Snickers still not well.

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DreMeister said:
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No pancreatitis was confirmed, nor kidney disease. No meds either. Just shoulder shrugs, a $500 vet bill, and out the door she goes. Still like to know what "out of options" meant. Is the Purina DM high in carbs? My wife seems to think so. I just feel so bad for our kitty! I don't feel they've helped much except getting her to stop vomiting. It'll only be a matter of time before something happens again I'm afraid. I've never seen Tiki Cat food around here. Maybe at pet stores?
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As I recall, Purina DM is low carb. 3 percent.
 
DM wet food is 3%. You are not out of options. You can find another vet. Your vet doesn't want to bother helping her. You kitty isn't well and needs help. I hope you find help today.
 
DreMeister said:
Ok, so we got Snicky home. She's doing good, at least for now. I am not happy with our vet(s). I have to bring up things like pancreatitis and the "kidney" enzymes. They gave us the DM food which she doesn't like, and said the Friskies pates are bad for her. We were feeding her that because she doesn't like the DM. What the heck are we supposed to feed her?? We are not giving her sq fluids at home. The Hill's Kidney Diet food she hates too. Somewhere here I read that it was high in carbs. What are they trying to do to her? We gave it to our outside ferals and they wouldn't eat it either. So right now she gets DM and boiled chicken. That she eats the crap out of. She's over her diarrhea. She's getting to the point of running away and hiding when it's shot time. I don't know what's going on with that. My wife got print-outs of the test results but I don't know how to get them to show up here. And it might as well be in Chinese as far as I can decipher the numbers. What am I looking for? I said the next time she starts going down hill again we're taking her to a new vet. I have to ask questions profusely to get info out of them. They are vague about their answers like we are being an annoyance. I know she is not a personable kitty and I hope they are not being rough on her when handling her. We sure are paying them well enough. I get ya well that could be and stuff like that. This forum is more help than they are! Thanx!
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Just my 2 cent's worth here but, I have a similar issue with our sugar kitty in terms of foods. We use the m/d (kibble due to colitis) and cannot switch as we've tried 5 times and it flares up each time (diarehia, mucous and blood). She didn't like the CANNED HILLS m/d (1% less carbs than the Purina DM) so, we just went back to the kibble and the colitis cleared up. And, yes...the Fancy Feast and Whiskas and all of the other foods listed will be higher, far too high, in phosphorous *IF* there *IS* a kidney issue.

I found 2 things:

1) Morrigan had fur balls/collections in her intestines. I bought a natural "Laxatone" from a pet food store and give that to her (not petroleum based but, Omega oils mainly).
2) NO..she didn't like the m/d AT FIRST. What we did was to grind the m/d kibble into POWDER form (Magic Bullet or blender/food processor) then, added water to make a paste. She still didn't like it much.
3) I added maybe, about 1 TSP of ANY canned food (to the home made paste) that she liked, lower in carbs (she tended to like the Fancy Feast Beef Pate) and WARMED it by 10 seconds in the microwave.
4) I added a bit of FortiFlora Feline (a probiotic from the vet in small pouches) which tend to be loved by cats. You can even use the dog version. It's just for flavour but, it also helps the intestines. Just start off slowly.

You can add some baby strained chicken/beef into the paste too if she likes it but, warming first then adding FortiFlora seemed to help quite a bit.

After a week of the hairball paste, she vomited a few times and up came bits of fur until she stopped vomiting (I also had her checked for pancreatitis and it was negative too).

I did find that Purina Pro Plan kitten food made her vomit like crazy so, it might be something in the previous foods you were giving her??? A change might change everything for the better.

One last question...any eating of outside grass or...if indoors, any plants that you may have in the house that might be making kitty sick????
 
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DreMeister said:
"
No pancreatitis was confirmed, nor kidney disease. No meds either. Just shoulder shrugs, a $500 vet bill, and out the door she goes. Still like to know what "out of options" meant. Is the Purina DM high in carbs? My wife seems to think so. I just feel so bad for our kitty! I don't feel they've helped much except getting her to stop vomiting. It'll only be a matter of time before something happens again I'm afraid. I've never seen Tiki Cat food around here. Maybe at pet stores?
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By the way, since all of these tests are coming back "no problems"...I'd be willing to bet that it has to do with the foods. Try sticking to what she can eat and keep down right now. Eating is the most important thing. You can always dose UP to the food with insulin. Remember...sometimes, we have to work backwards....meaning that even if the food is NOT ideal for diabetes, if kitty isn't eating or feeling well...the insulin can't and shouldn't be given. Better to get her to eat whatever she will eat and keep down right now then...work towards the insulin dosing afterwards to suit the food. You can always re-try foods again down the road when kitty's tummy upsets are settled.

