Diabetic cat not eating enough

My 14 year old cat was diagnosed with diabetes less than a week ago. I tried changing his food over to vet recommened diabetic food but he would have no part of it and barely ate enough for his shots. So now i'm giving him his regular food but he will not eat enough 2 times a day for a shot. For example he had no shots yesterday because he ate maybe a 1-4 of his food each time and this morning he had 1 shot but this evening he's back to eating about 1-4 of the food again. He's eating just the wet food and wants no dry food. I'm just trying to figure out why he lost interest in eating. Any ideas?

 

Good news!!....take the "prescription" food back and get your money back!! It's got a guarantee....just tell them your cat won't eat it!

Then go to the store and buy some Fancy Feast Classics, Friskies pates or 9-Lives ground canned food....they're all under 10% carbs and that's what we want our sugarcats to eat!!

All dry foods are too high in carbs...including that expensive "diabetic" food the vet sold you.

What insulin are you using? The only insulins that are good for cats are Lantus, Levemir and ProZinc...and the good news is you don't have to limit your cat to only twice a day feeding!! It's actually easier on their pancreas to have several smaller meals instead of 2 big ones, but there are some harsher insulins like Vetsulin/Caninsulin that it's important that they get a bigger meal before the shot because when it "hits", it hits hard and can drop them too quickly if there's not a good amount of food on board.

Are you home testing yet? Home testing is very important because it lets you keep track of how your cat is responding as well as keeping him safe! It's also easier on your cat than dragging them off to the vet all the time for expensive and inaccurate "curves"...Cats respond to the stress of a vet visit by having their blood glucose go up to 200 points higher....the vet sees those high numbers, tells you to increase the dose and then you go home, your cat relaxes and you can end up with a tragic result.

It's not necessary to use an expensive "pet only" meter either. Most of us here use human meters. If you live in the US, the Relion Confirm or Micro meter at WalMart are both affordable and very popular among the members here.

I don't want to overwhelm you with too much information at once! There's lots to learn but the people here are all very good about sharing their real life experience in treating this disease and will help you along the way!

Do you have any questions?

 

My cat is taking vetsulin and that is exactly the problem. I'm having a hard time getting him to eat the 2 meals so sometimes he doesnt get a shot because he wont eat enough. But besides that he just isn't eating much. This morning he ate about 2/3 of his food so he was able to have a shot. I am not home testing but I will get a meter and start doing that as well. It's just very stressful!! How do I keep him regulated if he misses shots because he wont eat enough.

 

i'm not sure what food you were feeding kitty pre diabetes.
no diabetic cat should eat dry food.
wet food low in carbs is best for diabetic kitties. i agree with chris's post.

not sure what brand diabetic food your vet gave you. canned purina dm is the only diabetic 'prescription' diet that is low in carbs, and it certainly isnt any better than non-"prescription" canned food. even then, the chunky formula has wheat or corn in it, which has no business in a cats diet, nevermind a diabetic cat.

i'm hoping that when you give kitty some of the brands chris mentioned, that he'll eat it right up and that'll lessen the stress on both of you.

its good that he's eating just wet food and not dry!!! smart kitty!! dry is high in carbs and diabetics are already prone to thirst and deyhdration.

i dont know about vetsulin. we're on lantus.

its all very stressful. i feel for you. my kitty is a senior as well.

 

T

thanks. I'm trying different foods and i will def go out and get those brands. It doesnt help that he was a picky eater to begin with!!

 

Does your cat get hungry at any point after the shot? When we used vetsulin, my cat would return for a mini meal at 2 hours after the shot and another at the low point of the cycle (around 4.5 hours after shot). These smaller additional meals would help the fast drop that's characteristic of vetsulin and may help put your mind at ease.

 

i just thought i'd mention purina fortiflora for a second, if you might find it helpful.

its not particularly great as a probiotic, though lots of vets recommend it as such, but its great to tempt kitties who are not particularly keen on eating. i've heard it work very well that way. just a little sprinkle on the food. no prescription needed.

 

He actually wants nothing to do with the food after the shot which is another concern because he's not eating all of the serving to begin with

 

Many of us feed our cats Fancy Feast or Friskies canned food. The pate flavors are lower in carbs

 

you know i have no experience with vetsulin, but the impression i've gotten here is that its not everyone's top favorite. not to say your cat might not do well on it, but between the general opinion, and your cat not wanting to eat after a shot, i'm wondering if your cat is trying to tell you something. maybe he doesnt feel well on it.

just putting it out there.

