Please Help! Older cat not eating enough (diabetic too)

Hello everone,
Does anyone have any suggestions for ways I can get my cat to eat more? She is DIABETIC so I can't try too many different types of food. She has to have either Hills MD or Purina DM and that's it. Dried and canned. It seems like for the last couple of months she takes a bite and walks away, then cries for more food even though she has a plateful of it still left. I had a complete bloodwork profile done, and she is slightly anemic and has some minor kidney troubles but nothing that serious. Also nothing wrong with her teeth or gums. The vet is recommending some expensive sonograms -- but all I want is for her to put some weight back on and eat more. He recommended Felovite 2, which seems to help but only a little and it's expensive to keep mixing into her food and once it is gone she turns her nose up at the food again. So clearly she will eat more if there's some kind of goody or treat enticing her. But since she's diabetic I have to be very careful not to overdo it. This is getting very frustrating, especially since she wakes me up at night because she is HUNGRY but does not want the food already in her dish!
I am getting desperate! Any input would be greatly appreciated.
MissMyra

Yes you can try any food for emergencies
Try chicken, tuna, warmed up canned cat food, baby food no onions, yogart, any deli meat, tuna
Try sprinkling parmesean cheese over food
any food she will eat

Check the breath for a nail poilish smell, If the breath smells like nail polish this is an emergency and you need vet attention.

Diabetic cats do not need nor should they be eating the prescription foods. They hold no value over commercially available canned foods
I have also sent you a private message

Originally Posted by MissMyra

Hello everone,
Does anyone have any suggestions for ways I can get my cat to eat more? She is DIABETIC so I can't try too many different types of food. She has to have either Hills MD or Purina DM and that's it. Dried and canned. It seems like for the last couple of months she takes a bite and walks away, then cries for more food even though she has a plateful of it still left. I had a complete bloodwork profile done, and she is slightly anemic and has some minor kidney troubles but nothing that serious. Also nothing wrong with her teeth or gums. The vet is recommending some expensive sonograms -- but all I want is for her to put some weight back on and eat more. He recommended Felovite 2, which seems to help but only a little and it's expensive to keep mixing into her food and once it is gone she turns her nose up at the food again. So clearly she will eat more if there's some kind of goody or treat enticing her. But since she's diabetic I have to be very careful not to overdo it. This is getting very frustrating, especially since she wakes me up at night because she is HUNGRY but does not want the food already in her dish!
I am getting desperate! Any input would be greatly appreciated.
MissMyra

Click to expand...

How long has she been diabetic?

Is she on regular insulin? If so, how often? (usually it's twice a day)

In a diabetic cat getting insulin, it's critical they eat otherwise the insulin will drop blood sugar far too low (life-threateningly low)

If not on insulin, is your Vet of the belief that just a change in diet will be enough to manage the diabetes?

I'm glad Ken responded, he's very familiar w/ feline diabetes.

I've had a diabetic cat for nearly 6 yrs. Mine never liked the prescription diabetic diets at all (most don't)....and basically, as many diabetic cat owners do, I put him onto a "canned only" diet of low carb food. Mine eats fancy feast and friskies, twice a day. No food is good if the cat won't eat it.

Many Vets figure that just a diet change, to a low carb prescription food will stabilize the diabetes - good luck. It might be something to try but generally doesn't work and insulin is required.

Here is the website address to one of the BEST Feline Diabetes websites/message forums on the internet. Go there, join up, and post your question there......the folks there all have diabetic cats and in all honesty, most of the owners there know more about feline diabetes and the management of same, than Vets do. I speak from experience. My Vets were clueless about it.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/phorum5/list.php?8

Vets are always trying to peddle prescription food, which generally isn't very good nutritionally......

Hope this helps.
Lisa

I agree..I dealt with a diabetic senior cat for 2 years and the ppl on the forum mention above is the best place to go...they saved my cats life more than once and tought me everything I know about the illness..they helped me more than my vet....Pls check in there they will help...