Try the FortiFlora sprinkled on the foods. Probiotic with a YUM factor to it. Morrigan licks it off of her dry kibble. :)
 
Wife is feeding her DM Savory Selects and boiled chicken. She keeps thinking the DM Savory Selects is high carb, but I haven't seen anything to establish that. I guess there's different DMs? Like Louellen said, keep her eating what she can handle right now, so we will. She threw up this morning, but she wants to eat so bad, she meows when we're sleeping so wife gets up to feed her a little. I think she eats so fast that it doesn't sit well in her stomach and she tosses it back up. She's been good so far after that morning fracas. Also my wife is having a hell of a time injecting her anymore, and this morning wife got mad and said screw it, I ain't trying to do this anymore. So I grabbed the syringe, and kitty just sat there quietly while I injected her and never squawked a bit. I have NO idea about that. Something my wife is doing that she doesn't like I guess. Oh yeah one other thing too, the vet told wife the only other thing they could do if they can't find a cause is to do an exploratory surgery. I think that's extreme and I will not put kitty through that.
 
Louellen said:
Just my 2 cent's worth here but, I have a similar issue with our sugar kitty in terms of foods. We use the m/d (kibble due to colitis) and cannot switch as we've tried 5 times and it flares up each time (diarehia, mucous and blood). She didn't like the CANNED HILLS m/d (1% less carbs than the Purina DM) so, we just went back to the kibble and the colitis cleared up. And, yes...the Fancy Feast and Whiskas and all of the other foods listed will be higher, far too high, in phosphorous *IF* there *IS* a kidney issue.

I found 2 things:

1) Morrigan had fur balls/collections in her intestines. I bought a natural "Laxatone" from a pet food store and give that to her (not petroleum based but, Omega oils mainly).
2) NO..she didn't like the m/d AT FIRST. What we did was to grind the m/d kibble into POWDER form (Magic Bullet or blender/food processor) then, added water to make a paste. She still didn't like it much.
3) I added maybe, about 1 TSP of ANY canned food (to the home made paste) that she liked, lower in carbs (she tended to like the Fancy Feast Beef Pate) and WARMED it by 10 seconds in the microwave.
4) I added a bit of FortiFlora Feline (a probiotic from the vet in small pouches) which tend to be loved by cats. You can even use the dog version. It's just for flavour but, it also helps the intestines. Just start off slowly.

You can add some baby strained chicken/beef into the paste too if she likes it but, warming first then adding FortiFlora seemed to help quite a bit.

After a week of the hairball paste, she vomited a few times and up came bits of fur until she stopped vomiting (I also had her checked for pancreatitis and it was negative too).

I did find that Purina Pro Plan kitten food made her vomit like crazy so, it might be something in the previous foods you were giving her??? A change might change everything for the better.

One last question...any eating of outside grass or...if indoors, any plants that you may have in the house that might be making kitty sick????
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No she doesn't go outside and we don't have any plants inside. We used to grow the "cat grass" and she loved that stuff! We have been feeding her the Friskies pates for a few months and did great until recently. We cut out the turkey lunch meat all together to see what happens. That was her little "treat."
 
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There are different DM foods. The savory selects are probably to high in carbs but I don't know for sure. The pate is fine though.

I had 2 non diabetic cats who would get sick every time I gave shredded, cuts, chunk type and any food with sauce or gravy in it. I don't know if it was texture related or the sauces were to rich.

It's something to think about.
 
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I don't know off hand the carbs for the Savory Selects but they are much higher in carbs than the pate.

Ingredients (Original Canned)
Liver, poultry by-products, meat by-products, water sufficient for processing, chicken, salmon, oat fiber, salmon meal, artificial and natural flavors, calcium sulfate, guar gum, potassium chloride, carrageenan, salt, Vitamin E supplement, mono and dicalcium phosphate, taurine, thiamine mononitrate, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, niacin, calcium pantothenate, copper sulfate, Vitamin A supplement, manganese sulfate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, biotin, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, potassium iodide. A-2530



Ingredients (Savory Selects™ Canned)
Water sufficient for processing, chicken, liver, wheat gluten, meat by-products, corn starch-modified, soy flour, artificial and natural flavors, tricalcium phosphate, potassium chloride, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, taurine, salt, choline chloride, added color, mono and dicalcium phosphate, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, Vitamin E supplement, niacin, copper sulfate, manganese sulfate, calcium pantothenate, Vitamin A supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, biotin, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, potassium iodide. A-2531

As you can see the Savory Selects have wheat gluten as the third ingredient and corn starch as the fifth. Neither of these ingredients are good for a low carb diet.
 
