How Much Weight Loss is Normal? Worried.

[Audrey F.]

Hi there, Dude had a Vet visit this afternoon. When he was admitted to the ER Vet on 1/6 his weight was 10.5lb and today he was 8.3lbs. So a little over a month he's lost 2lbs. This has been the first full month on insulin, as you can see in his charts we're not regulated in the normal range yet. He eats solidly, although maybe the past few days he's been a bit more picky. I gave him a prescribed appetite stimulant today after seeing how he lost more since the last visit!
His thyroid was tested and normal on Dec. 31st. My vet wants to sedate him and do another thyroid test on Monday AM. The idea of sedation for blood work is making me nervous.

Is this amount of weight loss normal in unregulated cats? I'm trying not to worry that there's not something else going on, but he hasn't had any issues with vomiting or stools.

Help!
-Audrey & The Dude

 

[Darnell & Sprocket (GA)]

Hi Audrey & Dude.

Glad you are testing. Thats good. How many ounces is he eating a day? how many meals a day?
What are you feeding? fancy feast is good. any dry? dry is not good unless its lowcarb.

2lbs in one month is alot. Your vet should not have to sedate him to get bloodwork. Only if its impossible to get blood from a cat like ferals. If your testing I doubt your cat is that difficult to get blood from. Maybe get a different vet if they cant get blood without sedating a cat or they are money hungry.

I dont know about your insulin but if you post in the Vetsulin forum you will get responses from those people that know the insulin.

Did they do bloodwork when he was in ER? Get copies of all bloodwork for past couple of months so you can compare to see whats going on.
You paid for bloodwork, your entitled to copies. Always good to have that in hand incase of emergencies.

ok. thats my advice so far.
take care

 

[Audrey F.]

Hi Audrey & Dude.

Glad you are testing. Thats good. How many ounces is he eating a day? how many meals a day?
What are you feeding? fancy feast is good. any dry? dry is not good unless its lowcarb.

2lbs in one month is alot. Your vet should not have to sedate him to get bloodwork. Only if its impossible to get blood from a cat like ferals. If your testing I doubt your cat is that difficult to get blood from. Maybe get a different vet if they cant get blood without sedating a cat or they are money hungry.

I dont know about your insulin but if you post in the Vetsulin forum you will get responses from those people that know the insulin.

Did they do bloodwork when he was in ER? Get copies of all bloodwork for past couple of months so you can compare to see whats going on.
You paid for bloodwork, your entitled to copies. Always good to have that in hand incase of emergencies.

ok. thats my advice so far.
take care

He is only on FF pates, no dry. He's been changed over for a little over 2 weeks now. He was solidly eating 3 cans or 9oz, sometimes more. Two main meals that he'd eat most of nd go back a little later on to eat the rest. The past couple days he's been picky, still eating, but less. So the food has been out.

Yes the vet situation, he is great with me, he gets "fractious" as they say at the vet, they tried to get his blood today at his visit but he wouldn't cooperate. I'm not going to take him in on Monday. I'm finding it hard to believe his thyroid would have gone out of whack and caused this weight loss immediately after it tested normal on Dec. 31st.
I'm going to make a call to another vet to get a 2nd opinion.

The did some limited blood work in the ER and I will get copies.

Thank you! I'll continue on and do my best

 

[Darnell & Sprocket (GA)]

He is only on FF pates, no dry. He's been changed over for a little over 2 weeks now. He was solidly eating 3 cans or 9oz, sometimes more. Two main meals that he'd eat most of nd go back a little later on to eat the rest. The past couple days he's been picky, still eating, but less. So the food has been out.

Yes the vet situation, he is great with me, he gets "fractious" as they say at the vet, they tried to get his blood today at his visit but he wouldn't cooperate. I'm not going to take him in on Monday. I'm finding it hard to believe his thyroid would have gone out of whack and caused this weight loss immediately after it tested normal on Dec. 31st.
I'm going to make a call to another vet to get a 2nd opinion.

The did some limited blood work in the ER and I will get copies.

Thank you! I'll continue on and do my best

Good idea in 2nd opinion vet. They should know how to hold him for bloodwork plus they can get blood from various places.

