u/itsmanda0803

Hi everyone! I was wondering if anyone had some favorite treat options for their diabetic kitties? My 15 year old boy Charlie currently really likes the Tiki Cat duck stix and freeze dried chicken, but I think he’s wanting a little variety. He definitely misses his Tempations-style treats (which he does still get a few a day when doing his glucose tests), are there any low carb options that are similar? I’m also interested in some more single ingredient freeze dried options, but a lot of the brands I see are “raw” freeze dried, and my vet wants us to avoid those because of his FIV status. Charlie’s glucose is pretty stable right now (stays mostly under 170) so I’m not too terribly worried about him getting a few higher-carb treats here and there, but I’d love some more low-carb options to spoil my baby! Thanks!

tldr; What’s your diabetic cat’s favorite low-carb non-raw treats?

I adopted my 15 year old boy Charlie from the shelter last August. They considered him to be a hospice cat due to his older age and his laundry list of medical issues (FIV, hyperthyroid, asthma, allergies), so I adopted him knowing that he likely wouldn’t live many more years. Over the past 10 months or so, he’s slowly developed more medical problems (feline herpes, IBD, diabetes). He will be turning 16 in September, and frankly I’d be surprised if he made it to 17. He’s still comfortable with the help of medication and his vet doesn’t think it’s time to make that difficult decision yet, but lately I’ve been struggling a lot with the idea that he lived so much life before me.

According to the shelter, he bounced around rescues, shelters, and foster homes for 10 whole years before I adopted him, and they think he was a stray for a bit before then as well. I’m so glad that I am able to provide him a forever home for however long he has left with me, but it kills me to think that he spent so much of his life without one and that I wasn’t there to spoil him and love him.

This is such a silly thing to get upset over, but I just get really sad when I think about it. I’m grateful for the time I’ve had with him, I just wish I could’ve had him for more of his life. Has anyone dealt with similar feelings? I feel like it’s partly some anticipatory grief too, he is the first pet that I adopted after moving into my own place and I just adore him. He’s my universe. Besides spending time with him and living in the moment, is there anything I can do to help address this feeling? Any advice or comfort would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hi everyone! I was wondering if anyone has had any luck with waterless shampoos or wipes for a greasy coat? My 15 year old boy Charlie has had a sort of greasy looking coat since I adopted him almost a year ago. He’s had tons of bloodwork and checkups since then and there doesn’t seem to be any medical reason for why his coat looks like this (he does have hyperthyroidism but his T4 numbers are looking great with the help of his daily meds). I recently found out that he has some arthritis in his spine, and with his older age I was wondering if maybe he can’t or just isn’t grooming himself as much as he should be. I’ve seen some waterless shampoos and wipes at the pet store so I was wondering if that might be worth trying? Any specific types or brands? I’d like to avoid a full bath if possible, I don’t want to stress the old man out lol. Any advice is appreciated! Thank you!

This is sort of a diabetes-adjacent question, but has anyone seen this sort of bruising under hair growing in post-Libre monitor? It seems to be only under this little chunk of hair that’s been growing in, I believe it was shaved about 1-2 months ago. He did have multiple sensors in quick succession on this patch of skin so maybe it’s just irritation, but I figured it’s been long enough that that wouldn’t be the case. It’s hard to tell but I think it looks more like a bruise than a rash, I sent some photos to my vet friend and they told me to just keep an eye on it for now to see if it improves in the coming days. My cat lets me touch the area and move the hair around so I don’t think it’s painful, and my cat seems perfectly fine behavior-wise. I also do my cat’s injections around 1-2 inches away from this spot, could that be causing this irritation? I figured it could be some lingering irritation or maybe the hair growing back is a bit itchy, causing him to scratch and maybe bruise himself. He’s been a little itchy but nothing I considered out of the ordinary until I saw this. Anyone have something similar happen to their cat?

Hi everyone! I’m looking for some more enrichment for my 15 year old boy Charlie. He unfortunately isn’t too big of a fan of regular toys, but he’s very food motivated so most of his “playtime” is just using puzzle feeders. We have this one in the picture as well as a foraging mat, but he likes this puzzle the best. However, because he’s (almost) toothless, he struggles a bit getting the treats and dry kibble out of the small compartments. He still likes eating some dry food so that’s not the issue, it’s just having to lick the food out of the puzzle that makes it a bit difficult. Are there any puzzles that are more toothless-friendly? I’ve been thinking about trying lickmats for some more enrichment so any recommendations along that route would be appreciated as well! Thanks!

