? Food Question for My Civvie

Haven't been on for awhile. 38.5 weeks pregnant with our first baby so I have been busy busy busy!

Ozzy has been doing pretty much the same. Fluctuating between 1 and 1.5 on his dose and numbers all over the place as usual. We don't think he will ever become regulated. I asked my vet about it at our last visit and she said we are doing everything we can (and more than most folks do) and just keep it up. We still test and shoot daily. I keep all Ozzy's numbers in a notebook and need to update my online spreadsheet when I can. Ozzy just passed his 1 yr bday of being a diagnosed diabetic after almost not making it from DKA. We are so happy to have had another year of his sweet loving presence in our lives. He really is the best kitty ever!

So I have some questions on Ozzy I will post later...but right now I am seeking advice on my civvie Figgie. Figgie is almost 15 yrs old and in perfect health. He just had a full geriatric panel a few weeks ago at the vet (his first time getting bloodwork ever) and vet was stunned how healthy he was. Yay! Both kitties were transitioned to a 100% wet food diet upon Ozzy's diabetes diagnosis and are fed 50% raw (Darwin's turkey or chicken) and 50% canned (either weruva, tiki cat, evo which was sadly just discontinued, and every once in awhile fancy feast). Previous to this food change they both ate wet and dry food with Figgie being free fed dry on the washer (Ozzy is a ground dweller and won't jump that high). Figgie was always a small cat never weighing more than 8-9lbs his entire life and always liked to nibble thru the day. We stopped the free feeding when Ozzy was diagnosed and both are fed wet exclusively.

My issue is Figgie is always howling at night and SUPER annoying in morning constantly waking us up for food. He walks in circles, tries to run under our feet, etc. He doesn't want to be on a food schedule- he wants to eat on his own time and pace. We thought his behavior might be due to a hyper thyroid but that was ruled out by the vet. She recommended we supplement his wet with some dry and let him free feed again. This is only a temporary plan for us. I don't want to feed him kibble, even just a little, long term. But with a brand new baby coming in the house in a week and a half we need a plan to deal with his constant crying and howling for food. I would be very upset it he wakes our baby up crying for food. Both cats are fed 3 small meals during day and 3 small meals during night so he is getting plenty of food.

About a month ago we got a bag of young again zero carb kibble to try Figgie on. He LOVES it and sometimes snobs out on his other food in favor of the kibble even though we only will let him have a small amount at a time (usually out over night to avoid the 4-6am wake up call). The problem is- this stuff really upsets his stomach. He has had constant diarrhea since eating it. We just assummed it is GI upset from the food switch and have given him probiotics and pumpkin. He has even left us a few disgusting presents outside the litter box. So I stopped the food and all went back to normal. I decided to try him out again the past few days and he left a huge watery diarrhea mess on my kitchen floor this morning. My cat is not one to use the bathroom outside the litter box. This very expensive zero carb food is NOT working for him. Maybe he has an allergy to the pork in it. He has never eaten pork before this food.

Can anyone recommend a low carb kibble that we can try??? I don't see kibbles listed on the food chart on this site.

Thanks!!

 

I free feed wet food. I'm afraid I'm even free feeding raw in the winter, which might not be a good thing. Some people put ice cubes in raw food. When I had a pet sitter, I had her put the food dishes on blue ice.

 

I have tried free feeding wet food. It just dries up and looks unappetizing and my cats are snobs. We live in So California and even now when it's supposed to be winter, we are having 80 degree days.

 

The zero carb young again was also our backup plan for both both kitties (Ozzy too) while in hospital to have the baby. We will likely be gone for a few days so leaving out wet food that long is not an option. We have auto feeders and planned to mix in the YA and free dried raw. We tried Ozzy on it and he does fine but Figgie is not tolerating it well.

 

I free feed canned wet in Houston summers! My cats don't care. Maybe you could try an auto feeder. It might not turn brown when covered and perhaps placed on blue ice.

 

Maybe you need to introduce the YA slowly to your civie. Though that doesn't help with your immediate problem.

A member had a problem with a senior cat howling at night, leaving a night light on for her helped.

I have kittens who will meow like crazy when hungry as we head to bed I leave a big portion of food down for them. It's the biggest bowl they get, I don't know if they eat it in one go or free feed, but we are good till they hear us get up in the morning. Our climate is not dissimilar to yours, and if they don't eat it all by morning it's dry, but I think it is probably good for a few hours.

Hope all goes well with the delivery.

 

Jo !!!!! Oh my goodness it is fabulous to hear from you !! I have had u on my heart and figured your due date was getting close . How exciting !!! On the Figgie front my first thought would have been thyroid but see you’ve ruled that out so I will be interested to hear other people’s thoughts . Glad to hear sweet Ozzy is doing well and is healthy .
Just know many hugs and prayers are coming you and DH’s way for an easy delivery and so excited as u welcome ur new baby . The kitty brothers will be awesome siblings !!!

 

Thanks!!! Hope BFG is doing well!!

We have a couple night lights on in the house so got that part covered.

I just brought home some wellness core dry. Read online it was 11% carbs. It's only for my non diabetic kitty not Ozzy so hopefully this one will work out ok with Figgie's tummy. It doesn't contain pork. I just want as low carb as possible just in case there are any accidents or mishaps where Ozzy might get to it. Hubby spilled a whole bag of YA on the floor on Christmas and didn't do that great of a job cleaning it all up and Ozzy went around like a little vaccuum trying to find any and all dropped nibbles for 2 days. Since it was zero carb food I was less worried but if it was higher carb food I would definately have been more concerned.