DreMeister said:
No she doesn't go outside and we don't have any plants inside. We used to grow the "cat grass" and she loved that stuff! We have been feeding her the Friskies pates for a few months and did great until recently. We cut out the turkey lunch meat all together to see what happens. That was her little "treat."
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It could be just about anything that she's not tolerating well so, cutting out the lunch meat is likely a great bet as a first step. Fingers crossed that it's the culprit! :)

If not...I hate to say this...but...it *MAY* be Purina in general. I had issues with Purina anything with Morrigan. More so, the Pro Plan canned foods but...every cat is different so, it might be just Morrigan.

If that doesn't work...try the Hills m/d. Its ingredient list reads like a bad novel, "corn, corn and more corn"...all broken down into "protein". Yeah, I know...but, it's the only food that she can safely eat. She's a kibble cat and nothing I tried worked other than to set off her colitis and vomiting. The ONLY food she could eat IS the Hills m/d so...go figure. But, what I can say is that anything was better than the bloody diarrehia, vomiting etc.. I had to up the dose to match the food and even now, it's not perfect by any means BUT...I'd much rather deal with a bit of extra insulin that seeing her so sickly and me...a nervous disaster, waiting to crash.

The other thing it could be, is...as you've said....she's hungry and she's wolfing the food down and vomiting it back up shortly afterwards. You'll know it's this if it's shortly after she's eaten. If it's HOURS later...not so much the idea of wolfing then. It might be an ingredient or something silly like the protein source. She might suddenly have developed an allergy to something in it like chicken or whatever. Perhaps, a novel protein like duck or lamb or venison or rabbit???

One last thing I can think of off hand....it might be that *IF* it is because she wolfs down the food...or...she has developed a form of regurgitation (meaning she takes very little effort to vomit it i.e.: no real wretching)...it could be an issue with her esophagus and sphincter muscle at the top of her stomach. Try putting her bowl on top of a few books or a shoe box. Try a plate instead of a bowl on something like books or a shoe box. Have you noticed her going right for her water bowl after eating? It could be also that she sucks up water like crazy and that will cause it all to come back up too.

I think it's going to take some experimenting to figure out what causes her to vomit like this but, you'll get to the bottom of it. She's certainly been checked out enough! OUCH on the wallet! But, at the least, you have some reassurance that it's not something obviously horrendously wrong for now.

As for your wife's inability to inject her...well...perhaps, she feels your wife's antsy or even reluctancy to shoot??? If your wife is impatient or just scared...it might be that YOU will have to be the one who gives her the shots and work it out with your schedule so that you can do it???? You and your wife need to talk that one out between the 2 of you, I think.

There's an answer, somewhere, somehow so, hang in there and keep trying BUT...remember....food changes too quickly....*CAN* cause vomiting and loose stools right there. In this case...pick a food she likes to eat and try the removal of treats (for Morrigan, it was the freeze dried chicken pieces...Pure Bites, I think they were called), raising the bowls, small frequent meals (meaning no more than a tablespoon at a time but, given maybe, 6 or so times a day).

You'll figure out what works and what doesn't. it's all just guessing and experimenting right now. The fact that she WANTS to eat is a GOOD sign! Cats that have something terribly wrong...do NOT want to eat much. :)
 
Louellen said:
It could be just about anything that she's not tolerating well so, cutting out the lunch meat is likely a great bet as a first step. Fingers crossed that it's the culprit! :)

If not...I hate to say this...but...it *MAY* be Purina in general. I had issues with Purina anything with Morrigan. More so, the Pro Plan canned foods but...every cat is different so, it might be just Morrigan.

If that doesn't work...try the Hills m/d. Its ingredient list reads like a bad novel, "corn, corn and more corn"...all broken down into "protein". Yeah, I know...but, it's the only food that she can safely eat. She's a kibble cat and nothing I tried worked other than to set off her colitis and vomiting. The ONLY food she could eat IS the Hills m/d so...go figure. But, what I can say is that anything was better than the bloody diarrehia, vomiting etc.. I had to up the dose to match the food and even now, it's not perfect by any means BUT...I'd much rather deal with a bit of extra insulin that seeing her so sickly and me...a nervous disaster, waiting to crash.

