Nursing cat always hungry?

yurahae

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My cat recently gave birth a month ago to two kitties. Unfortunately, one didn’t survive. This is her second time being pregnant and giving birth. I noticed she’s excessively meowing, like she’s always hungry even after cleaning her bowl.

I usually mix kibble with wet food during their evening meals. But I ran out and haven’t been able to stock up since I was busy with work, so their diet became kibble only for a week. Then I noticed my mother cat drinking more water than usual. I didn’t mind it at that time but then days after, I noticed she didn’t finish her food that morning. I left it there but she didn’t touch it throughout the day. Evening came and I called my cats for dinner, but she stayed lying down like she’s not hungry despite not eating almost all day. Also noticed her feet was wet and floor was covered in pee, almost as if she couldn’t reach the litter box on time.

When I made her smell the kibble, she just walked away. I tried picking her up and she seemed weak. I noticed she stopped purring. Now I panicked and rushed her to the vet.

Vet did Cbc, bloodchem, and physical test. She said my cat was still responsive but seemed stressed when they tried to take her blood for sampling. Cbc results was not normal, vet said might be bacterial infection. Blood chem showed glucose was higher than normal. It was 213 mg/dL and normal count is 74-159. My cat vomited that morning and I explained her past behaviors to the vet (excessive thirst always drinking water, the peeing, etc.) and then vet said it’s suspected diabetes. (Panic!)

Although I read in some cases that glucose levels may rise when cats are stressed or infected with bacteria. Someone I tried asking about feline diabetes said my cat might just be stressed from the car trip to the vet since the glucose level was not astronomically high. (Her cat’s glucose level was 600mg/dL when he was diagnosed with feline diabetes)

Vet then gave me medications for vomiting, bacterial infection (vet said it was safe for the kitty bc she’s nursing), and recovery diet. Was given an option to confine her with IV but I said I’ll try to home care for her first. We will follow up to the vet next week if her glucose is still high.

When we got home, I gave her the meds for vomiting, waited 30mins before feeding her, and thank God she ate even if she didn’t finish the food, then gave her the antibiotic for bacterial infection. I left her food bowl bc she might decide to eat her unfinished meal later on.

Next morning I woke up to her meowing and noticed her food bowl was already empty. She’s hungry and seemed to be okay again. (Phew) Now I’m feeding her the recovery diet and boiled chicken mixed with squash. She seems to like it. Days went on and I noticed she stopped being so thirsty. Observed her behavior, and everything seems normal now. She pees normally now, doesn’t always goes to the litter box. But noticed her stool was watery at first, but after a while her stool became normal. Maybe it was a reaction of a recent change of diet.

Sorry this post is very long. I’m just very worried since she’s only 4yrs old and weighs 6lbs. She lost weight, she wasn’t obese before. I don’t know how it happened that she’s suspected of diabetes. I hope not :( Diabetic cats tend to have increased appetite and always hungry even after a meal, also excessive thirst. Her behavior is normal now, only thing not normal is her increased appetite. Or is that normal for a nursing cat? Also can you guys give me tips to take care of a mother cat. It’s my first time taking care of her after giving birth, since it was my mom (who’s now living overseas), the one who took care of her when she gave birth the first time. I was in university that time. I do feed her 3 times now after the trip to the vet bc I was feeding her normal cat meals before that sorry.
 

StefanZ

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What kibble / dry food did you use? Possibly you shall want to change this dry food into another brand? Or even, go over to wet food...

If she usually gets much wet food, but suddenly gets only dry food, of course her amoung of drinking water will be higher... :)

That said, there was also something else going on, with this peeing and high glucose... Why, dry food MAY cause high glucose in unlucky cases...
Its among this dry food isnt the optimal for cat healths... Causing also kidney problems...

4 years is young for full diabetes; but who knows?? If she were human, I would recommend a diet LCHF; low carbo, high fat... Which is btw essentially what cats naturally eats. Also, lotsa of exercise. so another reason to beware of dry foods, and especially cheap dry food with lotsa of carbo in them.

So, whatever you do. Much wet food; veterinary diet or commercial.... Goats milk is always a useful supplement. And possibly change of kibble; depending a little on the brand you use...

Mommas gets often higher appetite and thirst by obvious reason, but with just one living kitten, the difference shouldnt be that much.

So something is off; hopefully the sudden week of just dry food made her go over off her limits...
 

Sarthur2

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It does not sound like your cat is diabetic, but not eating and vomiting can lead to blood sugar issues that might mimic the condition. However, it does sound like your cat may have or have had a urinary tract infection, or as your vet said, some other bacterial infection which the antibiotics are treating.

A dry food only diet is not healthy for cats as they are carnivores and need meat. Dry food only can cause excessive thirst, as cats get much moisture from wet food. The change in diet clearly upset her gut when you ran out of wet cat food.,

And yes, a nursing cat can be very hungry, especially as the kitten gets bigger and needs more milk. Is the kitten eating wet food now too? It should be.

Also, it is time now to have your cat spayed so that she no longer breeds. The kitten needs spaying or neutering now as well.
 
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yurahae

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Sarthur2 Sarthur2
StefanZ StefanZ
Thank you for responding. 🙏🏼
I use Special Cat Urinary ever since I noticed my other female cat was straining to pee. When I switched her (my other cat) to this dry food, it cleared up after a week. My male cat used to have episodes of pee straining too so I kept him in that diet. I read Special Cat Urinary help keep the urinary tract healthy so I switched all four of them to this food.

My mother cat had incidents of pee straining the first time she mated with my tom cat. That was 1yr and 3 months+ ago. That time I gave her RC Urinary Care then it cleared up after a while and it didn’t reoccur again as far as I know.

And yes, I plan to keep her on a wet food diet for now until she gets better. What brands of dry food do you recommend? I’ll start looking up other brands too.

Hopefully it was just the dry food that caused this. There are no other symptoms at the moment that looks like diabetes except her increased appetite. Also can worms possibly cause this bacterial infection and hunger? Vet also suggested to do a fecal test when I rushed her but I refused bc her stool seemed normal at that time (plus my funds were running out lol) so I told the vet we’ll do the test next time I follow up.

I always make sure water is available for her. Also I wasn’t aware that mom cats usually eat 2-4 times a day, and I was only feeding her twice like a normal adult cat so I think this is why she lost weight and excessively meowing for food. 😭

And yes, the kitten is eating wet food now. I usually catch him drinking water on momma cat’s water bowl. Is that normal for a kitty? Though I observe the kitty’s pee since it’s always all over the floor & I’m still trying to teach him some litter training lol. The urine is clear and has no odor. Almost like it’s just warm water. So I think that’s a good sign?

That’s right. I plan to spay her once her condition gets better and probably when she’s not nursing the kitty anymore. I just got my tomcat recently neutered 2 months ago so no more breeding in this house. Since we have 3 female cats and 1 male. Also I noticed my tomcat still tries to mate a week ago. I just scared him off when I caught him but incidents like that rarely happen. I read there might still be residual sexual hormones left and it usually completely clears up after 90 days being neutered.
 
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