Help needed - diabetic cat off his food

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Minnie

Minnie

Member Since 2016
Hi, I am new to the site but hoping that I can find some support to help me with my diabetic cat. He is 11 years young and was diagnosed in January this year. He's on two shots of insulin a day - 5 units in the morning and 4 in th evening. My little man has been very up and down over the past few months but usually ok with food - on the days he's not been feeling too well, I have managed to coax him with tuna or by altering his diabetic biscuits - he has both Hills and Royal Canine. This past 2 days it has been really tough. He has refused the biscuits, so I tried fresh chicken which seemed to do the trick.....then yesterday he only wanted tuna to eat and today, well nothing much is interesting him and I am running out of options.
He still wants to go outside and sit in the fresh air which is encouraging but sits very gingerly and once settled doesn't move around too much. He's gone from being super healthy to suddenly really ill since his diagnosis and we have been through the ringer working out the best way to give the insulin, when to do it, watch his weight increase and decrease and of course the stomach upsets from eating something he shouldn't. We haven't got his numbers down or very stable yet which is worrying as I am trying everything the vet has suggested and anything I know to try.

Can you suggest anything that will revive his apetite so that he can eat enough for his injections?
 
What a handsome boy he is! I'm guessing he's probably on Caninsulin? Do you test his blood glucose levels at home?

Sometimes you can coax them to eat by warming the food a little, or by sprinkling it with a favorite treat crumbled up. Some sprinkle a small bit of Parmesan cheese on top as encouragement. You can also try baby food meats, just make sure they have no added onion or garlic. If nothing works, I would talk to his vet. There are many reasons why he might not be eating; dental issues, UTI or kidney problems, nausea, pancreatitis, etc. Your vet can get to the root of the problem and, if necessary, give him an appetite stimulant.

Do you test his urine for ketones? Might not hurt, especially since he isn't eating much. :)
 
Hi, yes he's on caninsulin. I had to learn the art of home testing as whenever he went to the vets for a glucose curve he got so stressed they didn't get a curve at all. So I have had a huge learning curve but as I love my Humpy to bits I will do what is needed. He's had a mild dose of cistitis last week which we cured with Uva Ursi which is brilliant and always works a treat and has been the only thing he has ever suffered occasionally with. I'm generally pretty good with my cats as I have been dealing with rescue cats for 30 years and have seen most things but this diabetes has me cold.
His plate today looks like a baby's selection dish. He has fresh tuna, chicken, his favourite biscuits and now some pouched whiskers I found which made him scream with delight....until he'd had 2 mouth fulls. He's very clingy but that could be because I have had to look after a work colleague's 2 guinea pigs for the past fortnight and while he wasn't interested in them they did take some time away from him. His sister of course thought they were better cat tv than the birds in the garden and my other cat was so scared by the scuttling stayed away!
I will try the parmesan cheese option and some baby food. He's unlikely got pancreatitis or other kidney problems as is exhibiting no 0ther symptoms and isn't growling when he is picked up or showing any other discomfort. I hate him not eating, its worse than the week long diarrhoea he had when we started the insulin injections.
 
I really would phone my vet if my cat wasn't eating. He can't have his insulin unless he eats enough 30 minutes before his shot. We use the same insulin and I always test before eating and getting her shot. What's his glucose numbers? His UTI may have come back. UTI's will do that. I hope you find out what is wrong soon. Eating is so important to diabetic cats.

There will be lots of others who will pop in to help.

By the way, what's his name ?
 
Guinea pig TV sounds wonderful, lol! My son has a dwarf rabbit that my four are fascinated by; they love to watch him, until he gets close, then they all run!

I am unfamiliar with Uva Ursi, sounds interesting, though. Is Humpy showing any signs of nausea? Nausea is so frequently the cause of inappetence, and the signs are so easy to miss or overlook! Your vet can give him meds for nausea and appetite. Has the vet done a urine culture to male sure his UTI is completely gone? Sometimes they can be difficult to get rid of. :)
 
Hello, thank you Squalliesmom for coming back again. Yes his UTI has completely gone and would you believe, after driving me to tears of fear and frustration with this eating thing he is doing, the next day he screamed the place down at lunchtime when I came back to check on him and he ate everything I put in front of him. Then went back to only eating his biscuits two at a time if I 'spoon fed' him and we are back again to not eating - or eating very little.

