Hi y’all, Just wanted to introduce myself. I’m not very good at message boards so probably posting in the wrong place. I’m Rachel and my kitty Gizmo was just diagnosed today. We went home with 100 syringes and ProZinc and a crying momma. The vet didn’t say anything about testing at home, and when I asked he said that it “wasn’t really a thing”. I’ve already learned here that it is a thing, although all my reading has been quite overwhelming. I ordered a monitor for home. Proceeding with caution tomorrow as I give the first dose - wish us luck. glad there are things like this to post to even if nobody reads it. And glad all this info is out there! Best, Rachel and Gizmo
Hi Rachel (and Gizmo!) Welcome. I know this can be overwhelming but you’ve definitely come to the right place. The people here are awesome. Couldn’t have gotten this far without this board. I wish I found this board earlier In my journey. You’ve already made the right first step by ordering a meter. No tears.- I promise you can do this!!
Thank you so much for your kind words. I know the questions I’ll ask have been probably asked and answered 500 times, but maybe someone can direct me to posts that would be helpful? 1) Gizmo refuses to eat all her food in one sitting. She takes about an hour to eat her first 3oz of food a day - she walks away and comes back. The vet indicated that I’d need to feed her only twice a day - she’s used to eating about 6 times a day so I know this will be an issue. Is it okay to maintain more smaller meals a day and try to wait until she’s already consumed largely her whole breakfast before shot? 2) is it okay to start without testing? I want to get the medicine in her but won’t have the test for a week - I’m afraid to wait but also afraid to not wait. The vet said testing wasn’t a concern but after all im reading it seems like it is. Do you think it’s safe to start without testing first this week? thank you so much in advance. Just wanting to do right by my girl but don’t know where to start.
Welcome! How was she diagnosed - fructosamine test? Any symptoms? Any ketones or DKA? If not then I would wait. If she became diabetic after that ****, chances are her numbers aren't too bad. What's her current food? Be sure to read the links about ketones and having a hypo kit, you'll want that stuff as well. Can use any urine ketone strips from the store, I'd test 2-3x a week if no history of ketones. You'll want some medium carb food (10-15%), and some high carb food (16-20%). I also like to have some very high carb food on hand just in case, about 23% or higher. Only need a few cans because you should hopefully never need it. This is a good reference for carbs. No, please keep feeding her the way you are. 2x a day is old school. Smaller meals much easier.on their pancreas, helps keep a flatter curve with insulin as well. The only thing we'll want to tweak is the times she gets fed - we want to avoid feeding after nadir (lowest BG of the cycle, peak insulin action) if we can because the insulin is wearing off. The tests will help us determine when that is, but usually in the +4 to +6 range (so 4 to 6 hours after the shot). You're on the right path. It's overwhelming, but you're in the right place!
Thank you so much for the reply. I get teary eyed every time I talk to someone who cares. She was diagnosed by virtue of 3 weeks of full blood panels showing BG somewhere between 350-390. 3 tests, and one urinalysis showing glucose in her urine. No DKA, not sure of the difference between ketones and “glucose in urine”. I’ve started to put together the hypo kit today before I start tomorrow or later this week. I was too nervous to start today without the ability to test. Her current food is Fancy Feast grilled salmon with gravy. Two weeks ago she stopped eating completely and was constipated. She used to eat fancy feast classics and a prescription GI food. Then, when she stopped eating, I tried everything I could and finally found this that she’s been consistently eating since that time. it makes sense to feed more - I thought it was common knowledge that eating smaller meals more frequently helps blood sugar. The vet had a big argument this morning with me again over it, saying 2x is the only option. I’ll just do what I think is best. Which is small meals with the largest of the meals being the two shot meals. Thank you for the advice on that.
Sorry, forgot the symptoms. Eating a lot, drinking a lot, urinating a lot. This was not alarming to me initially because she had been being treated for two month straight with depomedrol and another injectable steroid for asthma. These were the side effects of that course to begin with. I’m not sure when we switched to diabetic - the vet visit was from the constipation and it was found incidental to that.
