louisstools
Member Since 2024
Hi 
My 12 year old girl was diagnosed with diabetes the other day. Tomorrow we start insulin. I don't know the particulars other than it'll be two shots a day. At the vet appointment tomorrow morning obviously I will know more! I will have some questions at the end of this that might make sense once a little introduction is done. Sorry for the incoming wall of text!
A little background and introduction
My cat has had next to zero appetite for the past 2 years. She has been on an appetite stimulant (mirataz, on the ear) for over a year. That has helped a bit but when it comes time to a meal she just wants a few bites and that's that. She wants 10-15 meals a day spread out during the day. I worked with our vet and a behaviorist and we tried to get her on meal times but she never took. She just wants her 10-15 meals. She is also very picky about her food. She will not do wet food consistently. We tried to switch her 2 years ago to wet food but she never took to it. So we switched her back to the Purina UR ST/OX prescription kibble that she has eaten for 11 out of the past 12 years. Historically she UTI problems so that's why she is on the rx food. This food she will eat as consistently as she will eat anything. So this is the food she is on.
How I suspected my cat might be diabetic or "sick" was her appetite decreased suddenly about a month ago at the same time her thirst started to increase. Eventually she started to guzzle water and her pee amount increased. Her appetite has remained poor (like I said, she has a low appetite). In that month she lost half a pound and this is on an appetite stimulant. Heh, had she had the increase in appetite that normally goes along with diabetes I probably wouldn't have taken her to the vet.
In talking with our vet the other day, she is not inclined to change the cat's diet because it's been a disaster in the past. The plan is to get her used to the insulin and re-evaluate as necessary. (The cat also has bronchitis but we need to get the blood sugars under control before we treat that.) The vet did not say anything about the meal times as she likely knows that's not going to change anytime soon either.
So here are a few questions. I don't know much yet about diabetes so feel free to chime in with things that are relevant but I failed to ask.
My 12 year old girl was diagnosed with diabetes the other day. Tomorrow we start insulin. I don't know the particulars other than it'll be two shots a day. At the vet appointment tomorrow morning obviously I will know more! I will have some questions at the end of this that might make sense once a little introduction is done. Sorry for the incoming wall of text!
A little background and introduction
My cat has had next to zero appetite for the past 2 years. She has been on an appetite stimulant (mirataz, on the ear) for over a year. That has helped a bit but when it comes time to a meal she just wants a few bites and that's that. She wants 10-15 meals a day spread out during the day. I worked with our vet and a behaviorist and we tried to get her on meal times but she never took. She just wants her 10-15 meals. She is also very picky about her food. She will not do wet food consistently. We tried to switch her 2 years ago to wet food but she never took to it. So we switched her back to the Purina UR ST/OX prescription kibble that she has eaten for 11 out of the past 12 years. Historically she UTI problems so that's why she is on the rx food. This food she will eat as consistently as she will eat anything. So this is the food she is on.
How I suspected my cat might be diabetic or "sick" was her appetite decreased suddenly about a month ago at the same time her thirst started to increase. Eventually she started to guzzle water and her pee amount increased. Her appetite has remained poor (like I said, she has a low appetite). In that month she lost half a pound and this is on an appetite stimulant. Heh, had she had the increase in appetite that normally goes along with diabetes I probably wouldn't have taken her to the vet.
In talking with our vet the other day, she is not inclined to change the cat's diet because it's been a disaster in the past. The plan is to get her used to the insulin and re-evaluate as necessary. (The cat also has bronchitis but we need to get the blood sugars under control before we treat that.) The vet did not say anything about the meal times as she likely knows that's not going to change anytime soon either.
So here are a few questions. I don't know much yet about diabetes so feel free to chime in with things that are relevant but I failed to ask.
- how much of a problem will her eating schedule be? She eats breakfast from 6am-8am and it takes 4 meals, then she eats about every 2-3 hours as she gets hungry (she just comes and gets me, I work from home).
- (edit) - she normally doesn't eat overnight and she normally has her last meal before I go to bed
- (edit) the amount she eats varies wildly at a meal from less than 0.1oz (by weight/scale) to 0.4oz (by weight/scale)
- on the whole, she eats around 2.6oz (by weight/scale), roughly 231kcal
- eating around the shot - do they eat before or after?
- If they need to eat before, how much variance between shot times is allowed? My cat doesn't always eat at a regular interval so she might eat at 4pm, 6pm, 8pm, 9pm one day and then 4pm, 8pm, 9pm the next. Breakfast is always at the same time if that helps.
- Given she already has a low appetite, will this decrease her appetite or will it possibly increase it? I've suspected her decrease in appetite over the past month was due to her increase in drinking (tummy can only hold so much).
- (edit) - any questions I should ask our vet based on what I've posted here??
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