? Some hypo questions?

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Lilian

Lilian

Member Since 2016
Hello,
I have read a lot about FD, but I'm still wondering about few things:
1.What do you do if your cat is hypo, but refuses to eat?
2.When cats are hypo, shouldn't they be ravenous? So if food is always available, can they ever go hypo?
3.Does anyone else have a cat who is only hungry when his numbers are high? And refuses to eat when numbers are low?
Many thanks in advance
 
I have 2 diabetic kitties. One is always hungry whether high numbers or low numbers. With him I find that when the numbers are very low he gets very insistent to be fed. My other kitty is a slower, grazing type of eater and even when her numbers are low ( or high) she has not shown any increased interest in food. So every cat is different.

When my fussy eater is not interested in food and her numbers are low, I will give some medium carb with a bit of tuna juice on it. For her MC brings her up well and she loves tuna. If there is some sort of food that your kitty really goes for you can save that as an encouragement to eat when numbers get too low.

Worse case scenario if my kitty refused to eat and her numbers were too low, for myself anyway, I would rub some syrup or karo or honey on her gums and continue retesting. If need be I would syringe some higher carb food. If the situation was getting too dire and the numbers were too low, I would of course take her to the ER.

These are my own personal observations and suggestions. Hopefully some others will come along with more ideas and advice.
 
Thank you. The thing is that when my cat is low (well, he hasn't been really low) then he wouldn't eat even his favourite food - tuna. It's not possible to syringe feed him and it's not possible to put anything in his mouth...
 
Lilian said:
Thank you. The thing is that when my cat is low (well, he hasn't been really low) then he wouldn't eat even his favourite food - tuna. It's not possible to syringe feed him and it's not possible to put anything in his mouth...
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When my "piggy" kitty has better numbers he is not as interested in food. He has always been a food pig but when he is high or very low he acts like he is starving. When his numbers are in more normal ranges he is not pestering me every 15 minutes for food.

Looking at Sassu's spreadsheet I don't see any really low numbers. The blue numbers that you have seen are all in a very safe range. I don' t know how often you feed him, but you could make sure that he is never over fed, so that he would be more willing to eat if need be. Is there one particular food that he just LOVES (other than dry food)? If you can find one, especially if it is a higher carb food, you could keep that in stock in case he ever does go hypo. Or if there is higher carb kitty treat that Sassu really likes you could keep some on hand.


ETA I feed my kitties home-made but I keep canned food on hand (as much as I would rather not) just in case either one goes too low.
 
My kitty is really hungry when her glucose level is high and not that much when she is lower, but she was very hungry this morning when her numbers were too low. We were at 34 this morning i had no problems with HC food. She ate it immediately. She even licked honey. But now she is not that interested in food (despite of 318) This is my experience.
 
My girl gets extra hungry when her numbers are high and will ask for food but go lay down and wait for her next meal if I don't comply with her requests. She also will ask for more food when running in relatively decent numbers but again will go lay down and wait if not catered to. If however she is verging on or past warning low numbers she gets absolutely obnoxious and her requests for food include pawing, pouncing and vocalizing and there is NO ignoring her which has come in pretty handy on a couple of occasions recently!

It seems like with everything else, each cat is an individual and the trick is to know your own cat!
 
Lilian said:
When cats are hypo, shouldn't they be ravenous? So if food is always available, can they ever go hypo?
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Sometimes they can become lethargic when in low numbers; sometimes they don't have an uptick in appetite. There's no guarantee that any particular cat will eat when running low, hence the importance of being able to home test.


Mogs
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Dre used to start scavenging for food when he went lower (lower being under 100/ AT) and I think mayyyyyybe he is getting used to the lower numbers because he doesn't do that anymore--it is good and bad because if he keeps dropping it is hard to tell by behavior and I have to test every 15 minutes or so.
Whatever it takes tho..... :cat:
 
Actually my Tuxie gave me a reminder tonite on how some kitties work. He was 28.4 (511US) at PMPS and dropped to 14.9 (268 US) at +4. Although this is not a low number the fact that he dropped so much made him very hungry...more so than usual. It is really a matter of getting to know your kitty and their normal behaviour in order to look for "warning" signals.
 
