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Hi. Norton's BG has remained on the lower side, around 100 plus or minus. His highest BG over the past couple of weeks was 117. We haven't been able to get a good blood drop to check for the past few days, but will continue to try over the weekend. Sometimes it is easy to get; other times not so much and Norton gets too antsy. We've cut his dry food in half and increased his wet food to compensate for calories. He still prefers the dry, which is now mostly Orijen with a little Purina One, and we have to coax him to eat the wet sometimes. Though usually if we just leave him alone he will eat it eventually. His water intake is mostly constant, though he has had a couple of days separated by many days over the past couple of weeks where he drank more than usual. But his BG was pretty good, and the increased water intake does not continue more than just one day.

I ordered Foriflora to sprinkle on his wet food. Hopefully that will make it a little more enticing and we won't have to struggle so much to get him to eat it. I've been sprinkling crushed freeze dried salmon on it, but he basically now just licks the salmon up and leaves the food, so that trick is no longer working.

Shari
 
Well, Norton has pretty much gone on a wet food strike. He stopped eating it last weekend, and since then it has been hit or miss. He had one day during the week when he ate all of the wet food we put down for him, but otherwise he has only picked at it as best. We increased his dry food to make sure he is eating enough, so our efforts to get him off of dry have backpedalled. I talked to his vet mid-week and she said it is better to have him eating dry than not eating. I have half a dozen open cans of food in the fridge as we are trying different flavors and brands to find something he will eat. It's strange; he had no issues with eating the same two flavors of fancy feast for months. Now he won't touch them. He ate some of a third flavor this week, but now he doesn't want that either. We've tried putting crushed up dehydrated salmon, tuna flakes, even crushed dry food on it. He either ignores it or licks off the treat then walks away.

His BG numbers this week and the one prior were ok. The highest BG he had in the month of July (a couple of weeks ago) was 144, and we got his lowest BG ever this past Thursday of 78. We weighed him mid-week to make sure he is getting enough food and his weight was holding steady. He wants to eat wet food; he goes to his dish and sniffs it and then walks away. I don't want to go back to his pre-diagnosis wet food, as that was really not good stuff. I'm not sure if I should just stick with what the fancy feast he was eating and hope he decides to go back to it, or keep trying different types. I am very worried that he is not eating enough. And he is very stubborn.

I printed out the info on transitioning from dry to canned food. My main goal for today is to come up with a plan to slowly get Norton back to eating wet food, and eventually to stop eating dry food.

Shari
 
One thing to add: from a behavior standpoint, aside from complaining about his food, Norton has been very energetic lately, and in general is acting normally. So we are not seeing changes from that perspective.
 
Shari,

Yes, we agree with your vet that it is better for your cat to be eating something than not eating at all. Due to the risk of hepatic lipidosis, cats need food every day.

Sometimes, using their natural hunger and meal feeding helps. You need to put the food down for limited amounts of time and then take it back up. Or have an auto feeder, which would do the same thing.

I did the meal feeding transition with Wink first on his dry food. Then gradually added more wet food.

I also put down the wet food first, waited an hour and only then put some dry food down.

If you have all those cans in the fridge, he might like them warmed up a bit, to body temperature. Makes the food "smell" more, stinkier food gets those hunger centers working.

Does he have a URI by any chance, so he isn't smelling the food as well? Or something else is off health wise? Something subtle?

Sniffing the food and walking away as you said, is often a symptom of nausea. You could try giving him the plain Pepcid a/c 10 mg, 1/4 tab a day to help with the nausea. Does he like his lips a lot?

Pancreatitis issues?

So, he is feeling better, more energetic and acting normal. Doesn't sound like pancreatitis.
 
There are usually leftovers, even when he is eating the wet food, so I do heat any up that come from the fridge. Norton has always been a grazer, eating some food throughout the day. Changing that behavior will be a task. When you transitioned your cat, did you leave the wet out all day and just pick up the dry? Right now I have been putting down a specific amount of wet twice a day and leave it for him to eat whenever. Whatever he doesn't eat by the time of the next meal gets tossed. I had been putting a measured amount of dry food down just in the morning, which he almost always ate by dinner time. But I thought it might be better to break that up into two meals too. Either way, he doesn't usually eat the dry food all at once either. I have seen him sometimes eat most of his breakfast in the late afternoon.

My concern with picking up his food after a set time period is that if he didn't eat much, he would not have anything to snack on when he got hungry. Wouldn't that impact his blood glucose levels? I know when I get hungry in the middle of the day and don't have a snack I get downright cranky.
 
I forgot to add, we don't believe he has a URI. He has not been urinating more than normal. He has been drinking more, however. Though not consistently.

