Please help! Newbie whose finicky cat won't eat enough

[injuredrabbit]

My recently diagnosed beautiful long hair orange tabby, Rufus, is sending my stress levels through the roof by refusing to eat much of any canned food that I give him. He is eating enough that I think it's okay to give him the insulin, but in the small amount of testing I've done in the small amount of time he's been on insulin his blood levels have not dropped below 300. He's on Vetsulin, 1 unit 2 times a day. I know the bugger has an appetite because he would eat feline hairball control Greenies till the cows come home if I let him. He gets a couple after every injection and every glucose test even though I know he shouldn't, because it's one of the few things he will eat. I am hesitant to remove his food for long periods of time but is this what it's going to take to get him to change his diet? This is so challenging and so frustrating! Also, how do single cat parents manage to do insulin on a regular 12-hour interval and 10x/day glucose testing when we have to go to work, run errands (e.g. spend an hour at Petco with the list of canned foods, trying to find only the ones that have less than 10% carbs), etc.? Any advice would be exceedingly helpful. So far I have not tested his glucose at what should be the nadir because I have been at work. He has only been on insulin for a couple of days.I guess I should feel glad that at least I can get a blood sample from his ear and get the insulin into his body without a great deal of stress on his part.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

Have you read the "Tips on transitioning the hard core kibble addict"

If you can't test during the AM cycle due to work, get as many tests as you can on the PM cycle....most cats go lower at night so it's important to always get at least a "before bed" test at night before you go to sleep.

 

[injuredrabbit]

Have you read the "Tips on transitioning the hard core kibble addict"

If you can't test during the AM cycle due to work, get as many tests as you can on the PM cycle....most cats go lower at night so it's important to always get at least a "before bed" test at night before you go to sleep.

Oh yes, I've read the article. And I work at night so that eliminates the pm testing - I don't get home till 2 am usually, so that's when I have to give his second dose of insulin and I'll be damned if I'm going to stay awake all night to get BG readings. I don't mean to sound heartless, I'm just at a nadir myself over all the stress, uncertainty, trying to get Rufus to eat, watching his water intake/pee output, etc, etc. Thank you for the info and I will do the best I can!!

 

[JanetNJ]

You could try a little FortiFlora on the food. That gets my underweight cat to eat. Vetsulin has a little more wiggle room with injection time so if you are an hour off here and there is ok. Chewy.com is a great place to order food.

 

[majandra]

I know how you feel about the time consuming part!
I stood in Pet Valu for over half an hour scrolling and searching the spreadsheet. More than once.
It may help if you look at their products online before going in. Or take photos of their shelves and then go through the list on your own time. I've bought lots of expensive stuff to try, and in the end, friskies pate and PC pate (canada) work best and are the cheapest. In the end though, it needs to be something he will eat. My girl did not take the dry to wet transition well, and I wasted a lot of cans. It helped too when I got rid of the bag of dry food.

Are you able to stay awake an hour or two after his early am shot? If so, you can get a +1 or 2 or whatever you can get, and then set the alarm for just once while you sleep for a spot check. You can grab a before work test too. You don't need 10 tests a day! Some of us are testaholics, but it doesnt mean you have to be.
Do you only have one cat? If so, just eyeball it. Clean the litter box once or twice a day, and then you know output. It doesn't need to be exact!

What did he eat, and on what schedule before his diagnosis?

 

[Veronica & Babu-chiri]

As a single working mom I would say do the best you can, try and get tests whenever you can (before going to bed, as soon as you wake up, or on weekends) but do consider that the ones that are absolutely indispensable are the pre shoot tests to make sure is safe to give insulin.

Once you establish a routine it would get easier, also get a time feeder so that you can program snacks during the time you are either at work or asleep

And try and see if there's a family member or a friend or a vet technician that can test or shoot for you if something gets in your way some day is better if you consider this now and not in the middle of a chaotic day

 

[injuredrabbit]

I know how you feel about the time consuming part!
I stood in Pet Valu for over half an hour scrolling and searching the spreadsheet. More than once.
It may help if you look at their products online before going in. Or take photos of their shelves and then go through the list on your own time. I've bought lots of expensive stuff to try, and in the end, friskies pate and PC pate (canada) work best and are the cheapest. In the end though, it needs to be something he will eat. My girl did not take the dry to wet transition well, and I wasted a lot of cans. It helped too when I got rid of the bag of dry food.

