My cat is drinking a lot but has stopped eating again

[Cleo's mom]

My cat Cleo, was diagnosed and started on insulin on March 19th. She was doing really good on it for a couple of days then she started having bad diarrhea. The vet didn't do much about that problem but he said she was doing good everywhere else because she was gaining her weight back. I of course am freaking out about every little thing.

She's been hiding under places recently but when I stopped messing with her by trying to check on her constantly she started acting normal again. She's been drinking a lot of water. I got the test strips for ketones but she showed up with trace then negative the second time.

Last night she kept me up by asking for food all night like she used to when she was younger so I thought that was a good sign. She currently eats wet food and kibble. She can't have poultry so she eats mostly fish, a bit of beef, and lamb. She has kibble available at all times so she does have food to eat.

Yes, I will be getting her onto the recommended diet but I haven't figured out the glucose monitor thing so I don't feel comfortable switching anything til I have that down so we can safely transition her.

Anyways, today when I was going to give her her shot of 1 unit of insulin, I noticed she was only eating the gravy and not really her food. I gave her some treats to make sure she would have food with her medicine and she did eat those. But she won't really eat her food and she won't touch her kibble. I did give her a salmon puree treat though and she ate pretty much the whole tube.

Has anyone experienced this? If so, what do I need to do??

Thanks for the help!

 

[CORKY]

My cat Cleo, was diagnosed and started on insulin on March 19th. She was doing really good on it for a couple of days then she started having bad diarrhea. The vet didn't do much about that problem but he said she was doing good everywhere else because she was gaining her weight back. I of course am freaking out about every little thing.

She's been hiding under places recently but when I stopped messing with her by trying to check on her constantly she started acting normal again. She's been drinking a lot of water. I got the test strips for ketones but she showed up with trace then negative the second time.

Last night she kept me up by asking for food all night like she used to when she was younger so I thought that was a good sign. She currently eats wet food and kibble. She can't have poultry so she eats mostly fish, a bit of beef, and lamb. She has kibble available at all times so she does have food to eat.

Yes, I will be getting her onto the recommended diet but I haven't figured out the glucose monitor thing so I don't feel comfortable switching anything til I have that down so we can safely transition her.

Anyways, today when I was going to give her her shot of 1 unit of insulin, I noticed she was only eating the gravy and not really her food. I gave her some treats to make sure she would have food with her medicine and she did eat those. But she won't really eat her food and she won't touch her kibble. I did give her a salmon puree treat though and she ate pretty much the whole tube.

Has anyone experienced this? If so, what do I need to do??

Thanks for the help!

Welcome to FDF, diarrhea has to be dealt if Cloe still has it, it will lead to dehydration and other issues, did your vet prescribed something for it? You are using ProZinc, the protocol for ProZinc is to TEST. FEED. SHOOT, it is not a good idea to shoor insulin without knowing Cleo's glucose level, cats love carbs, love Kibbles, and Kibbels contain between 25-30% carbs and free feeding is not good, a diabetic cat should have 2 main meals at time of shooting, also at least 2-3-4 small low carb snacks/meals during the day to keep the insulin in check through out the day, I see that you are feeding poultry, fish, beef, and lamb, you are in Arkansas, so below is a Drs food list and a carb calculator, you want to make sure that the her diet is between 0-10% carbs, so the lists has many brands to choose from, the third column contains the Carb content, if you have some cans in your house, you can find out the car %, as I do, I also go to CHEWY.COM look for the food, click on the can showed, and go down to nutrient and use the calculator, any food that has gravy are high carbs, here, most of the members enjoy Fancy Feast, it USA made so it's regulated and no waste goes into the food, and they do have a great variety like what Cloe eats., if and when transition to wet food you must do it slowly, since it can alter the glucose level, you can purchase at Walmart the ReliOn Premier human glucose monitor and strips the monitor is $19.99 and the strips are $9.00 for 50 -$17.88 for 100, you do not need an expensive or pet monitor to test her, you always want to have extra strips handy, home testing is top priority for Cloe before shooting, do not shoot on an empty stomach. We are very numbers oriented it if you could create your signature and create a Spreadsheet for Cloe, we can help you in all your concerns you can review Corky's Spreadsheet so you have an idea how it works, it is imperative you test before each shot, that is AMPS/PMPS, and at least 4 other test during the day, the more data we have the better we/you can see how the dose is working in Cloe, do not fear, I am an obsessive tester, Corky also uses ProZinc, and this Forum saved my baby's life, I trust it and the members blindly, below is a link for you to help us help you, and the link to create your spreadsheet, please post any concern no matter how small, we are here for you, there in the Main Forum there are a lot of sticky notes with valuable information, including a Forum on ProZinc, again Welcome

https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/spreadsheets-tech-support-testing-area.6/
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/

