Need more calories!

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Kim & Weetzie

Kim & Weetzie

Member Since 2013
My cat was just diagnosed with diabetes. She started 0.50 units of Lantus 2x/day on Saturday. She hasn't been eating very well and it has been a severe struggle to get enough calories in her. She does seem to eat PureBites and boiled chicken pretty well but there are not enough calories or nutrients in those, so I just ordered some Young Again Mature Zero food for her. Even before this diagnosis I've been keeping her food low carb for 5 years and in the past year because of kidney issues I try to keep the phosphorus low too. Young Again seems to hit both of those although it's dry food which I know is a no no. But,I'm hoping that if I can get some of her wet food in her and then supplement with the dry for some extra calories it might work?

Oh, and I can't free feed because her bratty little sister will eat it all!

Thoughts?
 
Several have had success with the Young Again. You can use it as a topper on the wet food to encourage her to eat too.
 
She's killing me. I managed to get 1.5 ounces into her for her night feeding but I had to feed her Nature's Logic Chicken, then Soulistic Chicken and finally Weruva Fowl ball! Still so minuscule calorie wise that I'll have to see if she'll eat anything else in a few hours. I gave her 0.50 of Lantus.
 
I crush a little of the Young Again Mature Zero with the back of a spoon and add some water to it. I use it as a food topper and have used it as a testing treat.
 
I've tried Fortiflora, crushed pure bites, boiled chicken. All tonight and none of it worked! That Young Again food can't get here fast enough!
 
Thank you Critter Mom. Yours is a cutie too.

Weetzie is still apprehensive about eating but I’ve been managing to at least get enough into her to give her shots. She’s going back to the vet on Monday and my feeling is the vet will increase her insulin dose. With lowers BG #s I’m hoping she’ll start eating more. I just want to feel like all I’m doing for her is actually making her feel better.
 
Assume you are in the US? Pate or shreds?

These are pate
DAVE's - Naturally Healthy Grain Free Turkey & Giblets
Phos-216
Prot-29
Carb-4%
Calories-195/5.5oz

NEWMAN'S OWN - Organic - Grain Free Turkey
Phos-225
Prot-27
Carb-2
Calories-205/5.5oz

Which Purebites have you tried? Gizmo goes nuts for the duck liver. It will almost always get him to eat his fudz if I sprinkle it on top. It is also his after shot treat.
 
I was at the same place as you last week. Plus, my Ziggy had a feeding tube, so eating was a little painful for him.

Vet told us to feed him anything he wanted. We tried everything, from wet to dry food, and we realized that the more that he ate, the more he wanted to eat. We found him specially interested in canned tuna, so we fed him all the tuna he could eat at the times he is less hungry (usually am), then he would have the energy to eat lots of Royal Canin Recovery canned food at night (where he got most of the calories). A spoon was specially helpful, sometimes he would stop eating yet he was still hungry. The less effort your girl should make to eat, the more she will eat. Try the most watery wet food so she won't have the biting effort. Ziggy was eating four times a day and it was very tiring both for us and for him. Now we feed him three times a day, and the rest of it he have his dry food. We keep dry food all the time in his bowl, so he can eat anytime he wants to. Since his priority is gaining weight, the vet haven't forbbiden those yet.

Keep in mind that once she hits a good insulin dose, she'll start recovering her weight. After a week of anorexia, ketoacidosis etc that led him to hospitalization, Ziggy was eating a lot, but his insulin was too low, so he ended up losing even more weight, half a kilo in the week after he left the hospital. Next visit to the vet he had his insulin adjusted, and he recovered this half a kilo in three days.
 
Thanks everyone. I’ve tried every type of food. My fridge has 7 open cans currently! Her little sister, Curry Puff, is enjoying the leftovers. I do manage to get at least 3oz of food in her a day.

What she eats the best is the gooey part of Fowl Ball. She easily licks that all up and then leaves the chicken shreds. I told the vet that this morning and she suggested we try wetting her food with Clinicare. My husband is going to pick it up now. I know it’s high in carbs but vet says it’s more important she get calories and the we’ll work around the blood sugar. She goes back to the vet on Monday so we’ll discuss insulin dose then.

Oh and this morning I had some extra duck & pea pill pocket pieces in a tiny cup to give her after her ear prick and she jumped off her chair and tried to jam her face in the cup! So she wants to eat, she just peters out on the act of eating quickly.
 
The husband says that she licked up all the Clinicare eagerly but got discouraged trying to pick up the pate chunks. So, what do I do?
I run to Bed Bath & Beyond to buy my cat a smoothie maker.

latest
 
Good news! She’s liking the smoothies! I blended one 5oz can of Organix chicken with 2 tbsp of clinicare and she ate almost half of it.

Also her blood sugar was actually lower this morning before eating. I expected the clinicare to raise it. I don’t know how long the smoothie enthusiasm will last because she tends to be moody but I’m just so happy she’s getting some real meals in.

She goes back to the vet on Monday and we’ll have her take another good look at her mouth and tongue to see why she seems to prefer to drink rather than eat solids.
 
If she liked young again zero mature then no need for wet food. It never affected my cat BG at all but make it lower.
 
Weetzie went to a specialist today for an ultrasound, xrays and an exam. Sadly, the ultrasound showed a large amorphous mass in her pancreas and fluid in her abdomen. The vet says he's 80% sure that it's cancer. But in the event that it's not, and a bout of pancreatitis instead, she's spending the night at the hospital getting an infusion to hopefully help push the fluid out of her stomach and get her eating again, as well as pain meds and Sub Q fluids.

So we have an answer as to why she suddenly has diabetes and isn't eating. but still don't know 100% what it is. We are hoping for the best of the worst, that it is pancreatitis that we can treat, but if it's not we will do our best to keep her as comfortable as she can be until she tells us she's ready.

She's still got fight in her, still greets us at the door and jumps on the couch. And she still loves a good cheek scratch!
But, please if you can, send my little girl some healing thoughts.
 
Sending special healing vibes and prayers for Weetzie. :bighug:

Ondansetron can really help with the nausea problems associated with pancreatitis (cat doesn't have to be vomiting in order to justify using this medication!!). It can make a world of difference to how much the kitty eats. Cerenia is another anti-nausea med which has some anti-inflammatory benefit. A course of vitamin B12 injections can help, too. It might be necessary to add an appetite stimulant for a little while (cyproheptadine or mirtazapine).

Here are two resources which I found really helpful:

Nausea symptoms and treatments

IDEXX pancreatitis treatment guidelines


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