Are you able to stay awake an hour or two after his early am shot? If so, you can get a +1 or 2 or whatever you can get, and then set the alarm for just once while you sleep for a spot check. You can grab a before work test too. You don't need 10 tests a day! Some of us are testaholics, but it doesnt mean you have to be.
Do you only have one cat? If so, just eyeball it. Clean the litter box once or twice a day, and then you know output. It doesn't need to be exact!

What did he eat, and on what schedule before his diagnosis?

 

[injuredrabbit]

Majandra, he's basically been free fed most of his life, and mostly what I used to think was high quality cat food, the highest protein ones that I could find that were grain-free. They ended up settling on solid gold Indigo Moon even after I balked at their change of ownership and didn't want to buy it anymore.since he's never been overweight, free feeding was not a problem. Until now at least! But I just talked to my vet this morning and he said even the high carb stuff is better than him not eating at all. He said the important thing is to try to get the glucose under control first and then work on transitioning to wet food. I just ordered some of that super low carb dry food off Amazon and forgot to add the FortiFlora. Oh well, next order, which I'm sure will be soon.
As for the blood glucose readings, I'm just trying to get them whenever I can, at least 3 hours apart while I'm at home and awake and while he seems relatively calm. He is already recognizing the signs of an impending ear poke and is not liking that at all.

 

[Veronica & Babu-chiri]

It is true that the most important thing is that they eat but also is true that he needs to be on a low carb diet to really get his blood glucose under control, so actually is like you need to do both things at the same time, transition him to wet low carb and giving him insulin to lower his numbers both things have to work together.

They can still free feed only it would be wet low carb food instead of dry

Always give them a treat (something they really really like) after you do the test even if it was not successful so that eventually they start associating the test with the treat, some cats actually end up liking it or at least accepting the test as a necessary evil to get the treat

 

[majandra]

An add on to the treat thing:
You can try doing everything except the poke itself ... and give a treat. Maybe even put it in smelling distance while you do it. He will learn that he will always get a treat when you play with his ears, but he doesn't always get a poke.

 

[Candy&Company]

Oh man, I'm a single pet parent and I HEAR YOU - I've been out of my mind (in a controlled way god only knows how) since the diagnoses at the end of August. One thing at a time, 1 thing. Take it from there. The feeding.. switching them to wet food can take awhile, unfortunately. Experimentation is needed, if the article on dry to wet transition isn't helping much but getting them eating is key. One thing I tried early on was cooking up chicken breasts, shredding them, and putting them on top or mixing them in, to the wet food.

Or if they still protest, can you get a bag of Dr. Elsey's dry food...? It doesn't quite tear them up like YoungAgain can, then add some wet on top of that..?

When do you test, times..? One of the best I've found is when they're sleepy - if your baby doesn't stir much when you get home at 2am, PERFECT time to poke.

 

[injuredrabbit]

Oh man, I'm a single pet parent and I HEAR YOU - I've been out of my mind (in a controlled way god only knows how) since the diagnoses at the end of August. One thing at a time, 1 thing. Take it from there. The feeding.. switching them to wet food can take awhile, unfortunately. Experimentation is needed, if the article on dry to wet transition isn't helping much but getting them eating is key. One thing I tried early on was cooking up chicken breasts, shredding them, and putting them on top or mixing them in, to the wet food.

Or if they still protest, can you get a bag of Dr. Elsey's dry food...? It doesn't quite tear them up like YoungAgain can, then add some wet on top of that..?

When do you test, times..? One of the best I've found is when they're sleepy - if your baby doesn't stir much when you get home at 2am, PERFECT time to poke.

 

[injuredrabbit]

Dr Elsey's on order and should be arriving by tomorrow. I also just gave him a dose of Entyce which was recommended by another vet, and he immediately started drooling excessively and is now looking quite miserable. Hopefully I have not made the situation worse by trying to help and giving him an appetite stimulant that was prescribed to him. Right now I am feeling like the worst cat mom in the world.

 

[Veronica & Babu-chiri]

This whole transition to wet food takes time so be patient and you certanly are not a bad parent all the contrary the fact that you are here and searching for the right food shows you are a very good cat parent.

I wouldn't try an appetite stimulant unless he's really not eating getting a food that he wants is not easy just keep trying, you can also sprinkle some fortiflora or catnip on top of the food those two usually make the food a lot more appealing