Can't figure it out - need thoughts from experienced folks, please

Hi. Mia has been on insulin for four months now. From the beginning, she was very prone to bouncing, so I have been very patient and gradual in her dosing increases, my goal being to keep a curve even if the numbers were higher and to slowly let her system adjust and have the number come down over time. Well, that is a great goal, but it is not working. We have not seen a green in over a month, and we got to a point where she did not go below 250 for over a week - not good. My other baby, Willow, was in an e-collar for over a week, and Mia was very freaked out by that, so I had hoped that had a lot to do with the higher numbers, but that is behind us and still the numbers continue.

I had her up to 2.75 and started thinking maybe, even though the increase had been super gradual, the dose had gotten too high. So, I dropped to 2.5 and got our first blue in over a week during that cycle. I have dropped her back to 1.75 since that dose did pretty good for us at two different periods in the past. We are just in the second cycle with that dose, but it is crazy that the impact is pretty much on par with what we saw at higher doses. I would love to get feedback from some experienced people. This is just the most frustrating thing, and I worry about her constantly.

For several days now, I can see in her eyes that she does not feel great. She is still not drinking (gets moisture from food) or peeing any more than she has been. A couple of days ago, her poop was really stinky but still looked normal. Yesterday, she had more stinky poop, but it was much softer, I could even see some undigested food in it. For the last three meals she has acted like she wanted to eat but turned her nose up at her food. She did eat shredded chicken each time, and I offered her Sheba this morning, and she ate that. So, I do not think it is nausea. I am thinking that I should call the vet and see about getting her in to rule out any other health issues that could be keeping her numbers high. I would really appreciate any advice. Thank you!

 

Oh, and I am also thinking maybe it is time to try another insulin. So, thoughts on that are also appreciated.

 

I can’t offer much help.. very new & my girl went into remission. She is not normal now but no one can figure it out! (Eating like starving all the time! Gaining lb too) Has your Mia had bw done recently? Could be pancreatitis or intestinal infection. Is the poo lighter in color? Much fur in it? If you’re taking her in just remember the stool sample. I knew those pop sickle sticks I saved would come in handy! Lol Could also be as simple as a furball. I wish they would just talk! Good vibes & hugs to you & Mia!
Someone else will jump in with more insulin help. Baby was on prozinc & remissed on it...I wish I could help more!

 

Hey there
Gosh you are doing so well!

Just had a look on Mia's SS. Probably coincidence but the vomiting started after the pumpkin was introduced to her and her bg levels are higher and staying high from there on.
Know this is a stupid question (humour me ) but it is pure pumpkin with nothing added, no sugar or fillers or anything?

If it were me I'd be thinking the constipation and vomiting has some bearing on the high numbers.

 

Hi. Both of my girls had little, hard poop back in early Sept on FF wet food. That is when I started adding the pumpkin (yes, plain ). It seemed to help, so I continued adding it until recently. The primary food they eat now contains pumpkin, so I do not add additional pumpkin. We had not been having any poop issues lately - the new food has made it larger - but yesterday, she did have some really soft poop with food in it. Today, her poop looks normal again. In the last month, she has vomited three times. Each time it was not much, and it had hair in it, so I assumed the hair was probably the cause.

By the way, about the food situation... they were eating FF Classic Chicken Feast, but I had concerns. The first thing was the small, hard poop. The pumpkin improved it, but it was still not great. Willow had an anal sac rupture, and I am afraid that was due to the small poop not causing the anal glands to express as they should when she goes. The emergency vet said it could also be due to something in the food causing a sensitivity/allergy/something. There were also other little things that made me think they might be having reactions to some of the ingredients in the food. Then, I heard that the food has more than the 3% carbs shown in the cat food database. (I have yet to get the manufacturer to give me the nutrition info I requested to confirm what it really has.) So, I tried to find a food that did not have so many questionable things in it and that I felt more comfortable with on the carbs and even phosphorous. So, that is how we ended up switching to the Fussie Cat. (68.44% protein, 26.44% fat, 5.13% carbs, 303.23 mg/100kcal phos)

Thanks for your thoughts. If you have others, do share.

 

She has not had blood work done since July. Her poop is still pretty dark, as usual. I have never noticed fur in her poop.. not that I break into it and examine it, but I have never seen any hair sticking out.

 

Ok just looking at the ingredients of fussy cat and while I can't see the labels I think it's worth checking your tins, they have potato and sweet potato listed which are carbs. I'm grasping at straws here lol but take a look on your tins and let me know.

http://fussiecat.com/?page_id=112&lang=en

 

Update! I managed to find the food you are feeding and it contains... tapioca... starchy carbs.. maybe kitty is reacting to That?
On a side note it contains fructose oligosacchiride (sp) as an ibs sufferer this is banned on the fodmap diet as can cause fermentation in the gut.

 

The one I feed them does not have either of those.

I have been trying so hard to find a food with as few questionable ingredients as possible (which is so much harder than it should be) that they will eat. I was thinking this one was pretty good. When I researched each ingredient, I read that Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) is a fiber and prebiotic. Supposedly, it feeds the beneficial bacteria and promotes balance in the digestive tract. Since you bring up the problems for IBS sufferers, I will keep that in mind with any stomach-related issues I see.
I am not thrilled with the tapioca starch but had read that it is a better carb source than grains would be since felines supposedly cannot be allergic to it. I would rather it not be in the food, but the total carbs from it and the pumpkin total 5%, so I thought it was okay. Now, you have me wondering if it is impacting her BG. I think the carbs in this food are lower than FF now is though, so you would think this food would be better in that regard, not worse.

I really am getting to the point that I do not know what to feed them. I keep thinking I may have to try home-made, but I have been shying away from that because it seems that there has to be a raw component for that to be done right (or else you have to get into all kinds of supplements which may bring their own issues), and I feel so weird about that.

 

Do they like nothing on the food list that's available on here? It may not be the tapioca though, that's just a guess on my behalf.

The problem with certain starches is that different cats react to different types, for example, some cats react to the 'various sugars' in some cat foods (I feed Felix as good as it looks in jelly which I believe has various sugars in, but Tempest isn't affected by them, other cats would be).
I have tried almost every food I can find and of course madam likes the macdonalds of the cat food world.. so that's what I feed. Not my personal preference but Then I don't have to eat it. Lol

 

I cannot say that I have tried every food on the list, but we have gone through several. Also, many of the foods that are low carb still have 'garbage' ingredients that cause other issue. I wish I could just keep feeding the FF but with the poop issues and ruptured anal sac, I don't think so.

I have an appointment for Mia at the vet tomorrow so that we can at least see if there is some other condition factoring in. (I really hope not, but something has to be up.)

 

Squallie did really well on FF for a long time; then, I don't know whether they changed the formula, or what happened, but his BG started rising and the only thing I could pin it to was the food. I switched him over to Pro Plan True Nature Classics , which are lower in carbs, and he is doing great on them. His BG numbers came back down right away, and he likes the flavors. At the moment I'm trying Nutro while I'm waiting for the next shipment of Pro Plan to arrive - it's okay, he likes it well enough, but I think it's higher in both carbs (his numbers have gone up a bit) and phosphorus, so I probably won't keep him on it.