Still can't get my boy to eat..

So today has been a long day. I had to take my mom to the VA Hospital for a colonoscopy that was supposed to be done by noon and did not get finished until 3:30pm. At 5:00pm I took my little DoDo back to the vet.

His blood sugar was still high even after not having eaten except what I syringed him earlier in the morning. It was 257.

So my vet taught me how to give the injections. She prescribed him ProZinc-- she said it was like the old PZI and she really liked that insulin. Little DoDo was a sweetheart and didn't mind the test pokes with saline. She also gave him a B12 shot to help with his appetite. She also prescribed Hill's M/D for a food just until we can get him regulated. She wants him on 1unit of ProZinc 2x a day. If he only eats half of his feed, then only 1/2 a dose. No food, no dose. She did give him some more subq fluids. He is not running a fever. Last temperature was 101.8.

She didn't give him any insulin at the office-- since he had not eaten. She wanted me to try and tempt him with food and see if I could get him to eat on his own. I have tried chicken baby food, Hills A/D, Tuna, cottage cheese, Wellness Chicken, and even his ground turkey meal. Nothing. I have even been giving him his Felivite vitamin once a day to try and help him feel better to eat.

He is no longer hiding under the bed, he is sitting on top of the bed, but he doesn't really want to go anywhere-- he seems too tired to walk around. Although he is watching what goes on with some interest.

My vet said that it is possible that with his blood sugars so high he just feels crummy (especially with some infection that he was fighting off earlier due to the fever and blood count) that he may just have inappetance lingering around from that.

I fed him Hill's A/D via syringe with water tonight. I probably fed a good tablespoon serving of the Hill's and mixed with water it was probably about 4 or 5 syringes. He makes an awful mess, but he is not puking it up or anything. He is still taking Clavamox and the Cerenia.

I did go ahead and give him a a 1/2 unit and then thought better of it and gave the other 1/2 of the Prozinc. Before I shot, I tested and saw he was at 297. I syringed and then did the shots. I will double check in another hour to see how he is doing. He doesn't seem bothered.

I am here tonight and my mom has him sleeping in her room with her-- but I am worried about tomorrow when I will not be at home.

I feel like at a catch 22-- he wont feel better until his diabetes is under some control, but I can't get him to gleefully eat anything either.

*sighs*

 

Sorry ltd that DoDo is not eating. We are very good at sending eating vibes here.

Some other things--microwave the food to make it more aromatic, try a fishy-type cat food, tuna/bonito flakes, plain yogurt.

Also, maybe he will eat if finger fed. Some cats want to be treated like little princes when they don't feel well.

There is a good Yahoo group for Feline Assisted Feeding.

Best of luck!!

Venita

 

Hi Venita:

I am going to give the group a try and read through some of the posts.

I have tried via the finger method-- and nope he cant be bothered. I have rubbed it on his nose, i have tried to feed him in bed, I have syringed, I have cooed, I have stroked him, I even went and grabbed some fresh catnip-- anything to spark some interest. I feel like a Dr. Seuss book.

I think tomorrow I will pay a visit to petsmart and try some of the other things you mentioned.

 

If he isn't eating tomorrow on his own you should contact your vet. I don't know how long it takes the shot of B12 to work, but I know with appetite stimulents, such as mirtazapine, my cat ate within hours.

Eating is important for any cat but he just should not go two days without eating.

Please pick up some ketodiastix at the pharmacy so you can test for ketones too.

I hope he feels better soon.

Best,
Pam

 

Another thing--Forti Flora. Usually have to buy from the vet or online. It's a probiotic but it's got something in it that attracts many cats.

 

Clavamox can lead to an upset stomach.

I didn't know what Cerenia was, so I looked it up, and it says it was designed for dogs who get motion sickness.
http://www.pfizerah.com/Product_Overvie ... species=CN
this is VERY interesting.. (glad I read this post)
http://www.drugs.com/vet/cerenia-inject ... ution.html

sounds like your kitty CAN'T vomit. Not sure I like that idea.. but then again I'm not a vet. But if this were me, I might suggest to my vet that a different antibiotic might be in order, and I went back and read your original post.. Vet said Dodo was dealing with a bit of garbage gut. Were x-rays done to make sure there wasn't a blockage? What gets me is the WBC and the fever..

Connie

 

Hi Connie and all

So-- I made an executive decision and stopped the Cerenia--- DoDo vomited once-- he didn't have compulsive vomiting-- so I stopped that. The ER vet said it was okay for naseau and honestly, I don't think that was the issue. So Cerenia was not given today.

I got in about 7/8 of chicken baby food jar in him this morning-- his BS was still high so I gave him just over 1/2 unit of ProZinc-- I didn't feel comfortable giving him 1 unit while I would be at work. My mom stayed home with him today.

He was definitely more perky this morning-- and my mom said he has been perky all day. I do think I will be taking him to the vet tomorrow for some more subq (I don't think he is really drinking water on his own).

I think little DoDo is also constipated-- the ER vet mentioned she saw feces on the way out in the Xray (she said nothing looked blocked as he had no gas pockets and just fluid in his system and bowels to show that things were moving along). My vet told me to try to get 1 tbsp of Metamucil in him-- but since I had to syringe feed him I didnt even get close to a tbsp-- it turns to cement almost. He tried to poo this morning 2 and nothing came out.

