Fostering diabetic with stomach issues

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Shelly Frey

Shelly Frey

Member Since 2017
greetings,

I'm fostering a 2 year old female, Jordan, with diabetes. The shelter actually refers to her as a brittle diabetic.

Anyway her tum is nearly always bloated. Hard to the touch. If I rub her sides gently her tummy will gurgle and she'll often pass gas.

Does anyone have any thoughts what might be going on.

She's fed Purina DM, both dry and moist. She's on 2 units of lantis and her BS #'s before eating are generally 450-750. Post shot it drops 100 or so.

Thank you for any insight offered,

Shelly
 
Good for you for taking her out of the shelter. Stress often exacerbates many ailments, diabetes amongst them.

Can you change her food? DM is not the best for diabetics. If the shelter will let you, I might suggest slowly introducing another pate like Fancy Feast chicken or Whiskas. If you can change her food, her bg will need to be carefully monitored as reducing the amount of carbs in her diet may also drop her bg. It seems that most diabetics do best on several small meals per day. I have used a timed feeder to give them a small meal about every 4 hours, day and night.

Is she getting 2 units of Lantus every 12 hours? I would imagine so, but better to ask!
 
Just-As-Appy said:
Good for you for taking her out of the shelter. Stress often exacerbates many ailments, diabetes amongst them.

Can you change her food? DM is not the best for diabetics. If the shelter will let you, I might suggest slowly introducing another pate like Fancy Feast chicken or Whiskas. If you can change her food, her bg will need to be carefully monitored as reducing the amount of carbs in her diet may also drop her bg. It seems that most diabetics do best on several small meals per day. I have used a timed feeder to give them a small meal about every 4 hours, day and night.

Is she getting 2 units of Lantus every 12 hours? I would imagine so, but better to ask!
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Thank you for your response and wisdom.

I can change her food.

I actually fostered two unrelated diabetic cats. Bojangles is an old one-eyed street cat. Love him to bits.

They each get 2 units every 12 hours.

They split a can of DM for breakfast and one for dinner. For lunch they split a can of FF Classic Chicken Pate. Bedtime snack is 1/2 cup DM dry.

The timed bowl is a brilliant idea. I will definitely look into that.

So your suggestion is to slowly switch entirely to the FF?

Do you think Jordans bloating is related to something in the DM?

Shelly
 
The
Shelly Frey said:
Thank you for your response and wisdom.

I can change her food.

I actually fostered two unrelated diabetic cats. Bojangles is an old one-eyed street cat. Love him to bits.

They each get 2 units every 12 hours.

They split a can of DM for breakfast and one for dinner. For lunch they split a can of FF Classic Chicken Pate. Bedtime snack is 1/2 cup DM dry.

The timed bowl is a brilliant idea. I will definitely look into that.

So your suggestion is to slowly switch entirely to the FF?

Do you think Jordans bloating is related to something in the DM?

Shelly
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wet dm is fine, but expensive. Ff classic is less expensive. The dry dm is too high in carb. If you want to leave out dry get evo cat and kitten in the purple bag or my favorite Young Again Zero carb. They are both under the 10% carb level.
 
A large amount of gas such as you describe is often a result of food sensitivity, providing other conditions have been ruled out with her vet. So to answer the question, yes, I was suggesting transition to FF pates and see if this helps. Be aware though that this will lower the carb level in her food which may change her insulin needs. But since you are testing you will soon know if this is the case.

When the weather is hot, you can pre-freeze portions of food to put in the feeder so that it thaws slowly and doesn't go bad between feedings. Some feeders even have a space for a freezer pack under the food.

I see two very lucky kitties in your care.
 
Just-As-Appy said:
A large amount of gas such as you describe is often a result of food sensitivity, providing other conditions have been ruled out with her vet. So to answer the question, yes, I was suggesting transition to FF pates and see if this helps. Be aware though that this will lower the carb level in her food which may change her insulin needs. But since you are testing you will soon know if this is the case.

When the weather is hot, you can pre-freeze portions of food to put in the feeder so that it thaws slowly and doesn't go bad between feedings. Some feeders even have a space for a freezer pack under the food.

I see two very lucky kitties in your care.
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I thought the same thing, that it could be a good allergy. One of my cats can't eat pork. You could try plain fancy feast classic chicken only for a week and see if the bloat goes down. If not try a different single ingredient food.

What is the limited ingredient food? Natures instinct? I'm sure someone knows.... One of them had good novel protien like rabbit or venison.
 
I appreciate the advice. I'll try switching to the FF classic chicken pate tomorrow.

I think I'll add a midday BS check for a few days just stay ahead of any issues.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Thank you so very much for all the advice and incouragement.
 