The other thing it could be, is...as you've said....she's hungry and she's wolfing the food down and vomiting it back up shortly afterwards. You'll know it's this if it's shortly after she's eaten. If it's HOURS later...not so much the idea of wolfing then. It might be an ingredient or something silly like the protein source. She might suddenly have developed an allergy to something in it like chicken or whatever. Perhaps, a novel protein like duck or lamb or venison or rabbit???

One last thing I can think of off hand....it might be that *IF* it is because she wolfs down the food...or...she has developed a form of regurgitation (meaning she takes very little effort to vomit it i.e.: no real wretching)...it could be an issue with her esophagus and sphincter muscle at the top of her stomach. Try putting her bowl on top of a few books or a shoe box. Try a plate instead of a bowl on something like books or a shoe box. Have you noticed her going right for her water bowl after eating? It could be also that she sucks up water like crazy and that will cause it all to come back up too.

I think it's going to take some experimenting to figure out what causes her to vomit like this but, you'll get to the bottom of it. She's certainly been checked out enough! OUCH on the wallet! But, at the least, you have some reassurance that it's not something obviously horrendously wrong for now.

As for your wife's inability to inject her...well...perhaps, she feels your wife's antsy or even reluctancy to shoot??? If your wife is impatient or just scared...it might be that YOU will have to be the one who gives her the shots and work it out with your schedule so that you can do it???? You and your wife need to talk that one out between the 2 of you, I think.

There's an answer, somewhere, somehow so, hang in there and keep trying BUT...remember....food changes too quickly....*CAN* cause vomiting and loose stools right there. In this case...pick a food she likes to eat and try the removal of treats (for Morrigan, it was the freeze dried chicken pieces...Pure Bites, I think they were called), raising the bowls, small frequent meals (meaning no more than a tablespoon at a time but, given maybe, 6 or so times a day).

You'll figure out what works and what doesn't. it's all just guessing and experimenting right now. The fact that she WANTS to eat is a GOOD sign! Cats that have something terribly wrong...do NOT want to eat much. :)
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Well she does eat good. Doesn't do much otherwise but doesn't act like she's hurting or anything. At least she purrs now when I pet her. My wife is sticking to the DM and cooked chicken to see if that'll keep her from relapsing. She seems to be having normal bowel movements and peeing. She doesn't drink until a while after she eats. Yeah, ouch on the wallet, I've spent $1700 on her since January, but I can't let her be sick. I thought she was a goner a couple times but she came back. I'm still dealing with my feral kitty Fluffers that passed away last October. I don't need Snickers to go if I can help it. As far as kitty not liking when my wife gives her a shot, I think she just jacks around too long and kitty loses patience really fast. Wife has to wear cheaters and picks around trying to find a spot to inject, then kitty squalls and says "I'm outta here!" I just bend down while she's eating and quickly shoot her and I'm done and she keeps on eating. Maybe she just likes me better than my wife!
 
DreMeister said:
Nope and I wouldn't trust anyone else either. That's why no vacations until something happens to kitty.
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That's so sad. I am in the process of teaching my family how to care for Callie. At my age, I want to be sure Callie is taken care of if I can't be here, We never know if we might be in the hospital tomorrow. I don't want carrying for Callie to be a burden, it could be, if I felt chained to the house. Think about teaching at least one other person to take care of your kitty. It is worth the peace of mind.
 
donnalea said:
That's so sad. I am in the process of teaching my family how to care for Callie. At my age, I want to be sure Callie is taken care of if I can't be here, We never know if we might be in the hospital tomorrow. I don't want carrying for Callie to be a burden, it could be, if I felt chained to the house. Think about teaching at least one other person to take care of your kitty. It is worth the peace of mind.
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Well none of my family is close enough by and I keep my friends to a very minimum. IF something came up we could bunk her at our vet. They would take care of her while we were away but I really wouldn't like her to stay there long. When she has to stay there when she's sick we visit her every day. The vet is only a block from my work. I wouldn't want her thinking we abandoned her. So at least my wife can still gallivant around chasing Elvis impersonators while I hold the fort down here for kitty. On a sad note, one of our feral kittens was run over today. She must have gotten under the neighbor's truck and didn't run when the neighbor drove off. She was a runt kitten that we nursed to health and she was very friendly and loving towards us. It hurt us a lot especially when I had to bury her when I got home from work. She went right next to Fluffers who passed last October.
 
