Question about Tilly - peeing a lot and drinking more but acting normal?

[Nomilynn]

Ok all my animal loving friends.. Tilly is drinking more and peeing more than usual, but is acting and eating totally normal. She does not seem to be dehydrated at all (her skin isn't tenting, her nose is moist, her eyes look good and her gums look good and perfect capillary refill). Her teeth look good and her breath doesn't stink (she had a dental 2 years ago) so I don't think she has any mouth pain. I have a dish near the litterboxes so if it's possible to catch urine midstream I will, but does anyone have any ideas? I can't tell if she's lost weight but it doesn't seem so. I think I'm just being paranoid now about it..

[tokolosh]

Ok all my animal loving friends.. Tilly is drinking more and peeing more than usual, but is acting and eating totally normal. She does not seem to be dehydrated at all (her skin isn't tenting, her nose is moist, her eyes look good and her gums look good and perfect capillary refill). Her teeth look good and her breath doesn't stink (she had a dental 2 years ago) so I don't think she has any mouth pain. I have a dish near the litterboxes so if it's possible to catch urine midstream I will, but does anyone have any ideas? I can't tell if she's lost weight but it doesn't seem so. I think I'm just being paranoid now about it..

Please have a vet check her. Limpet's kidney failure started with exactly this, but I didn't put it together because she seemed so perfectly fine and full of beans - and then suddenly she wasn't at all. CRF is very common in older cats and they can do simple bloodwork to rule it out.

Go you for catching it - whatever it is - and not blowing it off. If she's fine, you'll have the peace of knowing she's fine. If she does need care of some kind, she'll get it.

Good luck. Let us know.

[mathteach]

Please have your kitty checked ASAP. It could be nothing, but if it is you want to catch it early. We waited too long with Princess.

[smokey the elder]

Two things come immediately to mind: renal failure and diabetes. Both of these can be detected very easily with blood work from the vet. Good luck!

[kuhio98]

Yep, diabetes comes to mind. Very manageable if that's what it turns out to be. Please make an appointment with the vet and keep us posted on sweet Tilly.

[Nomilynn]

Thanks everyone. I called the vet today and explained what was going on, and I've made an appointment for her tomorrow after work for a geriatric blood and urine panel. If anything, it will be for my own peace of mind, because I have holidays planned for the end of August and I want to make sure that everything is ok before I go. If I do need to change my plans, I will have enough time to make that decision.

I also wanted to say that she's not making more trips to the box than usual, it's just the volume that's changed, which I found interesting. It could be something as simple as she's hot in the apartment during the day, but I want to be totally sure before I feel confident to go away for a week. I will keep you all posted about our trip to the vet tomorrow (I am anticipating it being a challenge) and then when I can expect to get the blood work back. I'm hoping to be able to free catch her urine to save her the trauma of having her bladder aspirated but I know that's a possibility as well - keep your paws crossed that she will let me :)

[Karen]

Good luck both with trying to catch that pee, and with getting her to the vet. It's sad there is no explaining to a cat, "listen, this is for your own good, and you'll feel better after it is all over, I promise!"

[Barbara]

I am also thinking renal failure- but in an early stage. And if it is - Filou lived 5 happy years after it was diagnosed. Good Luck for the vet appointment.

[phesina]

One way you might be able to capture some urine from her without having to outrage/traumatize her: Put some fish gravel in a litter box and shut her in a room with it, along with some food she loves and lots of water.

When (if?) she does go in the box, the gravel won't absorb the pee like litter does. You just pour it off into a little jar or suck it up into a syringe or such.

[Medusa]

If you can't manage to get some urine from Tilly, ask your vet for the stuff that looks like black rice that's especially for that purpose. In the meantime, we'll be praying for her and you. :)

[tokolosh]

I also wanted to say that she's not making more trips to the box than usual, it's just the volume that's changed, which I found interesting.

The purpose of kidneys is to concentrate your urine and recover some of the water in your system so it can be used for other things. When your kidneys aren't working as well as they could, that water recovery isn't as efficient as it used to be, so you pee out more of what you take in. Then you have to drink more just to keep up with your system's needs, and so on. That's why subq fluids can be so helpful for kidney cats.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I hope that whatever is causing this can be easily treated. My Storm started drinking a lot and he also makes large pee biscuits but he's on prednisolone which will cause this to happen. I e-mailed my vet about him drinking a lot more than usual and she said that as long as he wasn't loosing weight then I shouldn't be too concerned. He was loosing weight and I didn't even notice.:( It turned out that he has hyperthyroidism. He's now on pills for this and is doing very well. I hope that everything will go well tomorrow. Lots of prayers and positive thoughts are being sent Tilly's way.

