AJ's Always Hungry

Discussion in 'Honeymooners / OTJ' started by Becky and AJ (GA), May 24, 2010.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Becky and AJ (GA)

    Becky and AJ (GA) Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2009
    Hi fellow honeymooners. :smile:

    I have AJ diet controlled on low carb FF. I feed him a 1/3 of a can 6 times a day, but he's always hungry. Although I give him 2 cans of FF a day, I don't think he ever feels full and I feel bad for him. If I increase his food, I'm afraid his BGs will go up. I used to feed him more, but his BGs were high. Giving him less food seems to keep his BGs lower. He's in the mid 90s/low 100s, so I don't want his numbers to increase. I've never really been able to get AJ in the 70s/80s. His weight is good, so I know he's not starving.

    My question is, does anyone else have a kitty that is always hungry that also has the same BG levels? If so, did you increase the amount of food? confused_cat

    Thanks.

    Becky and AJ
     
  2. Kathy and Kitty

    Kathy and Kitty Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 29, 2009
    I don't know the answer, but this an interesting question to talk about. I posted in Health recently that Kitty seemed to have gained weight since he went OTJ last month. He too was hungry all the time! He was eating every two hours, so I was feeding him.

    If you're feeing low carb food, I'm not sure why feeding him more would raise his numbers. But it could lead to weight gain, like Kitty, and that's not good.

    Have you looked at Dr. Lisa's article about feeding cats? She describes the way to determine how much a cat should eat for his ideal weight. It could help you figure out whether you're feeding the right amount. http://www.catinfo.org/

    I'll be curious to hear what others have to say.
     
  3. Becky and AJ (GA)

    Becky and AJ (GA) Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2009
    Thanks Kathy and Kitty! When AJ first went OTJ, his numbers were higher than they are now, but not a lot higher. What I was doing was feeding him 1/2 can of low carb FF 4 times a day. Someone on the board suggested feeding him a 1/3 of a can 6 times a day to see if that would bring his BGs down. I tried it and it worked! I've been feeding him this way ever since. I should clarify what I meant when I said I was feeding him more (I think I was misleading). When I was feeding him 1/2 a can of FF 4 times a day, he got more food at one feeding time and didn't seem so hungry all the time (if this makes sense).

    I have read Dr. Lisa's articles and they are very helpful. I might just increase AJ's food slightly to see how he does. I hate to see him so hungry all the time. Oh, AJ also gained a bit of weight once I got him controlled and he has maintained approx. 12lbs for quite a while now, which I'm happy about.
     
  4. paige

    paige Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2009
    I know those FF cans are pretty darn small. Maybe you can feed 1/2 can 5-6 times a day. You he may feel fuller but you still feed multiple mini meals throughout the day. Does that make sense. And if find tht you are wasting any of the 1/2 can feeding 5-6 times a day then maybe he is getting just what he needs. It is worth a try.
     
  5. Michelle & Scrabble (GA)

    Michelle & Scrabble (GA) Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 10, 2010
    HI guys, this is an interesting convo because Scrabble seems hungry all the time too. I have two cats and I feed them 3 cans of FF a day total, they eat together but they also get freeze dried cat treats usually twice a day. Scrabble had lost a bunch of weight when he was first diagnosed but he has gained some back so I know he is getting enough food. I wonder if it is because it is low carb so they don't stay full long? Hmmmmm.... don't know!!! Would love to hear what others think!!
     
  6. paige

    paige Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2009
    I have noticed that over the last month all of my cats have been eating more. I was wondering to myself if the warmer temps caused this? That sounds crazy I know :roll:
     
  7. Becky and AJ (GA)

    Becky and AJ (GA) Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2009
    I had the same thought about the low carbs and not making AJ feel full. They must have something to do with it. I know when I eat something with high carbs, I'm stuffed for hours. So, low carbs must have the opposite effect. I don't think the weather effects AJ's appetite - he's a piggy all year round. :lol: I think I will try part of paige's advice and increase to 1/2 a can but only in the morning to start. I'll monitor AJ to see how he does.

    Thanks for the responses and thoughts. I hope we get more.

