? Need some help understanding appetite/weight...

My 10yr old was diagnosed in January. I put him down on Friday and now I am second-guessing everything leading up to that day. I guess I am hoping to get a little reassurance, based on his condition, as the guilt and grief are crippling right now and I am a mess.

Nemo had been on orijen dry food (no carb), and elected to switch him to Purina DM to manage his glucose. He was peeing syrupy sticky pee everywhere. Even with a clean cat box, cat attract litter, larger cat box, multiple catboxes, he would fill the largest box, and then pee all over the floor around it. I do not work, I stay home with two smll children, and hubs travels for work. I couldn't afford the insulin for him; instead I relied on the food to help. He had a voracious appetite, always acted like he was starving, would drink an incredible amount of water.... Went from 18 lbs to barely over 6lbs in 3 months - really rapid weight loss. Became lethargic, and wouldn't climb stairs or jump into bed. But, he was bright-eyed and lappy... just slow and sluggish and very vocal....

I offered him the DM dry, as well as canned, in addition to raw chicken and sometimes cooked eggs. He ate it all (would occasionally barf up the chicken), but he was still incredibly skinny, and his pee was super sticky, so I know his glucose must have been crazy-high.... I am now second-guessing the switch to DM and I feel like I starved him. Is there anything (besides the insulin) I could have done differently?

 

Canned DM is a low-carb canned food. You could have tried an oral med like Glipizide. The common ones are on Walmart's and others $4 prescription list.
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A diabetic loses weight when they're unregulated because their cells are starving. They feel hungry all the time because they're malnourished on a cellular level. They can't properly utilize one of the three macronutrients essential to life--carbohydrates (glucose). The body then turns to using fat as a fuel source as a last attempt. When they drink and urinate massive quantities like that, it's because the body is desperately trying to somehow get rid of the extra glucose. We call this "spilling sugar" into the urine. This is often why the first sign that something is really wrong is when the owner notices a dramatic weight loss and a massive unsatisfied thirst. Most diabetics can't be controlled on diet alone, at least at first. No change in diet would have made much of a difference unless paired with the daily administration of insulin.

Don't beat yourself up over this. A diabetic pet is a lot of work and this disease tends to be quite expensive to manage. I very recently got a new job that paid more because affording both my and Diego's basic living expenses was quickly becoming impossible. If you can't make it work, you just can't. Thank you for not prolonging his suffering. You did the absolute best and most selfless thing you could have done for somebody else.

 

Thank you for educating me on the weight loss; I was unfamiliar with "spilling sugar"... and thank you for your reassurance. It really means the world to me.