Hi all- hope you can give some advice. Sorry this is long.
My cat Punch is 13 yo male I've had since 8 wks old. Punch has only ever eaten dry food- although he has always been a chow hound and will eat anything and often steals our food when left unattended. 5 yrs ago he got a bad bladder infection and after that I only had him eating wellness dry or solid gold. We got a second cat this year back in march. With the added cat the food bill got pricey and the new cat was having lose poop so about 3 months ago I switched both of them to Max cat dry and both seemed to be doing fine. About 2 months ago we noticed Punch was drinking a lot of water. the water bowl is next to our bedroom and we would hear him at night visiting frequently. He also lost his hearing for the most part. I took him to the vet last week thinking kidney issues and they ran a full blood work and urinalysis and everything came back great but glucose was 300. No ketones in the urine though. They ran the other test for glucose (cant remember what its called but more definitive) and the vet said it was elevated but not sky high. She told me some cats can be managed with diet, some need insulin short term and then can be managed with diet- she wanted to put him on insulin. I came to this site and others an read up. The night I got the high glucose resutls I immediately switch to all canned no grain canned food. That night no frequent visits to the water bowl. I told the vet and she agreed I should try just diet for a few weeks and see how it goes.
Since friday night, he is only eating wellness grain free and some trader joes tuna for cats. I would say his drinking is less than 50% of what it was from what we can tell. I got a glucose reader today and took a reading 45 minutes after he ate a full bowl of canned food and it was 101. Im new to the glucose reading but I work in a medical related field and have a lot of experience working with research mice so Im not new to animal handling and blood taking. It took some work to get the blood but he's a pretty easy going cat.
He was never acting like he had anything wrong (not other symptoms)- I just knew that kind of drinking is not a good sign. He acts like he has died and gone to heaven with all this canned food... it suits him just fine. I feed him twice a day. I also got Wellnes Core dry hoping he can eventually eat some for when we are not around at feeding time and to feed the other cat just in case Punch manages to steal a few bites. Is wellness Core a reasonable option?
Of course I would like to avoid putting him on insulin in possible. What do you all think- was it just a bad diet for him on Maxcat and does it sound like diet management may work for him? Is it a good idea to try it or shoudl I not wait to put on insulin? How would you proceed from here? i really trust my vet- she has been right on with health issues with my pets in the past and Ive been going to her for 10 yrs.
Thanks- sorry so long! The posting here have been really helpful especially finding good high protein foods.
My cat Punch is 13 yo male I've had since 8 wks old. Punch has only ever eaten dry food- although he has always been a chow hound and will eat anything and often steals our food when left unattended. 5 yrs ago he got a bad bladder infection and after that I only had him eating wellness dry or solid gold. We got a second cat this year back in march. With the added cat the food bill got pricey and the new cat was having lose poop so about 3 months ago I switched both of them to Max cat dry and both seemed to be doing fine. About 2 months ago we noticed Punch was drinking a lot of water. the water bowl is next to our bedroom and we would hear him at night visiting frequently. He also lost his hearing for the most part. I took him to the vet last week thinking kidney issues and they ran a full blood work and urinalysis and everything came back great but glucose was 300. No ketones in the urine though. They ran the other test for glucose (cant remember what its called but more definitive) and the vet said it was elevated but not sky high. She told me some cats can be managed with diet, some need insulin short term and then can be managed with diet- she wanted to put him on insulin. I came to this site and others an read up. The night I got the high glucose resutls I immediately switch to all canned no grain canned food. That night no frequent visits to the water bowl. I told the vet and she agreed I should try just diet for a few weeks and see how it goes.
Since friday night, he is only eating wellness grain free and some trader joes tuna for cats. I would say his drinking is less than 50% of what it was from what we can tell. I got a glucose reader today and took a reading 45 minutes after he ate a full bowl of canned food and it was 101. Im new to the glucose reading but I work in a medical related field and have a lot of experience working with research mice so Im not new to animal handling and blood taking. It took some work to get the blood but he's a pretty easy going cat.
He was never acting like he had anything wrong (not other symptoms)- I just knew that kind of drinking is not a good sign. He acts like he has died and gone to heaven with all this canned food... it suits him just fine. I feed him twice a day. I also got Wellnes Core dry hoping he can eventually eat some for when we are not around at feeding time and to feed the other cat just in case Punch manages to steal a few bites. Is wellness Core a reasonable option?
Of course I would like to avoid putting him on insulin in possible. What do you all think- was it just a bad diet for him on Maxcat and does it sound like diet management may work for him? Is it a good idea to try it or shoudl I not wait to put on insulin? How would you proceed from here? i really trust my vet- she has been right on with health issues with my pets in the past and Ive been going to her for 10 yrs.
Thanks- sorry so long! The posting here have been really helpful especially finding good high protein foods.
