My cat is a skeleton!

Hey all -- unusual problem here, looking for advice.

Our poor boy, a lovely sphynx, has been losing weight
for 3 months, until you can see every vertebra, even in his tail.

The vets said he was diabetic, and prescribed
special food and Glipizide medicine. He's taking the medicine
and shunning the food, which means he's losing even
more weight. He begs for meat and other people food;
the vet says that would be bad. But even when we
give in and give him some, he eats very little and
walks away.

The vet says most diabetic cats GAIN weight. We're
stressed about him, he looks fragile and ill, although
he's energetic.

We don't know what to do now, and the vet doesn't seem
to either.

How to fatten up a diabetic cat?

Just curious..if he's not eating human food, either, could it also be a tooth
problem?

Just curious..if he's not eating human food, either, could it also be a tooth
problem?

I think it's time for a second opinion. Either on your own, or ask your
regular vet to refer you to another one.

Cathy


"Steve Rapaport" wrote in message
m...
Hey all -- unusual problem here, looking for advice.

Our poor boy, a lovely sphynx, has been losing weight
for 3 months, until you can see every vertebra, even in his tail.

The vets said he was diabetic, and prescribed
special food and Glipizide medicine. He's taking the medicine
and shunning the food, which means he's losing even
more weight. He begs for meat and other people food;
the vet says that would be bad. But even when we
give in and give him some, he eats very little and
walks away.

The vet says most diabetic cats GAIN weight. We're
stressed about him, he looks fragile and ill, although
he's energetic.

We don't know what to do now, and the vet doesn't seem
to either.

How to fatten up a diabetic cat?

I think it's time for a second opinion. Either on your own, or ask your
regular vet to refer you to another one.

Cathy


"Steve Rapaport" wrote in message
m...
Hey all -- unusual problem here, looking for advice.

Our poor boy, a lovely sphynx, has been losing weight
for 3 months, until you can see every vertebra, even in his tail.

The vets said he was diabetic, and prescribed
special food and Glipizide medicine. He's taking the medicine
and shunning the food, which means he's losing even
more weight. He begs for meat and other people food;
the vet says that would be bad. But even when we
give in and give him some, he eats very little and
walks away.

The vet says most diabetic cats GAIN weight. We're
stressed about him, he looks fragile and ill, although
he's energetic.

We don't know what to do now, and the vet doesn't seem
to either.

How to fatten up a diabetic cat?

Have you offered him chicken? Most cats love that.

A second opinion from another vet is called for. I'm surprised your vet
didn't suggest it.

--
Barb
Of course I don't look busy,
I did it right the first time.

Have you offered him chicken? Most cats love that.

A second opinion from another vet is called for. I'm surprised your vet
didn't suggest it.

--
Barb
Of course I don't look busy,
I did it right the first time.

Our oldest, Amaretto, a seal-point Siamese, has been diabetic for 4
years. He has put on a considerable amount of weight from the food
which our vet recommended to help keep the sugar levels in his blood
more easily regulated just by diet control--althought he gets insulin
(4 units of Humulin L) twice at day at meal times. We feed Hill's
Science Diet Feline Growth Kitten formula for both wet and dry food.
It comes in several "flavors", but Amaretto likes the Liver and
Chicken--the "Green" label. We mix the wet with Figaro Tuna--the
favorite of both of our cats (Alino--the younger boy is not diabetic,
but has a problem with constipation) prior to the time that Amaretto
was diagnosed. The proportion for the wet is two Tablespoons of Liver
and Chicken with 1 Tablespoon of Tuna, well mixed up and nuked for 30
seconds at low power in the microwave. Both boys love it! The dry
goes over well too--even Alino has come to eat it more frequently than
the wet!

You need to get your cat to a vet ASAP and have a curve done as well
as a fructosamene test--this will give you a good starting point to
determine what kind of insulin (they usually start with Humulin N) and
how much to start giving. If left untreated, Diabetes can kill--and
quite quickly from what we have read. We home test Amaretto's blood at
least once a day and do a curve on him (again--here at home) once a
month. It is an easy procedure to learn and saves us a ton of money
from having to go to the vet's all the time, which Amaretto hates!!
There are lots of sites on the web that can tell you how to home test
the cat's blood, or we would be happy to provide you with a
description of what we do on Amaretto. It is almost easier to test
his blood than our own! (Both my husband and I are diabetic too--our
Doctor likes to joke that we "caught" it from the cat, but it only a
minor sugar problem because we are both over-weight)

One other point that is critical to a feline diabetic's care is to
have the cat's teeth cleaned once a year, especially if it still eats
wet food. Amaretto's insulin amount invariably goes down by a unit
(or more) after each dental cleaning.