 

That's what I was thinking as well. I just thought insulin in general was making him not feel good. I just did a little taste test on the friskies liver and chicken pate and he ate it like a champ so maybe he will eat a whole serving later!!

 

yay!! keep up the good work!
whats your furbaby's name?

 

His name is Bear. He's a black cat.

 

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I'm so stressed. I'm not even sure how to use this message board thing, but I was so desparate I had to join and I don't so any kind of social media!! What I do for my cat!

 

Well you're doing fine so far!!

If you decide to look into other insulins, Lantus, Levemir and ProZinc are the 3 best for cats.....but they are expensive. Lantus and Levemir are both human insulins so are available at human pharmacies, but a 10ml vial is around $300 and a 5 pack of pens is around $500. ProZinc is a veterinary only insulin so can only be purchased from your vet or a vet supply place.

The good news is that if you get a script for Lantus or Levemir, you can email it to Marks Marine Pharmacy in Canada and pay 1/3rd the cost!! Many of us are using them and they're great!!

All the info on Marks is in this "Insulin from Canadian Pharmacies" post.....it takes about a week to be delivered but you can't beat the price!! The pens are the better buy because a 10ml vial holds 1000 units of insulin....unless your cat ends up on a high dose, the insulin will go bad before you can use that much and you'll end up throwing a lot of it away.

The pens are like having 5, 3ml "mini-vials" so each pen only holds 300 units so you're going to be able to use pretty much every drop. The unopened pens will remain good until the expiration date on the box....usually at least 2 years away!

 

Awww i love that name!

 

Anyone have any idea of a time frame i have to give my cat a shot of vetsulin from the time he eats?? He only takes 1 unit.

 

With Vetsulin, you want them to eat about 30 minutes before the shot so that when it "hits", there's food on board

Is Bear eating better now?

 

So basically I have 30 mins to get him to eat and then give him the shot? He didnt eat half of his serving so I could not give him his shot. This afternoon he ate some food when I gave him a taste test of the new food. I don't know...

 

Have you tried something other than the prescription food like Fancy Feast classics? Most cats really love them

I don't use Vetsulin either (we're another Lantus user) so I'm not sure how much they MUST eat before getting a shot, but if you learn to home test, you'd be able to keep Bear safe

If you can't get him to eat "enough" to feel comfortable giving a 1 unit dose, you could give a smaller dose and test to make sure he stays safe

 

I've tried the fancy feast and he does seem to like it. He just won't enough enough at one sitting. I'm calling the vet this morning also to see what she has to say. I also have to get the monitor today so now I need to know what to do to test Bear. He didn't get a shot last night or this morning.

 

You might want to ask your vet about trying an appetite stimulant like cyproheptadine or mirtazapine. I like the cypro better because it can be given twice a day if necessary where the mirtazapine is only given every 3 days and in some cats can cause some pretty bizarre behavior

But you need to make sure Bear isn't having any problems with nausea too....does he sniff the food, lick his lips but refuse to eat it? That's kind of a classic sign of nausea

 

He is eating. Just not enough for his shots. The vet wants me to give him fluids so i'm going to pick up the stuff this afternoon. Thankfully I've done it for a different cat so I know how to. Otherwise they wanted me to bring the cat there everyday until he feels better!! The vet thinks maybe its just him getting ajusted to the insulin and the fluids will help.

 

It is early days, I am using the same insulin and for the first few weeks my kitty was more or less free feeding as she had lost so much weight. Vets often will say you have to feed on a strict 12 hour regime and this is what she is on now but it has taken a couple of months to get there. If he is dehydrated then he won't feel well, vetsulin/caninsulin made my kitty lethargic until I got better control and her sugars started to come down. She is much more lively now. The priority I think is to find a food he will eat. How much does he take at each meal?

 

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Oh my goodness. I really dont know what I did but i'm trying to reply and all this other stuff is coming up. I'm just getting him to eat 1/4 of a can of food to be able to give him a shot and then he eats a little more later. I knew it would be an adjustment from his normal free feeding habits but WOW!! We tried the fluids at home but that didnt go well because he is spunkier than the last cat I had to do it on and my help is not too keen on giving his cat shots!! So tomorrow to the vet so they can help!