Hello, My cat Nudi's BG looks pretty good today 128 this morning and 258 tonight. I lowered his dose to 1.5 units today for both doses. However, even though his sugar isn't high he is drinking a ton of water and he hasn't done this for a very long time even when his numbers have been high recently. I'm just confused and wondering if the AlpahTrak isn't working or something? Why would he be drinking so much water if his sugar is ok? Also I just purchased Young Again Zero Mature cat food mainly for my other cat who doesn't like the wet food (Nulo) that I give Nudi but I was thinking of letting Nudi have this too. I gave him some tonight and he seems to like much better then the Nulo but on second thought probably shouldn't mess with his food since it seems like his numbers may be going down? Thank you so much!
Don’t know why he’d be drinking more than usual with better numbers but I now add water to the wet food for both my kitties and make sort of a “soup”. This way they are sure to stay hydrated and they seem to like their food better with the added liquid.
Well I don’t know that you’re not. Hopefully someone else will chime in that has more experience as to why this could be. All I know is keeping our sugar babies hydrated is super important. Have you tested for ketones?
I don't know why he is so thirsty if his numbers haven't changed, so I can't offer any feedback there. But I agree with Lisa - adding water to the dry food is a great idea. My cats love it too! As far as feeding him the Young Again dry - I would be cautious and keep an eye on his numbers. It may raise them up, and testing will be the only way to get an answer to that one. (But don't remove the canned from his diet completely, and make sure that you add more water to the canned to hydrate him). Personally, I'd be fearful of changing his food. Have you tried other brands of canned food that he may like more than Nulo? My cats love Nulo, but it costs more than FF (and I'm feeding 5 of them). There is a food on Dr. Pierson's food chart that I would like to try. It's called "Dave's." It's only slightly cheaper than FF, but it's more natural, without artificial additives. I don't know if my critters will like it, but I think I'm going to give it a try. I found it on amazon and on chewy.
Overall, Nudi's numbers are still pretty high, so my best guess is that the water drinking is just a result of that. Depending on the climate where you live, it could also be a change in the weather at this time of the year. In my city, it's not much warmer yet, but it's become much less humid in the past couple of weeks, and all of us (pets and humans) are suffering dry skin and increased thirst. I'm not a big fan of YAZ because it has carbs, but they are undigestible because of the way they process the food. That kind of icks me out. It kind of makes me think of feeding plastic - can't be digested, but still not something we should eat! I think especially if Nudi is showing a lot of thirst, adding dry food into his diet seems like the opposite of what he's showing he needs. Have you tried adding a little sprinkling of fortiflora to his canned food? It seems to be a flavor that a lot of cats love. I just use a little when Sam isn't in the mood to eat and he'll dive right in. There are 30 little envelopes in a box, and one envelope lasts anywhere from four days to a week depending on how liberal I am with the sprinkling (and how insistently Sam is trying to bite my fingers off while I sprinkle it). Another thing that many cats love (and is less expensive), is brewer's yeast. It can usually be found in the bulk food section, or in stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joes, or other "healthy" grocery stores. It has a good amount of B vitamins, and could help make the canned food more appetizing. As Carolyn said, keep an eye on the numbers if you do decide to feed the YAZ. Some cats can handle it just fine. Other cats show a rise in BG. And some folks have reported that varying from one bag to the next. It can also cause intestinal issues (and this also seems to vary from one bag to the next), so if you see liquipoo showing up, that is the likely cause. Now, all dire warnings aside, there are cats that do just fine on it (both BG and diarrhea), and a couple of folks who swear by it. So while I'm not a fan, I know there are people around here who sing its praises.
Thank you. So sorry for such a late reply. I will try the water! I do not test for Keytones as he pees outside and I have no idea where he pees. He still likes to roam a bit though not nearly as much as he used to
Thank you so much. So sorry for such a late reply. Yes I will definitely add the water to both the dry food that he sometimes eats and the Nulo that I try and give him more. Thank you for all the feedback around this. He sometimes sneaks in the dry food because my other cat gets it and I have forgotten to pick it up but he mostly gets Nulo and I will definitely look into Daves! Thank so much.
Thank you so much and sorry for such a late reply. There is so much good information here I really appreciate it. Yes my other cat has started to get diarrhea on the YAZ so maybe I need to stop feeding her this! She likes the dry food better so I was trying to get her dry food but a healthier kind. Thank you again. I'm thinking he may need more insulin so that will be my next post I just have to update his number.