DreMeister said:
Well none of my family is close enough by and I keep my friends to a very minimum. IF something came up we could bunk her at our vet. They would take care of her while we were away but I really wouldn't like her to stay there long. When she has to stay there when she's sick we visit her every day. The vet is only a block from my work. I wouldn't want her thinking we abandoned her. So at least my wife can still gallivant around chasing Elvis impersonators while I hold the fort down here for kitty. On a sad note, one of our feral kittens was run over today. She must have gotten under the neighbor's truck and didn't run when the neighbor drove off. She was a runt kitten that we nursed to health and she was very friendly and loving towards us. It hurt us a lot especially when I had to bury her when I got home from work. She went right next to Fluffers who passed last October.
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It is so sad to lose one of our furbabies. After our third cat was hit by a car, we gave up on letting them go outside. Now we have 4 indoor cats and two dogs that only are allowed in a fenced yard or on a leach. I know how hard it can be to keep them inside, but it sure beats a broken heart. They seem to accept living indoors in time especially if you start them as kittens.
 
donnalea said:
It is so sad to lose one of our furbabies. After our third cat was hit by a car, we gave up on letting them go outside. Now we have 4 indoor cats and two dogs that only are allowed in a fenced yard or on a leach. I know how hard it can be to keep them inside, but it sure beats a broken heart. They seem to accept living indoors in time especially if you start them as kittens.
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We had 2 kittens, and yes they would come into the house if given an opportunity, but we tried another cat once and we soon figgered out that Snickers is the Queen and no other cat shall come hither this way. Until such a time she passes on. We'll keep taking care of our outdoor kitties none the less. They eat very well.
 
DreMeister said:
We had 2 kittens, and yes they would come into the house if given an opportunity, but we tried another cat once and we soon figgered out that Snickers is the Queen and no other cat shall come hither this way. Until such a time she passes on. We'll keep taking care of our outdoor kitties none the less. They eat very well.
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With feral cats you don't have much choice. At least you feed them and give them some love, that's a lot more then a lot of people do. My Callie and her twin brother were born under a shead to a wild mother. They have given us a lot of joy.
 
DreMeister said:
Well none of my family is close enough by and I keep my friends to a very minimum. IF something came up we could bunk her at our vet. They would take care of her while we were away but I really wouldn't like her to stay there long. When she has to stay there when she's sick we visit her every day. The vet is only a block from my work. I wouldn't want her thinking we abandoned her. So at least my wife can still gallivant around chasing Elvis impersonators while I hold the fort down here for kitty. On a sad note, one of our feral kittens was run over today. She must have gotten under the neighbor's truck and didn't run when the neighbor drove off. She was a runt kitten that we nursed to health and she was very friendly and loving towards us. It hurt us a lot especially when I had to bury her when I got home from work. She went right next to Fluffers who passed last October.
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I'm so so sorry about your kitten. We care for a family of 4 ferrel kitties too (had them trapped and fixed.) I am always afraid when I see them by the street.
 
DreMeister said:
Wife is feeding her DM Savory Selects and boiled chicken. She keeps thinking the DM Savory Selects is high carb, but I haven't seen anything to establish that. I guess there's different DMs? Like Louellen said, keep her eating what she can handle right now, so we will. She threw up this morning, but she wants to eat so bad, she meows when we're sleeping so wife gets up to feed her a little. I think she eats so fast that it doesn't sit well in her stomach and she tosses it back up. She's been good so far after that morning fracas. Also my wife is having a hell of a time injecting her anymore, and this morning wife got mad and said screw it, I ain't trying to do this anymore. So I grabbed the syringe, and kitty just sat there quietly while I injected her and never squawked a bit. I have NO idea about that. Something my wife is doing that she doesn't like I guess. Oh yeah one other thing too, the vet told wife the only other thing they could do if they can't find a cause is to do an exploratory surgery. I think that's extreme and I will not put kitty through that.
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The savory selects are 10 carbs. The dm pate is 3. Mine was eating the savory selects for a few weeks but won't touch it now. She basicly quit eating so I am giving her whatever she will eat just to keep food in her. She will eat the fancy feast gravy lovers chicken 22 carbs or natures recipe chicken in broth. I know they are bad for her but at least she is eating now. Going to try to get her back in the savory selects
 
Mshaas75 said:
The savory selects are 10 carbs. The dm pate is 3. Mine was eating the savory selects for a few weeks but won't touch it now. She basicly quit eating so I am giving her whatever she will eat just to keep food in her. She will eat the fancy feast gravy lovers chicken 22 carbs or natures recipe chicken in broth. I know they are bad for her but at least she is eating now. Going to try to get her back in the savory selects
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Try mixing it with the ff.
 
donnalea said:
With feral cats you don't have much choice. At least you feed them and give them some love, that's a lot more then a lot of people do. My Callie and her twin brother were born under a shead to a wild mother. They have given us a lot of joy.
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I'm very protective of our ferals, well as much as I can anyhow. They still roam, that's what happened to Squirt.
 