    Becky and AJ
     
  8. Carol & Yoshi

    Carol & Yoshi Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2009
    I have a nondiabetic kitty who must have been starving as a kitten as he's always on the prowl for food. So he'll eat anytime he gets food. He'll even try to take my dinner off my plate! So in his own way, he's similar to your kitties as he's always hungry. What I've noticed is that he's less hungry and stays fuller longer when fed Evo (canned wet) or California Natural (also canned wet) as both of those are very dense right out of the can. They don't seem to have as much water and air in them as most other wet cat foods. For variation I'll feed him Trader Joe's, FF and Wellness but he gets hungrier sooner after eating those foods than the other two. I do add water to all foods given but it's especially needed for the Evo and CA Natural. Have you tried feeding 95% grain free Evo?
     
  9. Becky and AJ (GA)

    Becky and AJ (GA) Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2009
    Interesting. I haven't tried the EVO or the CA Natural. EVO seems so expensive when I see it in the specialty stores. Where can I find CA Natural? I'm willing to give them a try.
     
  10. Kathy and Kitty

    Kathy and Kitty Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 29, 2009
    I am feeding the Evo 95% mixed with FF. I'm going to ask in Community about the best prices onlines for Evo. I'll report back!
     
  11. bettyandhank

    bettyandhank Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2010
    Michelle- this doesn't seem like enough for 2 cats. That's only 4.5 oz each if they ate exactly half each. How many calories is that?

    I do think the mini-meals help. i don't know the exact magic recipe, but it just seems this has helped Hank overall. His appetite changed after DX...but he was also very sick for awhile. He seemed to have less of an appetite overall..but I think part of that was just being finicky and not liking what he was being fed.
    Now I sometimes have to still remind him to eat, but he usually will if I suggest it.
    But at least now we have several foods he seems to like, and so he is eating better. But he gets very small amounts at each meal and that seems to work best.
    He seems more satisfied that way. We don't measure so i couldn't say exactly. I have learned to count 24 hour periods, not just day once I realized what a night eater he was. I used to worry he wasn't eating even a full (5.5-6oz) can per day...but I think by the time 24 hours is up, he usually has. I feed him late before bed plus leave overnight food out which is usually gone the next day. He seems less interested in food during the day.
    His weight has tapered off somewhat more, but he is mostly holding his own.

    I am guessing he weighed in the range of 21.5-22lbs last fall. Byt the time of DX he was 20. He lost another 1 1/2 -2lbs very quickly while sick. And has since lost another 1/2 or so. He's squirmy when i hold him on the scale, so hard to tell exactly, but I think he weighed around 17.5 last I checked. I am very happy with this and he looks really good.

    My guess is, with mini meals you can feed a little more because it keeps their metabolism moving. if he is hungry, I would try it out and see, he may need more nutrition than he is getting. You could always excercise him more to offset any weight gain if there were some.
     
  12. Marvie and Tugger

    Marvie and Tugger Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2009
    Now granted, my cats are mostly all fatties but they got fat on dry food and do seem to be slimming down on the canned... I have five cats and I feed a LOT of food over the course of a day. I put out a lot of ozs each day, over four feedings. They each get a full can of FF at each feeding. *IF* there is any left at the next feeding I will decrease by one can but there is not usually anything left unless they are being picky. If it's a food they like, it's all gone in short time. My civvies are pickier than Tugger so they are more likely to leave food in the bowls than he is.

    So Tugger alone eats at least 8-12 ozs of FF per day. He is my fattest kitty. He was 27 pounds at his heaviest, down to 24 right before he got sick. 19 pounds at dx and is now back up in the 20's (need to weigh him again but it makes me sad because I weigh myself first, then pick him up and weigh the both of us and subtract my weight from the combined weight to find Tugger's weight. This is not a good week to see my own weight :lol: ) He hasn't gained weight since I got him off the dry but he hadn't lost any the last time I weighed him either. His tummy is not so round and hard, it's soft and saggy now, that's the only real difference I have noticed.

    My civvies eat about the same amounts as Tugger only they eat high carb canned. The girls lick the juice and eat a little bit of the food then Tux and Echo go behind and clean up the leftovers. Echo mostly eats the low carb stuff with Tugger but he's learned how to get up on the table now so he sometimes eats the HC instead. He's almost a year old and has been eating adult portions for a while now. He's not one of the fatties ;) but he's a good healthy size and weight for his age. Bella is also at her perfect weight, though she'd chubbed up while eating dry she lost it when we switched to canned. I don't think she eats all that I give her though, there's always food left in her bowl when she leaves the room so either BB or one of the boys cleans up after her. Tux and BB are not thin but not really obese like Tugger, BB weighed 14 pounds last time and Tux was 15.4 pounds.

