Hi, I have been reading through the posts for weeks...my 12-year-old girl was diagnosed with diabetes nearly a month ago after a 539 glucose reading. She'd been drinking a lot and was losing weight. She's a ragdoll, and her "normal" big girl weight was always 15.5-16 pounds. When the diabetes symptoms began, she was visibly thinner. The vet said 11 pounds 7 ounces at diagnosis.
The vet ordered 1 unit of insulin twice a day, and I requested PZI (after reading Elizabeth Hodgkins). I switched her to a low-carb wet food, with a little grain-free kibble mixed in at first and am now trying to feed her nearly all wet food. It is a limited ingredient brand from Instinct, so besides the meat and vitamins, peas are the only other ingredient---so no corn, potatoes, tapioca and the like.
When I went in for a check up 2 weeks after diagnosis, her blood sugar was 43! She was acting mildly hypo and just not enjoying life, tho the drinking/pee situation had been resolved. She'd lost another few ounces, too. Vet said to try and get her weight up slightly, keep the 1 unit twice a day and bring her back in a week so they could do glucose curves. But she just seemed more and more hypo, and I know an all-day stay at the vet would be mega stressful, so I decided to get a glucometer and worked up the nerve to do the curves myself, as best I can, while maintaining the low-carb diet.
Like many cats who spent 12 years eating kibble, she's OK but is not in love with this low-carb only diet. She's not eating much, and I'm trying to be patient, sprinkling tuna juice, crumbling treats and freeze dried turkey bits on and in the food. But she doesn't seem to be gaining anything back. She's bony. She's probably only eating 4 ounces a day, if that. It just doesn't seem like enough. Her sugar levels are good (about 50-147 the entire time, with me giving her .5 units only when she's tickling 150).
What can I do to get her to gain a little without resorting to higher-carb kibble, treats and addictive type things like tuna, which will spoil her on the food and possibly harm her transition?? Everything I see in my research is about weight loss. But I'd like to get her to gain maybe 1 pound back. She's a mutt, but very Ragdoll, very big, almost Maine Coon size....11 is just unacceptable.
Milk? Cooked meat? Sometimes when she does have a good day of eating, her stool is really soft, like caramel. I'm worried at her age switching to raw would upset her stomach even more. I can't find any info on what to do to just to help bulk her up a bit without sacrificing the benefits of the low-carb diet on her glucose levels.
Is there anyone on the planet who is actually trying to get a diabetes cat to gain weight? Should I just stick to monitoring the glucose and hope if and when her vitals kick back in this will all regulate? Don't know what to do.
The vet ordered 1 unit of insulin twice a day, and I requested PZI (after reading Elizabeth Hodgkins). I switched her to a low-carb wet food, with a little grain-free kibble mixed in at first and am now trying to feed her nearly all wet food. It is a limited ingredient brand from Instinct, so besides the meat and vitamins, peas are the only other ingredient---so no corn, potatoes, tapioca and the like.
When I went in for a check up 2 weeks after diagnosis, her blood sugar was 43! She was acting mildly hypo and just not enjoying life, tho the drinking/pee situation had been resolved. She'd lost another few ounces, too. Vet said to try and get her weight up slightly, keep the 1 unit twice a day and bring her back in a week so they could do glucose curves. But she just seemed more and more hypo, and I know an all-day stay at the vet would be mega stressful, so I decided to get a glucometer and worked up the nerve to do the curves myself, as best I can, while maintaining the low-carb diet.
Like many cats who spent 12 years eating kibble, she's OK but is not in love with this low-carb only diet. She's not eating much, and I'm trying to be patient, sprinkling tuna juice, crumbling treats and freeze dried turkey bits on and in the food. But she doesn't seem to be gaining anything back. She's bony. She's probably only eating 4 ounces a day, if that. It just doesn't seem like enough. Her sugar levels are good (about 50-147 the entire time, with me giving her .5 units only when she's tickling 150).
What can I do to get her to gain a little without resorting to higher-carb kibble, treats and addictive type things like tuna, which will spoil her on the food and possibly harm her transition?? Everything I see in my research is about weight loss. But I'd like to get her to gain maybe 1 pound back. She's a mutt, but very Ragdoll, very big, almost Maine Coon size....11 is just unacceptable.
Milk? Cooked meat? Sometimes when she does have a good day of eating, her stool is really soft, like caramel. I'm worried at her age switching to raw would upset her stomach even more. I can't find any info on what to do to just to help bulk her up a bit without sacrificing the benefits of the low-carb diet on her glucose levels.
Is there anyone on the planet who is actually trying to get a diabetes cat to gain weight? Should I just stick to monitoring the glucose and hope if and when her vitals kick back in this will all regulate? Don't know what to do.