[TommyCat]

Hi, about a year and a half ago, my kitty had the same symptoms. A trip to the Vet with a senior bloodpanel and urinalysis confirmed a diagnosis of diabetes melllitus. She is on Lantus insulin and doing very well. I check her blood glucose daily. With the difficulty getting a urine sample, what about having the Vet do a cystocentesis, a procedure in which an uncontaminated urine specimen is removed from the urinary bladder using a needle.
Good luck today at the Vet.

[Nomilynn]

We just got home from the vet, and Tilly is doing well. He thinks it's most likely Type 2 diabetes because she is overweight, but after the blood work and urinalysis we will know more. The vet will call me tomorrow morning and go over the results and I will post an update then.

Please keep us in your prayers. Thanks <3

[krazyaboutkatz]

Prayers and positive thoughts are being sent to both of you.

[Nomilynn]

Tilly has diabetes. I will be going to the vet this afternoon to discuss what I have to do to manage it. I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed at the moment, but I will know more after I speak with the vet. :(

[phesina]

Prayers and good wishes are being sent for you and Tilly.

:love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love:

[Freedom]

Check this thread, and my post, #4, has lots of info and support for you.

http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?t=143288&highlight=diabetes+forum+support

[Cataholic]

Its manageable, Naomi, hang in there, both of you!

[Nomilynn]

I went to the vet this afternoon and had an hour consult with the vet. He's really awesome. Tilly will be on 1 unit of insulin 2 times a day. She also really likes the new food that the vet wants her on. Luckily I can feed both Tilly and Nutmeg the same food. Nutmeg didn't eat all her serving though, which may be an issue because Nutmeg really misbehaves when she's hungry. I'm hoping that when she realizes that when she doesn't eat it she can't go back to it she will eat all her food at one time, but time will tell. So we are managing for the moment, and I'm trying not to be totally overwhelmed and stressed about it all. Thanks for all your prayers.

[Moesha]

My Morgan had diabetes. At first, I was overwhelmed. Partly because I had just had to say goodbye to a kitty with congestive heart failure. Morgan started with 10 units once a day and then went to 5 units twice a day. I changed his diet and for awhile he was on Purina DM and then I switched him to a grain free cat food. He'd also get a spoonful of canned food before he got his shots. If I forgot, he'd come and get me. He really wanted that canned food and didn't mind his shots at all. But with the change in diet and being very strict about what he ate, I was actually able to ween him off of the insulin completely. It took about 6 months though. We'd get his blood checked every 2 weeks and the vet kept reducing his insulin by 1 unit for each dosage. I know that is not the normal thing that happens, but it can. We were proof of that. But the main point of sharing this was to let you know that while it is stressful and overwhelming at the beginning, it is very manageable and we usually have more problem accepting it than our furkid. Make sure you have some Karo syrup on hand though just in case.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'm sorry to hear that Tilly has diabetes:( but at least now you know what you're dealing with. I hope that you'll be able to keep it under control. Prayers and positive thoughts are being sent your way.

[TommyCat]

So sorry Tilly has diabetes; it is manageable and not a death sentence. It's a shock at first though, as I understand. Is Tilly on Lantus insulin? Maggie has been on Lantus a year and a half. Here is a good website if you want to learn more about feline diabetes. Just click on the topic diabetes. Prayers and good thoughts for you and Tilly.

www.catinfo.org

[smokey the elder]

There are a couple good web sites: www.felinediabetes.com and www.mycathasdiabetes.com.

Cats can go into remission; I've seen it happen, and there are loads of examples on felinediabetes.com. There's a diabetic in our rescue. It's interesting how different vets manage it. He's on Humulin, which is kind of surprising, but is doing well.

Good luck with Tilly!

[Nomilynn]

Thanks everyone. She is on Caninsulin, and is getting 1 unit 2x a day to start with. She's on Hills m/d because the vet wants her weight to come down to about 12 pounds (she's 14 right now).