He did try to cough up a hairball this morning. We gave him a hairball treat. Maybe his stomach has been upset all week because of a hairball? He is eating dry food, though. So it isn't like he doesn't want to eat anything. Ugh, he is going to give me ulcers.
 
I forgot to add, we don't believe he has a URI. He has not been urinating more than normal. He has been drinking more, however. Though not consistently.

He did try to cough up a hairball this morning. We gave him a hairball treat. Maybe his stomach has been upset all week because of a hairball? He is eating dry food, though. So it isn't like he doesn't want to eat anything. Ugh, he is going to give me ulcers.
 
Since he has to eat something, the dry choices are limited.
Some are:
Young Again 0 Carb - internet only, 5% calories from carbohydrates
Wellness Core Original - 11% calories from carbohydrates
Evo Cat & Kitten - 8% calories from carbohydrates, if you can find it as they've been dealing with recalls.
Stella & Chew's freeze dried - supposed to be rehydrated
 
My situation is different. I have 2 other cats that gobble their food down in 2 minutes flat. I had to transition Wink to meal feeding wet food to get his BG's under control and to make sure he would get ANY food to eat. Free feeding just does not work for me.

I'm home a lot so I was able to feed 6-8 minimeals a day, but I took the food up in between feedings, to get his natural hunger drive to kick in. It probably took me 8 weeks to get him from 2 hours per meal, to 1 hour to 30 minutes, to 5-15 minutes now. I still need to guard his food, to prevent the other cats from eating it all. He'll let them push him away from the dish.

We're down to 4 meals a day, 2 breakfasts a couple of hours apart and 2 dinners a couple of hours apart.

I gave Wink less and less dry and more and more wet, in separate dishes to help with the changeover.
I removed all dry food from the house at 5 weeks. You could freeze some for emergencies.
I crumbled Halo Liv-a-Little freeze dried chicken treats over his food.
I poured tuna water over his food.
I crumbled some of his dry food over the wet.
I tried Merrick chunky foods. Meeh.
I tried freeze dried food, Meeh.
I tried a ton of flavors. (All fishy flavors were rejects, Fancy Feast Turkey & Giblet was and is his absolute favorite).
When he got another UTI, and was on antibiotics, that kills his appetite, so I needed to add an appetite stimulant to get home to eat more than a tablespoon or two of food. That helped with the transition too.
I heated up the food to body temperature.
I mixed other flavors, tiny amounts, into his servings of FF Turkey and Giblet to get him to eat other flavors.
I used his natural hunger drive to get him to eat at least some of the wet food first, then put out the dry.
I isolated him so he would not be harassed by my other 2 cats and could eat in peace.
I held the dish for him and stuck it under his nose to get him to eat more.
I elevated the dish when he showed signs of nausea and gave him 1/4 tab of Pepcid 30 minutes before meals.

I was persistent, one step back, two forward.

Since the food transition, Wink is no longer getting a UTI/diarrhea monthly like he used to do in the shelter. His coat is sleek and shiny, he has more energy, jumping, running, playing, chasing, pouncing, and such a happy boy now that I would syringe feed or put in a feeding tube before I would ever give him dry food again. Bonus, he is OTJ and has been for 4+ months.
 
Norton loved EVO dry food. Then the last recall came, and we had to toss the bag we had, and one of the people who work at a dog and cat specialty food store told me that Natura closed down the plant because they were having so many issues. We bought a bag of Wellness Core, which Norton turned his nose up at, and a bag of Orijen, which we were able to get him to eat. Best as I can compute, the Orijen is ~18% carb. I e-mailed the manufacturer but only got from them that is is less than 20% carb and they won an award for best low-glycemic pet food of the year in 2011-2012. So not great. But better than his original dry food, Purina One. I sometimes have to include a few pieces of the Purina, though, to get him to eat the Orijen.

Deb - thank you for sharing your experience with Wink. We have tried some of the tricks you list; some worked initially but then Norton caught on. Our second cat is isolated in his own room, so we don't have to worry about competition for food (cat #2 is FIV+ and doesn't like other cats). We work rather long days, so feeding multiple times during the day isn't something we can try. But you've given me suggestions for other things we can try.

I would feel better if I could find even one wet food that he will eat at this point. Then at least I would have a starting point.
 
My two breakfast meals might only be 1 hour apart on the days I go to work early. Other days, the meals might be 2- 2.5 hours apart.

I kept rotating the tips and tricks too. What worked one day, might not the next. What didn't work one day, did when I tried it a few days later.

Did you ever get any Fortiflora to sprinkle on his food? You said back on 7/20 your ordered some. Same animal digest as the coatings on dry food. Because of that animal digest coating, almost all cats will prefer the dry food.

