Marley's Adventure - new to this with high numbers

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Thanks, I can't imagine he'd tolerate some of those any better but he has surprised us with how well he's been doing. He's made what could be a stressful situation much easier than we could have imagined. We've been targeting looser areas of skin around the shoulder areas. He's got some extra baggage since he's down about 1.5# from 16# and some change.
 
We posted the other day in the Prozinc forum about dosing and now that we're past that, we have some observations and some general questions on how to make Marley more comfortable.

We see appetite loss, weight loss, drier skin, hair loss in two spots on his legs, may not be moving around quite as well.

Just the past 3 days or so, it seems like Marley doesn't have his full appetite. He normally gets tested, fed, and shot around 6-7AM. We feed him (and his sister) a whole can each of FF classics with 2T of warm water mixed up. Most of the time the bowls are pretty cleaned up throughout the day. We normally start the routine over 11-12 hours after the first feeding. If he wants a snack prior to dinner he gets 3-6 pieces of PureBites Chicken Breast & Catnip snacks. We normally pick the bowls up around midnight or so when we go to bed, that lets us have a 2 hour fasting number in the morning. Most of the time, the bowls are pretty much cleaned up (and we get walked on and woken some mornings around 5AM) but recently they've been 1/2 full or so. We've not been able to accurately weigh him, but he's definitely still losing weight. We've read a bunch of times that they often start regaining their weight once they are stabilized though.

He has always had dry skin, it's normally worse in the winter months when the furnace is running though. We've tried this fish oil and he hated it so we've used this spray in the past, we just used a waterless bath on him and have been applying the spray but want to make sure we take care of it as well as we can. We've also noticed the two spots on his legs that you can see in the pictures attached.

We're not certain but it appears that he may be having a little trouble moving around at times. We've read about Zobaline and neuropathy but not sure if that's what we're seeing or if it would even possibly be the best treatment.

Does anyone have any advice at this point that you'd be willing to share?

Thank you!

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Marley's BG does seem to be a little better but the lack of appetite seems out of line with the improvement being seen. Are you checking Marley for ketones? Ketostix can be purchased at the local pharmacy and you can check his urine. Any reading over trace is cause for a vet consult. Some folks can hold the strip directly under kitty while they pee while others use a plastic spoon to catch a small sample. If Marley is shy about his bathroom habits, you can try putting some crinkled up plastic wrap in the litter box where he normally like to pee and see if you can catch a few drops in the plastic wrap.

When is the last time Marley had his teeth checked? Tooth issues can cause kitty to eat less and also higher BG.

Mobility issues could be associated neuropathy but it could be something else going on too. And the skin issues again could be something entirely separate. Have you changed foods lately? Food allergies can often show up as skin issues. Is Marley scratching more or is it just the patches of lost fur you've noticed?
 
We have Ketostix but haven't been able to get a clean sample. I gave him a tour of the fresh litter box about 20 times throughout the evening with no success though. He's not a big fan of changes in his litter box including different litter types. It's also harder to keep track of which cat is using it without isolating them for some time.

However, he seems to have a full appetite as of last nights meal and maintained some lower numbers. He also seemed to be eating as normal this morning as well but his AMPS was high again, I didn't expect it after the lower numbers at +6. I did leave his food out all night and found it cleaned up but I'm pretty certain that between both cats it should have been gone more than 2 hours prior to AMPS.

His teeth were checked at DX:08/09/19. He doesn't act like it's painful to eat, he's had two previously extracted so we've seen this in the past but will probably open his mouth and check again tonight to be safe.

Is there anything we should/could do as a preventative for neuropathy? Any supplements that may be recommended for that specifically or his health in general at this point?

We changed from the dry foods over to the FF Classics Poultry and Beef packs and haven't looked back, they both seem to enjoy those flavors. We've also been adding a few tablespoons of warm water and stirring them up to make a stew-like consistency. This definitely cut back on how much he drinks but the litter box is still wetter than pre-DX but a bit better than before insulin.

He doesn't really scratch or chew, he's never really acted like the dry skin bothered him much either. We don't notice any real changes other than the two spots and they don't appear to be red or irritated at all.
 
Glad to hear his appetite seems to have picked up. Just keep trying to check for ketones. It is indeed difficult to do with more than one kitty in the house. There are meters available that test for ketones as well as BG and you could consider that as an alternative if his numbers stay elevated. Glad to hear the water intake has decreased and the LB is a little less wet....both good signs.

Did the furless patches show up since the switch of food? Chicken can be problematic. Seems to be one of the main culprits where allergies are concerned.

You could try a supplement called Zobaline available on Amazon for the possible neuropathy and see if it helps at all. It's not a magic cure and most improvement will come from getting BG regulated however it does seem to help speed up the recovery for a lot of cats.
 
Just ordered a Nova Max Plus meter and ketone strips, we'll continue to try the plastic method but we'll have the meter as a backup.

The two patches showed up after the food change to FF, but I'm not sure they are related. I'm actually wondering if the front leg was from the vet shaving it, it's sad that I can't remember or didn't continue to notice.

Also, since we are feeding 2x daily approximately 12h apart, how much FF would you recommend at each meal? The AM feeding typically gets cleaned up, where the PM feeding is normally only 1/2-3/4 consumed in most cases.
 
Glad to hear you ordered a ketone meter. Well worth having a backup meter anyway and that will make checking ketones much easier. FYI - using the meter for cats, you don't need to worry about ketones unless you get a reading of 2 or above. I believe 2.4 is considered the point where a vet visit is needed but anything over 2 would be an alert to up water/food intake and careful watching.

Keep an eye on the fur spots. Food allergies can display as skin issues. And don't feel bad about not knowing if the one is from the vet shaving it.....it's hard to keep track of it all and we've all wished we paid more attention at one time or another.

While the vet may have told you to feed two meals a day, it's actually better to break food up into a couple of meals and snacks. Some of us feed our cats 4 time daily, some 6. Just split up the normal amount. Each FF can of pate (classic) is around 80 to 100 calories depending on flavour. I would guess if 16 lbs is a good weight for Marley, he'd need around 300-320 calories per day or roughly 3 cans give or take. An auto feeder is very helpful to be able to leave food out for a snack when you are out or overnight or alternately, freezing food into cubes and leaving them out to thaw for eating later is an option.
 
Ketones were at 0.3 when I tested him twice after running a calibration test. So we should be good there.

Fur spots, they are definitely from him over-grooming. He's not biting or scratching, just seems to be OCD about his legs being cleaned. I'm pretty sure this is neuropathy from what we've read, the Zobaline arrived and we started him on it this AM.

We've always fed two meals a day, unfortunately we're normally gone for 10 hours or better in the morning/afternoon. We're going to look into the auto feeders though. Right now, both cats only seem to be hungry enough for 2 cans/day each. Rarely they may ask for more and we give it, some days they are leaving some behind. 16# is a little high for Marley, they've told us that since he was like 3 years old. We don't let them starve, but we're surprised they only seem to want 2 cans per day each.
 
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