Very hungry cat!

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Bubbles’Mum

Bubbles’Mum

Member Since 2018
Hello everyone,

I am new to the forum- as you can guess we have recently had a diabetic diagnoses for our lovely ginger tom Bubbles.
We are based in the UK so not all recommended food etc seems to be as readily available over here.

To fill you in on the story so far-
After rapid weight loss and a scary decline in health Bubs was diagnosed with diabetes and began treatment on the 11th August.
He was prescribed Caninsulin at 2 units 12hrs apart.
We’ve settled into a routine of 6.30am and 6.30pm.
We were also advised about change in diet and so bought Purina wet pouches and biscuits.

We were delighted with how quickly Bubs responded to treatment and he’s quickly back to his old antics.
However- I’m increasingly concerned about his insatiable appetite. He has now resorted to breaking and entering into human and pet food cupboards. Today he discovered a loaf of bread and I came home to an open cupboard and trail of crumbs...not exactly great for the low carb diet. He has always had a good appetite but the constant yowling food and wolfing everything down just doesn’t seem right.
I explained my concerns to the vet and she just seemed to think he is greedy but I feel there is a difference between greed and what seems to be his body demanding food!

The vet was adamant he should only have 2 pouches of wet and 25grams of dry food each day but this just isn’t proving adequate. I am worried about overfeeding him as obviously don’t want him to regain weight.

Help please lovely cat diabetes experts!! I will be most grateful for your wisdom

A x
 
When cats are unregulated, or not totally regulated, they can be starving. Quite literally, because their bodies can't properly utilize the food they're eating. Is your vet trying to make your cat lose weight? I'm not sure what purina pouches and kibble you're feeding to calculate how many calories that might be. Are they low carb?

Most of us free feed wet food (friskies pates or fancy feast pates) and have removed dry altogether, as it's not good for diabetic cats. Some days my boy demands 5 cans of Fancy feast (the small cans) and some days he's fine with 3. It really just depends on how his blood sugar is that day.

Are you home testing? What are his numbers usually like?
 
Hi Leah,

The vet is happy with his current weight at 4.2kilos.
The food is Purina pro plan DM diabetes management- pouches are 85g each. Dry food is the same diabetic range but could easily take him off that and feed wet only. It’s my other non diabetic cat that loves biscuits!

I have no idea about home testing- very new to all this. Vet briefly mentioned we could eventually look at urine testing but didn’t mention I could test his blood at home. Definitely something I need to look into it seems.
Next appt with the vet next weekend but my feeling is he may be having to high a dose insulin- do you think this could be the case?
 
He clearly needs more food. Skip the dry and give extra wet.
Just no food at least 2 hours prior to
The preshot test
 
If you can figure out how many calories you're feeding with those foods (leaving aside the carb content at the moment) - the average indoor cat needs 20 calories per pound of ideal weight. My cat is 10 pounds, and should eat around 200 calories/day. My other cat SHOULD be 10 pounds, but is 12.5...and he also gets 200/day ;)
 
Bubbles’Mum said:
Hi Leah,

The vet is happy with his current weight at 4.2kilos.
The food is Purina pro plan DM diabetes management- pouches are 85g each. Dry food is the same diabetic range but could easily take him off that and feed wet only. It’s my other non diabetic cat that loves biscuits!

I have no idea about home testing- very new to all this. Vet briefly mentioned we could eventually look at urine testing but didn’t mention I could test his blood at home. Definitely something I need to look into it seems.
Next appt with the vet next weekend but my feeling is he may be having to high a dose insulin- do you think this could be the case?
Click to expand...
Urine testing doesn't tell you how high or low the cat is in the moment, just off he's over the renal threshold in the last few days. Blood tests are the way to go. I have a video in my signature showing how I test my cat CC at home.
 
I highly encourage you to check out the right hand side of the main page - http://www.felinediabetes.com/ read the sections on Home monitoring, glucose testing...honestly, just read the entire Getting Started section to start ;) when you've digested that, the Education section is vital as well.
 
The going formula for how much to feed is roughly 15 to 20 calories per pound of ideal weight. So if Bubs is supposed to weigh 15 lbs., he needs anywhere from 225 to 300 kcalories per day. Much depends upon his activity level. Could be he is hungry as he is trying to replace the weight he lost. Many of us here feed our kitties 3 or 4 or more mini meals per day.

In the U.S. here and hopelessly ignorant of kilos and other measurements.
 
Diabetic cats that are not regulated often require more food because their bodies can not properly utilize the nutrients in the food so they are literally starving even though they are eating. For a regulated cat 2 85 gram pouches may be enough, but your cat may need an extra until he's in better numbers.
 
I am right there with you. My kitty is recently diagnosed and vet said 1 unit of insulin a day right now. She is ravenous always hungry. Acts like she can’t get enough. Worries me but she is not completely regulated yet. I’m hoping the vet has some answers this weekend when I take her back for 2nd curve
 
Make sure you write down all your questions and take them with you so you don't forget anything. You might also want to give the URL for this website (or print out some of the UK information) to take with you and give the vet. Some vets are averse to home blood glucose testing (mine was and now we're getting a new vet since we've moved a long way away), so be prepared for resistance.
 
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