Help, kitty won't eat and I already gave her shot

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Terwilliger1

Terwilliger1

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I fed my cats and gave my kitty her shot while she was hovering over her food bowl like she always does. This time she didn't eat and just walked away. She never turns down food and I even tried tuna, her favorite. Her BG was 185 this morning, and I have her a skinny 1.0 unit. She never, I mean never turns down food. The only thing I can think of, is I tried a new flavor of Friskies yesterday, and neither of my cats cared for it. She ate a little, but not much, so I gave her some of her favorite FF instead. She ate okay yesterday, but just won't eat this morning. It's so unusual. For her, the insulin usually doesn't kick in right away. It takes several hours. I have one test strip left, as we already have a vet appointment in three hours. I'm going to keep trying to get her to eat something, but I don't know at what point I get out the Karo syrup. If she doesn't eat soon, I can test her again. This has never happened. Any advice?
 
I don't think I'd break out the Karo yet. she's on Lantus right? So there shouldn't be a sharp, harsh drop. Can you try feeding her a little by hand? Sit with her and give her some on your finger to get her interested. You can also put some food thinned with water in a syringe without a needle and squirt a tiny bit into the side of her mouth.
 
I just tested her again and she is at 135, so not too low. This is 2 hours after her shot and about 20 minutes after a drop of syrup. She vomited a little bit, so I freaked out and gave her a little corn syrup. She is on Lantus, and has been doing well. Her BG numbers have been normal pre-shot (120-170), and her nadir numbers have been 80-120. She acting okay right now. She's alert, but just sitting around and still refusing food. I smeared a little on her mouth and she licked it off, but still didn't want to eat. Right now she's extremely pissed off. Lots of tail-wagging going on because I've been futzing with her so much. She's 17 years old and wasn't diagnosed with anything other than diabetes. I'm hoping she just has an upset tummy because of some crap food yesterday. The vet opens soon, and I will call to get her in early. After a couple of months of treating her with Lantus I was feeling like a pro, but this morning I feel freaked out all over again. In over 17 years, she has never not wanted to eat. I hope she'll be okay.
 
I would just monitor BG hourly and give Karo or something else if going to low. You might want to call the vet too about both the possible hypo and why not eating. I usually give my kitties 24 hours about without eating before being concerned.
 
Just got back from the vet, and he seemed completely unconcerned about her not eaing. He said, that Lantus is gentle enough that I should worry about her going hypo. He felt she should be in remission right now and suggested having her teeth cleaned and trying the prescription food again. This time, he wants to try Purina prescription instead of Hills. He said the food might help since I'm not completley following the protocol, since I'm feeding her low carb Fancy Feast. I'm worried about the effects of anesthesia and whether or not they'll have to pull teeth and how she'll recover from all of that while trying to maintain the eating schedule and Lantus shots. This morning I was only worried about her not eating, and now I have to worry about a minor procedure and dental disease on top of it. Even though the cost is an irritation it's not a huge issue, but every time I go to the vet it seems like there's a costly recommendation. Does anyone else feel like crying after every vet visit or am I just being a huge baby?
 
Pardon an ignorant question:


But why on earth change the low carb fancy feast she is having now, to the higher carb Purina dm (or Hill's m/d, or royal canine dm for the matter)?
 
Terwilliger1 said:
Just got back from the vet, and he seemed completely unconcerned about her not eaing. He said, that Lantus is gentle enough that I should worry about her going hypo. He felt she should be in remission right now and suggested having her teeth cleaned and trying the prescription food again. This time, he wants to try Purina prescription instead of Hills. He said the food might help since I'm not completley following the protocol, since I'm feeding her low carb Fancy Feast. I'm worried about the effects of anesthesia and whether or not they'll have to pull teeth and how she'll recover from all of that while trying to maintain the eating schedule and Lantus shots. This morning I was only worried about her not eating, and now I have to worry about a minor procedure and dental disease on top of it. Even though the cost is an irritation it's not a huge issue, but every time I go to the vet it seems like there's a costly recommendation. Does anyone else feel like crying after every vet visit or am I just being a huge baby?
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I think it may help you if you look at it all from the opposite side.
Get the teeth cleaned up, and if any need extraction, have that done.
You may end up with a happy kitty who no longer needs insulin.... now how would you like that!

If you have ever had a toothache, have you felt good? I bet if you had a tail, you'd be flicking it about too, with annoyance. Many many times, fixing the teeth have made a HUGE difference in the dosing, so if the vet says the teeth need doing, then get them done.

As for the vet pushing his RX food, there is nothing wrong with Friskies or Fancy Feast. Maybe you could just tell him your cat outright refuses to eat that stuff... I know my cats won't touch it.

I don't have vet visits unless they are necessary. When it comes to diabetes, I am sure in short order, YOU will know more than your vet. When it comes to dental and illness, infections, medications or broken bones, well, you sure need your vet for those things. If you like your vet for all other matters, then you should be fine handling the diabetes part yourself.
 
Agree with Gayle. My vet is well trained now - the diabetes is mine to deal with (well the forums!) and pretty much everything else is for them to deal with. They even stopped trying to convince me to use the prescription food when I took in a can of what I feed him and compared it to the ingredients of their prescription food and pointed out all the things in the prescription food that were not cat food, like corn flour etc as compared to the one I use (Ziwipeak) whcih has nothing in it that a cat wouldn't eat naturally.

Vyktor also has an upcoming dental which of course I am nervous about but I know that he needs it done and that he will feel so much better afterwards and that it's also likely to help reduce his insulin needs. So I think you just need to bite the bullet on that one.

Also could you please go back and edit your original message to take out the 911 now that Kitty isn't in imminent danger, it does tend to give people a heart attack!
 
Hi Gayle,

The numbers you quoted are really not too low on Lantus. I would not have worried too much other than why she had no appetite. Unless they get down into those 2 digit numbers under 60 or so, I don't give sweets but keep trying foods instead. If you look at Racci's chart, you'll see that she's not feeling great either. She tried a new food yesterday and loved it so like a fool I gave her too much of it instead of going slowly and she got diarrhea, plus she had a messed up stressful day to start with. She was high in the morning yesterday and again today but by yesterday at +6 she was down to 71 and then shot up to a low 202? I believe? This morning she's really up there again! I went back to her regular food and she is constipated again, btw, since I had stopped the Miralax, so I put her back on her regular routine of Miralax as well. We'll see what she is at +6 again and I'll encourage her to eat and drink again.

She has a vet appt for the 6th but I won't rush it unless I see something really worrisome like figures in the 400's that don't go away or in the 40's -50's that don't go away or ketones on a ketonestix.

I almost hate to jinx myself but Racci has been lucky with her teeth. they're very good so haven't had to worry about that yet. I brush them myself every once in a while.

Melanie & Racci
 
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