Here's a thought. My civvie Tripper is dry food addict. I keep trying wet every meal but she will only lick it. Anyway, many years (5+) ago I mentioned to vet how she bloats and vomits every other day. Tests ruled out physical issues. The vet said dry food is like a dry sponge. When it gets wet it will swell and that is what's happening. Anymore food when bloated has no where to go so she vomits. This visual made sense to me. He suggested switching to grain free dry and have scheduled feedings instead of free feeding and keep trying wet food. I have to say it has worked, not 100% but it has reduced the bloating and vomiting has stopped and it's been 5 years now. Still trying wet, she only eats about a tbsp a day. Have tried most of them in all flavors. She did eat some duck wet last night after her dental but won't touch wet today.
 
Woodsywife said:
Here's a thought. My civvie Tripper is dry food addict. I keep trying wet every meal but she will only lick it. Anyway, many years (5+) ago I mentioned to vet how she bloats and vomits every other day. Tests ruled out physical issues. The vet said dry food is like a dry sponge. When it gets wet it will swell and that is what's happening. Anymore food when bloated has no where to go so she vomits. This visual made sense to me. He suggested switching to grain free dry and have scheduled feedings instead of free feeding and keep trying wet food. I have to say it has worked, not 100% but it has reduced the bloating and vomiting has stopped and it's been 5 years now. Still trying wet, she only eats about a tbsp a day. Have tried most of them in all flavors. She did eat some duck wet last night after her dental but won't touch wet today.
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This visual makes total sense to me as well.

Jordan will eat wet but prefers the dry. In an attempt to help her digestion process I've taken to puréeing the wet with a small bit of water, it's the consistency of regular yogurt. Then I sprinkle some dry on top. She will eat that and loves the spongy dry bits.

I think the missing piece is the ingredients in the food. I'm going to try FF chicken and if that eases the problem I'll try Natures Instinct Dry as the treat on the side.

Thank you!!!
 
Does your cat have diarrhea/constipation/other bowel issues or just the bloating and gas? One of my cats had tapeworm when young and this caused bloating and gas without other bowel symptoms. It's worth getting checked out. It took a few deworming tries to finally get rid of it. Tapeworm is transmitted by fleas, so if this kitty had fleas in the past she may be at risk.

Otherwise, I would ask the vet for an abdominal x-ray to start off, any blockages can cause bloating and gas, and these have to be investigated and treated as a total bowel obstruction can be an emergency (hair obstruction, tumor, impacted stool, etc).

If irritable bowel is suspected (usually will include vomiting or diarrhea) then a single protein diet might help. We use Natural Balance LID duck and venison foods for our cat.

As for the "brittle diabetes" (large swings of BS that prevent regulation), mostly this occurs in very skinny cats, cats with poor appetite, or cats with a disease that affects metabolism/absorbtion (IBD, hyper or hypothyroid, cancer, heart disease). High calories and gaining weight will make the diabetes less brittle. Food and calories should not be restricted in thin cats with hard-to-regulate sugars. More food might mean higher blood sugars -> more insulin, but that's ok as insulin can help to gain weight and even things out.
 
Meya14 said:
Does your cat have diarrhea/constipation/other bowel issues or just the bloating and gas? One of my cats had tapeworm when young and this caused bloating and gas without other bowel symptoms. It's worth getting checked out. It took a few deworming tries to finally get rid of it. Tapeworm is transmitted by fleas, so if this kitty had fleas in the past she may be at risk.

Otherwise, I would ask the vet for an abdominal x-ray to start off, any blockages can cause bloating and gas, and these have to be investigated and treated as a total bowel obstruction can be an emergency (hair obstruction, tumor, impacted stool, etc).

If irritable bowel is suspected (usually will include vomiting or diarrhea) then a single protein diet might help. We use Natural Balance LID duck and venison foods for our cat.

As for the "brittle diabetes" (large swings of BS that prevent regulation), mostly this occurs in very skinny cats, cats with poor appetite, or cats with a disease that affects metabolism/absorbtion (IBD, hyper or hypothyroid, cancer, heart disease). High calories and gaining weight will make the diabetes less brittle. Food and calories should not be restricted in thin cats with hard-to-regulate sugars. More food might mean higher blood sugars -> more insulin, but that's ok as insulin can help to gain weight and even things out.
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Thank you so much for your insight meya14. Your comments on brittle were particularly helpful to me.


The shelter (furkids.org) has a vet and several techs on staff and Jordan is a favorite among them. :). Jordan has been thoroughly checked out and nothing but diabetes was found.
 
Love your avatar!:p

Been reading through the thread and have to agree with the possible food allergy. Also, something I've come across on the forum is a probiotic for cats, the Purina Pro Plan Fortiflora. Might also help her tummy while transitioning foods. The link I found seemed to be the lowest price to save you some time :cat:
 
Thank you for the link. I agree a probiotic would be useful but I can't get her to eat it.

Do you think blending it in with her food would work?

The avatar is fun, isn't it. We fostered a litter of kittens over the holidays and brought the dog into their room both to see if the kittens could tolerate her and because it was fun.

They were freaked out at first but eventually accepted and then ignored her.

Shelly
 
I imagine you either sprinkle a little on top of her food or mixing it in would work. I have not personally used it, but have seen it mentioned on the forums so I thought I would relay it to you :)
 
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