My Cat is also starving all the time

[Cheryl & Whiskers (GA)]

Hi,

I just finished reading a newbie's (like me) post where she said her cat is always starving.
Whiskers is also always starving but one of her healthcare providors (an animal chiroprator) would not continue to treat her until she lost some weight (she only weight 11.5 lbs at the time)because
she would be more comfortable, it has been about 3 months since that day, and it has been an terrible roller coster ride. She is now down to about 10.4 lbs and it is awful becuase she is always starving, I felt like a terrible mom. Now I am reading it is ok to feed her more until we regulate her glucose!!!!?! I thought to much food made the BG go up, and weight gain.

I just feel awful, and don't know what to do, she was diagnosed with pancreatitis last week, she is always thirsty as well, constantly drinking and urinating a lot (including outside the box) She has also had 2 urinary tract infections in the last 2 months.I know these all symptoms of BG being to high.

Our vet does think she is having a rebound so we have just lowered her dose of lanuts from 2units to 1.5 units (we were previously on Humilin-N). We have gone thru many dose changes between the 2 insulins and can't seem to regulated her. I am really worried that her system is just going
to give out. We have been on the 1.5 units of lantus for 5 days now, and I am supposed to do a BG curve tomorrow. I also trying to get my SS together tonight and tomorrow so I can publish it for your advise.

This is so hard on us emotionally. I just want to get her regulated and I don't seem to be getting it right.

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

I hope it will help to know that all of us felt overwhelmed and frightened at the beginning. It does get better.

Unregulated diabetics can not use their food in the normal way and they are literally starving. So we do say to feed them more than usual, not overfeed, but more than you usually do. You can also freeze food and leave it out to thaw so they can graze. And divide up what you are feeding in several meals during the day and night. With Lantus, you do want to restrict food before the am and pm tests so you get a true reading, but you can feed the rest of the day and night.

It is great you are testing at home. If you have trouble with your spreadsheet, just ask. We'll help.

Have you read how Lantus works? It does have a pretty strict protocol so it can work at optimum level. Check the Lantus forum and read the stickies at the top. viewforum.php?f=9

 

[Christie & Willie (GA)]

I'm a newbie too, so I don't have a ton to offer except an "I feel your pain!!"

What kind of food is Whiskers eating now? I think with a kitty in this situation, it's important to get the best quality food you can into them so that they are getting quality protein out of what they are eating. My Willie is currently at about 11 lbs, and because he's a big cat (who once weighed in at 22!), he needs to eat more. I am using a homemade diet using turkey and supplement powder and am allowing unlimited feeding 3 times a day for 30 minutes each. Even though he's not getting all he can out of the food and is eating more, I feel better knowing he isn't having to process unnecessary food items like corn, soy, etc. when his body is fighting to get every bit of nutrition out of what he's eating. One of the advantages to feeding a high quality food is that I find it decreases costs elsewhere. Better quality protein and lots of moisture in the food make kitty poo much smaller and can decrease urine output, which means we go through litter less quickly around here.

If you are feeding a high quality wet food, I say let Whiskers eat freely. As he regulates, he'll eat less as he's able to draw more of what he needs out of smaller quantities of food. And any weight he gains should come off as a result, barring any other health problems that would prevent him from doing so.

Best wishes to you and Whiskers! I'm sure others with more knowledge will be along soon with great advice!

 

[Cheryl & Whiskers (GA)]

Hi Sue and Kcatty,

I have only read the first lantus sticky, I will read up on more this weekend, so I can understand the strict protocol.

As for food she was on a dry food before she came to us and for a while after we got her. We than learned that is very probably the cause of her diabetis. We have since been on a food odyssey of sort's. The vet recommended one of the canned science diet prescription foods for diabetics. We than found out at Dr. Lisa Pierson web site catinfo.org, that it is a low quality food. We than moved on to Wellness "carb free" variety canned foods. Now I have gone on to raw food. We are very fortunate in MN to have a very caring and informed producer and providor of raw foods. It is called http://www.woodyspetdeli.com/, I think they even deliver thru one of the pet food delivery companies. If I find the delivery company I can post later, anyway they serves a variety of freshly made, wholesome, human-grade dog and cat foods, no highly-processed commercial dry foods! They are committed to promoting your pet's optimal health by providing them with the best nutrition! I feel pretty comfortable with their raw food, as I just don't have time to make homemade right now. They are very well thought of here in MN and have just opened a second store. I feel very fortunate to be able to have them as a food resource.