I fed her last night and she loved the new food. I left out some of her old food too because I didn't want to shock her system, but then around 2:30am she threw up all her dinner :( I didn't offer her any more food because I wasn't sure what to do, but I stayed up for over an hour, just watching to see if she had a low blood sugar. She fell asleep long before me.

This morning she wanted her breakfast, but right after eating went to lay down and sleep, and I wondered if it was upsetting her tummy a bit. This food is higher in protein than what she's used to, and so I'm wondering if it's just a bit of an ajustment we need to make. The vet called this morning just to check in and I told him what happened, and asked if I could give her Pepcid A/C to try and settle her stomach and he said that would be fine. So, if she throws up her breakfast I will go to the drug store tonight and get her some Pepcid and see if that helps. Nutmeg, by the way, loved the new food and had no problems with it. The vet said that Nutmeg should also get her weight down because we don't want her to develop any health issues, so they are both on kitty diets right now. Once things are stable and they are at an appropriate weight, they will likely be switched to a senior food that is meant to maintain kidney health, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

She's had 2 shots so far and has been so good. She didn't even flinch or whimper. She just sat there and let me do it and then got down and gave herself a bath :)

[kuhio98]

Cats can go into remission; I've seen it happen, and there are loads of examples on felinediabetes.com. Good luck with Tilly!

Yes, I've seen this happen also. Jetsie (my Mom's cat) started off on a large injection once a day. After a few months, the dossage was cut in half. She did well for a year and then went into remission. Kitties are amazingly resiliant!

[Nomilynn]

Good news! Tilly didn't throw up her breakfast. I'm taking this as a really good sign :) Fingers and paws crossed that dinner stays down. I think I will get the Pepcid anyway, just in case, becauseit can't hurt to have it in the house.

Thanks for all the kind thoughts :)

[tokolosh]

Fingers and paws crossed that dinner stays down.

All the way up to the elbows for you :)

Finding out your cat has something chronic and scary like this is a real shock. And you got on it so fast you didn't even have time to adjust to the symptoms she was showing, by the sounds of it. It's a real blessing that she likes the new food though, even if it does sound like she's got some adjusting to do. The stuff they gave me for kidney cats was so repulsive I got the heaves opening the cans, never mind mashing the blocker powder into it - and Limpet wouldn't touch it at all. It looked like pseudo-chicken jellied in snot, and I ended up giving the whole half-case I'd bought to the SPCA. I hope some cat got the benefit of it.

Tilly sounds like she's being just about the best a cat could possibly be about all of this. She must be a real sweetheart ;)

[TommyCat]

Hi,
Has your Vet mentioned home testing where you test her blood glucose before shooting the insulin. Someone mentioned www.felinediabetes.com website, which is an excellent site where you can learn a lot about her diabetes.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I've read that high protein diets are the best for diabetic cats and that canned food would be much better than dry because it has more protein in it and less carbs. Hopefully she'll continue to do well on the new food. Some cats will eat canned food too fast so then this causes them to throw it back up. My RB Sunny would do this so I had to mix his with some dry food and the problem was solved.

I also hope that you'll be able to get their weights down. I know how hard this can be when they act hungry all of the time. My Ziggy Stardust is a little over 14lbs but she is a very large cat. Last year she was 15.9lbs which is too heavy. My vet told me that she had to go on a diet. I had to feed her smaller portions of dry food and she was able to lose some weight.

I've found that by feeding cats several smaller portions, that his helps to keep them satisfied. I feed Storm, Sky, Pearl, & Ziggy Stardust a high protein dry and canned diet. They get no more than a 1/2 cup of Wellness Core dry and Storm & Ziggy eat about 1/2 of a can of Wellness grain free a day. Sky & Pearl only eat about 1/4 of a can a day. I feed them 2 small portions in the morning and 2 small portions in the evening.

Alani & Blaze didn't do well on Wellness Core because they need more fiber so they're on Chicken Soup For The Cat Lovers Soul Light Formula dry. They get some canned a few times a week because they can't handle it every day. Good luck with everything.:)

[Nomilynn]

Thanks everyone for all the support. Tilly is still doing well. She is eating the food and still sitting still for her shots, although she has figured out that food = a poke :( But I think she gets it's for her own good because she just looks at me with sad eyes but does let me do it. Tonight she even played a bit and used her scratching posts and ran around with Nutmeg. :)

Thanks again, I will keep you posted on her progress. Her next blood work is Sept. 7.

[ramanth]

Glad to hear she's doing well! :)