JanetNJ said:
I'm so so sorry about your kitten. We care for a family of 4 ferrel kitties too (had them trapped and fixed.) I am always afraid when I see them by the street.
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I have to shoo them out from under my truck every morning. I drive past my house during the day and see them crossing the street, hoping one's not laying out there when I get home.
 
DreMeister said:
So I stopped by on my way home from work. They were still waiting for barium to finish going thru her system and take the last picture. So far only thing was intestinal thickening in one area, "attributed to vomiting." I said what about the elevated kidney, or I should say renal, enzymes. Yeah, they can raise with "vomiting and dehydration." I asked about pancreatitis. "Well, that's kinda difficult to diagnose in cats, but, she has diabetes which can make her sick." No sh*t. They supposedly did an ultrasound yesterday and didn't find anything out of the ordinary. I said, well something's going on! We bring her here, she gets treatment for high glucose, vomiting, and all around lethargy. We take her home and a week later she's back in here with the same stuff. We're getting tired of cleaning up puke all over. "Well, she is diabetic, that causes problems." I am not satisfied with these answers. They said for pancreatitis we can feed her a bland diet. That's it?? I've spent about 2 grand there since January, and that doesn't include the Lantus and syringes we get from them. I did get to see her, poor thing was shaking all over. I'll have my wife try and get all the test results when she picks up kitty hopefully tomorrow. If we get her home and it starts all over again, I'm taking her to another vet whether misses likes it or not!
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I'm sorry you're going through this....and I should probably read the whole thread, but sounds like you need a new vet. A simple test can diagnose pancreatitis. Fred had an acute attack last year and shortly after, he went in remission, and has been in remission for a year. Mostly due to diet change to Friskies pates and Fancy Feast classics. Love and screeches ❤️!
 
Jamye and Fred said:
I'm sorry you're going through this....and I should probably read the whole thread, but sounds like you need a new vet. A simple test can diagnose pancreatitis. Fred had an acute attack last year and shortly after, he went in remission, and has been in remission for a year. Mostly due to diet change to Friskies pates and Fancy Feast classics. Love and screeches ❤️!
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I know a new vet is in order. They must have taken an ultrasound last time at vet cuz they shaved her belly, but I guess didn't see anything, at least that they didn't tell us. You have to pry answers out of them, and then they are vague. Is the sky blue??? Well, yeah, probably, except sometimes. We think. We were feeding Friskies pates and she loved them but my wife is skittish now so she's feeding DM and cooked chicken for a while to see if she relapses.
 
Your vet bill would show if the ultrasound happened, and it sounds like it did. Your outside kitties sound like fun. Please be careful - our neighbor backed over another neighbor's cat (10 years ago). May be good to feed them a treat away from the truck when you are leaving.
 
JeffJ said:
Your vet bill would show if the ultrasound happened, and it sounds like it did. Your outside kitties sound like fun. Please be careful - our neighbor backed over another neighbor's cat (10 years ago). May be good to feed them a treat away from the truck when you are leaving.
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I keep my Jeep in the garage so I don't have to look for kitties in the morning, but when I take my truck I have to do a walk around to make sure little Rambo isn't in the frame, as he likes to climb up in there. They often wander into the neighbors' yards, and under their vehicles. They have food on the deck at all times so trying to coax a semi-wild kitty up there is impossible. We do feed them lunch meat as a treat but the neighbors have 4 vehicles and they come and go constantly and I was afraid this would happen. That's what happened to little Squirt. R.I.P. buddy.
 
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DreMeister said:
I know a new vet is in order. They must have taken an ultrasound last time at vet cuz they shaved her belly, but I guess didn't see anything, at least that they didn't tell us. You have to pry answers out of them, and then they are vague. Is the sky blue??? Well, yeah, probably, except sometimes. We think. We were feeding Friskies pates and she loved them but my wife is skittish now so she's feeding DM and cooked chicken for a while to see if she relapses.
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Right now, I think your wife is right. Feed whatever works. I've had the same issues over colitis (as I've said, earlier in this post) and had to stick to what her bowels will accept and do well with. I strayed 5 times onto FF and other foods suggested for diabetics. All 5 times, we ended up in a mess and me in tears for her. It wasn't worth it.