Best of Luck!

Peg


On 25 Aug 2004 13:56:42 -0700, (Steve Rapaport)
wrote:

Hey all -- unusual problem here, looking for advice.

Our poor boy, a lovely sphynx, has been losing weight
for 3 months, until you can see every vertebra, even in his tail.

The vets said he was diabetic, and prescribed
special food and Glipizide medicine. He's taking the medicine
and shunning the food, which means he's losing even
more weight. He begs for meat and other people food;
the vet says that would be bad. But even when we
give in and give him some, he eats very little and
walks away.

The vet says most diabetic cats GAIN weight. We're
stressed about him, he looks fragile and ill, although
he's energetic.

We don't know what to do now, and the vet doesn't seem
to either.

How to fatten up a diabetic cat?



"Scientists' say intelligent life
sprang from the sea.
Really intelligent life returns to
the sea now and then."

Our oldest, Amaretto, a seal-point Siamese, has been diabetic for 4
years. He has put on a considerable amount of weight from the food
which our vet recommended to help keep the sugar levels in his blood
more easily regulated just by diet control--althought he gets insulin
(4 units of Humulin L) twice at day at meal times. We feed Hill's
Science Diet Feline Growth Kitten formula for both wet and dry food.
It comes in several "flavors", but Amaretto likes the Liver and
Chicken--the "Green" label. We mix the wet with Figaro Tuna--the
favorite of both of our cats (Alino--the younger boy is not diabetic,
but has a problem with constipation) prior to the time that Amaretto
was diagnosed. The proportion for the wet is two Tablespoons of Liver
and Chicken with 1 Tablespoon of Tuna, well mixed up and nuked for 30
seconds at low power in the microwave. Both boys love it! The dry
goes over well too--even Alino has come to eat it more frequently than
the wet!

You need to get your cat to a vet ASAP and have a curve done as well
as a fructosamene test--this will give you a good starting point to
determine what kind of insulin (they usually start with Humulin N) and
how much to start giving. If left untreated, Diabetes can kill--and
quite quickly from what we have read. We home test Amaretto's blood at
least once a day and do a curve on him (again--here at home) once a
month. It is an easy procedure to learn and saves us a ton of money
from having to go to the vet's all the time, which Amaretto hates!!
There are lots of sites on the web that can tell you how to home test
the cat's blood, or we would be happy to provide you with a
description of what we do on Amaretto. It is almost easier to test
his blood than our own! (Both my husband and I are diabetic too--our
Doctor likes to joke that we "caught" it from the cat, but it only a
minor sugar problem because we are both over-weight)

One other point that is critical to a feline diabetic's care is to
have the cat's teeth cleaned once a year, especially if it still eats
wet food. Amaretto's insulin amount invariably goes down by a unit
(or more) after each dental cleaning.

Best of Luck!

Peg


On 25 Aug 2004 13:56:42 -0700, (Steve Rapaport)
wrote:

Hey all -- unusual problem here, looking for advice.

Our poor boy, a lovely sphynx, has been losing weight
for 3 months, until you can see every vertebra, even in his tail.

The vets said he was diabetic, and prescribed
special food and Glipizide medicine. He's taking the medicine
and shunning the food, which means he's losing even
more weight. He begs for meat and other people food;
the vet says that would be bad. But even when we
give in and give him some, he eats very little and
walks away.

The vet says most diabetic cats GAIN weight. We're
stressed about him, he looks fragile and ill, although
he's energetic.

We don't know what to do now, and the vet doesn't seem
to either.

How to fatten up a diabetic cat?



"Scientists' say intelligent life
sprang from the sea.
Really intelligent life returns to
the sea now and then."

On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 20:56:42 UTC, (Steve Rapaport)
wrote:

Hey all -- unusual problem here, looking for advice.

Our poor boy, a lovely sphynx, has been losing weight
for 3 months, until you can see every vertebra, even in his tail.

The vets said he was diabetic, and prescribed
special food and Glipizide medicine. He's taking the medicine
and shunning the food, which means he's losing even
more weight. He begs for meat and other people food;
the vet says that would be bad. But even when we
give in and give him some, he eats very little and
walks away.

The vet says most diabetic cats GAIN weight. We're
stressed about him, he looks fragile and ill, although
he's energetic.

We don't know what to do now, and the vet doesn't seem
to either.

How to fatten up a diabetic cat?


can you try some Nutro Cal gel to kick start the appetie?
I've saved many a cat on the brink with that stuff.

LT