I am very close to my cats so I notice more than most and instinctively know when they aren't right and Humpy is really testing me. His teeth are fine as I took him a few weeks ago for a full check up to the vets so the vet could see him on a good couple of days to guage how he looks then with how he looks when he isn't doing so well. Thankfully now we have a great vet who is patient and full of information for me to follow. But as I say, Humpy will still catch me off guard with the eating. He has screamed for tuna, smelled it then turned his nose up...the same with the pouch food and three different types of biscuits. This evening after going through the whole kitchen, I've just come back from the shops and he is eating some chicken! Its very small amounts but if I persist it's enough to have an injection.

Yes the Uva Ursi is really good. It's common name is bearberry which is a relative of cranberry. I put some in his drinking water which is changed a couple of times a day to ensure it doesn't change colour which is when it has 'turned'. It's good for kidney stones and helps to strengthen the muscles around the urethra and acts as an anticeptic too. I am hardly ever without it.
 
Minnie said:
Hello, thank you Squalliesmom for coming back again. Yes his UTI has completely gone and would you believe, after driving me to tears of fear and frustration with this eating thing he is doing, the next day he screamed the place down at lunchtime when I came back to check on him and he ate everything I put in front of him. Then went back to only eating his biscuits two at a time if I 'spoon fed' him and we are back again to not eating - or eating very little.

I am very close to my cats so I notice more than most and instinctively know when they aren't right and Humpy is really testing me. His teeth are fine as I took him a few weeks ago for a full check up to the vets so the vet could see him on a good couple of days to guage how he looks then with how he looks when he isn't doing so well. Thankfully now we have a great vet who is patient and full of information for me to follow. But as I say, Humpy will still catch me off guard with the eating. He has screamed for tuna, smelled it then turned his nose up...the same with the pouch food and three different types of biscuits. This evening after going through the whole kitchen, I've just come back from the shops and he is eating some chicken! Its very small amounts but if I persist it's enough to have an injection.

Yes the Uva Ursi is really good. It's common name is bearberry which is a relative of cranberry. I put some in his drinking water which is changed a couple of times a day to ensure it doesn't change colour which is when it has 'turned'. It's good for kidney stones and helps to strengthen the muscles around the urethra and acts as an anticeptic too. I am hardly ever without it.
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How much do you put in the water bowl? Our Callie has had problems with UTI 's . We also have a doxy that "dribbles".
 
donnalea said:
How much do you put in the water bowl? Our Callie has had problems with UTI 's . We also have a doxy that "dribbles".
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Hi there, usually when I notice there's a problem with him visiting the litter tray I check for blood or straining. Then as I use quite large bowls for three cats to drink from I put about 8 - 10 drops in the water and swish it about. If I am going to administer the solution via a dropper I mix a few drops in half a cup of water so it's not too strong and give one dropper's worth a couple of times a day for a few days until the urine clears. Always remember to change the water if it has changed colour - usually a darkish blue, that's when the solution has past it's best.

I hope it helps for you. As I say it also helps to break up kidney stones and is very good to help sooth the affected area and thus stop the accompanying licking that can occur, speeding up the healing process. The instructions are on the side of the box and you can buy it from any good health food store.

Let me know how you go.
 
Oh, you get it is a tinture or infusion form. I have the dry herbs. I will have to make a tea (infusion) or soak it in alcohol to make a tinture. I will look in my new book about herbs for pets. I downloaded it from Kindel, but haven't looked at it yet.
 
Hi yes, I buy the tincture - the tea will work just as well if it is a weakish version. I have a herbalist friend I ask every now and then for my babies...but this really does work better than anything the vet has given me previously and as I say helps stop the irritation which can make matters worse. I have a little uplifiting tincture I had made specially for Humpy recently to help when he is feeling particularly poorly and I rub a little on his tummy which he loves or on the back of his neck depending on his mood.
 
I am all for natural methods whenever possible. Someone mentioned they used a holistic vet. I would love to find one in our small town.
 
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