NEW FOOD CHART CHECK CARBS/ FF
Cat Food Nutrition Calculator | Elizabeth C Scheyder

 

[Cleo's mom]

Cleo CAN'T have poultry which I've looked at the cans for fancy feast and they have meat by products in them which can be from poultry so I can't feed her fancy feast. It's incredibly hard to find things without poultry in them and honestly I'm so confused on the whole correct food thing. Is there a video explaining all of it?

 

[CORKY]

Cleo CAN'T have poultry which I've looked at the cans for fancy feast and they have meat by products in them which can be from poultry so I can't feed her fancy feast. It's incredibly hard to find things without poultry in them and honestly I'm so confused on the whole correct food thing. Is there a video explaining all of it?

I will tag several members that can help you with other food choices for Cloe and in the Main Forum there information called what’s in your cats food and several others I am sure one of the member I tag will step in soon for you
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)
@Bron and Sheba (GA)
@Diane Tyler's Mom GA

 

[squeem3]

The ideal diet for a diabetic cat is low carb canned food. For cats with food allergies / sensitivities, try these brands that have novel proteins and few fillers:

https://rawznaturalpetfood.com/product-category/minimally-processed-natural-cat-food/ The 96% canned ones
https://kohapet.com/collections/limited-ingredient-diet-pate
https://raynenutrition.com/
https://www.lotuspetfoods.com/overview/cat/pate
https://instinctpetfood.com/products/limited-ingredient-diet-rabbit-wet-cat-food/

There are other brands out there. You just have to read the ingredient label.

Home cooked and raw foods are also options. Commercial raw foods are an option if you don't want to make from scratch. I feed my diabetic who also has IBD and food allergies a freeze dried raw rabbit diet.

 

[Kobe (Dean and Lesley) MO]

Some cats aren't interested in eating because they are nauseated.

Here are signs of nausea that I found on an post made by @Suzanne & Darcy. Is Cleo showing any of these signs?

"Signs of nausea include:
1. Sniffing food and walking away
2. Sniffing at food and licking lips and then not eating / walking away
3. Licking the surface of the food (like licking gravy off the top) and walking away
4. Teeth grinding/chatteringsounds."

Many of us have prespcriptions for anti-nausea meds (Cerenia and Ondansetron) from our vets and an appetite stimulant too. (mirtazapine topical ointment) It wouldn't be a bad idea to have these on hand. If you had these meds on hand, a member with experience could advise you in their use.

 

[Cleo's mom]

@squeem3 Thank you for these recommendations! I'm looking into them now.

I have been feeding her Weruva's Seafood variety pack which has Asian Fusion, Meow Luau, Mack & Jack, and Mideast Feast for her main wet can food. She gets that at 6:40 AM and 6:40 PM when I give her her insulin. She eats Acana's Bountiful Catch kibble when she wants throughout the day so far. @CORKY I will use the calculator link you sent me to look at their carbs. Thank you for that!

Good news! So I added some pumpkin to her food yesterday night and this morning and her bowel movement was solid! I swear I've never celebrated poop as much as I just did after seeing it lol. I'm going to continue supplementing her food with it or buy new food with it in it.

@Kobe (Dean and Lesley) MO She did eat mostly just the gravy from her food. She ate a little of the regular food as well and she ate her treats with it as well. I gave her a salmon puree and she ate all of that. I do have an appetite stimulant on hand. It's worked for her before and I'll try it in her dinner. I don't have nausea meds though.

@CORKY I have that meter, I just bought it based on the groups suggestions. I'm going to give it a try today. When I give her her insulin, do I need to feed her. Do her test then do her insulin shot? My vet told me to do it while she was eating so that's what we've been doing. Also, she's already eating wet food on for her 2 meals a day, she just has the kibble for snacks. How do I slowly transition that out of her diet?

