Help gaining weight

Hello all,

Ollie (11 y/o tabby) diagnosed with diabetes about 3 months ago. He’s on 2 mL vetsulin insulin twice a day. He gets fed roughly at 9:30 AM and 8:30 PM. No snacking during the day. He’s eating a TOTAL of 3.3 oz can of wet food per day. He’s supposed to be 12 lbs so he’s obviously not getting enough calories. The problem is he doesn’t seem that hungry. He’ll eat voraciously for about 5-7 minutes and then he done, usually leaving about half of half of a can (so he’s eating around 1/4-1/2 a 3.3 oz can per day). Before he was diagnosed he was a free-eater and would graze throughout the day. Temperament-wise he seems a bit sleepier than normal, a bit less happy. I don’t have a meter so I am not tracking his BG throughout the day. He had a fructose test 3 mo ago and the dr said all looked good and to keep holding as is.

he’s currently on purina beyond pate wet food. I’ve tried friskies shreds (not interested except for the gravy), blue Buffalo, fancy feast…purina is the only one he hasn’t gotten sick of yet..he’s just not eating enough! Any tips?

 

Hi Lisa and Ollie and welcome to the forum,
I am hoping you mean you are giving Ollie 2 units of vetsulin twice a day and not 2 ml.
I would strongly recommend you think about hometesting Ollie and recording the data on our spreadsheet. It is by far the best thing you can do to get Ollie back to good health and keep him safe.
Hometesting links here.
I would recommend getting a human glucose meter such as a ReliOn from Walmart.
Spreadsheet link here

In regards to the food. It is fine to let Ollie graze through out the day and evening. If you are testing, withholding the food for the 2 hours before testing the preshot blood glucose will give you a BG that is not food influenced. He needs to eat more often than just twice a day……that is old thinking. If he is sleepier that normal it is possible he is getting too much insulin. The only way to find out is to test and find out.
As long as he is eating a low carb diet, you can rotate the food so he doesn’t get tired do of it.
Do you think he could be nauseated? Does he sniff at the food and walk away? Or smack his lips?

Do you have a hypo kit set up in case of low numbers or hypo symptoms?
HERE is a link ‘help us to help you’ which has information about hypos….please print it off and put on your fridge…, and other useful information.
Keep asking questions

 

Hi Lisa & Ollie! I am on similar timeline to you and have not yet found a local vet with experience / willing to comply with home-testing. I had difficulty helping my Arthur begin to regain weight and am working on helping him get the muscle back in his hind legs which is of major importance.
I must mention, the vet had raised his dose from 2units to 3units after a day curve in the charity - but it was instantly too much once I got him home. He was visibly lethargic, or 'zonked' as I put it, and dangerously could barely lift his head off the couch when he heard the fridge door which was a real scare. I brought him back to 2.5 immediately and he became his own self again. Vet acted quite critically that I had adjusted the dose alone, but he was dangerously low on their adjusted dose. I think his high-stress being without me all day in the charity sent his sugar skyrocketing and they had false over- elevated readings. Covid means the poor animals are unaccompanied in strange places for the curves unless we can test at home. I am working towards that!

As for food that has helped re-gain weight...
Bear in mind most diabetic cats are overweight and I notice most of the veterinary diets are designed to help cats stop weight gain, or reduce weight, and are not fit for our purpose.
I have been giving Arthur
Examples:
50g raw duck chunks with fat on from butchers after 10-15 mins of chasing a wand outdoors
40g raw beef chunks with small bit of fresh lard from butchers
50g 'chuck' (I think) which is a cheap cut but less chewy than cow cheek

I tried on diagnosis only feeding him twice a day, continued for 3painful weeks that way. He scarfed and barfed and it was dangerous when he vomited everything after he'd had his insulin.
Now I have adjusted back to a rhythm that gives him wellbeing and no stress of having to wait hungry for so many hours with only two meals a day. He has carefully timed and measured meals and snacks through the day, nothing off-schedule and everything weighed and calculated. I try to give raw snacks in the hours where the insulin would be low before the next shot and help to satiate his appetite. He is very content after raw food.
Even the dry veterinary diet has a high amount of carbs - I honestly don't understand how the big commercial companies get away with it. I'm developing a relationship with a local butcher instead but haven't yet completely transitioned off the dry.

