc section of the forum does not get enough eyes on it at the moment. You might want to start an introduction thread in the Welcome and Main Forum section, and if you have more questions, a post there will get responses more quickly.

In the meantime, a great place to start is New? How You Can Help Us Help You.
One of the things you'll find out there is how to make a spreadsheet, which will really help experienced members here give you the best suggestions for JoJo. In my signature at the end of this post, click where it says Billy's Spreadsheet. You can see how useful it is for seeing trends in data, and you can see that my Billy had his first all green numbers today! (I'm very proud of him.)

Please feel free to ask any other questions you have. I'll help as much as I can.

Hi Trish and JoJo

Welcome to FDMB. Juls suggestions are good ones. I will add that it can be problematic if you are not giving insulin to a sick diabetic cat. Has your vet ever discussed diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) with you or the need to test urine ketones?

You can buy urine ketone strips at Walmart or any pharmacy and I would urge you to test her ketones every single day especially while she’s not feeling well or not eating.

DKA can occur when there is not enough insulin + not enough food/water + infection. DKA can be deadly and it starts with the development of ketones. Ketones can go from trace to full blown DKA in a short time period.

Did your vet test her for pancreatitis? It is very common in diabetic cats and there are specific treatments that can help her feel better and get through it. You might want to look at this Primer on Pancreatitis and see if the symptoms fit hers.

What you might want to focus on is testing JoJo, getting her to eat, and then shooting insulin. If you can do that, I would shoot twice a day as ProZinc does not have the duration to carry her through two cycles (12 hours each).

 

[Deb & Wink]

Hi, I simply wanted to make you aware of this. Posting this in your most recent thread.

All the "Sticky" or pinned posts in the Prozinc forum have been updated and there are a couple of new ones.

Highly recommend that everyone using Prozinc or helping those using Prozinc read them thoroughly.

I'll be doing that myself. Been expecting this for some time. Came about a week before I thought it would.
Thanks Marje, and Robert, and especially Djamila for the Modified Prozinc Method. You folks are FANTASTIC!