Gravy Brat

My cat, Tangelo, just got back from a 3 day trip to the ICU due to full blown ketoacidosis (our previous vet misdiagnosed him as being in remission so he was off insulin for 3-4 weeks). We have him back home now, and they gave us that prescription wet food but we have been feeding him his regular food since I have read the prescription food really isn't great. Before he went to the ICU he had been eating his regular canned food (purina one grain free chicken) fine. They were feeding him the DX and the MD food at the vet and said he was eating that. We put his regular food down and he licks all the gravy out of the bowl and then tries to "bury" it. We put down the prescription food to try to get him to at least eat something. Same thing. Licks the gravy, then tries to bury it.

We have him on an anti nausea and an antibiotic as well as 2 units of Lantus 2x a day.

I have tried the Parmesan cheese trick, and he won't go for that. I've tried pureeing his food with a little bit of water. He'll lap at the pureed food but I think it's because it's not the gravy that he doesn't want it.

Tonight we had to syringe feed him to get something in his system so we could give him the insulin because he just at the gravy out of his food. We tried his regular food and that prescribed stuff. All food is picked up for tonight and we'll see if he eats in the morning. If not, our vet said to bring him in.

I just don't want to bring him back for them to tell us "oh he's eating fine here". We already have dropped a total of 12k on vet bills, with this past one being 6.5k. I don't want to give up on him, but I also don't know how much "hardball" I can play with him. We don't have a glucometer yet (it's in the mail on the way here). I also can't tell if it's nausea or if he's really just being a gravy brat. It was like pulling teeth to get him on wet food the first time, so I'm wondering if he's reverted back to square one.

I haven't tried forti flora yet, but any suggestions that I can try tomorrow morning would be great. I don't want to keep syringe feeding him, but he has to eat. He can't have dry food, but he also can't starve.

 

You are going to get more response if you change your title to indicate that Kitty is DKA and not eating. This is an important concern and needs to be addressed.
Would you be willing to try some baby food meat with some warm water to simulate that "gravy" ? Beechnut is a brand that has no additives, and you might even try squeezing out that gravy from the food and mixing that in, to get him going.
I have read here that sometimes that even the dry is better than no food, and then you can work on transitioning him from the dry to an all wet diet. @Marje and Gracie @Kris & Teasel @Wendy&Neko
Please make your signature so that Tangelo's information is available with your posts:
(light grey text under a post). Here's how:
click on your name in the upper right corner of this page
click on "signature" in the menu that drops down
type the following in the box that opens: kitty's name/age/date of diabetes diagnosis/insulin you're using and dosage amount /glucose meter you're using/what (s)he eats/any other meds or health issues (s)he has. You can add your name, and a geographic location (sometimes the time zone matters) Be sure to SAVE when you are finished.

 

Lou is right....when it comes to DKA cats, it’s more important that they eat than what they eat. If he wants dry, so be it if he will eat it well. You can always adjust the insulin dose if need be. For where he is, I wouldn’t get stuck on any specific food....it’s all about getting as many calories in him as you can.

Be sure you are giving anti nausea meds at least 30 mins before you feed.

 

Completely agree - let him eat whatever appeals even if it's kibble. Getting calories in is much more important than carb level right now.

 

Get him eating is a priority, and so is home testing. Deal with the food transition later. What kind of meter did you order? You can pick up a meter at almost any pharmacy. Human meters are fine and the test strips are a lot cheaper. Our dosing methods were created with results from human meters in mind,