    They get regular exercise thanks to the droolers, whenever the dogs get hyper the cats scatter at great speeds ;) I also interact with them a lot to get them moving.

    I do notice that all of my animals eat more in the winter/cold months and less in the summer/warmer months. It takes more fuel to keep their body temps in normal ranges in the winter, even though they seem to be less active. I've noticed the same with other animals over the years too. Now that it's hot out, they're eating about 2 cans less than usual, I've been putting out the usual amounts but have been tossing some so I'm cutting them back as of today. Wanted to make sure they were actually eating less because they need less, rather than eating less because they hate the offering of the day ;) So we're cutting back from 20 CANS of Fancy Feast per day to maybe 17 cans ;) Though once Brady arrives....

    Thank Bastet I got that job!
     
  13. Becky and AJ (GA)

    Becky and AJ (GA) Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2009
    Yikes! That's a lot of food. AJ would eat it all if I let him. :lol:
     
  14. tuckers mom

    tuckers mom Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2009
    AJ is 11 now? Have you talked to the vet, maybe run a blood panel including a T4 or fT4 to check for hyperthyroidism?

    Most cats present with hypert same as FD, increased PU/PD but some don't. My boy Gett did not have any increased water intake or urine output. No symptoms at all, routine bloodwork found it.
     
  15. Becky and AJ (GA)

    Becky and AJ (GA) Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2009
    Thanks. I hadn't thought about hypert. I will consider the blood panel after I try increasing his food first to see how that works. He has always been a piggy (he used to steal Albert's food long before the diabetes kicked in), but it got worse when I started him on the small meals throughout the day. He's not losing any weight - he's maintaining his weight pretty good (anti-jinx).
     
  16. drjsiems

    drjsiems Member

    Joined:
    Jan 23, 2010
    Jake seems to have a much better appetite too now that he is OTJ! When I periodically test him, I test him a couple of hours after breakfast and typically get a nice green number between 50 and 60 meaning that if I would have tested him before he ate, his numbers would probably have been higher. So even though this tells me that his pancreas is working, I am sure that the higher number would be borderline green/low blue. For that reason, I don't know want to feed Jake more food than he is getting, but I don't know for sure if that would make the BGs increase. He gets about 220 calories per day and is mainintaing his weight at just under 9 pounds. I am still trying to wrap my head around how BG is influenced by food intake in a remission or non-diabetic cat versus how BG is influenced by food intake with a diabetic cat on insulin. Anyone know of where I can find some good research on this topic?

    Yesterday's BG was 52, and Jake is doing great. I "caught" him running the hallways yesterday when I thought it was my civvie cat making all the noise. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was Jake. He has not run like that in years!

    Judy & Jake
     
  17. Kathy and Kitty

    Kathy and Kitty Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 29, 2009
    I never go into the Think Tank forum, but I've been wondering whether this would be a good question for them. Anybody else think so?
     
  18. Becky and AJ (GA)

    Becky and AJ (GA) Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2009
    The Think Tank is a good idea.

    Update on AJ: I started to feed him a little more of the FF and his numbers went up slightly. That's the last thing I want since he mostly in the blues. I went and go some EVO and have been feeding him some of that and some of the FF and his number this morning was 65! dancing_cat I couldn't believe it so I tried to take his number again but he got a little impatient. I decided to try again tonight. If it's the EVO giving him the low numbers, I will stick with this regime. He is still hungry though, but if his numbers stay low, I will be able to give him even more (lucky AJ - woohoo!). One bummer to the equation, though. The store where I got the EVO is going to stop carrying it because of P&G! So, I will order from the websites. The store did mention that they are going to start carrying Blue Buffalo because that has low carbs, but I've looked at the ingredients and it's got rice and veggies. Any thoughts on Blue Buffolo?
     
  19. Nicole & Baby

    Nicole & Baby Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2009
    I guess I should think about all this stuff, but I am just chill & a little to laid back I guess.. I barely test Baby, today she was 78.. I only plan to test once a month beginning in June & I feed her when she is hungry. I figure she knows when she wants to eat & how much ;-) I dont want to put her or me through manipulating meals, times & testing unless necessary & its just not right now.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page