Frustrated. Just venting...

I did everything I was supposed to when Nate was diagnosed.

It started in June. Nate had lost half his body weight in a few months so he went to the vet for blood work. (again - had happened years ago with no conclusive reason even with blood work and xrays). So he's diagnosed diabetic because his bg values were 20 (360) at the vet clinic. I was skeptical. Bought a home testing meter right away. He really was diabetic! I read everything about feline diabetes that I could find, despite my vet warning me about overloading myself with too much information.

I switched his food from dry to fancy feast and friskies.

I have 6 cats all with medical and dietary issues. Feeding Nate canned food all the time was difficult. He had a minimum of 4 feedings a day. He has to be locked in a separate room for his feedings and he is a social eater. I am spending a lot of time in that separate room too!

The other cats starting getting canned food often as well. (not really a good thing for every cat!)

Nate kept getting constipated. He has a condition he was born with that there is a little pocket in his colon where poop will build up....But he hadn't had any flare ups since he was a 1 year old. But now he's getting constipated every week.

So I put pumpkin in his canned food. I was already adding water to his food. Soon we're up to a tablespoon of pumpkin in every watery meal...He loves tonic lax so he's getting that often too. And still he's getting constipated!

This week he became so impacted that I couldn't help him. He needed to go to the vet.

Now we see that he had lost another 2lbs since June.

My Nate is disappearing and is almost always uncomfortable.

I am so frustrated and at my wits end. I'm worn out.

So I decided that he's going back to dry food. I can't stand watching him get that constipated that often...
I'm still giving him his canned food twice daily with pumpkin and now metamucil. His bg is high, but I just have to accept it. Nate is not going to be one of those cats who goes into remission...

 

weird that wet food constipates him but, not dry.
some just feed dry food but, you should at least make sure he gets a low carb one like dr. elsey chicken (best IMO) and maybe up insulin .25-.50 to make up for regular BG jump because of dry food..

If he needs more fiber, you can use the sugar free benefiber powder, it is a soluble fiber so can be given to diabetic cats, it softly bulks poop up so should help with small poop not getting lodge in that colon pocket and since it draws water into their stools it will help his constipation issues (use to use it myself when i didn't eat well and had reoccurring chronic constipation issues in the past, worked great at keeping me normal regularly). For kitty, you use 1/2tsp twice a day mixed into wet food or you can put it in a #2 or 3 capsule if not eating wet. my cat didn't notice it at all in her food, it really helped to regulate her again and eventually we didn't need it anymore..

 

Here’s lots of info about constipation
http://felineconstipation.org/

 

Hi. I noticed on your spread sheet Nate is receiving "opioids". Is that new or long term use? Opioids are very, very constipating.

IMO: please don't stress over what you are feeding. Make the best choice you can for your Nate. If he does better "poops" with dry food go for it. As "Sylvie" above mentioned, at least try Dr Elsey Kibble; it is 6% carb I believe, high protein. If you need to make modest adjustments to the insulin dose, so be it. From what I have seen with other members, you are actually still on a fairly low dose of insulin. It seems to take quite a while to get "good numbers". My Harley still is not regulated; I think his Boat to Remission has long ago sailed!

You started out strong, hang in there!

 

I'm with you in the frustration. Bama also gets constipated since being switched over to all wet and has frequent hairballs despite spoonfuls of pumpkin and lots of added water. I'm trying half an egg yolk [boiled] twice a week to see if that helps the hairballs.

About a week ago I contacted the people at Dr. Elsey's and they sent me a couple of free samples of their Clean Protein Chicken formula. Bama has gone wild over it. He's meh about his wet food and we struggle to get him to eat it but he attacks the Dr. Elsey's dry like he is starving. I've just been giving him a few pieces at the end of his meals the last two or three days, waiting to see if he has any bad effects or suddenly loses interest. If not, I'm about to order a small bag. It can be ordered direct from the source or from Amazon and Chewy's. While I probably won't switch him to mainly dry, I will add more of it to his diet.

 

Nate' person- Have you tried Miralax? It worked wonders for my previous kitty who had IBD with intestinal lymphoma. She was always constipated but giving her the Miralax 2-3 times a week worked like a charm.
Sometimes pumpkin can work the opposite if the digestive system is out of whack.

 

@Lillie
What dosage?

 

I put 1/4 teaspoon in one feeding. If she was very severely constipated I would put another 1/4 teaspoon in evening feeding. It takes a while to work so I wouldn't overdo it at first if the kitty hasn't yet responded by morning. I made the mistake of not thinking it was working right away and added another 1/4 teaspoon and two days later I was seeing lots and lots of mushy poop in the litter box.

 

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

I'll check out Dr. Elsey's food to see if I can get it in Canada.

Nate only had opioids at the vet clinic - a one time thing to help with the pain of his impaction.

 

Epigen 90 or natures variety may be available as well. Also raw foods in the refrigerator pet section.

 

Murphy's been getting Wysong's Epigen90 for 3 years now - he frequently won't eat any wet until he's had some kibble

 

Speaking from having a cat that had IBS issues recently, I would recommend you look at Nate's dry food ingredients and see if you can find any fiber that is listed in there. I did that and found that the dry food my cat was on had psyllium seed husk, which is a natural fiber that humans can take too. I bought a bottle of psyllium husk powder from my local grocery store and all it took was 1 teaspoon per day mixed in with his 3 meals to fix his constipation he had for a couple weeks. He now poops once every day like clockwork and doesn't need to strain or go multiple times.

 

At the moment I am faced with having made what could be a really bad decision at the vet yesterday and I just vented and am looking for response about it. And I've just read your situation, which is complicated and difficult. I see you've got a lot of responses. Let me just say that I empathize with what you're going through. From what you described it sounds like you're doing a lot for Nate and your other cats, concerned and caring for them the best you can.

 

I've also had good luck with Psyllium husks - I got at Whole Foods - I started out with only 1/8 tsp though and worked my way up

 

Going to write a proper answer now. The reason I ever got started with wet food for my cats was due to Mabel's constipation. This was years ago and I found especially if I added water to hers it helped. She began pooping more easily. Unfortunately then I didn't have a clue about sugar and carbs in some wet foods. I've learned the hard way, and my poor Mabel has endured all my mistakes taking care of her. Whine, whine. Back to food though. I wouldn't quit wet food. You probably know rnot all the kinds of fancy feast and friskies are lo carb. I stick to the classic pates. I use Dr. Pierson's food charts for carb content. You know Dr. Pierson really touts canned food because the water content helps cats in the long run, right? You can find her at the top of this forum, or just online generally. I also look to Cornell University Veterinary School web site for info.

I ordered some canned Purina Pro Plan Prime Plus for adult cat 7+ because Pierson charts indicate turkey & gib classic and beef & chick are lo carb. I did not see when I ordered it how high in fat it is. When I showed it to the vet Friday he said he recommends it for older cats that need to put on weight. I don't know what the fat content means for any systemic issues your cat might have, so I'd be careful. You could do a search on that food here in FDMB. I probably will also.

I'm afraid I'm not much of a help. Just know we know how hard it is. We are, many if not most of us, also doing the best we can. So, take care.