You'll find we all care A LOT, it's why we're here in our free time. Because nearly all of us started in your situation and it's maddening. The "recipe" for ketones and DKA is: not enough insulin (so unregulated diabetes) + inappetence + systemic stress or infection. No history is good! We just like to keep an eye on it because they'll be cruising along ok then bam one day not eating and with a UTI or pancreatitis or something. Why the GI food? Just for constipation? Also leads me to why the depo shot? You might consider giving a probiotic. Majority of us use s. boulardii, but some use Kibow or Visbiome as well. Most vets use FortiFlora but honestly it's kind of garbage. I use this, 1/4 cap a day only when he seems to be having issues (but daily is also ok).
If she is still constipated I'm tagging our resident poop experts @Katherine&Ruby and @Suzanne & Darcy (I don't think either of them exactly wanted that title)
yes, very maddening considering she was fine until we did those stupid shots. Should have just done an inhaler. on the pooping front, I just started fortiflora today. If no improvement in a day or two, will order those and see what we come up with. The problem becomes she gets constipation, then stops eating, then the issues start piling on. Eventually have to use lactulose to avoid an enema. The GI food was a long term thing. Constant GI issues through her lifetime. I’ve had her since I found her abandoned 3 weeks old. Always either constipated or diarrhea, acid reflux, something. Long sordid history with GI.
also, thank you for that carb guide. I’ve been doing the math all week and failing. I’m an attorney, I don’t even know what math is.
Don’t listen to the twice a day feeding thing. You can feed her anytime except in the two hours before shot time (a.m. and p.m.) and that’s because you need to be able to test and get an accurate reading of the blood glucose without the influence of food. Sorry if I am repeating what you’ve already been told. Later on, when you are experienced and have a lot of data, you don’t necessarily have to follow the two hour rule.
thank you for the reply - I don’t know why they’ve been fighting so hard about this. I really think it’s only because they fear if I don’t starve her all day and night, then she won’t eat when feeding time and shot times comes. But I know my cat better than anyone - almost 14 years and since 3 weeks old. I know how much I can let her have and still get her to eat a big meal at a certain time.
The Fancy Feast gravy foods are generally very high in carbs. Better options from the Fancy Feast line are the classic pates.
I can try to switch her back to the classics she was eating, but the last thing I need right now is refusing to eat. This is the only thing she’s been showing interest in :/
many, many. And exploratory surgeries and enemas and x rays and so on. Never declared what the issue is, we have always just managed with food, food timing, laxatives, probiotics, and KP paste, based on whatever is occurring.
Poor baby. I see that you have Lactulose. I highly recommend it. Some people use daily. Some like Miralax. It’s not my favorite, but it’s flavorless and mixes well into food. I assume you have tried fiber like pumpkin or psyllium husk in the food? Seems like you really would be the constipation guru here.
yes, lactulose is good. It really goes down okay for her. I have fed it to her in her favorite tuna broth that I sometimes give as a treat and she doesn’t notice. I have not tried fiber, but there have been many high fiber prescription foods over the years. I suspect the current constipation is from her refusal to eat any of those dry, high fiber foods. Are fiber supplements okay for a diabetic cat?
I like Proviable DC for a probiotic (only not from Amazon as it seems like it could be fake based on reviews.) Visbiome comes highly recommended as well.
Yes. A lot of people here add pumpkin (I use freeze dried pumpkin) but some cats won’t eat it. Psyllium husks unflavored and unadulterated are good - some of my cats eat it and some don’t. Again though, every cat is different and you have to find what she will eat and what works for her.
I would recommend, if possible, adding only one new thing at a time. For example, if you start a new probiotic, I would just try that for a week or so before adding fiber. Sometimes they have problems, and if you start too many new supplements at one time you have no idea which is causing the problem.
Forti Flora is a good appetite stimulant for most cats because they like the taste so much. It’s not a very good probiotic however. It has only a single strain of probiotic— enterococcus faecium as I recall.
When will your meter and strips arrive? Have you watched any videos of how to do the BG testing of the ear? We can give you loads of tips and tricks to help get you started. My first tip is to ditch the lancing device and to just do it free hand. The lancing device makes a click in their ear that spooks a lot of cats. Some people here do use it though. The next tip is to warm her ear a little bit before poking with the lancet. I used a very small glass bottle filled with warm water (some people use a pill bottle.) Some people use a baby sock with some rice in the toe that they warm in the microwave. I cried when I first tried to get the blood drop. It took me a few days to get the hang of it. My boy was a sweetheart and I just kept giving him a low carb treat after each attempt.
