? Diabetic Cat Needs To Gain Weight Fast

Discussion in 'Feline Health - (Welcome & Main Forum)' started by Tracy Paglione, Apr 15, 2018.

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  1. Tracy Paglione

    Tracy Paglione New Member

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    Apr 15, 2018
    I have a 3 year old male cat recently diagnosed with diabetes :( Can I add KMR to his wet cat food? Anyone know if its carb free or extremely low carb? Anyone have a high calorie low carb homemade cat food I can give him until he gets back to his normal weight? Any help is appeciated. Vet recommended a 12 pack of cat food for 45 dollars and I just cant do that right now.
     
  2. JanetNJ

    JanetNJ Well-Known Member

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    How much does he weigh? What is his ideal weight? What and how much is he eating? What insulin and dose is he on? Are you testing his bg at home?
     
  3. Tracy Paglione

    Tracy Paglione New Member

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    Apr 15, 2018
    Hes about 5.5 lbs. He should be about 8.5 to 9 lbs. Hes eating wet food and can eat a can every 2 hours. 1 unit twice a day, novolin n and he gets b12 shots once a week. No. He's no longer losing weight and his feces is back to normal.
     
  4. JanetNJ

    JanetNJ Well-Known Member

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    Ok which wet food? Generally they will start putting on weight once you have better control of the blood glucose. The best way to do that is by testing at home so you know if the dose he's getting is effective. Unregulated diabetic cats need to eat more because they can't utilize the nutrients properly so they are literally starving even though they are eating. I have a video in my signature showing how I test my cat CC at home.
     
  5. JanetNJ

    JanetNJ Well-Known Member

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    Testing at home is also less expensive than trips to the vet. Once I started home testing my cat didnt go back to the vet for a year. I just send a link to her spreadsheet every so often. If you are willing to learn and would like a shopping list of what to get let me know.
     
  6. Olive & Paula

    Olive & Paula Well-Known Member

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  7. Tracy Paglione

    Tracy Paglione New Member

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    Apr 15, 2018
    Janet, Friskies pates. We are having enough trouble doing his insulin and b12 shots, don't know if we'd be able to add in blood testing. How often do you have to do it?

    Paula, thanks I'll try that.
     
  8. JanetNJ

    JanetNJ Well-Known Member

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    Once you get the hang of it, bg testing literally takes less then a minute to do. During the week I work so I take a test before the morning shot, then before the evening shot, and then one 4 hours later just before bed.

    On the weekend and days off I get a few extra in during the day.
     
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  9. shelaghc

    shelaghc Well-Known Member

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    Do either of these change the flavor of the food?
    I've been trying to get my Jester's weight up and this is the first time I believe I've heard about this as a possible solution.
     
  10. Olive & Paula

    Olive & Paula Well-Known Member

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    I don't think the powdered changes flavor. None of my picky eaters turn away. I use 1/4 tsp twice a day mostly for 1 cat (others get her left overs). I think it makes the food creamier when mixed in. It's not the best solution for getting weight up, but it helps. You probably need higher calorie food. Are you making your food? Let him eat as much as he wants.
     
  11. shelaghc

    shelaghc Well-Known Member

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    Jun 28, 2017
    I don't make his food.
    It's harder to let him eat as much as he wants as that's a medium carby food - Friskies shreds which are between 13 and 14 carbs. Right now he eats nearly (and sometimes more than) 2 cans per day.
    When I was feeding him more than that (between 2.5 and 3 cans per day) his BG was regularly going into the upper 200s and low to mid 300s. Since I'm working now, I don't have the time to feed him through the day.
    Just trying anything to add calories. I'm pretty sure I asked about this months ago when I first started trying to get more calories into him and no one ever suggested the powdered egg whites.

    We have a vet visit tonight - I'll bring this up.
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2018
  12. Olive & Paula

    Olive & Paula Well-Known Member

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    How about different brand of food. Nulo, Nutro (I think) brands are a bit higher in calorie and lower in carbs than what your giving. Also an automatic feeder would allow meals while you work.
     
  13. shelaghc

    shelaghc Well-Known Member

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    I appreciate the suggestion, but it just won't work.

    Three cats, one of them a magpie who eats everyone else's foods out from under them - even when either of the other cats has their faces in their bowls. She will push them away from their food if I'm not watching (that's why she gets her meals in the bathroom).

    And Jester doesn't take kindly to change in his food. He will literally stop eating *anything* including his favorite foods if I try to change things up. That's one of the several reasons he lost weight. Last fall, I experimented with several different lower carb foods. I could barely get 1/4 can of food in him in an entire day and had to syringe feed him to keep him from starving.
    Took nearly ten days before he began eating regularly on his own again.

    Two weeks ago I tried just a little experimenting. Took two days to get him back to eating full meals - fortunately it was a weekend.

    Never again.
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2018
  14. Veronica & Babu-chiri

    Veronica & Babu-chiri Well-Known Member

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    Aug 5, 2016
    Hi as Janet said, the best thing you can do for him to recover some weight is to get his diabetes regulated, as long as his numbers are high it is going to be really hard for him to gain any because the glucose in his blood won't allow his body to really use what he eats properly, once he is regulated he will start gaining weight slowly, it took Babu several months to get some weight but he did recovered so I also suggest you start testing at home (is hard the first times but once you establish the routine it only takes a couple of minutes )
     
  15. JanetNJ

    JanetNJ Well-Known Member

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    Can you mix half shreds half pate?
     
  16. shelaghc

    shelaghc Well-Known Member

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    Been there, tried that.
    He either eats just the shreds or won't eat at all.
     
  17. JanetNJ

    JanetNJ Well-Known Member

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    Stubborn cat. Lol
     
  18. Lisa and Witn (GA)

    Lisa and Witn (GA) Well-Known Member

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    Dec 28, 2009
    Another suggestion is to ask your vet to switch to a longer acting insulin like Lantus, Levemir, ProZinc, or BCP PZI. Novolin is a short acting insulin and a lot of cats do not respond well to it. If your cat's glucose levels are not under control then he will not be able to process food properly. That is probably why you are not seeing him gain weight.

    If you switch to Lantus or Levemir, ask your vet for a prescription for the pens instead of the vial. This way you will be able to use almost every drop. With the vial, the insulin because ineffective long before you can use all of it. So you end up throwing a lot away. Once you have your cat's glucose levels under control you probably will see some weight gain.
     
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