He has been trying to get out of the bedroom now and he is definitely more loving--

Tonight he ate some of the Hill's A/D on his own (some being a teaspoon or so). I syringed fed about 1/3-1/2 can (kind of hard to tell with the water and I had wasted some on the Metamucil experiment). He also nibbled on a little tuna and a small square of turkey deli meat--

Tonight, his BG was 308 so I figured since I am home, I feel comfortbable giving him a full unit of ProZinc. Hopefully tomorrow my vet can do the subqs, prescribe an appetite stimulant, and do something about the constipation.

The WBC was moderately high-- it was mainly the Bands and lymphocytes were a little low. He had a bad bad fever, and had a touch of blood in his urine-- so that was why the Clavamox.

It is promising though that he is walking around, making lots of head butts, and nibbling on his own-- and trying to tear up the carpet to get out of the bedroom-- this is a big change.

 

And I did successfully make some of his siblings ill tonight-- I tested their ears and thankfully every other cat is super normal. Thank god!

 

The WBC was moderately high-- it was mainly the Bands and lymphocytes were a little low. He had a bad bad fever, and had a touch of blood in his urine-- so that was why the Clavamox.

did your vet give you a diagnosis for your cat?
did he do a UA and a C&S ( culture and sensitivity) to see if he does indeed and a UTI and which AB would work best? Since he is already on the clav is too late for that now.... unless it doesn't work.

clavamox can cause stomach upset. was that the reason your cat was vomiting?
or was he vomiting prior to the start of that med.
I have used cerenia safely short term ( it should not be used longer than 5 days at a time in a cat as it stays in their systems longer) and it has helped a great deal with vomiting.
for nausea ondansetron works very well.
and pepcid ac original can also work wonders if the nausea is not that bad.

IF your cat was vomiting prior to the clav. please ask your vet if he has a diagnosis for what is causing that. depending on his response.... you might wish to might ask him to run is a fPLI test. pancreatitis is very common in FD kitties.
I just wrote up a lot of info about a p-titis kitty not eating -- there may be some information there that can help you regardless of the cause.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13767

as others have mentioned. appy stimulents can work wonders.
BUT is best if you can find out what is causing all of this. I don't think it is high numbers. the fever and high WBC are a little too suspicious.

please post back and let us know what the vet has to say.

sending eating vibes for your kitty.

 

Hi Cheryl

Thanks for the responses.

The ER vet did not even pick up on the high glucose reading-- she was more concerned that his sample was very lipemic-- even though the PCV values which she said she have been higher in a lipemic cat was not as high as she would have thought. She thought he had a spot on his lung that looked to be the start of pneumonia and she was fairly certain he was suffering from garbage gut from having apparently been given french fries and hushpuppies from my mom (rolls eyes).

She was the one who prescribed clavaomox and the cerenia. I was more concerned over this diagnosis because he had only thrown up once-- and that was the night after I fed him all of his dinner and apparently earlier in the day he had consummed the terrible food.

My vet (I took him to the very next day) was concerned about his glucose and she stated that he could have just white cat syndrome even though she felt the values were too much at the threshold for that. She thought his xrays were actually great for a cat his age-- nothing to be concerned about and even the spot on the lung she thought was just nothing to be concerned about at all. She wasn't fired up about the cerenia nor the claavamox but didnt want to change AB at that point.

Since he has a past urinary blockage and FLUTD issues she wanted to pull a urine sample-- and this is what started looking at the urine and the ketones. She didn't find anything ketone related in the two urine samples (one done in house and the other in a lab). She said his blood values did not point to any kind of pancreaitis. He nibbled on some A/D at the vet's they kept him, got him hydrated again and ran a different panel for the diabetes. His fructosamine came back high (I think it was 480-- dont have the sheet handy).

I thought he was constipated especially since the ER vet saw poopage about to come out that never did-- and so last night I gave him a touch of metamucil-- couldnt give him the whole amount prescribed since it made the food near about impossible to syringe,

Last night my mom said at four he woke her up wanting to be loved on and ran to the potty-- he made 2 poops-- decent size and he urinated. He went back to bed was all loving for 15 minutes before he went to sleep.

Last night PMPS was 298 then +2.5 he was 329, this morning +11 he was 348. I gave him 1u of ProZinc--- tonight, I may give him a little more if we are in the same boat.

He ate quite a bit on his own (maybe 1/3 generous of A/D-- then he ate some turkey deli meat and he took his felovite happily -- vet asked me to give him this last time we have inappetance issues due to the severe urinary blockage and UTI he had about 12-18 months ago). I left his food out with some parmesan cheese. I went ahead and gave him .5u of ProZinc-- no one can stay home with him today and I would feel more comfortable not giving a huge dose while I am away. This weekend, I will do a full curve as per my vet (my vet is HIGHLY encouraging of home testing-- and doing curves at home ).

Fever is gone-- he is more alert, playful-- I think i may not take him back in today although if he has not drank enough I will for some extra subqs tomorrow morning.

 

glad to hear your kitty is acting more like himself. I hope you are able to get a handle on the BGs right quick.