The above photo shows you where you are going to try to poke. You are not aiming for the vein, but just outside the edge of it. Frequently you will find that one ear will bleed better than the other. You will also find that, over time, their ears bleed more easily. Has anyone shared this photo with you already? Sorry if it's a repeat!
Now, if I haven't completely annoyed and overwhelmed you, may I ask about her inappetance. Is this just a recent thing? Do you think it's because of her constipation? You don't think it's nausea, do you? She doesn't sniff the food and walk away, does she? Any lip smacking/licking or tooth grinding? If she's had a lot of labwork done, you could post some of the recent results on her spreadsheet when you get one. There's a tab for recording labs there. It helps a lot to see changes over time. A lot of people record bowel movements on their spreadsheets too (fun!)
Hi Rachel, Welcome to you and Gizmo! I'm really glad you found us, and we will do our best to help you and your complicated kitty--I've got a couple of my own! My Ruby who is on a raw diet gets Lactulose twice a day, and even then she only poops every 3-4 days. Her glucose numbers go up right when she has to poop and then come down again right after--that is how much stress it puts on her body. Re: constipation, agree with everything Suzanne said. I would totally stop the Fortiflora. It's an expensive flavor enhancer that will do nothing for constipation or improving GI flora. Having a good probiotic like Proviable or Visbiome and a prebiotic or fiber for the probiotic to act upon will be important long term. Fibers like pumpkin and psyllium do not have digestible sugars that get absorbed in the body and therefore are safe for diabetic cats. I follow a lot of the guidance here, written for an IBD cats website but good for any cat: My Cat is Constipated! What do I do?
It was supposed to be here in a week but I believe it will be here tomorrow. It seems like everyone says to wait to start giving her the insulin until I get the hang of it. I can guarantee you I will be crying. If you’re doing it freehand, do you just use a sewing needle or what kind of needle? thank you for all the tips!
no, this is very helpful. Thank you! I’ve watched every video there is to watch but none show that close up. Perfect.
Thank you so much! I did order some of the Proviable. I already have Proviable Forte. Do you know how this differs from DC?
The inappetance I think is really just to do with the constipation, which seems to be mostly resolved now. No, no nausea whatsoever. I’ve seen her nauseous before and no signs of that. We are eating full meals now.
I’m very worried about having to do this spreadsheet - it seems like a lot of things I have to acclimate to before I even get the medicine in her. How long can I stall this until I figure all of this out and get all the needed supplies. Worried
Deep breath, in a matter of a week or two you'll have the hang of it. Start with the ketones for now. That's the most important part. If she starts throwing ketones then we'll probably start with 0.25U without testing, but we'll cross that bridge if we get there. For now just keep food and fluids up
Worry about the spreadsheet later. For now you can post any BG data here to help you get going, and we'll help with spreadsheet.
I did not do blood tests for the first ten days after Ruby's diagnosis. She is on Lantus and her internists implanted a Freestyle Libre on her that lasted 9 days instead of the 14 that it should because Ruby removed it. I then did not test until about another month after that, when I discovered the FDMB. She started on 1 unit then went to 1.5 before I started testing. I'm happy to report she is very much alive. The vets had me get Ketodiastix--they are strips that test for both glucose and ketones in urine and we increased her dosage based on that alone, which I now know is not a very accurate indicator, but better than nothing. The spreadsheet gets a bit getting used to but is the best tool for us to help you as it shows trends over time.
Okay, I should have the meter tomorrow so I should be able to start producing data then as long as I can get it to work. I am at Walgreens now so I will pick up the test strips. How the hell are you supposed to collect that? Run in on her when she’s going and try to get it under her?
I’m so worried that I’m literally following none of the vets advice at this point. It just seems to go against everything they told me. I’m really struggling with deciding what to do here. Because it’s on me if I mess this up - It’s hard to know what’s best. Why don’t they tell people these things? Someone help me understand.
