Food Switch for Diabetic Cat

[shiloh]

So Maysie the diabetic kitty is actually doing very well. However, she decided she hated the DM canned so I switched her to canned kitten food - she eats either chicken or turkey, because I don’t want a fish addict - and she likes it. She loves the dry DM but I hate the price. $40 for a 6 lb bag :eek::eek:

I was wondering if I could switch her over to dry kitten. Anybody had any luck with that? Or am I going to have to suck it up and keep spending the money? I mean, that on top of $50 a case twice a month for CD canned for my two boys and it starts to add up.

[Marshfield]

She really shouldn’t be eating any dry food at all. Diabetics should be on straight canned food.

[Blumeroo]

I second Marshfield. Dry food really isn’t for kitties…they need more moisture content and also dry food is often full of starches and sugars. My rescue kitty was diagnosed as diabetic a couple of years ago. I slowly transitioned him from dry to wet and now to raw. