Is a trip to the vet in order...not 911 but CONCERNED

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milosmommy

milosmommy

Member Since 2009
Milo's numbers have been weird the past couple of days. He doesn't seem to be dropping like he was. He is drinking and urinating a little more than normal but is acting fine.
To be honest, and please no comments as I know it was a HUGE mistake. I tried the Young Again Zero Carb. I purchased it and it arrived Saturday. He LOVED it, but by Saturday night he was in pain (you could tell his tummy hurt). So I gave a small dose of the pain med the vet had given and by Sunday AM he was fine. I had only given 2 tablespoons of the food on Saturday.
So on Monday dumb me thought I'd try the YA once more. Same thing, gave 2 tablespoons, by Monday PM tummy ached and pain meds. Back to normal Tuesday. Both days he had big smelly bowel movements.
Since then he has been drinking more but not HUGE amounts like you'd associated with the diabetes, but litter box has lots more urine.
He is feeling fine, eating, active, etc.
I'm concerned there is another issue with kidneys or ketones. I have never ketone tested at home and am afraid to even try that. Should I wait a couple more days or get him to the vet.
With his numbers I was considering trying the 3x's a day injections I was told about on Prozinc area. I will go over there and see what advice is on that.
 
Unless you did a gradual switch of food (20-25% per day), that alone can cause GI symptoms.
My guess is he is intolerant or allergic to something in the YA.
 
Don't be scared of a ketone test. Remember back to high school science learning about litmus paper that turned color by what chemical/mineral/etc it was wetted with? All a ketone test consists of is dipping a strip of plastic with a piece of litmus paper stuck to the end in fresh urine, waiting 15 seconds and comparing it to the color on the bottle. Yep, that's it! No sticking required, no fancy footwork, no learning anything new...except the best way to get a fresh urine sample. Our first diabetic, KT - just 'peed on my stick' when I asked. Now Dakota does but took us months of teaching as he wouldn't even GO when we were in the room. BJ has tips in her signature above.

HUGS!
 
I agree, if you switched him to YA cold turkey of course he was going to have tummy issues. YA is very concentrated and heavy, that's why cats that eat it eat so little of it, it fills them up quickly. If you fed your kitty dry food before he was diabetic, do you remember how water he would drink? Dry food makes them thirsty so that's probably why the water intake picked up. A lot of people use YA with no issues, just make to transition slowly.
 
Ketone testing is not as scary as it sounds. You can buy a box of ketostix for around $10 at the pharmacy and then it's just a matter of sneaking up on your cat in mid-squat. Or, if that turns out to be more difficult than it sounds, here are some more ideas for catching urine (don't worry; it's not contagious :facepalm:)
 
I'm considering buying the YA zero carb dry too. I'm not sure if there's enough wet foods available here to rely just on them.

I tested for urine glucose and ketones tonight for the first time and just slipped the stick under Dweezil for a second and then removed it. At least THAT was easy (unlike the darn blood)
 
I feed mine 1 TBS a day to get their crunchies in, and yes thats 1 TBS. All my cats do great on it but I had to do it gradually because change can upset the stomach, which might be your cause. You need to slowly introduce it, do a 50/50 mix with YA and the old food and slowly adjust it. Also, as for the ketones, its not as hard as it sounds and it is important to check.
 
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