Catching and testing urine: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1quta5WLEjdO0Y_t2dAYSwN84h-LNZWxOdtVsJDKZ16A/pub
Veterinarians are generalists. They have to know hundreds of illnesses and medications for dogs, cats, horses, gerbils, turtles... I can't count how many times I've seen parakeets and guinea pigs at the Animal Medical Center's ER in New York. They aren't all up on the best ways of treating diabetes in cats, and they're worried that if you take on dosing yourself that your cat will go hypoglycemic and you will blame them so they want to maintain control over the situation. Most of them are also used to the old ways of treating diabetes with the older, shorter acting insulins like Vetsulin, so they want people to feed only at shot time. Prozinc and Lantus are much longer acting and so benefit from many small meals over hours. I will tell you you that if I did not find the FDMB, my cat would never have become tightly regulated and feeling so much better. This place saved my cat. I share my spreadsheet with Ruby's vets but I do not take dosing advice from them--they know that I have the situation under control, and they take care of her other many complications.
I wish I could reach out and hug you Katherine. Sorry I’m short on words, been in the car all night gathering supplies. I’ve always felt like the vets never tailor anything to my cat. It’s always me finding answers online. I have had to do this multiple times for multiple different things. Find my own answers, I mean. I called today to try to have a frank discussion with them about why she needed to eat only twice a day, because the literal paperwork they printed for me from their reference guides said to feed diabetic cats multiple times. I brought this up. They gave some BS answer. I think they just think I’m some imbecile who can’t make sure the cat eats when she has insulin. I totally agree that they don’t want to take responsibility for it. It’s like here’s the best we got, sorry if it doesn’t work or makes it worse. I’m just so frustrated. I already love you all much.
I swear, they gave me 3 printouts about feline diabetes that says feed cats multiple times a day and dogs 2 meals. And everywhere I look online, it says more than twice is fine. I’m sorry, just so mad.
I am also trying to be aware of the fact that these people deal with all kinds of owners; ones that barely care, people with mental illness, people who can barely read or write. So their confidence in my ability to do these things may be lacking. I brought up the testing earlier on the phone and they said “maybe next week we will see if that’s something you want to do”. I’m literally telling you I want to do it now.
You should buy 26 or 28 gauge lancets to poke the ear with Always aim for the sweet spot warm the ears up first, you can put rice in a sock and put it in the microwave, test it on the inside of your wrist to be sure it's not to hot, like you would test a babies bottle. You can fill a pill bottle with warm water and roll it on the ears also.Just keep rubbing the ears with your fingers to warm them up 6. As the ears get used to bleeding and grow more capilares, it gets easier to get the amount of blood you need on the first try. If he won’t stand still, you can get the blood onto a clean finger nail and test from there. When you do get some blood you can try milking the ear. Get you finger and gently push up toward the blood , more will appear You can even put a smidge of Vaseline on the ear so the blog d will bead it Even though the video shows her testing with a pet meter , you will not have to code anything when using a human meter which most of us use When you get your meter just please add the meter to your signature and what food you are feeding VIDEO: How to test your cat's blood sugar Here is a video that one of our members did
Here is the food chart in case one day Gizmo won't eat the FF classic pates Try and stay 5% and under https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/ Even the Fancy Feast Chicken Feast Roasted is 6% carbs and the FF Flaked are ok We try and limit any fish flavors to maybe once or twice a week
@FrostD Guys, just got home from Walgreens with the ketostix and she jumped in box when I was also sitting on my litterbox (she loves to do that, don’t ask me why) Grabbed one and I got it under her stream but I think I touched the litter a little. It was somewhere between negative and trace on the color chart. We will see what I can get tomorrow, but this boosted my confidence in my ability do this!
Awesome! That's good. They do make blood ketone meters if that ends up being easier but I figured baby steps lol About the vet...a lot of new people have similar sentiments. They are uncomfortable going against/doing things differently from what the vet said, or some it's the only vet around and they *need* a good relationship in order to get scripts, labs, etc. All I can say is - do what's best for you and your cat. We always work with caregiver's comfort levels, we've all been there at the very daunting beginning. Once you get testing and up and running, I usually give a few options. I say "this is what I would do if it were my cat", but "here's option 2 if you're a little uncomfortable with that" or "option 3 because x,y,z", and here's the pros/cons of each. Just so you have the whole picture and can make informed decisions. That said it is an internet forum after all, nobody professes to be a vet here. Anyone can give advice, so keep that in mind. JanetNJ and I are primarily the advice-givers on the ProZinc forum, Chris and China occasionally pops in. Bron and Sheba as well as Bandit's Mom are the usual nighttime crew since they're in Australia and India respectively.
That makes sense. I am just going to take it day by day and try to use my magical cat mom instincts. Thank you for all your help today. A few years ago, somehow Gizmo and I got giardia around the same time. Could have been from our newly tapped well at the house. I had to take a few rounds of metronidazole, so did Gizmo. The metro kept making her vomit and foam at the mouth. She stopped eating entirely. They insisted on me continuing to force it to her even though it wasn’t helping for several days and she was clearly suffering. I threw my hands up and said “f this, I’m not giving it to her anymore.” Stopped calling and asking questions. Just stopped and waited. It all went away and she got back to normal. That’s the moment I stopped blindly trusting in these kinds of situations. I don’t know, it’s tough. But I’ll do anything to keep her feeling good. I think on this one I’ll have to go with my instincts, too.
The spreadsheet totally looked intimidating to me at first. But we have people here who can set it up for you. You can successfully do this!
It looks like it’s advertised as being for dogs? Not sure. What does your bottle say? For cats? Either way, I’m sure it’s not harmful to cats.
Lancets. I assumed these would come with your meter and test strips. But I see you have had more advice since I was last on. You will do great.
Says cats and dogs. We had it for a bout of diarrhea. I went ahead and ordered the DC to be on the safe side. We actually just had the first poop in 72 hours. Was gray and a little bit firmer than toothpaste. I think this is from all the seafood flavors I’ve been feeding her. She refuses to eat anything other than seafood right now. Hoping with the probiotics this improves stool quality. The last 3 have been gray and softer than I’d like. Told the vet about this, seemed only marginally concerned.
I think the only difference between Proviable and Proviable Forte is Forte has prebiotics in it, and that is good. You want to have some prebiotics or fibers for the probiotic to work on.
I don’t understand why they weren’t interested in the grey stool color. Hopefully it will pass and is just an issue with a too rapid transit time. But it can be indicative of other organ system problems. I hope probiotics will help.
I am still trying to figure this out. It says Proviable DC has prebiotics too. Oh well. Going to bed.
Nevermind my comment above. Proviable DC has 5 billion CFUs per cap, Forte has 10 billion. Compare that to Visbiome that has 112.5 billion CFUs per capsule. Still, it's good to start somewhere.
Well, we are back to inappetance. Woke up this morning screaming for food, won’t touch anything but the gravy. Had a wretching episode when she woke me up. Going to continue to try to feed other things throughout the day to see if I can get her to eat.
❤️❤️ just sending love and prayers. I know how stressed you must be. I just went through it. Please eat beautiful girl EAT
Yes. It is soooo upsetting when they won't eat. And you drag out every single cat food in the world... and baby food, and treats, and forti flora and parmesan cheese on top of food and go to the store and buy more foods... and try human foods... and you have food everywhere and they won't eat. Feels so hopeless.
Agreed. Thank you all for the support. I talked to the vet and everyone agrees she should probably go to the hospital soon to get stable with the insulin and all this mess. It’s looking a lot like she probably has pancreatitis.
Now, having said all this (above) have you tried any appetite stimulants on her. Miratax (transdermal applied to the inner ear flap) is good in small amounts. Cyproheptadine works for a lot of people too. I have used both. Naturally, you would want to make sure she's not nauseous before stimulating appetite. I don't know why she would be... but I don't know why she's not eating either. I'd be inclined to experiment with a little Zofran (Ondansetron) to see if she eats better. It is a very effective anti-nausea medication. However (sorry) it can be constipating and you may not want to go there. When did she last poop? Yesterday? Sorry to be back and forth on suggestions... just presenting options here to consider. Hopefully by now she's eaten?
Okay, did they test her fPLI for pancreatitis? If so, then she probably is nauseous and needs the Zofran to feel well enough to eat. And the appetite stimulants I mentioned. I'm so sorry. I'm quite worried now. Please keep us posted.
We got some eating tonight, finally got her by pouring tuna broth on everything. She had a pretty decent meal. Her meter just got here today but with managing the 60 cans of cat foods I had to open, I haven’t gotten to look at it yet. Thanks for checking in y’all - will report back when I get the meter running
I’m glad she ate something as well. We’ve all been there. 49 cans on my counter as we speak. All flavors all styles. I was up to 3 or 4 a sitting to get her to eat anything. I truly hope she feels better soon and starts to eat. Is she drinking? Cats get the bulk of their water from food so if she doesn’t eat you may want to take her for some sub q fluids. Thinking of you guys and hoping she feels better soon. Keep us posted.
Why are they like that with the food? Why did you like something 3 hours ago that now is disgusting and you’re burying it like poop? Oh, cats…. she’s fairly hydrated because I had to pour those tiki cat broths over everything and she loves those. So if nothing else she was eating the entire packet of broth.
Sometimes cats in the wild will try to hide their food by burying it so that they can come back to it later. I see my ferals doing it. Sometimes my house cats do it as well, so I know what you mean. Hopefully she’ll eat this morning. I do think something for nausea could help
Yeah, it’s a strange behavior. If I present something new she hates, she will do it. Will also do it and it does seem like hiding it for later. she ate almost a whole can of wet food this morning with minimal coaching, so that was good. I do have some cerenia for backup in case anything gets worse.
Hey y’all. Our power was out for a few days due to a construction accident. Ugh. I tried to get the meter going but didn’t have much success with her ear. I tried warming it, etc with no blood. long story short, I’ve started the insulin. I spoke with a cat diabetes specialist via video chat because I did not trust what my vet was saying. I wanted to start giving it to her because she seemed so not herself. So we started. Wow, shots are much easier than oral medication. I’m shocked. She has been getting 1/2u twice a day, and the clinical signs improved immediately. The peeing and drinking have slowed and appetite majorly improved. Still fighting with constipation. Got her started on probiotics. As the days have gone on, I noticed the clinical signs coming back. She has a blood test at the vet Tuesday. I wonder how we will do. The original dose was 1unit so I’m sure they will be mad at me for halving it. Oh well, I was too scared with her weird appetite. just wanted to send an update.
Also, after the first two doses, we immediately had some personality back. Big energy, Like zoomies and playing and bunny kicking the steps. Hoping that’s a good sign.
Hey there - she’s doing good with eating and drinking. Finally had a good poop yesterday. We went to the vet this afternoon for a glucose check - wasn’t great (386)They said to increase the dose to 1.5units twice a day. I’m going to increase to 1 since we had been doing a half.
Hey guys - sorry - me again. Can you guys point me to where I get a spreadsheet started again? I just got my first reading on the monitor. I think I have it down now. Who do I go to to get one set up? Thanks!!
Also, I squared up with the vet today. He said he didn’t want to “overwhelm me” with the info about testing and that I should more than do it. I said I’m not overwhelmed when it comes to my only child, I can handle whatever. So now he’s on board. And I wore him down about the eating twice a day thing LOL
oh dear, quite scary to wake to that! poor you and Gizmo. Arthur had a lot of the same beginning symptoms and problems as you describe so I can sympathize. Firstly, I would like to congratulate you because already you have wonderful dedication and great application to the task of getting Gizmo on track, despite your stress and the ocean of sometimes conflicting info. Well done. Secondly, I can advise at this point, the aim to to get Gizmo stable first, and we can push the longterm worries aside for now. Keep in mind during this first period of adjustment that Gizmo will experience big changes in appetite and energy as her wee body slowly becomes accustomed to the hormone. we all know how our hormones affect us monthly, and Gizmo receiving insulin may feel nausea, a stomach that feels full after only a small feed, a bit of bloating and discomfort... Gastroparesis and pancreatitis are common among diabetics, but most often ease with good regulation. I would advise sticking to one safe food and not swapping and experimenting - it is not the food that will create the appetite, but the regulation of nausea or discomfort. while you are trying to match the insulin dose to the food, it is more effective to do so by Not swapping foods with different calories and ingredients. Broth or even adding warm water to more solid wet food is a great incentive. In the beginning, I gave Arthur 6 to 8 tiny meals a day because the supposed 2 feeds, 2 shots just did not get him settled, and was too risky if he then vomited after a shot. I had tried that schedule advised by the vet for probably two weeks with Caninsulin, and it was just a nightmare. Regular small feeds meant he was safer and felt less queasy. It took me 6months to convince a vet to give Arthur a script for Lantus (another saga). Btw, the covering of the remaining food is done to protect it from predators. By covering the meal with soil or foliage, the scent would be masked until the cat comes back later to feed again. It is a cat fridge, if you will This is good news because it shows Gizmo approves of that food, but just does have the appetite or stomach space to eat it. I also used the sachets of probiotics drizzled over food in the beginning to try and help digestion. Importantly, if Gizmo is having both vomiting and diarrhea, dehydration will be an issue. I took Arthur to the vet during those epidoses for subcutaneous fluid. A small animal just cant keep up with water loss in that situation and I have to say, the fluid injections really work and gave both him and me such relief. It was an important stepping stone to recovery. I can also recommend the tiny little paste posts GimCat Pate Deluxe in Veal to raise calories after vomiting, and be safer if insulin was already given prior to vomiting. I have also spread it on food to get him to eat. I hope today is a better day for you! All the best!
Hi Rachel. Are you testing for ketones? Vomiting in diabetics is not a great sign — if it’s just for today and not something that’s occurring a lot, then it’s probably just a tummy upset for some reason we may never know, but if it becomes really frequent, please take him to the vet. This happened to my Darcy and he was in DKA. Would it be possible to start another thread and link this one to it at the top? This thread is very long.
thank you so much for the encouragement. This definately hasn’t been easy and it’s taking a toll on my mental and physical health, for sure. I’m exhausted and only sleep a few hours a night I have been sticking to the food that she will eat and has been eating, although maybe not the absolute best. But there were periods of anorexia weeks ago (with hunger and begging), so we’ve stayed with one thing as best we can. She is getting multiple small meals a day, usually 4-5. I told the vet the twice a day thing was absolutely not going to work, especially given how hungry she is and for the fear of her stopping eating again, vomiting, etc. I’ve never seen that type of food in my store, but I do have some cans of Purina GI food which is pretty calorie and carb dense. Luckily she vomited about two hours before the shot, and her stomach was empty from the night so I gave her several small meals over that two hour period. She was hungry and has kept them down for about 4 hours now. Gave her the shot but only knowing that she had already kept some food down for a few hours. my thoughts on the diarrhea - two days ago, she pooped after 5 days of nothing. Right before she pooped, because I wanted to get her back pooping if she was constipated again, I gave her 1/4 tsp miralax. I am hoping and wondering if this is just the lingering effects of the miralax. I could have kicked myself for giving it that morning, when she pooped 10 minutes later. She has been getting Proviable DC sprinkled on her dinner and that seemed to be firming things up, if I hadn’t have messed up by giving her the Miralax. She often vomits if she’s constipated or has diarrhea. Will take her in if it happens again. My mind is just so tired trying to get this right.
Don't worry, you are doing so well with a massive learning curve and huge responsibility - there are no mistakes when we are doing our best for our cats with good faith. I have no experience of needing to medicate for constipation - it resolved itself as Arthur got used to his insulin. It was a rollercoaster emotionally and for him, physically and energetically. Thankfully the days of grey poop, vivid poop, and weird poop are mostly over. You will get Gizmo there too. Arthur does self-regulate with grass growing under my doorstep - I didn't weed it, luckily, as I noticed it is his favorite. If I come home after being out a few hours he asks to be let out to have a munch. He also loved eating the seed heads of my festuca glauca and even the spring greens of muscari. I get really proud of him when his poop is well formed, ha ha! I just started growing him cat-grass indoors speculating that work will present itself once more, and he'll spend more time on his todd. easing out of covid restrictions. I could not go straight to low carb diabetic foods as they are not readily available in Ireland, so his initial dose was quite high. When I could import the good diabetic wet food I was able to lower his dose accordingly and run less risk if he did vomit.
I have been but it’s been fairly consistently between negative and trace with not the greatest samples. I am thinking about taking her today for some fluids if it continues, but here’s to hoping it was just a fluke.
Good job. Fantastic news on the ketones. At least you will know that’s not it! I hope Gizmo will feel well and have a good day.
