back to square one?

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TMR

Member Since 2013
I haven't posted here for a while. Things have pretty much been the same with Midnight's blood sugars. I haven't updated her spreadsheet lately, but her blood sugars have been about 150-250 on 3/4 unit lantus twice a day. I feel really comfortable with her food, that it is a good diet for her--one of the lowest carb dry foods--to help control her blood sugar. The thought of changing her food makes me concerned that her blood sugar will go much higher. However, she has been having loose bowel movements, almost diarrhea, since she was diagnosed with diabetes. She was on Hills RD to lose weight before her diagnosis of diabetes. Her bowel movements were formed then. I first switched her to Purina DM, then EVO, then the food she is on now. The vet wants her to go back on the Hills RD. We have tried metamucil, probiotics, and flagyl. I just don't think that her having loose bowel movements/diarrhea nonstop for 5 months is acceptable. We need to do something about it. He said the next step is more bloodwork, tests like ultrasounds, and maybe surgery.
 
I would try going back to RD since that is the easiest to do but not good for the diabetes. The diarrhea could be cause by an intestinal problem like lymphoma or IBD.
 
Have you ever had a stool sample sent out to a lab for a thorough culture to be done and have everything little thing ruled out? Not the vet doing it, have it sent out.
 
Your signature says she has an intolerance of wet food--I'm wondering what canned foods you tried? When you say you tried RD, DM, and EVO are you talking wet or dry? I ask because cats aren't intolerant to food because it's canned--they're usually intolerant to an ingredient in the food or possibly the composition. I'm asking because even the lower carb dry foods can keep blood sugar high because of the way they are manufactured--they may be lower in carbs, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are low glycemic foods, which is the important thing for diabetics (carbs tend to get emphasized because most of the time low carb=low glycemic, but dry food is the exception to that rule).

But lets talk poo. :smile: Has her stool been tested for parasites? You want to eliminate that possibility first off. Bandit once had hookworms and I can tell you that was not a pretty sight in that department.

Bandit was also on the Hills prescription weight loss food before his diabetes, when he was obese and losing weight. The food caused him to develop IBD over time (along with the diabetes), where he could no longer eat any foods (canned or dry) that were high in fat or he'd have runny poo. Since most premium foods (both canned and dry) are also high in fat, the fat could be your culprit. Have you tried a low fat, canned food? There are a few flavors of Merricks (Cowboy Cookout, Surf & Turf, Grammy's Pot Pie) that are absolutely fantastic for obese/formerly obese cats with issues like these---they are high protein, low carb, and very low fat. Since I switched him to a low fat diet, Bandit has not had any runny poo problems over the past 5 years (except when he takes an antibiotic).

I'm also not sure how long you tried the canned only diet, but you also need to give it a week or two to allow her GI system to adjust to the new food. :-D
 
Tried a few different wet foods for a few days to a week and all she did was not eat it or eat it and throw up. I am not doing that again.
 
TMR said:
Tried a few different wet foods for a few days to a week and all she did was not eat it or eat it and throw up. I am not doing that again.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry you had a bad experience the first time around, but I would urge you to reconsider and maybe try it slowly, considering her health issues (diabetes/obesity/probable IBD). Is it possible she was throwing up because she was eating too fast? I can't give Bandit a lot of food at a time or he'll eat it so fast he'll barf. I solved the problem by not feeding more than a quarter of a can (about 1.5 oz) at a time. He now eats a quarter of a can 4 times a day (every 6 hours), and when I'm not there to feed I freeze his portion and put it in an auto-feeder, so it's just as convenient as dry food.

The Merricks is very palatable to most cats, but I do have some other low fat suggestions if she doesn't like it. There isn't a dry food that exists that is both low fat and low carb, so that's why I think giving the canned another go is important.
 
I appreciate your suggestions and I will consider it. Oh, and I did have her stools tested for parasites and they were negative.
 
One more thought: there also could have been an ingredient in the canned food that was causing the barfing. If you were feeding canned foods with byproducts, they often contain fish which can cause GI upset in a lot of cats. Or it could have been IBD causing the vomiting if the canned foods were high in fat--do you remember what ones you tried? I had to go through a few different ones with Bandit before we discovered what the issue with the food was.
 
If you have a list of the foods - dry or canned - which resulted in diarrhea, look for ingredients which all of them have.
Any which are common to all foods producing diarrhea are candidates for triggering the diarrhea.
Also, if you have a list of foods which do not produce diarrhea, the ingredients in those, if found in the foods causing diarrhea may be ruled out as candidates.
That should leave a smaller list of potential irritants/allergens to consider.

Then the challenge - can you find a food which does not have any of those candidates still to be ruled out, ie a novel diet?
 
Hello!
You may already have tried Stella&Chewy's Raw Freeze Dried Dinners (pricey). They can be eaten dry. My cats won't eat them if reconstituted with water but love them dry. They might offer several novel meats: quail, duck... Raw meals supposedly contribute to firmer poo. My Pudge spits up anything with beef & even a bit of fur (& I don't mean a fur ball!) will cause him to spit up.
Best wishes, Sophie
 
Might be worth doing a test for pancreatitis and EPI.

Also I think I saw Deb say her cat had diarrhea when his BG was too high. I do think the 0.5 dose isnt quite enough. You might want to go back to 0.75 and see how that does for a few days


Wendy
 
Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. Its not overly common but both my cats have it. Causes smelly large poops and diarrhea and some barfing. The pancreas basically isnt producing enzymes to help digestion of food so there is also weight loss ( or no weight gain with a lot of eating) and sometimes a greasy coat.
 
There has been no vomiting, no weight loss, no change in her fur coat. She is acting normal. Appetite, thirst, and urination all normal. They tested her for thyroid and kidney disease, and tested her stool for parasites--all normal.
 
FYI - sometimes stool tests are negative because there isn't enough shedding of the parasite. Repeat tests may find infestation later because the population increased high enough to be detected.
 
I am having the same issue with my Tiggy. Not sure what the issue is. Am trying a new probiotic called renew thats supposed to be better than fortiflora. we will see.

Sienne had the same issue - took a month of flagyl to see any results.
 
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