My Fluff

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Starbuck9

Starbuck9

Member Since 2021
Hello, all. So my almost 12-year-old cat Fluff was diagnosed with diabetes a year ago. Her glucose levels were low enough that my vet suggested we first try to manage it with diet. So I eliminated dry food and switched her wet food to the 5% or less carb varieties from Fancy Feast that I found on the wonderful vet-made list. There were some she didn't like, but we found about 7 flavors that she gobbled up. This worked like a charm until about a week and a half ago when I noticed she wasn't finishing her food. Then yesterday and today she wouldn't eat any of her favorite foods. I tried them all. She would however eat no-salt human tuna and some freeze dried chicken and tuna. She seems hungry, though. I have a vet appointment for her on Monday morning. My suspicion is we will finally need to start insulin (which terrifies me because all I hear are horror stories). But does anyone have a suggestion for other things I could feed her in the interim? She is already skinny, so the idea of her eating so much less than usual is concerning to me...
 
How was Fluff eating, drinking and urinate before the appetite decreased? How is he drinking, urinating and acting now? Usually with the beginning of diabetes the cats eats, drinks and urinates a lot. With uncontrolled diabetes cat can go into DKA which can involve not eating but still drinking and urinating a lot. DKA is life threatening and requires fast action.
Alos, diabetic cats can get pancreatitis which usually involves a cat not eating.
Best would be to go to human pharmacy and get ketone (the K in DKA is ketone)urine strips and check the urine for ketones. If more than trace then an ER visit is in order.
YOu can also go yo pharmacy or better yet Walmark and get a human BG meter and get a drop of blood by poking the ear and test it for BG.
 
The drinking, urinating, and behavior is normal. She just doesn't want to eat her regular food. She will eat other things, though.
 
While waiting for your vet appointment, you could try feeding her meat baby food - no veggies, just meat and broth. You will find it in the baby aisle of every grocery store, and it’s usually very enticing even to sick kitties. Not a balanced food long term, but good to get calories into her while waiting for her appointment.

Also second testing for ketones in her urine just in case, since DKA is so dangerous.
 
She could be nauseated and there could def be something else going on with her pancreas. I’d ask the vet to also run the pancreatitis blood test, which is not part of the regular blood work, and you may want to get a prescription and get her started on Cerenia. Diabetes is sometimes a side effect of a pancreatic condition. Minnie’s IBD is what eventually brought on the diabetes.

I’m curious, how do you know the food change regulated her diabetes? Was she getting fructosamime tests or curves at the vet?
 
Yes, my vet does fructosamine curves. But I will ask about the pancreas blood test on Monday morning.
 
There could be any number of things going on including a dental issue. Hopefully, your vet will give your kitty a thorough check up and run blood work and a urinalysis to determine what's going on.
 
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