Finally, two very compassionate vets (one, an internal med vet), simply said...."keep her on whatever food she can handle within the safety for diabetics parameters and we'll simply dose up to the food." She does well on the Hills m/d (shhhhh...dirty word, I know....) Kibble. I've gotten her to the point now where I can crush the kibble in a blender (Magic Bullet) into a powder, add a bit of FF pate and water and she's lapping it up. But, she still wants her kibble (darned dirty word) in between. I do whatever gets her to eat (within reason).

So, dang it....I am agreeing with your wife here. Give her whatever doesn't set off a relapse that she will eat. DM is a recommended food by many vets and certainly, if your wife will cook her chicken....that's great too. :) Do what works for your cat. Unfortunately...there's no manual that says, "do A, B, C and come out with D...guaranteed". Other health issues will trump the best of intentions.

Sorry about your kitten. We also had that happen with a previous cat when I was a kid. We still thump on all 4 tire wells of our car and have neighbours doing it during the colder weather and the hotter weather. I'm sure they're swearing at us now but, it stuck in their minds.
 
Louellen said:
Right now, I think your wife is right. Feed whatever works. I've had the same issues over colitis (as I've said, earlier in this post) and had to stick to what her bowels will accept and do well with. I strayed 5 times onto FF and other foods suggested for diabetics. All 5 times, we ended up in a mess and me in tears for her. It wasn't worth it.

Finally, two very compassionate vets (one, an internal med vet), simply said...."keep her on whatever food she can handle within the safety for diabetics parameters and we'll simply dose up to the food." She does well on the Hills m/d (shhhhh...dirty word, I know....) Kibble. I've gotten her to the point now where I can crush the kibble in a blender (Magic Bullet) into a powder, add a bit of FF pate and water and she's lapping it up. But, she still wants her kibble (darned dirty word) in between. I do whatever gets her to eat (within reason).

So, dang it....I am agreeing with your wife here. Give her whatever doesn't set off a relapse that she will eat. DM is a recommended food by many vets and certainly, if your wife will cook her chicken....that's great too. :) Do what works for your cat. Unfortunately...there's no manual that says, "do A, B, C and come out with D...guaranteed". Other health issues will trump the best of intentions.

Sorry about your kitten. We also had that happen with a previous cat when I was a kid. We still thump on all 4 tire wells of our car and have neighbours doing it during the colder weather and the hotter weather. I'm sure they're swearing at us now but, it stuck in their minds.
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My wife just picked up a crap-load of DM today. I sure wish we could get it somewhere other than the vet. I read a thread yesterday about FF changing their formula and it being higher in carbs, so DM it is for Snicky and the FF pates goes to the 2 outside ferals, Stumbly and Rambo. I'm kinda ignorant here, but what exactly is kibble? She's getting picky about the DM pate but loves the higher carb Savory Selects. She threw up a little the other morning, on carpet of course, but hasn't since. Yeah I'm still sad about Squirt getting run over, now little Rambo keeps wondering where he is. They played together constantly.
 
If your up to cooking this bone broth might be worth a try. I do not grind the bone. I throw the bone out when done. I made a batch and freeze in foam egg carton. I take out an egg and give 1 tsp a day mixed in one meal a day for Smokey. One egg will last me 3 days. Smokey didn't tolerate ff well at all. I wonder if it set off the pancreatitis, he was eating ff about 5 days before he got sick. It might not have been the food but I associate it so won't give ff anymore.

http://www.ibdkitties.net/bone-broth/
 
Woodsywife said:
If your up to cooking this bone broth might be worth a try. I do not grind the bone. I throw the bone out when done. I made a batch and freeze in foam egg carton. I take out an egg and give 1 tsp a day mixed in one meal a day for Smokey. One egg will last me 3 days. Smokey didn't tolerate ff well at all. I wonder if it set off the pancreatitis, he was eating ff about 5 days before he got sick. It might not have been the food but I associate it so won't give ff anymore.

http://www.ibdkitties.net/bone-broth/
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Hafta try the bone broth. We fed her FF about 2 mos. when she started going downhill again. After what I read here the other day, we'll keep her on DM and cooked chicken for now. She goes in for a check-up Friday. She seems better, but lays around and sleeps a lot, doesn't jump up on couch to her spot anymore, she lays in close proximity to her food bowl, and she does have a voracious appetite. Getting us up 2wice a nite because she's hungry!
 
