Meet Button

Hi all,

I am new to posting on this site, but not new to FD. My sugar cat, Button has been diabetic since 2012. With much thanks to the advice I read on this forum, an extended antibiotic treatment for Bartonella, a switch to wet food and a strict play schedule we were able to go OTJ in just under a year. Our honeymoon was from 9/2013 to 8/2016. We noticed an increase in her BG after switching off of Fancy Feast to Royal Canin GI, then Hills i/d recommended by our vet for her digestive issues. After a very scary period of identifying this as a need for insulin, changing her diet and trying Glipizide (oral insulin supplement) where her activity declined and neuropathy increased, we began her on PZI again. The switch showed a dramatic increase in her activity, appetite and overall happiness. Now we are trying to find a good balance for her insulin and keeping an eye out for additional signs of CKD.

We have tried many things to get a better BG curve. While things have been better with the insulin and other medications she is on, there is still much room for improvement and I want to make sure I do everything I can to help Button feel better for whatever time she has left with us. There are so many pieces to this puzzle I am starting to get overwhelmed and my veterinarian’s office has few other suggestions for our situation. I have many questions that I will post to the health forum later, but wanted to put out a little of Button's history here for reference. Some other notes about our journey:

- We have been trying for months to increase Button's weight. Since her treatment for a tapeworm on 10/12/16 she has gained 1.4 lbs. We feed her 7.25-7.5 oz of Fancy Feast per day which includes a meal she receives for lunch. Since the dewormer treatment we have also seen a marked response in her ability to process the insulin in a consistent manner.
- We are in the early stages of renal failure. Her BUN was slightly elevated the last time we had her checked, but her Creatnine was within the normal range. We are doing 50 mL of SubQ fluids / day to counter the dehydration. We also have her on Azodyl to help prevent future UTI's and inflammation after some issues on this front. I also check for keytones as often as I can.
- We have frequent diarrhea and constipation issues. These usually are coupled with nausea / lack of appetite, lethargy and higher BG readings. We have been monitoring her kidney functions and administering Mirtazapine.
- Button has a dental issue which we are addressing through use of a mouth rinse. I have asked my vet about doing more, but she is concerned about using anesthesia on her at this time in her life. She has stopped grinding her teeth since we began administering the mouth rinse. She still pulls food out of her bowl so that she can chew it on a particular side of her mouth, but she eats well when she is not having GI problems.
- Several weeks ago we lowered Button's insulin dose to see if this would help with the bouncing we have been seeing lately. Her BG was remaining above 150 after we decreased the dosage to 0.8u of insulin and we began to see her appetite and activity decline again. I raised her insulin to 0.9u giving her a nadir closer to 100. This helped improve her appetite and behavior, but her AMPS and PMPS are still too high.
- When Button spends too much time in the 300 range she quickly shows signs of depression and severe digestive upset which decrease her appetite and activity. I am concerned about letting her BG stay high for too long because of the dramatic effect it has on her.
- A couple days ago we switched to an 11/13 schedule, doing her shots at 9:30pm and 10:30am to see if this helps even out her daytime BG. Her doctor thinks the insulin is not lasting long enough because her metabolism is so high. It is more noticeable during the day. The last few days before changing her shot schedule we were seeing AMPS numbers below 200 on a more frequent basis and she always feels better in the morning than she does in the evening. This is not strictly because of the mid-day meal as I have noticed her appetite is still poor in the evening even if she did not receive a lunch.
- Some fun notes: Button has a few siblings in our household, two other cats whom she ignores and a rabbit who is only slightly less frightening when out of his cage than the vacuum. She is adventurous, too intelligent for her own good and carries herself like a royal dignitary to be treated with the utmost respect and adoration. She has become quite mellow in her wiser years, preferring to spend her time receiving attention and love from her caretakers.

Some of the follow-up questions I have will be posted on the health and PZI forums later. Until then, thanks for listening and thank you for being a part of this community. I can't say how much it meant to me using this site as a resource when I first learned Button was diabetic. It helped me get through many rough days, and I hope now that it will bring some new ideas for how to tackle our current struggle to find some stability.

Thank you,
Amanda and Button

 

Hi Amanda and Button........welcome to the forum!
Just a couple of thoughts......
Have you tried plain cooked mashed pumpkin for the constipation/diarrhoea?
My cat Sheba had chronic diarrhoea and after a lot of chopping and changing things, I found Sheba was allergic to something in her canned food. I tried various canned foods and eventually changed to homemade food. It made a big difference. She has been on it for a couple of years now and the bowel issues just disappeared.. you might like to think about changing foods or trying a homemade diet. Sheba is also in the early stages of CRD.....has been stable for the last two years on the diet in this link
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/home-prepared-diet-of-crd-cats.150441/

If you are finding the current insulin is not lasting the 12 hours and not giving good numbers, you might like to think about changing to either Lantus or Levemir insulin. One of these may suit Button better.

 

Hi Bron and Sheba,

Thank you for this link. My partner and I had looked into raw diets many years ago when we were first transitioning Button to wet food, but had concerns about our ability to provide a well balanced diet. He specifically expressed concerns about making sure the diet has enough taurine. I looked briefly over your recipe and have given it to my partner to look at as well. I am trying to convince him to try something like this as every time we have a few bad tummy days her numbers sky rocket and we are unable to feed her a lunch, causing her to lose weight and setting us back again. I haven't tried mashed pumpkin - Does the mashed pumpkin have an effect on her BG?

I have also been thinking about changing to Lantus and have chatted with my vet about it. I can only make one change at a time though and right now her digestive issues seem to be the most troublesome. The 11/13 schedule I tried her on with PZI gave her a good curve for a few days before we started having GI woes again.

Thank you again for these thoughts. I may pick your brain again later as we sift through the information provided.

Current Spreadsheet: Button BG

 

No the mashed pumpkin does not affect the BSL. I use it every day with Sheba as a bit of roughage in her diet. It is good for both diarrhoea and constipation. If you are buying the canned stuff make sure it is plain pumpkin with no additives and not the pie pumpkin. I just boil a big batch and mash it then freeze it in small lots.
I hope your partner will consider trying the raw / home cooked diet. I found it made all the difference to Sheba as she was having chronic diarrhoea which turned out to be an allergy to the canned food she was eating. It stopped with the raw food. Re the taurine there is a lot of taurine in raw meat but I still use a pinch of taurine in the food each day. When I first started down the raw food track I was worried about the supplements too but they are not a problem once you have it sorted out. And I think in the US you can buy Supplements to put in the food which are CRD friendly.
If you want to ask me anything else tag me as I don't always come onto this forum and I might miss it

 

My little guy has been having tummy troubles on and off for a year or so. I have tried many many things and can offer some of my experience as food for thought.
1. Daily pumpkin has really helped Radar. I use the cats in the kitchen brand pumpkin chicken that comes in a pouch. He doesn't seem to need much but I always provide at least 2 teaspoons daily.
2. I suspect that Radar is sensitive to fish and since I've stopped giving him any fish he has done better.
3. I've recently started giving Radar raw food from RadCat. He's currently eating about 25% of his diet as raw and it has really helped him. In fact in our particular case it's the raw food that has helped Radar the most.
I hope some of this information is useful to you. Good luck with finding some solutions.