Skinny Cat

Status
Not open for further replies.
K

kkoehler

Member Since 2014
Hi. This is my 2nd post. My cat weighed 15 lbs when I got him as a stray a year and a half ago. He now weighs like 5 lbs. He was diagnosed with diabetes like 3 weeks ago. My question is this -

Can I feed him a high calorie cat food like Science Diet A/D? I want to put some weight on him. I'm right to want to do this, right?

And secondly -

He eats constantly. He'd literally eat all day long. I already fed him 7 cans of cat food today. Wouldn't the high calorie food save me money? Is it normal for him to want to eat constantly and not gain weight?

Thank you.
 
If you don't have him on insulin his body is starving to death. It can't process food, will eat like crazy, drink like mad and keep loosing weight. You need to get him on wet food like fancy feast or friskies pate style that are low carb. That will help his pancreas that overloaded with carbs from his current food, that's high in carbs. You need wet food, insulin, and home glucose testing to get him regulated so he can start gaining weight. Are you using insulin?
 
Feed frequent small meals of higher fat foods such as Wellness Turkey and Giblet, while using insulin to allow the food to be used.

Per gram:
8.5 calories from fat
3.5 calories from protein
3.5 calories from carbohydrate
 
Thanks for the response. He is on insulin. He gets 1 unit twice a day. I'm only feeding him wet food right now.
 
Great, just be careful, Science Diet A/C is around 9% carbs, a little on the high side. Fancy Feast, Friskies and others can be as low at 4%, it really makes a difference.
 
kkoehler said:
Thanks for the response. He is on insulin. He gets 1 unit twice a day. I'm only feeding him wet food right now.
Click to expand...

What insulin are you using and are you home-testing? If he's still ravenous and continuing to lose weight, it sounds like he might not be getting enough insulin.

ETA: from your previous post, it looks like you're using Novolin. I would suggest you look into getting another insulin like Lantus, Levemir, or PZI/ProZinc as these are the only three insulins that work well in cats and last long enough for a cat's faster metabolism. Otherwise, you will need to monitor/home-test extensively and perhaps even go to TID (three times a day) dosing to see better results.
 
How is your kitty is doing on his wet food only diet now?

Is the peeing getting less? Smaller puddles in the litter box? Less frequent?
Has his water consumption decreased? How much would you say he's drinking these days?

Wet food diets are so helpful to our diabetic kitties in many ways. It's not just that they are often lower carb. They also keep our diabetic kitties better hydrated. With the polyuria (excess peeing), dehydration can happen so it's something to watch out for.

He eats constantly. He'd literally eat all day long. I already fed him 7 cans of cat food today. Wouldn't the high calorie food save me money? Is it normal for him to want to eat constantly and not gain weight?
Click to expand...
Wink was eating 10-12 ounces of wet food a day when I first brought him to live with me. As his blood glucose got better regulated, he was less hungry. Now, he only eats about 6-7 ounces of wet food a day.

The ravenous appetite is one of the signs that he's not getting the right amount of insulin and/or the insulin is not lasting long enough. That is common,, the short duration, with the NPH type insulins like the Novolin you are using.

Too often, vets try to dose cats as if there were small dogs. Entirely different species with different metabolisms.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top