DreMeister said:
Hafta try the bone broth. We fed her FF about 2 mos. when she started going downhill again. After what I read here the other day, we'll keep her on DM and cooked chicken for now. She goes in for a check-up Friday. She seems better, but lays around and sleeps a lot, doesn't jump up on couch to her spot anymore, she lays in close proximity to her food bowl, and she does have a voracious appetite. Getting us up 2wice a nite because she's hungry!
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I used a slow cooker. Must warn you, it smells really bad. Next time I will cook on high. Smokey was on DM for quite awhile. Then stopped eating it. About 2 weeks ago I started giving it again for one meal (he's fed every 3 hrs each meal is different) a day. I mix the broth in that meal. He cleans the plate.

Have you thought about a feeder for overnight? At 1am Smokey is trying to help it open. Silly cat. I put his 2 favorite meals in it.
 
DreMeister said:
My wife just picked up a crap-load of DM today. I sure wish we could get it somewhere other than the vet. I read a thread yesterday about FF changing their formula and it being higher in carbs, so DM it is for Snicky and the FF pates goes to the 2 outside ferals, Stumbly and Rambo. I'm kinda ignorant here, but what exactly is kibble? She's getting picky about the DM pate but loves the higher carb Savory Selects. She threw up a little the other morning, on carpet of course, but hasn't since. Yeah I'm still sad about Squirt getting run over, now little Rambo keeps wondering where he is. They played together constantly.
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No one answered this question. Kibble is dry food. Most is way to high in carbs for diabetics. There are 2 low carb ones I know of. One in a specialty pet store or on line. The other only from manufacturer but they will send a free sample.
 
Woodsywife said:
I used a slow cooker. Must warn you, it smells really bad. Next time I will cook on high. Smokey was on DM for quite awhile. Then stopped eating it. About 2 weeks ago I started giving it again for one meal (he's fed every 3 hrs each meal is different) a day. I mix the broth in that meal. He cleans the plate.

Have you thought about a feeder for overnight? At 1am Smokey is trying to help it open. Silly cat. I put his 2 favorite meals in it.
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We had a self feeder when she was on dry food that she ate whenever she wanted, but how do you self feed wet stuff?
 
DreMeister said:
We had a self feeder when she was on dry food that she ate whenever she wanted, but how do you self feed wet stuff?
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It's a different feeder, here are 2 of them, both allow cold pack or ice under tray.

I have the 2 compartment one because store didn't have the other and I needed it that night.

http://m.petsmart.com/h5/hub?id=cat...zid36-6192/cat-36-catid-200063?var_id=36-6192

https://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-5-Meal-Automatic-Pet-Feeder/dp/B000GEWHNS/?tag=felinediabetesfdmb-20
 
Woodsywife said:
It's a different feeder, here are 2 of them, both allow cold pack or ice under tray.

I have the 2 compartment one because store didn't have the other and I needed it that night.

http://m.petsmart.com/h5/hub?id=cat/automatic-feeders/petsafe-eatwell-2-meal-automatic-pet-feeder-zid36-6192/cat-36-catid-200063?var_id=36-6192

https://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-5-Meal-Automatic-Pet-Feeder/dp/B000GEWHNS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469719812&sr=8-1&keywords=digital pet feeder
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Thank you for the links, I'll look at them tomorrow.
 
Well Snicky had her checkup this morning. Her BS was 133. I just wish we could test her at home and keep track of it here and try and get her into remission.
 
So I gotta ask a question........Snickers had a 133 BS last Friday on her vet visit. She eats very well, but she is drinking water like a fire truck and getting rid of it just as fast. She messes up her litter box as soon as we clean it. She seems fine otherwise but this isn't normal. Suggestions?
 
Two other diseases that increase urination/drink are kidney insufficiency and hyperthyriodism. Have Snikers been test for those recently?
 
Well she spent 3 days at the vet about 3 weeks ago and they ran a bunch of tests, including a thyroid exam, and an ultrasound, and didn't find anything except elevated "kidney" enzymes. I guess a lot can happen in 3 weeks. We'll have to keep a close eye on her. My wife is going on vacation in 1 week so it'll be a challenge to keep a close eye on her when I'm gone all day.
 
DreMeister said:
Well Snicky had her checkup this morning. Her BS was 133. I just wish we could test her at home and keep track of it here and try and get her into remission.
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Is there a reason you can't test at home? With conditioning cats do accept the testing in time.
 
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