 

[Cleo's mom]

Also she is doing well today everything else wise. She's up an about and relaxing in the sun so she seems fine. I'm just overwhelmed with everything. It's a lot to take in. So anything I think I see, I freak out about.

 

[Kobe (Dean and Lesley) MO]

I do have an appetite stimulant on hand. It's worked for her before and I'll try it in her dinner. I don't have nausea meds though

Great. You just want to make sure Cleo isn't nauseated before giving appetite stimulant. If she is nauseated while on the appetite stimulant, you risk her associating the nausea with her food.

 

[Cleo's mom]

@Kobe (Dean and Lesley) MO That makes sense, thanks!

 

[Cleo's mom]

@CORKY I'm not sure if this is good or bad. I would upload a picture of it but it's saying I'm not allowed. Here is what the calculator gave me.


Protein: 12%.
Fat: 1.6%
Fiber: 0.5%
Moisture: 83%
Ash: 2%
Water Matter/Carbohydrates: 0.90%

Calories per 100g of nutrient:
Protein: 42
Fat: 14
Fiber: 0
Moisture: 0
Ash: 0
Water Matter/Carbohydrates: 3


Calories per 100g of food: 59
Calories per ounce of food: 17
Dry Matter Carbohydrates:*(%) 5

Does that mean it's good or bad for her? I don't really know what I'm looking for.

 

[CORKY]

@CORKY I'm not sure if this is good or bad. I would upload a picture of it but it's saying I'm not allowed. Here is what the calculator gave me.


Protein: 12%.
Fat: 1.6%
Fiber: 0.5%
Moisture: 83%
Ash: 2%
Water Matter/Carbohydrates: 0.90%

Calories per 100g of nutrient:
Protein: 42
Fat: 14
Fiber: 0
Moisture: 0
Ash: 0
Water Matter/Carbohydrates: 3


Calories per 100g of food: 59
Calories per ounce of food: 17
Dry Matter Carbohydrates:*(%) 5

Does that mean it's good or bad for her? I don't really know what I'm looking for.

Don't worry you got this! I know it is overwhelming at first and we all have second guessed our decisions, but that is what this Forum is for, if in doubt, post us I am sure there will be someone to step in and be with you all the way in case of need, if you are seeing a very low BG as a newbie for instance anything 100BG or under posts us if lower make a new thread and place a 911 in front of Title, to be sure it is noticed right away to help you especially before shooting, we can walk you thru without missing a shot unless necessary you do not want to miss a dose, we do need you to create the Spreadsheet though we need to have several cycles or two as data (2-3) days to be able to advice you with dosing, do not change insulin dose according to BG numbers, you need consistency in dosing to see how the insulin is working during these cycles!
5% dry matter is great, 0-10% is good, Also remember that the ProZinc protocol is: TEST- FEED - SHOOT you always want to know the glucose level before dosing being a newbie you do not want to shoot low, you can use our assistance to guide you weather to shoot or not here is a link for home testing, and Prozinc Protocols
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/posts/1665/
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/prozinc-dosing-methods.225629/

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

If you're using the nutritional information from the can of food you're using, the numbers there are the guaranteed analysis. Often, these are minimum/maximum values. When you plug in the guaranteed analysis values to the carb calculator, it gives you an approximate percentage of carbs. On the chart that Maria/Corky linked, all of the values provided are the "as fed" percentages. Most of the time, the only way to get those numbers are to contact the manufacturer. (I also linked the chart.)

The Weruva flavors that you're feeding are all very low in carbs. Mideast Feast is the highest at 7% and Mack and Jack is 0%. The other flavors fall in between. We consider under 10% as low carb. High carb is over 15%.

Without knowing which dry food you're feeding, there's a very good chance it's very high in carbs. There are only 2 dry foods that are low in carbs -- Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein and Young Again Zero Carb. There are freeze dried and air dried foods that are low in carbs (e.g., ZiwiPeak and Stella & Chewys). Both come in flavors that your cat can eat. One of my cats can't eat poultry either. She has IBD and poultry is completely off the table. I feed both of my cats the same diet and it included ZiwiPeak venison (this is canned food but they have a freeze dried line of food) and Stella & Chewy's Dinner Morsels in rabbit. There are any number of foods that are novel proteins. You can also consider a raw diet which allows you to control the protein. FoodFurLife makes an add-in that's mixed into raw food to provide all of the supplements to make a raw diet nutritionally complete. The bottom line is that you have options!

As a back up if your cat has issues with diarrhea, you may want to consider a probiotic. Visbiome is good as a general probiotic. If your cat is having a flare up, S. boulardii is, as far as I'm concerned, a magical fix for poop problems. There's great information on medications and supplements for diarrhea on a site for IBD cats.

 

[Cleo's mom]

@Sienne and Gabby (GA) Thank you for double checking for me! I checked my dry food and it isn't great in terms of carbs. I'm going to slowly get her off of it and start replacing it with low carb treats instead. I think I've figured out the right diet for her, now just to get her only on it and no dry anything. Do you or anyone else have a suggestion on how slowly to get rid of her dry food? She only uses it for grazing, she has wet food for her main meals so I like we are already half way there. I just don't know how long it should take til she's off of them completely.

Thank you for all of your recommendations!

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

This is the website on feline nutrition that we keep linking (not just the chart but the site). The author, Lisa Pierson, DVM, is a huge proponent of a canned food diet for cats. Given her perspective, she has a section on the website on transitioning a cat from dry to canned food. I doubt that it will be a huge issue given that you're using it for grazing and not as your cat's primary diet.

I'd also think about a few options. A timed feeder may be helpful. There are a few feeders that have a place for an ice pack if you're gone most of the day. I would leave canned food in Gabby's timed feeder before I left for work so she had mini-meals during the early part of the cycle. Low carb treats are great! There are jerky style ones that may give Cleo some chewing action. As long as Cleo isn't having any GI issues based on what you've already done, you are likely in a good place. Too fast of a transition can cause a tummy upset and that doesn't appear to be the case. There really isn't a definite timeline for a transition. One of the things you're going to find throughout Cleo's diabetes experience is what we refer to as ECID -- "every cat is different." Cleo will let you know what's working!

And if you haven't already noticed, we have links for just about every question you may have!

 

[CORKY]

@Sienne and Gabby (GA) Thank you for double checking for me! I checked my dry food and it isn't great in terms of carbs. I'm going to slowly get her off of it and start replacing it with low carb treats instead. I think I've figured out the right diet for her, now just to get her only on it and no dry anything. Do you or anyone else have a suggestion on how slowly to get rid of her dry food? She only uses it for grazing, she has wet food for her main meals so I like we are already half way there. I just don't know how long it should take til she's off of them completely.

Thank you for all of your recommendations!

Transitioning from dry food (kibbles) to wet or other low carb is a slow process, you must home test to see the reaction on the glucose level while doing it, the transition normally causes for a drop on glucose levels, you have not set up your spreadsheet, or home test, so it will be very hard for a member to assist you if we do not have the day to day glucose levels, you might run into a situation of hypoglycemia, and neither the member or yourself can really know how to guide you, and is dangerous for your cat, when you are transitioning it is good to check at least 4 times during the day before each shot and especially before each shot, which you say is 6:30AM/PM to determine how the food and insulin is affecting your cat, I am not an expert, but I do know the most important things for a diabetic cat are, diet, testing and dosing, I will tag another member to step in to try to assist you in your concern, please do NOT transition without testing or spreadsheet just yet, trust in this Forum, there are dedicated member here that have spend years and knowledge saving diabetic cats, I know they saved my Corky
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)
@Suzanne & Darcy

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Maria/Corky has a good point. We can be far more helpful if we can see how Cleo is progressing. This is a link to our post on helping us to help you. It has information on how to set up Cleo's spreadsheet and the information to include in your signature. Most of us won't provide assistance with dosing without benefit of seeing Cleo's blood glucose numbers. We want to keep your cat safe. The signature helps to not pester you by asking some of the basic questions repeatedly.

 

[squeem3]

@Sienne and Gabby (GA) it's Acana Bountiful Catch dry food.

She eats Acana's Bountiful Catch kibble when she wants throughout the day so far. [

Weruva is good. The company also makes the similar but lesser expensive brand Soulistic. Try not to feed seafood too often. Some cats get addicted to eating it and will refuse to eat anything else. Some types of fish may contain mercury. https://littlebigcat.com/why-fish-is-dangerous-for-cats/ Try to get your cat eating beef or rabbit or other protein and limit the seafood to occasional meals.

A lower carb and healthier alternative to dry food if it's oly for grazing is freeze dried or air dried raw.