As for food. at this point let him eat as much as he wants. And maybe try some friskies or fancy feast roasted, or.chunky as they are still under 10 carbs...like 4-6carb. No gravy.
I used to just smoosh it to a pate with back of spoon & add water. Maybe some freeze dried treats. He can have food every 6 hours or every 4hrs. Dont fall for the vets plans of 2x a day....that is not for a diabetic. Better to feed throughout the day & night.
oh and picky is normal with diabetics.Thats why I ended up with a store of food in my spare room which became my cat room.

ok. all for now.
Hugs

 

[Tanya and Ducia]

Is this amount of weight loss normal in unregulated cats? I'm trying not to worry that there's not something else going on, but he hasn't had any issues with vomiting or stools.

Hi there,
weight loss is typical for unregulated diabetics.
Once BG level gets better controlled he'll most likely to start gaining.
2 pounds lost in a months is a lot to be honest.
Do you test for ketones?
I'd start asap - Walmart sells keto dip stix Relion brand for about $7.

If Dude is low activity/ indoors only cat try feeding him something like 300Kcal-350 Kcal a day, split portions.
Friskie pates for example are all around 180Kcal/ 5.5 oz can - and my girl gained nicely on 1.5 can a day; try feeding 2 full cans and see what's happening.
FF is low calories per can - average is about 85 Kcal/ 3 oz can so if it 's the only food he eats than increase the volume.

Why was he admitted into the ER on Jan 6th? Any mention of ketones?

I'm not going to take him in on Monday. I'm finding it hard to believe his thyroid would have gone out of whack and caused this weight loss immediately after it tested normal on Dec. 31st.

Thyroid is often responsible for weight fluctuations - heck, I got one like this! - so tests are necessary.
But I agree that the 2nd test could be postponed for a little while whilst you're trying to work the numbers down.

If it were my cat I'd try feeding 300-350 Kcal/ day - checking weight every 3-5 days, increase the insulin dose more frequently than it is done now to lower the BG level, check for ketones once a day and wait maybe about 3 weeks for any changes to manifest. If no improvement - or worse - then I'd see a vet for another BW, thyroid test and a discussion as to what's going on.

My vet too sedated Ducia once with gas mask to draw a sample...She recovered all right.

I hope this was helpful and the very best luck to you!
@Audrey F.

 

[Audrey F.]

Hi there,
weight loss is typical for unregulated diabetics.
Once BG level gets better controlled he'll most likely to start gaining.
2 pounds lost in a months is a lot to be honest.
Do you test for ketones?
I'd start asap - Walmart sells keto dip stix Relion brand for about $7.

If Dude is low activity/ indoors only cat try feeding him something like 300Kcal-350 Kcal a day, split portions.
Friskie pates for example are all around 180Kcal/ 5.5 oz can - and my girl gained nicely on 1.5 can a day; try feeding 2 full cans and see what's happening.
FF is low calories per can - average is about 85 Kcal/ 3 oz can so if it 's the only food he eats than increase the volume.

Why was he admitted into the ER on Jan 6th? Any mention of ketones?


Thyroid is often responsible for weight fluctuations - heck, I got one like this! - so tests are necessary.
But I agree that the 2nd test could be postponed for a little while whilst you're trying to work the numbers down.

If it were my cat I'd try feeding 300-350 Kcal/ day - checking weight every 3-5 days, increase the insulin dose more frequently than it is done now to lower the BG level, check for ketones once a day and wait maybe about 3 weeks for any changes to manifest. If no improvement - or worse - then I'd see a vet for another BW, thyroid test and a discussion as to what's going on.

My vet too sedated Ducia once with gas mask to draw a sample...She recovered all right.

I hope this was helpful and the very best luck to you!
@Audrey F.

Thank you! So I gave him only 1u of insulin this AM because he hadn't eaten enough. He was super frisky and playful, seemed really great all day?!? I had to work so I couldn't test to see what he dipped down to. (I swear cats are mostly a mystery and we're just all trying to do out best)

No ketones at the reg vet prior, no ketones at the ER vet and I do have the stripes but have only test at home maybe 3 weeks ago and it was negative. I'll test him again asap.
I also had a cat previously with Hyperthyroidism and that was why I asked him to be tested on Dec. 31st.

I'll try some of the Friskies food you mentioned just to get him a variety and see if that sparks him eating more. He did eat well today, so far 2 cans of FF and some tuna mixed in. At this point he has food out at any time to eat. I may give him another dose of the appetite stimulant in the morning.

