Karen & Obie -- a new thread for you

[Phoebe_TiggyGA_NortonGA]

QUOTE:
Hi everyone, I'm not very experienced in this board, but hope to learn more. After reading about high dose cats, I realized my Obie was probably acromegalic. Well, yep, he is! His IGF1 is 409!!! I have him up to 10 units levemir twice a day, but it seems he still needs more. He is incredibly hungry all the time. I switched him several months ago off of dry food. He is currently on Wellness cat food and gets a little piece of raw meat with his dinner. He also got a PLI done which shows him to have pancreatitis. What do I do now? I don't know how much to feed him! (He gets 1/2 of a 5.5 oz can three times a day. Is this too much, not enough. Acckkkk!

Karen (and Obie)
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Hi Karen,

How big is Obie?

With my 4 cats, I give 2 12oz cans of Wellness per day ---- but really my measure is by how empty the bowls are - we give one can in the morning and one can in the evening --- but there is always food available. They almost never clean out all the bowls (a little is left over at the next meal time).

SOOO -- my kitties are relaxed about food because there is ALWAYS food available. Tiggy was apparently a counter-surfer before we adopted him -- getting into all sorts of things like bread and pasta. At our house, he has not done that at all.

Does Obie gobble everything available? Try giving him as much as he wants -- as long as he doesn't gobble and puke -- and see how much that is.

Norton ate as much as 12 oz per day (approximately) just himself.

When you get closer to the right dose of insulin, Obie's appetite will calm down. Really :smile:

 

[Nancy and Cody]

Welcome Karen!

Like Obie, Cody is hungry all the time also. According to this article you might find interesting, we're not alone on the extraordinary hunger area. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_o ... 58b97d9ea5 Open it as a PDF to view the whole thing.

Cody is somewhere around 11 pounds I think, and I feed him about 11 ounces/day, plus dehydrated chix breast treats every time I find pee IN the litter box. That is 2 full cans of DM (very dense) per day. It is split up into about 6 meals /day. Sometimes I mix in Wellness and canned chicken, but it generally equals about the volume of a 5.5 ou can (twice a day).

I feed about half of a can before shots 2x/day, and about 1/4 can at +4 and +7. Unfortunately, I can't leave food out all the time, because he would eat until he popped. I use a timed feeder when I'm sleeping or not home, so he gets food about every 4 hrs around the clock.

You can get them at pet stores or online at Petsafe.com. Cody can break into the 2 meal feeder, so I'm hoping to try the 5 meal feeder soon. :shock: I'm also hoping to get better control of BG soon :shock: :sad: :roll: :lol: :razz:

Wellness seems to be good food, but it does seem to have a lot of water content. Since he's hungry, I would try feeding more and more often. As for the pancreatitis, I really don't know what advise to give you...

 

[Karen and Obie]

Thank you both for your replies! He's about 11 pounds, but has lost a lot of muscle mass with the diabetes. His neuropathy has been helped by the raw beef (and getting off the dry stuff.) I also give him a pill of methyl B12 in his breakfast meal, but it also has vit C in it which is an acid. Hope it's not hurting his stomach.

He has been too quiet the last couple of days. I think he doesn't feel good. I may challenge my vet to suggest something for pain mgmt as I have been reading Patty and Merlin's old posts.

It's all trial and error, isn't it!?? Should I try adding regular insulin? I need to start testing him again also.

Thanks again,
I'll try to keep you posted. If you have any ideas, shoot 'em my way!

Karen and Obie AKA Obers, Furfur, DroolyBoy

 

[Nancy and Cody]

What's the dose of Methyl b12?

Yes, you need to test - only way you know whats going on - surprising what goes on between shots.... Do you test at all?

Do you have a spreadsheet?- its great for staying organized and seeing trends. Tech forum is the place to help set that up