thebluejackal
New Member
Hello, everyone!
My big 14lb black cat (he's built like a rottweiler and mostly muscle) has recently been diagnosed with diabetes. My partner and I noticed that he was losing weight and urinating large amounts frequently, so we weren't at all surprised by the diagnosis. My partner's mother has type 1 diabetes, so we're really familiar with the disease in humans.
We have been trying in vain to switch him over to canned food, but he doesn't like the pate texture and will only eat so much of the shredded. Our other cats eat Taste of the Wild dry, supplemented by whatever wet food Jakko doesn't finish.
Our cats were all used to free-feeding . . . and there's nine of them. We foster for a local rescue and some of the "unadoptables" have wound up in our home, including a tortoiseshell who enjoys screaming at her overlong tail at the wee hours of the morning, a cerebellar hypoplasia kitty that I handfed from about 2 weeks old, and a hermaphrodite (neutered and spayed) who was born to a feral mother that was brought in by a woman in order to allow her to have her kittens safely. (She then had all the kittens and the mother fixed, released the mother, and found homes for the kitties). This particular kitten was attacked by one of the resident Maine coons for being "different" and has a myriad of neurotic issues resulting from that attack.
Anyway . . . everyone is now on a feeding schedule and only allowed access to the food around the time Jakko needs his insulin. We can't feed everyone individually because of the CH kitty's need to spend a LOT of time eating just because it takes him a bit longer than others. He's wobbly. XD We have placed the food in an extra closet and I open the doors for about 45 minutes while I'm at lunch and then about an hour at night. During this time, we take Jakko into a separate room and attempt to get him to eat canned food. We have discovered that he hates pate and only likes shredded foods with very little extra moisture content. I think his favorite thus far has been AvoDerm tuna, but I want to try some of the foods on the list that's posted on the site. The other kitties then get to eat whatever he didn't eat from the can. We are currently allowing him to eat a little bit of the dry ToTW because of how little of the canned food he will actually consume.
He is currently at 7 units twice a day. I have not been able to try home testing just yet, but I am willing to give it a go to help get him regulated. We have noticed that he has a lot more energy and is less irritable than he was before starting the insulin, so that's at least an improvement. He will be boarding at my vet while my partner and I take our yearly sojourn to the Renaissance Fair in Muskogee, OK (which is great, by the way) not this weekend, but next. They'll be doing a bit of a glucose curve on him while he's there.
(As a side note, none of my ToTW bags for either my dogs or cats were affected by the recall. They're from the Missouri plant, not the Carolina plant. I checked with the people at the little store I buy the food from and have had no issues.)
As far as Jakko's age is concerned, we're not really sure. He was at least 4 when we got him, but he could have been as old as 8 or so. We have had him for 6 years.
My big 14lb black cat (he's built like a rottweiler and mostly muscle) has recently been diagnosed with diabetes. My partner and I noticed that he was losing weight and urinating large amounts frequently, so we weren't at all surprised by the diagnosis. My partner's mother has type 1 diabetes, so we're really familiar with the disease in humans.
We have been trying in vain to switch him over to canned food, but he doesn't like the pate texture and will only eat so much of the shredded. Our other cats eat Taste of the Wild dry, supplemented by whatever wet food Jakko doesn't finish.
Our cats were all used to free-feeding . . . and there's nine of them. We foster for a local rescue and some of the "unadoptables" have wound up in our home, including a tortoiseshell who enjoys screaming at her overlong tail at the wee hours of the morning, a cerebellar hypoplasia kitty that I handfed from about 2 weeks old, and a hermaphrodite (neutered and spayed) who was born to a feral mother that was brought in by a woman in order to allow her to have her kittens safely. (She then had all the kittens and the mother fixed, released the mother, and found homes for the kitties). This particular kitten was attacked by one of the resident Maine coons for being "different" and has a myriad of neurotic issues resulting from that attack.
Anyway . . . everyone is now on a feeding schedule and only allowed access to the food around the time Jakko needs his insulin. We can't feed everyone individually because of the CH kitty's need to spend a LOT of time eating just because it takes him a bit longer than others. He's wobbly. XD We have placed the food in an extra closet and I open the doors for about 45 minutes while I'm at lunch and then about an hour at night. During this time, we take Jakko into a separate room and attempt to get him to eat canned food. We have discovered that he hates pate and only likes shredded foods with very little extra moisture content. I think his favorite thus far has been AvoDerm tuna, but I want to try some of the foods on the list that's posted on the site. The other kitties then get to eat whatever he didn't eat from the can. We are currently allowing him to eat a little bit of the dry ToTW because of how little of the canned food he will actually consume.
He is currently at 7 units twice a day. I have not been able to try home testing just yet, but I am willing to give it a go to help get him regulated. We have noticed that he has a lot more energy and is less irritable than he was before starting the insulin, so that's at least an improvement. He will be boarding at my vet while my partner and I take our yearly sojourn to the Renaissance Fair in Muskogee, OK (which is great, by the way) not this weekend, but next. They'll be doing a bit of a glucose curve on him while he's there.
(As a side note, none of my ToTW bags for either my dogs or cats were affected by the recall. They're from the Missouri plant, not the Carolina plant. I checked with the people at the little store I buy the food from and have had no issues.)
As far as Jakko's age is concerned, we're not really sure. He was at least 4 when we got him, but he could have been as old as 8 or so. We have had him for 6 years.