Nancy

Thank you so much for your replies! Ok, here's the thing, my cat was on two insulin shots a day, two units each shot, and then I finally got her on a strict diet of the Hills Prescription for diabetic cats (blue and white can, blue and white bag for dry) and in a matter of weeks, she no longer needed the shots according to the vet (who did a glucose curve) and in fact her sugar levels have been normal ever since (and I get her checked out regularly). So I do need to keep her on this special food -- it must be at least lower in carbs than the store-bought brands. It definitely helped. So you can understand why I am so afraid to try other foods -- I don't want to have to get her back on shots. However if that is the only alternative, of course I will do it. At least maybe she will eat then. Right now she is down to under 6 lbs and she has been a 9 lb cat her entire adult life. I can feel her spine when I pet her and I'm really scared. Do you think getting the sonograms (upper and lower) will do any good? What is the vet looking for? Tumors?
Thanks again for any help!
MissMyra

I went here:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/phorum5/list.php?8
and these people really know diabetic cats! Thanks so much for the recommendation!
--MissMyra

There is nothing special about the special foods and it is horrible quality. I am so glad your cat is in remission. For food, all you want to do is keep the carbs low. Canned foods under 10% carbs are best. You do not want to feed dry foods if possible. This list gives the breakdown.

http://www.geocities.com/jmpeerson/CanFoodOld.html
Remember. Keep the carbs under 10%

My diabetic cat as well as many others are diet controlled on these type of foods. For the money you are spending on that junk, you can get top quality human grade foods like wellness to feed. Also many diabetic cat owners that cannot afford top quality, feed foods like canned fancy feast under 10% carbs
Did you know that you can test the blood glucose yourself at home and your tests would be more accurate then the vet would get at the office? I can teach you if you are interested. It is also less stressful and less painful the the tests the vet does. The vet takes the blood from the neck or leg while it can be taken just from the tip of the ear where there are very few nerve endings
You are very lucky. The fact that your cat is off of insulin shows that probably you were giving insulin when it wasn't needed which could have resulted in a hypoglycemic episode. When my cats needed shots, I always tested before giving them

Hi Ken,

I definitely believe if I had been feeding my cat the right foods from day one, she never would have been diabetic in the first place.

Yesterday I fed her some of the fancy feast elegant medleys recommended on the Feline Diabetes forum, and she ate it like a starving wolverine! Now I have to be careful not to overfeed while still trying to put some weight back on her. So, small portions but more frequent than usual (is that smart, or should the feedings be larger but less frequent?).

I'm going to try to hunt down some Wellness and EVO today. I know Petco has the Wellness but not the EVO for some reason.

I can usually tell very quickly if my cat's sugar is high - she will drink tons of water and fill the litterbox (spilling glucose) so I don't think I need to test. So far she is reacting normally on the elegant medleys fancy feast.

By the way I'm glad I did some of my own research before getting all those expensive sonograms the vet wanted to do. I knew it would show nothing and I'd still be stuck with a non-eating cat.

Thanks for the help and concern!

--MissMyra

Those ppl on that site are amazing..they had me testing and doing my own curves like the next week after finding the site....Saved me tones of money..and like I said b4 saved my cats life a few times...staying up with me when his numbers were to low....they are great knowlegeable people...

Nancy

The website given came up 404...........

My cat is only 5 and was diagnosed with diabetes two weeks ago.  He is so thin!!!  The vet upped him to 4 units a day but I can hardly get him to eat anything.  His BG was 360 two days ago.  WHAT DO I FEED HIM!.  I am getting so many conflicting answers.  He won't eat any dried any more, and I have been feeding him Friskes Classics.  How do I know how much carbs are in anything?  I am scared I will loose him and I really don't know what to do.

Here is a chart of most of the commercial foods available in the U.S. that includes their carb percentage.  http://catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf    Generally pates have fewer carbs.  He shouldn't be eating kibble anyway because of the carb content.  Some people have had very good luck controlling carbs with raw or a cooked diet.  I don't think there is anything magic about it, it's just a way to be sure of the food's content.

Are you testing his blood glucose at home? If not, you need to. Check out www.felinediabetes.com and especially their message boards.