Looking for help/advice

Discussion in 'Feline Health - (Welcome & Main Forum)' started by Amanda & Gizmo, Apr 9, 2018.

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  1. Amanda & Gizmo

    Amanda & Gizmo New Member

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    Apr 9, 2018
    Hello all,

    My 17.5 year old Gizmo was just diagnosed on 03/30 with diabetes and early kidney disease and also has a prior history of pancreatitis. I am not sure of the pancreatitis was acute or chronic but I am guessing chronic. For treatment, she was prescribed a lantus pen 2 units two times daily, and k/d food from the vet. She was ok for about a day then Sunday she quit eating and drinking. I brought her in on Monday morning to the vet and they gave her IV fluids and diagnosed her with a UTI for which she was put on Clavamox, and Tues afternoon another trip for Cerenia injection because she still wasn't eating. By Wednesday she was so weak I was scared I was going to lose her. I brought her into the emergency vet where she was hospitalized until late Saturday 4/7 and on IV insulin and fluids for much of that time. She is now eating and drinking water but she will not touch either the k/d food my normal vet prescribed or the glycobalance prescribed during her admission. I have pretty much been feeding her whatever she will eat at this point because she had lost so much weight in just over a week or so. I have been trying to research over the last week what the best foods would be for her but she is a difficult one. She is very picky, prefers Pate varieties of food (both of which glycobalance and the k/d vet prescribed foods are not) and one day she might like a flavor then not touch it the next day. A year ago she weighed over 13 lbs, on 3/30 she weighed 8.9 and now today at her check up she was down to 7.6 :( She has been eating roughly about 2 cans of wet a day (with added water), with no dry food since she was diagnosed but she still is rapidly losing weight. During all of this she has been treated by multiple vets, her primary one is focusing on the kidney disease, the first DVM she saw at the emergency vet said to not even worry about the kidney disease and just feed anything low carb at this point, and the other day time animal hospital vet she saw wanted her on glycobalance. At best, she just eats the gravy off the glycobalance and K/d foods and spits out the little bits. I've tried mashing both up with a fork and using a blender but she still maybe eats a bite two and throws her nose up at it. She has gotten some strength back too and was just put on a potassium paste today because her potassium level was low, but I am at a loss on how to deal with all of this as for the diabetes she needs low carb, low protein for the kidney disease and low fat for the pancreatitis but she needs the fat and proteins to maintain/gain weight back.

    At this point I really feel like a horrible cat mom because I am really the cause of all this. I hate seeing her like this. I honestly didn't realize how bad the dry food and cat treats were for cats or how much carbohydrates they contained, and unfortunately she is a treat fiend....
     
  2. Sean & Rufus

    Sean & Rufus Well-Known Member

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    Jan 10, 2018
    All of those foods are higher in carbs. I would focus on the the diabetes part of it, and not the kidneys for now. Cats can have kidney "disease" for years and years before anything bad happens. A lot of people here feed Friskies and Fancy Feast. Not the highest ogf quality foods, but most cats like them, they are cheap, and they are low carbs. Just stick to the regular pates, not the gravies. Here is a list of cat foods and their carb %. http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf It's best to stay below 10% carbs. Lower, the better.

    Again, early stage kidney disease isn't a huge deal. the diabetes is. And, you can possibly help slow down the kidney disease by getting Gizmo into better glucose numbers!
     
  3. Sean & Rufus

    Sean & Rufus Well-Known Member

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    Jan 10, 2018
    And by the way, we all feel like this. Don't beat yourself up, there is no way you did anything on purpose. We all used to feed dry, and some still do. Wet is better but there are some lower carb dry foods out there.
     
  4. Chris & China (GA)

    Chris & China (GA) Well-Known Member

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    May 10, 2013
    Concentrate on the diabetes and feed a low carb canned food. The sooner you can get her diabetes under better control, the easier it'll be on her kidneys anyway.

    The "low protein" for kidneys is old school until they're in advanced kidney disease.....they now say good quality protein is better.....same thing for pancreatitis.....cat's aren't humans....fat doesn't need to be restricted due to pancreatitis
     
  5. Amanda & Gizmo

    Amanda & Gizmo New Member

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    Apr 9, 2018
    Thank you so much for the advice. I am hoping my girl can make it through this.
     
  6. Chris & China (GA)

    Chris & China (GA) Well-Known Member

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    May 10, 2013
    @Amanda & Gizmo

    Take a look at China's Profile (in my signature)....You'll see just how far back these kitties can come!!
     
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