The Young Again company will send you a sample to try with your cat. Might be worth it to see if he would even eat that dry food.

I also mixed about 1 Tablespoon of water into the wet food, stirred until mixed, about the consistency of applesauce. He liked that better.

My concern with picking up his food after a set time period is that if he didn't eat much, he would not have anything to snack on when he got hungry. Wouldn't that impact his blood glucose levels?
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Yes, the BG numbers might go lower. Food raises the numbers, insulin lowers the numbers.

Do you think he would prefer the chunky textured foods? What are his favorite flavors?
 
I did get some Fortiflora and sprinkled it on his food one night. He would not eat it, so I have not tried again. Before his diagnosis, his favorite wet food was Friskies savory shreds salmon & chicken and turkey & cheese. He liked food with pieces and gravy over pates. So it was a big achievement to get him to eat Fancy Feast classic. I went through the food guide lists today and marked down the different brands and types that might not be pates but that are not horrible with respect to carbs. Maybe I can find one with a texture he will like better.

Tonight I put some tuna water on his wet food, and gave him the rest of the water in a bowl, which is what we usually do when we open a can of tuna. He lapped up the water but did not touch his wet food. We weighed him today and he lost a little weight over the past few days, so right now I am taking the approach that he is not eating any wet food, so I'm going to give him enough dry to satisfy his caloric needs. Then we will start working down the path of training him to eat at specific times and getting him back on wet food. I may even go buy a couple of cans of his old Friskies and really start over.

I have not heard of Young Again but will investigate and request a sample. It can't hurt. Good suggestion about mixing water into the pate food as well. I'll try that trick tomorrow.

Thanks-
Shari
 
Well, this morning I gave Norton some Fancy Feast chicken in gravy. My partner was supposed to buy the grilled version, which is not great with respect to carbs, but is better than what he came home with. Norton lapped it right up. Which confirms for me that he does want wet food, just not what I keep trying to give him. I guess he's done with pates for now. He'll have a high carb day today, but at least I know he will eat more than just dry food.

Shari
 
What some people have done to get their cats to eat another texture of food, is to slowly and gradually mix in a bit of the pate with the shreds or flaked or gravy style. Over time, add more and more of the pate and less and less of the higher carb gravy/sauce/broth style food. That is another suggestion I can make for you to try.

Some of the Fancy Feast chunky style and flaked style foods are low carb. Different texture than the pates.

I have a list of some chunky foods. Unfortunately, it's at home. I'll try to find a post where I included it.

Here it is:

Deb & Wink said:
Some chunkier cat foods.
Chunky style foods, low carb we think
1. Fancy Feast chunky turkey, chunky chicken; Fancy Feast flaked style.
2. Nature's Variety is more chunky like the Merrick's or the FF Chunky.
3. Weruva's Paw Lickin' Chicken
4. Avoderm Chicken Chunks in Gravy
5. Stella and Chewys freeze dried dinner
6. Merrick Cowboy Cookout is somewhat chunky and low carb
7. Tiki Cat for the chunks, albeit pricey
8. wellness sells a chunk style brand in chicken and turkey in a minced, cubed and sliced low carb though?
9. Merrick Grammy's Pot Pie is pretty chunky.
10. Pro Plan turkey is a mince, so it has some texture
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Thanks!

That's how we got him to eat the fancy feast classic the first time, by slowly mixing it with his old friskies. I e-mailed Young Again and they will send me a sample of their zero carb cat food. Is it really zero carb, though, or just really low.
 
Well that is much better than Orijen. We got Norton to eat the fancy feast grilled chicken, which is not great from a carb perspective, but better than no wet food. His BG went up - 187 tonight, versus 113 on Sunday. It tends to jump around a bit, though, so we'll check him again in a few days and see if the upward trend continues. I'm not going to try to add in the lower carb pate yet, unless his BG continues to climb. I want to make sure he'll continue to eat wet food. I reduced his dry food back down to his pre-wet-food-strike amount.

Shari
 
Be tough on him.. If he slips out of remission again its a lot harder, if even possible, to get him into remission again. But at the same time it's important he eats.. But make sure it's not him playing you and wanting the good stuff all the time ;)
 
I am happy to say that Norton is not only eating wet food, but is eating a mix of medium and low carb wet food that is mostly the latter. And we got a sample of Young Again Zero carb dry food, and after a few days he decided he likes that better than Orijen. He also voluntarily started eating less dry food. So overall he is averaging 7-8% of calories from carbs a day and eating mainly wet food with just a little dry; much better than the ~15% he was up to a couple of weeks ago! And the best part is that his BG came back down. It got up to 203 on Monday, but last night was down to 93.

dancing_cat
 
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