Tuxedo Mom said:
It is really a matter of getting to know your kitty and their normal behaviour in order to look for "warning" signals.
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As Mary Ann advises, it is mostly a case of 'Know Thy Cat'. That said, never ever rely 100% on getting a clear signal from your cat that his BG is too low. Testing and using the spreadsheet will help you learn his pattern of response to his insulin. Let his number trends be your guide. If he's trending lower, be more vigilant with your testing.


Mogs
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So my other kitty decided to give me another lesson in low numbers tonight. :banghead:

My Maxie girl hit 2.5 (45 US) on a pet meter tonight. She showed NO signs at all of being in low numbers but when I tested her and gave her some higher carb food she ate it all at once instead of her usual few nibbles. So warning signs definitely cannot be counted on.
 
Tuxedo Mom said:
So my other kitty decided to give me another lesson in low numbers tonight. :banghead:

My Maxie girl hit 2.5 (45 US) on a pet meter tonight. She showed NO signs at all of being in low numbers but when I tested her and gave her some higher carb food she ate it all at once instead of her usual few nibbles. So warning signs definitely cannot be counted on.
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Tuxedo Mom said:
Thank goodness I have dealt with low numbers in the past. I still remember freaking out when Tuxie hit 6 (108US) the first time. Maxie only did this because I was planning on going to bed early tonite. ;)
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Good catch on the 2.5 tonight! Hope Maxie comes up and surfs safely tonight, and lets you get some sleep! :):)
 
Squalliesmom said:
Good catch on the 2.5 tonight! Hope Maxie comes up and surfs safely tonight, and lets you get some sleep! :):)
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She is determined to keep me up all night. I'll be testing again in a few minutes and keep my fingers crossed that she stays up so I can get some sleep before the next shot time :)
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
@Tuxedo Mom Good work tonight with Maxie! Gads, I went nuts when Menace shot me a 3.4 on her AT2 so I really feel for you!:bighug:
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Thanks Linda. Maxie is newly diagnosed...just over 5 weeks. Her very first shot of Levemir she went from 22.2 (400US) to 2.5 (45US) at +7, so she has prepared me for the unexpected. Her brother Tuxie has also prepared me to never be too complacent with all his ups and downs.

As litter mates, brother and sister it is strange how different their responses are to low numbers. Tuxie turns into a "starving" kitty screaming for food and Maxie does nothing, other than eat all her food all at once when I give it you her (she is normally a nibble here, nibble there grazer sort of kitty). Tuxie gives me a pretty good "warning" while Maxie gives no indication without testing. Great example of ECID. :)
 
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Tuxedo Mom said:
Her very first shot of Levemir she went from 22.2 (400US) to 2.5 (45US) at +7, so she has prepared me for the unexpected.
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It took Menace over a year to start honouring me with those low numbers so I was really caught off guard too but hers have all been really late (between +9 and pre-shot) so I have to stall, skip or give a big chicken shot. Another ECID example of why it's so important to get that data and know your own cat's behaviour and response to insulin. :)
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
It took Menace over a year to start honouring me with those low numbers so I was really caught off guard too but hers have all been really late (between +9 and pre-shot) so I have to stall, skip or give a big chicken shot. Another ECID example of why it's so important to get that data and know your own cat's behaviour and response to insulin. :)
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Maxie has taken lessons from her brother and is an expert bouncer. As well her nadir tends to be later than Tuxie's by an hour or two so I have to adjust my monitoring times for each of them. Maxie has some days where she goes through all the colours of the spreadsheet, just like her brother taught her to do :banghead:
 
A thought: high numbers may trigger hunger because there has been too little insulin to use enough glucose for energy.
 
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