In my cat's case in particular he has a fast metabolism and this is how I have been helping him to regain weight:

7.30-8.30 am 48grammes Purina Diabetic dry + insulin
12.00 either 13grammes dry or 40g boiled chicken in throw and catch game outside
4pm 50/60g Raw snack either kidney / duck chunks (with fat on) / something less chewy than cow cheek (maybe called chuck?)
7.30-8.30pm 48 grammes Purina Diabetic dry + insulin + 1tsp cod liver oil
11.30pm 13grammes kibble
4am 13 grammes kibble from robot feeder
Sundays - small piece of liver

48gramme meals are spread over the hour in different slow feeders. "Rainy Day" is his favourite. It is also on amazon ASIN B087DNHXD4 if you use that.

He was a marauding looney before I added the raw. He was eating double the quantity recommended on the packet of the expensive dry and Cleary not getting what he needed. He'd try to get into my neighbors' houses and see what they had, steal from the communal bins... nightmare.
It is much safer when he knows he comes home and something delightful awaits him.

 

Thank you! This is super helpful. The vet recommended me not putting Ollie on diabetic food, I’m not sure why. But I wonder if this could be a good alternative to allow him to graze on dry food during the day?

I wonder if perhaps he is getting too much insulin (and yes I meant 2 units!). I may try to go down by half a unit and see how he does.

 

Hi again - I wouldn't trust any diabetic cat to 'graze on dry food' as you put it, and especially not a high carb dry food.
I can't stress enough, I would not *add* dry food to your cat's diet, especially when he eats wet.
If the insulin dose is too high at the moment, he might feel so tired and queasy that he just can't stomach more and wants to sleep.
I think it is very dangerous to have a cat go hypo while you think it is just tired!

You might also consider that he is bored? If you have been worrying about him a lot and not playing with him and encouraging him to work off the extra sugar in his bloodstream, he may be feeling horrid. When Arthur was just so wasted and low energy he'd still enjoy watching a feather for 10minutes, even if he didn't have energy to paw it.
Little pieces of Turkey in the rainy day puzzle is an absolute hit. I helped him figure it out in the beginning. He smashes the task now.

In my case as I transition to lower carb diabetic 'prescription diet' dry food I have been carefully dropping the insulin by .25 increments to avoid overdosing for the new, lower carb diet. I am doing the same process of watching carefully now I am incorporating more raw and wet food.

would you try adding half a teaspoon of Trixie cod liver oil onto his food to see if he'll eat it better?
would you try some additional fresh raw meat to peak his interest? I can say the chopped kidney once a week is an Arthur favorite, practically sucks it down! loves chewing on the duck or cow cubes. loves when I tear the boiled chicken into little bits and he chases them on the grass.

 

Thank you for the suggestions! I will try adding some chicken liver. The problem is that I have a dog and another cat who LOVE to steal Ollie’s food so it’s difficult to leave it out all the time. Currently Ollie eats on a counter and doesn’t jump up on his own and when I’m at work during the day it’s also difficult to regulate giving him dedicated meals throughout the day. Any tips?

 

I've seen microchip feeders on the internet - there are YouTube videos so you can see how they work.

 

I have the SureFeed feeder
https://www.chewy.com/surefeed-micr...2w1mZSR2I2R1CYXsVMqF3pfctiEYDEexoCoZQQAvD_BwE
I would not trust my dog (18lbs) to bot break the feed to get any food in the feeder.

 

I have a sensor feeder but not one with a microchip. Didn’t really work. The dog and other cat break into it. Took Ollie for a fructosamine test yesterday after moving him down from 2 units to 1.5. His demeanor is better on a lower dose, more alert, but dr called this morning and said his levels were high and he’s losing weight. Waiting for a call back. Part of me wonders if it isn’t diabetes but maybe pancreatitis?

 

How is Ollie now Lisa?