new diabetic cat mom

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tibbs5

tibbs5

Member Since 2014
hi. my kitty is on a sugar roller coaster. i just brought him home after 4 days at vet
newly diagnosed. his sugar is 250 to 280 in eve and 50 to 55 in the morning. on 2 units of lantus 2x per day but yesterday and today vet said to skip mornind dose due to the 50 reading. my problem is i can't get him to eat anything. he had 1 bite of food and just won't touch any of his normally favorite foods. it is hard enough to regulate the insulin but with him not eating, i don't know what to do. should i wait? he just came home yesterday.
nay
 
Welcome! Others can help you with dosing (I don't use your insulin) but maybe I can help with the food issue. What was he eating? How fast have you changed over?

We have lots of tricks to get an cat eating again. Sometimes warming the wet food until nice and stinky in the microwave helps. Sometimes parmesan cheese or tuna juice on top entices. There is a probiotic called FortiFlora that vets sometimes carry that has the digestive enzymes in dry food which make it so irrestible. Sprinkling this on top can help. If you have switched to a pate style, sometimes they like it if you make a gravy, mixing warm water with the food till soupy.
 
hi. thanks. i am still giving him his normal food as he wouldn't touch the diabetes food. i do use the fortiflora which he normally loves but he won't touch any of his normal food (except literally 1 bite this morning) i am so worried that he is not eating at all and is now off his i.v. fluids. do they need time to start eating again? thanks for your help.
 
So this food is something he had always eaten before? Is it dry? Is there something he really likes - people food like chicken or tuna (not packed in oil)? If he was 50 for the morning preshot number, it is likely he went very low overnight and is feeling kind of crummy.
 
yes he was dka. i will tuna etc . everything i have tried do far. he has refused to eat. that's a good point about him feeling crummy. i'm thinking the 2 units is too much
 
Then it is a bigger deal. What time does your vet open? I would insist on a visit asap. Did you get the strips for ketones so you can test at home? Is so, get a test this am if possible. If not, insist on the vet getting one at the office. (and be sure to get some for your use at home)

DKA is usually a combination of not eating. High numbers and an infection so not eating with a ketone prone cat is something to take care of. It may be that the vet can send you home with a feeding tube so you can do that at home (sounds much worse than it is) or you can tey syringe feeding.

But first, I'd make sure he is not sliding back into DKA and the vet is probably the one to help you with that. (unless you have gotten a ketone test at home and it is normal)

Yes, if he was 50 at preshot, the dose is definitely too high.
 
yes i spoke with vet. he gave me an appetite stimulant and i got the ketone strips. waiting for him to use litter box. i bought all diff foods. he still won't eat. if all remains the same, he is going back to the vet tomorrow. thank you so much
 
I hope the appetite stimulant works! If I were you, and I couldn't get a ketone test in today, I might see if the vet would let me bring him in and get one there. You don't want to let high ketones go, especially if he was recently DKA. Another thing to try before then is to syringe feed him:

Finally, you can try what many people refer to as force feeding, but what I prefer to call assisted feeding. This entails placing your cat's food into a syringe and syringing it gently into the cat's mouth. Hill's a/d in particular can be made into a mush with water and syringed in easily. Alternatively, you can use a pâté-type food such as Fancy Feast (Gourmet Gold in the UK) or some other canned food and purée it using a mixer or blender. Add water to make it more liquidy if it is too hard to squeeze out of the syringe, then draw it up into a syringe. Using warm water can make the food more attractive to your cat.

If you assist feed, you may as well aim to feed a reasonable amount of food to your cat, bearing in mind your cat's calorie needs. However, just as a cat doesn't eat a day's worth of food in one meal, so you don't need to assist feed in one big session - if you can, spread the food over several smaller sessions a day. I used 10ml syringes and would only give one syringe full at a time, but doing this every 2-3 hours added up to a reasonable amount of food. If you're out at work for most of the day, you will have to give more at one time, but should be able to feed three times a day (before work, after work and before bed). Yes, it is a commitment, but in some ways it is less time-consuming than following your cat around with platefuls of food.

It is also important to assist feed properly: hold your cat upright, make sure the food is reasonably mushy so it flows smoothly, go slowly, try to stay calm. Insert the syringe in the side of the mouth, not directly in the front, so as to reduce the risk of the food going down the wrong way; and give your cat time to swallow each mouthful. You must also only syringe in a little food at a time and give your cat time to swallow it. All this is in order to avoid the risk of aspiration pneumonia. Pet Place has more information on this, as does Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.

Don't worry if your first session doesn't go too well, you and your cat both need time to get used to this new routine. It may be more comfortable for your cat if you warm the food but be careful not to have it too hot, you don't want to burn your cat's mouth.

This info is from Tanya's Kidney disease site, which is excellent. On this page, she has other feeding tips:

http://www.felinecrf.org/persuading_cat_to_eat.htm#syringe_feeding
 
i will def try the assist feed. thanks very much for all your help. i will post as soon as i get the ketone reading and his glucose at 6pm. i just gave him the appetite stimulant. i will try to syringe feed him if it doesn't fo anything. thanks again
 
yes she did say that. thanks
his glucose is 137 and urine negative for ketones. talked to my vet. we are reducing his insulin to 1 unit instead of 2. i hope this works. thank you
 
ok. thank you. do people usually check blood sugar every time they are going to give insulin?
 
Yes, the idea is to check before giving insulin. Especially in the beginning, when their bodies are adapting to the insulin, you could be surprised by a low number. With Lantus, you also test in the 5th - 7th hour after giving the shot, to see how the insulin is working, how low the cat is going.

We suggest new diabetics not shoot under 200, until they have enough testing data to predict what a given dose would do. If he is close to 200(say 180 or so) you can stall 20 minutes and retest, without feeding. If he goes up to 200, then shoot. But if his preshot number is 137, it isn't likely he will rise enough in 20 minutes.

For general reference, we consider a cat regulated if they are in the mid 200s at preshot and in double digits at nadir, but not below 50 which is approaching hypo range. We consider a cat in remission if they range between 40-120, off insulin, for 2 weeks.

Glad the ketone test was negative. With his history, it'd be good to get a test daily. Has he eaten anything?
 
good morning. all of your advice has been amazing. gave tibbs 1 unit last night and this morning he is at 107 so no insulin. 1 unit working much better. the orig 2 units sent him down to 50! he seems good on just evening dose. i was reading some other posts which show the same as me. higher at night and low in morning. should i lower the dose more so that he has to get 2 equal amounts of insulin twice a day or is once enough if his numbers stay like this? he was 202 last night so i gave him 1 unit and 107 this morning so no insulin. again, thank you for helping me. you are great. am i talking to sue?
nadine
 
tibbs5 said:
...should i lower the dose more so that he has to get 2 equal amounts of insulin twice a day ..
Click to expand...
Yes. I'd go with 0.5 units twice a day (aka BID).
 
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