Back again after a long time

Ive really lost touch with the forum and so much has changed on it. Just to catch you up, Topaz was diagnosed diabetic ten years ago. She is a 15.3 year old semi feral cat who does go outside and from former posts of years ago- if you can still access them, know that testing her has been difficult. She is now on Humulin N getting two units twice a day using a 3/10 ml cc 31 gauge syringe. Her diabetes is somewhat under control and at the end of her dosage goes no higher than 240. She eats Fancy Feast classics and a little hard food Wysong duretic after EVO went off the market. I noticed she was drinking and peeing a lot and only noticed this now as due to the horrible cold weather NYC is having, she is inside a bit more. I took her to the vet who did blood work and her diabetes is under control although he said I could increase a half unit for each dosage. She has also just been started on Tumil-K a teaspoon a day broken into two feedings. However, her blood work did show that she is beginning to have kidney disease. Now the question. What can I expect? What more can I do? I've searched "kidney disease" on this site but it has not been helpful in giving more general info unless I am not looking in the correct spots.

 

Try here: Feline CRF - website with lots of good info.

 

Perhaps, you could help us to understand why you are feeding that dry food? Did you mean Wysong Uretic instead of Wysong duretic?

 

Yep misspelled- it is Wysong uretic and she does not eat much of it but I am gone for a long time during the day and i want her to have something.

 

Its OK to leave wet food out during the day; I feed all 15 cats in my home like that.

 

If you can eliminate the Wysong uretic dry food from Topaz's diet, she may get even better BG control. Looking at the ingredients for that food, it has a lot of high carb stuff like peas and brown rice and other carb rich ingredients.

You might want to try some of these dry foods.
1. Young Again Zero Carb, mail order only, expensive, some cats refuse to eat the different sized chunks, a couple of cats have achieved remission on this dry food. Manufacturer claims 0% carb but carb calculators indicate 5%
2. Nature's Variety Raw Instinct chicken 7%
3. Stella and Chewy’s ? % this is actually a freeze dried food but can be given as a meal. Better rehydrated.

Or, you can freeze some of the canned food, and leave out a chunk to defrost slowly and be eaten while you are away.

Or, you can try a timed feeder.

You said that Topaz was difficult to test. You might want to peruse this article written by member Kpassa on Ear Testing Psychology to see if trying something different with the testing would help you and Topaz.

What treats do you give Topaz at test time, to help gain her cooperation?

 

Thank you all to your helpful ideas. Topaz gets Wilderness treat (3 pieces) so that I can give her her injection. She does not eat food that has "pieces" in it. I am busy reading the Kidney disease link offered, taking notes and will contact my Vet to get a better idea of her actual loss of Kidney function. Thanks again. It is so great to know that there is support during these times. Maaryon