I did cancel his sedation/bloodwork at my normal vet on Monday morning just because I'd like to get him more stable before putting him through that stress. I have a appt on Wednesday at a new vet for a 2nd opinion. One of the things that I want to discuss with the new vet, the Vetsulin seems to make him feel spaced out because of the big swings. I'm guessing that's why he felt zippy today because I only gave him the 1u this morning.

Sigh..... onward!

Audrey & The Dude

 

[Amina&M'row]

Good idea in 2nd opinion vet. They should know how to hold him for bloodwork plus they can get blood from various places.

As for food. at this point let him eat as much as he wants. And maybe try some friskies or fancy feast roasted, or.chunky as they are still under 10 carbs...like 4-6carb. No gravy.
I used to just smoosh it to a pate with back of spoon & add water. Maybe some freeze dried treats. He can have food every 6 hours or every 4hrs. Dont fall for the vets plans of 2x a day....that is not for a diabetic. Better to feed throughout the day & night.
oh and picky is normal with diabetics.Thats why I ended up with a store of food in my spare room which became my cat room.

ok. all for now.
Hugs

 

[Amina&M'row]

Thanks so much for your wisdom about how often to feed M'row, my beloved sugar kitty. He just doesn't do it on once or twice in 12 hours!! What you say is right for him!! He basically likes FF Classic, every 4 or 6 hours, about a can or so. I started out thinking he had to be fed every 12 hours: nope! Basically, he has food out all the time except for the last two hours before insulin dose ( Lantus every 12 hours) and blood glucose check (also every 12 hours (relion prime). Appreciate the wisdom so much.

 

[tiffmaxee]

Feed as much as he wants until he’s at his ideal weight. Like you are doing until you have a good handle to his patterns pick up the food two hours before preshot. It’s dangerous for cats to lose weight too quickly so I’m glad you picked up that.

 

[Audrey F.]

UPDATE! Good news all around, we had a visit with a new vet yesterday for a 2nd opinion and he was amazing! I can't tell you how relieved I am to feel like the professional, (who I'm paying) actually has experience, knowledge, practicality... I could keep going on. Anyways, Dude has gained a bit of weight in the 6 days between weighings, we're switching to Lantus because seemingly the main cause of him feeling crappy and losing was the constant swings on Vetsulin and the fact that his BG was still almost exclusively high. He was also a bit dehydrated so I have some IV fluids I'm doing at home just to give him a boost.

Needless to say in the 24hrs since I gave him his first dose of Lantus, he's up an about, messing with toys, and so much better. The "space out" hours after I would give him his Vetsulin dose when his BG was dropping rapidly are gone. He's more alert and happy!

 

[Beardsley]

Good idea in 2nd opinion vet. They should know how to hold him for bloodwork plus they can get blood from various places.

As for food. at this point let him eat as much as he wants. And maybe try some friskies or fancy feast roasted, or.chunky as they are still under 10 carbs...like 4-6carb. No gravy.
I used to just smoosh it to a pate with back of spoon & add water. Maybe some freeze dried treats. He can have food every 6 hours or every 4hrs. Dont fall for the vets plans of 2x a day....that is not for a diabetic. Better to feed throughout the day & night.
oh and picky is normal with diabetics.Thats why I ended up with a store of food in my spare room which became my cat room.

ok. all for now.
Hugs

My Vet told me to feed him only 2 times a day. Beardsley has food out all the time and he has 2 BG readings 12 hours apart. Beardsley is 19 and only weights 8 lbs. I feed him Ziwi Peak Beef about 6 OZS a day.

 

[tiffmaxee]

I’m glad you found a vet that you have confidence in and that that your cat has gained weight. You might want to get a digital baby scale so that you can keep track of his weight. I’ve put mine to good use with several cats and kittens. They are much more accurate than weighing with and without your cat ona human scale and around $40 on Amazon or eBay.

 

[Beardsley]

I still do not have a good Vet. They all push that Vet food and can not look outside of the Box. I like Ziwi Peak Canned food from NZ Beef. Low in Carbs.

 

[Darnell & Sprocket (GA)]

I still do not have a good Vet. They all push that Vet food and can not look outside of the Box. I like Ziwi Peak Canned food from NZ Beef. Low in Carbs.

Remember vets work for you. Tell them what you will do. If they dont agree. Get a different one. There is questions on what to ask to find a new vet in fdmb.
I went through 5 before I found a wonderful vet.

 

[Beardsley]

My Cat will lay on his side to have his Nails clipped. He is a good boy. I have noticed his nails are black and the Sheath is not coming off. How do you get the Sheath off?