what to feed my cat Sam

having a hard time now w my cat, Sam, who was diagnosed w diabetes, pancreatitis, and ketoacidosis a few years ago. After being on insulin for a year or so and switching him to a wet food only diet ( he eats almost anything happily), he went into remission and had been just fine. A year ago he was also found to have a megacolon and 5 mg cisapride 2x daily plus 1 ml lactulose 2x daily were prescribed. He got himself cleaned out at vet's and all was well for 9 months. While being boarded in late July he had to go back to vet's to clear his colon and at that point, they switched him to Royal Canin intestinal formula dry food that is low calorie and high fiber and left him on the cisapride and lactulose. However, his stools have been very large and loose. He was ok for a month or so but got a uti from feces catching in his fur and contaminating his urinary tract. Treated that and discovered his blood glucose was 400 soo now he is back on insulin -1unit twice daily. weaned him from lactulose but left him on cisapride. My vet called the Royal Canin vets who recommended leaving him on the dry Royal Canin but treating the diabetes. This is not going well. I have a gut instinct it might b better to put him back on wet food( Friskies pate, two 5.5 oz cans 12 hours apart daily) and work on adjusting the colon stimulants and laxatives. He is a senior (13+) Ragdoll breed and weighs 18 pounds(better if he were 13-15 lbs)...Since he was ok when at home I now wonder if he was really given the meds for the megacolon at the boarding kennel..He goes for glucose curve Monday...I do not think his glucose level is controlled yet..This cannot continue. He is eating less dry chow but drinking huge amounts of water-even going into the toilet for water when his bowl is empty or dirty. And he is urinating away from his litter box....Only once today did he have what looked like a normal clump in the box. His bowel movements have been large,loose, and frequent-like 8 piles daily-this week except for today when there were none. Am I on the right track thinking we ought to get him back into remission and on wet food so we just deal w the megacolon ?

 

I have no experience with megacolon but I would definitely feed wet food. I wonder if a better quality wet food would be a better choice? Maybe add ‘megacolon’ to your thread title so people with experience will see and chime in.

 

Get off the dry. If he needs extra fiber I would add Medimucil or canned pumpkin. None of my cats have ever had mega colon so maybe someone can suggest something else. Dry food seems counter intuitive to both the diabetes and constipation.

 

Thanks for replies.
He's better. I switched him to Royal Canin dry chow for Ragdoll breed mixed w Blue Wilderness chicken wet. He seems better. Still not where he needs to b w the stool frequency and consistency but better. Left off cisapride, too, today, to see if he can do better without it. The wet food is shreds/sauce not pate..insulin seems to b working and he's back on his litterbox. Tomorrow he goes to the vet for a glucose curve..Hopefully, we will have some answers.

 

Here's our food chart for wet food. Anything with sauce is usually too high in carbs. Find foods under 10 percent. http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf