Is my cat relapsing?

[Jess and Zeke]

Hi!! I’m new here!

So I recently adopted Zeke (about a month ago) and the shelter said he is in remission, he has been since mid-January. About a week after I adopted him he got a little bit of the cough (hed have like one or two little coughing fits a day), but I took him to the vet last week and they said it’s not much to worry about and I’ve been giving him some medicine. He still has a bit of a cough but he’s also started puking after he eats. He’s only done this a couple times and I think it’s just because he’s really bad about scarfing his food down too fast. Other than that I haven’t noticed anything too out of the ordinary. Hes older (11) so he’s a pretty sleepy boy already but he still seems to have energy and wants to play. It seems like he drank a little more water today but that’s it. Regardless I called the vet today and put actual vet will be giving me a call back tomorrow.

I’ve been feeding him his prescribed diet very strictly, but he did get into a little bit of our other cats food this week (it’s the friskies strips).

My (couple of) questions are: does this sound like he could be staring to relapse? Could the vomiting/extra water intake be due to the cold he has? And does it sound super pressing and like I should take him to the vet ASAP?

All of this is still pretty new to me so I’m a little paranoid and want to make sure that Mr. Zeke is doing okay/is gonna be okay.

Thank you so much!!

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

He’s only done this a couple times and I think it’s just because he’s really bad about scarfing his food down too fast.

Try spreading his food out on a flat plate instead of piled in a bowl (or you can put something inedible in the bowl that makes him have to "work around" to eat....like a golf ball) Getting him to slow down when he eats will stop the scarf and barf.

I’ve been feeding him his prescribed diet very strictly,

What are you feeding him? Most "prescription" foods are actually too high in carbs for a diabetic cat.

does this sound like he could be staring to relapse?

Are you home testing? If not, you need to start. That way you'll know for sure what's going on with his blood glucose and whether he's coming out of remission or not. A normal BG for cats is 50-120 on a human meter, 68-150 on a pet meter.

As for the coughing, you might want to watch to see when there are lots of allergens in the air. Kitties can have hay fever just like we can.

 

[Jess and Zeke]

Awesome, thank you I'll try that!

As for the food, he's on the Royal Canin Glycobalance wet food, and it's actually interesting because I was looking at the (dry matter?) carbs for it and it was 14%. Which I thought was super weird because I thought carbs should be under 10%. It's what the shelter gave me to give him specifically for his diabetes, but I'm going to talk to the vet about switching him to something else. I had to give him something store-bought because I was waiting for the next shipment of glycobalance, so I tried Tiki cat which I heard was really good for diabetic kitties and he really liked it. So I'm going to talk to the vet about switching him over to something like that.

And I haven't been at-home testing, as the shelter told me I didn't need to since he's in remission :,). But I've learned from just reading the forum that this is not the case, so I'm looking for ones to buy!! Do human meters read kitty BG accurately? Because the cat meters are kind of expensive so if I can use a human meter that would be amazing

And I have been giving him some allergy meds (chlorpheniramine as recommended by the vet) because we do also have a bunny and hay in the apartment

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

Which I thought was super weird because I thought carbs should be under 10%.

Right....he should be eating under 10% carbs. There's absolutely nothing special about the "prescription" foods that actually treat diabetes. You're paying a premium price for inferior quality ingredients with a well known name (and big advertising budget)

Do human meters read kitty BG accurately? Because the cat meters are kind of expensive so if I can use a human meter that would be amazing

Most of us use human meters because of the insane price of the pet strips. All our dosing methods were developed using human meters so we're very familiar with them and comfortable giving advice to others who use them. "Pet" meters are actually fairly new to the scene....before somebody put a picture of a cat on the box and doubled the price, the only meter anybody could use was a human meter and they did just fine.

Most of us use the Relion Prime from WalMart. It's $9 for the meter and strips are $9 for 50 or $17.88 for 100

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/

Here is the food chart showing the carbs
Most of us feed Fancy Feast Classics Pate, they are 2% or 3 % carbs

 

[Jess and Zeke]

Update:


Talked to the vet about switching foods and she seemed okay with that. Finally got him to slow down with meals a little bit so he’s not throwing them right up anymore!!

Got some blood work done at the vet yesterday and his glucose was completely normal and they did a urine test that I’ll here back about later today. It still seems like he’s drinking a lot of water though, which is really concerning me. Is that normal for cats in remission? Like could it just be habit for him?

Also got a glucose monitor and tried to test him myself today but I’m really struggling with getting blood. I’ll poke him and won’t get anything but it seems like it’s hurting him more than it should. He could just be dramatic but I also just worry all the time.

Do you have any tips for the actual process of getting blood from him?

Thanks so much for all your help so far