 

He's doing great thanks. Sends Ozzy some head bumps. I've missed seeing Ozzy's sweet avatar.

Just a reminder for you to look into once you've settled in with the baby.

Once they are over 1yr diagnosed they are classed as long term diabetic, so reductions are done a little differently on the TR protocol.
Usually 3x below 50 on separate days, or a single drop below 40.

 

Beth!! So nice to see you are still active on the board! Hope Mr. Elmo is still doing well. I just looked at your SS and see his remission is still going strong AND you got his poopy problem under control! Yay!! Haha! Why is he hooked on baby food now? Haha!! What a spoiled kitty!!

Elmo's HT is actually what made me go get Figgie tested for it. Figgie is an oldie too and I know it's super common in elderly cats. The vet actually said be was in the "gray" area and could develop it later on and told us to bring him back for additional testing in next 6 mos to a year and see if his numbers changed.

Thank you for the well wishes for the baby. I am very excited but also super anxious. His due date is 11 days away. Have been getting nervous about how the kitties will react to a baby and mew family member, especially Figgie because he is so super territorial. I have been letting them both sniff and get familiar with all the baby stuff but won't let them in the bassinet or crib. Attached is a picture of Ozzy hamming it up in his, I mean the baby's, new rocking chair. It's his favorite place to sleep right now. We also have been playing audio of crying babies to try to get them used to the sound and neither cat seems to care. We will see when the real life baby comes home and cries all night. I have a feeling my scaredy cat Ozzy will be hiding a lot. I am also nervous all the change and scaredyness will drive up Ozzy's numbers so we will be watching him and dose him up if needed until he gets used to things. Also worried about them pawing at the door at night since they wont be allowed to sleep on my bed with baby so close by. We got them some special cat towers in the spare room right next to a big window to try to give them space of their own.

Ahh man....all these changes with a baby and trying to cater to spoiled cats is exhausting. Lol!

 

Someone posted on the dry food thread thatvare cats got sick on YA. I asked her to post it on tge health list but she’s using her phone and can’t post. I don’t know how to copy just hers. Her name is Emmy and is the post before mine.


http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...r-more-than-just-carbohydrate-content.175004/

 

Thank you. I just checked out the thread and commented as well.

 

Awe....he is a long term diabetic. I think we have given up hope of Ozzy ever reaching remission at this point. He is a bad diabetic. Always has numbers in the 200s every preshot. That would not be healthy in a human and has to be worse for a kitty. I can't really increase his dose above 1.25-1.5 because he always crashes once his depot is full on the higher dose. He just fluctuates between 1 and 1.25 right now. I hate seeing him with higher numbers. I have been wondering if maybe we should try a different insulin.

I didn't know about the rules for TR for long term diabetics but we have been kind of doing what you mentioned anyways. If he drops below 50, I will shoot a lower (just. 25 less) dose next few times but I ALWAYS end up going back up to 1+ or 1.25 a few days later because he never stays low and his numbers always creep back up. Any suggestions? I know I should update his SS before asking this question.

 

Hi! I've been looking into low carb kibble, too, for if we're not home at meal times. Wellness Core has been mentioned. Dr. Elseys is another one. One more is Wysong Epigen 90.

Good luck with the baby!

 

Thank you! I just picked up a bag of the wellness core a few hours ago for my civie for when we are out of town. Appreciate the other suggestions as well.

 

What about freezing some of the wet food and put it in the middle of the same non-frozen? Or freeze-dry foodthat you rehydrate?

Congrats on the upcoming birth

Please post pictures when you can

 

Never give up. Chris' China just went OTJ after over 3 years.

Do you add water to the kitties canned food? If you add water and use a timed feeder, you may have a bit more success. Of course, you could always feed Figgie more at his usual meal times. My civvie is a pain. After Gabby crossed, he still expects to be fed at 5 AM. He's insistent. And, he's hungry. He yells. He paws at the covers. He nips my fingers. He's been better since I started giving him more food at dinner time.

 

You need to interduce him slowly to YA, it is mintioned on thier site and instruction that comes with the bag that eating too much can cause diarrhea. My cat never eat pork beforebut she is doing ok on it.

 

Omgosh!! Beautiful China went OTJ!!!!?? I have to congratulate Chris!! China was always our inspiration kitty because she was so well regulated. This is such amazing news!!!

We try to give Figgie bigger portions but he is just a grazer.. He won't ever eat a big meal and then my fattie Ozzy will go try to clean up his plate. Your civvie sounds a lot like mine! He is a total pain too!!

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

Thank you. Yes- we tried to give it to him slowly. He is fed a wet food diet and only was given the YA as a supplement over night/early mornings. It just hasn't agreed with his stomach unfortunately.

I learned my kitties have very sensitive GI tracts a year ago when we switched them to wet food exclusively. The major overhaul in their diets caused both kitties to have awful poo and there was a LOT of vomiting everywhere. This went on for months and was awful! Ozzy still vomits from time to time but not as bad as when we were making the switch.

 

Hi Lizzie!! The freeze dried treats might be a great solution. This is for a temporary fix not a permanent plan. We give them the Stella and Chewys feeeze dried as treats and food toppers sometimes and both kitties enjoy it.

 

The freeze dried raw might be a great solution. We had one kibble addict here who successfully went OTJ on freeze dried raw. I wouldn't mix dry food and raw diets with a cat - too hard on their GI system. They process at quite different times.

Best of luck with the baby. Ditto on wanting to see pictures!

 

Thanks!! Ok- I'll post some pics when he's here!