TLDR; 15 year old cat vomiting clear liquid once a day but all the usual chronic vomiting causes seem to be ruled out (prone to pancreatitis / IBD flare ups but is treated with prednisolone, hyperthyroidism is controlled, kidneys look great, intestinal ultrasound looks normal)

Hi! My 15 year old boy Charlie has been dealing with some chronic vomiting and the vets can’t figure out why. I just adopted him this past August and he’s always been a little “pukey”, but that was mostly solved by spreading his meals out so that he doesn’t get too hungry during the night. He dealt with a pancreatitis flare up a few months ago and was pretty nauseous during that time (not really vomity, just not eating a lot). This behavior was controlled by cerenia/zofran, but those meds are expensive so I’d like to get this figured out.

He has been vomiting a clear liquid (almost like a thick water) almost every day between 9 am and 5 pm for the past 1-2 weeks, usually a couple hours after eating. Being a hospice cat, he is always at the vet lol and at his last intermal med visit his intestinal ultrasound looked great! He’s on 7.5 mg prednisolone daily for chronic pancreatitis/IBD. We also just did bloodwork and his hyperthyroid is still controlled by his medication and his kidneys look great. We were prescribed Omeprazole once a day and that stopped his vomiting for a week but it unfortunately started back up about a week ago. The vet gave the go ahead to go up to twice a day which we started today, but he still got sick around dinner time.

I feel like all the usual suspects for chronic vomiting (kidney disease, hyperthyroid, pancreatitis, IBD) can be ruled out for him, so I’m wondering if anyone has experience with other stuff causing vomiting? We did somewhat recently (within the last month) transition his kibble from Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Stomach to Dr Elsey’s cleanprotein chicken dry food. I’m hoping it’s not a problem with the food though because his diabetes is much more controlled with this lower-carb food. He could also just need more time to get used to it if it is the new food maybe? I also figured if it is the food, I assume there’d be more food present in his vomit? I’m also wondering if maybe he needs his meals even more spaced out? He gets a can of wet food for breakfast and a can for dinner then a little kibble at 2 am, 5 am, 11 am, 3:30 pm, 7:30 pm, and 9:30 pm with an automatic feeder. I’m not sure how much more spread out we can do lol! Could it also maybe be a hairball that he can’t get out? I figure it wouldn’t take this many vomits to get it out though.

His vets frankly aren’t too worried about this (it definitely isn’t as high of a priority as some of the other things he has battled recently) but I’d of course like to keep him as comfortable as possible. Luckily he still has a great appetite and good energy so he doesn’t seem to affected by it. He has a lot going on medically-speaking so I realize that it could be a number of things causing this, but if anyone has any ideas, even some “weird” suggestions please let me know! I’m willing to try anything lol!

Hi! My 15 year old boy Charlie was recently diagnosed with diabetes close to 2 months ago. Unfortunately he needs his steroid for chronic pancreatitis, so we’re pretty much just letting him be diabetic. Suffice it to say I need to get comfortable with home testing lol.

We were mostly using Libre sensors for the first month or so while adjusting his diet and everything to see what dosage kept him stable, but Charlie didn’t love those and they fell off pretty easily. I’ve transitioned to at home testing with an AlphaTrak 3 device loaned to me from his internal med vet.

I have 28 gauge lancets that I’ve been using (freehand, no device) and I feel like my cat is turning into a pincushion. I can usually get a drop of blood but sometimes I have to prick a few times since I struggle and hesitate with how deep I should go. He flinches a lot so it must be pretty uncomfortable, and tonight he was actually meowing a bit trying to get me to stop, which broke my heart. He gets treats after and I try to stick to the outside edge of the ear in the “sweet spot”, but I can’t seem to make this a more comfortable experience, which would be great especially since I’ll need to test him 3-4 times a day for the next week or two. Would a lancet device work better? Different gauge needles? Just more time and practice? Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

Hi! My cat Charlie is 15 years young and has unfortunately lost quite a lot of his muscle definition over time due to his age and long term steroid use for a chronic condition. He’s at a good weight for his size but he’s quite bony, especially along his spine. Because of this, I’ve been looking for a good brush that isn’t too rough or “hard” if that makes sense. I have a few options now that I rotate through, specifically a slicker brush with the rounded tips and a few different curry brushes. When using those, I keep to either side of his spine and brush lightly, but I still worry that it could be uncomfortable for him. I thought one of those grooming gloves might work since they look really soft and flexible but I’m curious if there are other styles that might work better. Does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks from Charlie and I!