Just my experience with a diabetic kitty (who’s doing very well!) is to be very careful about what the vet recommends regarding special prescription food.
After my cat was diagnosed, the vet sent me home with a few different (expensive!) types of “diabetic” cat food, including a bag of dry food. Of course I immediately went online to do some research, and I found that certain types of CANNED Fancy Feast cat food were perfectly acceptable, and in some cases, BETTER, than the prescription diets.
Also, there is a lot of crap pet food out there masquerading as “premium, natural” food. My kitty had been on Natural Balance dry food (with a small bit of canned IAMS). Pretty much all dry cat food is full of ingredients that are not in the best interests of cats. Lots of grains, “vegetables”, etc. all add up to high carbs. IMO, most of those “premium, natural” pet foods are just marketing ploys. Both my cats are permanently off dry food.
In one week’s time, my cat’s glucose went down from 456 to 230 simply by changing his diet to the “safe” Fancy Feast canned varieties. I found this info on a Yahoo Diabetic Cat list group, and the food info was also discovered on a diabetic cat website and a couple of forums.
Initially diagosed the weekend before Christmas 2008, my vet suggested we wait until the week after Christmas to start the insulin. Since I got his glucose number reduced significantly, we’ve avoided the insulin thing, and kitty is still doing great on diet alone.
I also put him on a daily Vit B-12 pill (3 mg Methylcobalamin, crushed up in his food), plus a once weekly 400 IU Vit E capsule (punctured and squeezed over his food).
Not saying the internet is the end-all, be-all, for advice (nor to be used in lieu of what your vet recommends), but it certainly can be useful for researching what others have used successfully. It sure was the trick for me to find the solution to this same kitty’s “idiopathic cystitis” problem diagnosed in 2005 after nearly $1K in tests, diagnostics, treatments. My vet pretty much gave up, saying she had no idea what was causing it. I found a remedy online that had my little man comfy within 24 hours.
Interestingly enough, when researching feline diabetes, I read that steroid injections is suspected of bringing it on, and my cat had received several back in 2005 when the vet was (unsuccessfully) trying to treat his cystitis.
He has never been obese or even “fat”, and the vet was very surprised when that first blood test last Christmas turned up that high glucose reading. I had taken him in because he had become somewhat lethargic and was just NQR. Diet change, plus a couple of inexpensive supplements, and he’s back to being a mischievous ball of energy, even at 15 years of age.
