Losing weight/won't eat

[kdillon]

My vet told me that I should not give the cat insulin unless he eats. The cat is eating less and less everyday and dropping weight fast. We took him back to the vet and she said it is most important that we get him to eat and that we should feed him ANYTHING that he will swallow. We have changed his food many times and he seems to like the food for a day or two and then won't eat it anymore so change again. He will like the new food again for a day or so and then refuses to eat it anymore. Any suggestions?

 

[Hillary & Maui (GA)]

I asked you many questions on your other post. Are you home testing?

Please answer the quetions I posted and then we can help you further.

 

[Kelly & Oscar]

As discovered in your other post, he is not eating because of the ketones in his system. For future reference, tuna juice does wonders for a finicky eater!

 

[kdillon]

We had him tested for ketones last week because the vet was concerned he may have those but none were found in the test. During that visit with her, she said that his heart sounds funny and maybe he has some sort of heart disease she said (are you serious?!?!) She said they won't start testing or addressing his heart until we get the diabetes under control.
Thanks for the tip about tuna juice! Tuna was one of the only things he would eat a week or so ago. That lasted a few days and then he didn't want anything to do with it. Tonight, I gave him just the juice from chunk tuna in water and he loved it. He seems to only want the gravy or juice in certain foods anymore.

 

[Jen & Squeak]

Forcefeed him canned plain chicken babyfood and give him a token dose of insulin, testing blood glucose levels first though. It isn't totally true that you shouldn't inject if not eating, as it will create a very nasty cycle. The high bgs will make your cat feel like cr*p and that will make him not want to eat. So you have to forcefeed and you have to give insulin.

But if your cat also has ketones then you need serious care.

 

[Gia and Quirk]

You need to be testing your cat's urine at home for ketones. Ketostix are available at any drug store, they are usually kept behind the counter, just ask the pharmacist for them. The reason you need to test at home, and OFTEN, is that ketones can develop to dangerous levels in hours, the test a week ago gives you no information about what has happened since. At this stage I would be testing every time the cat pees.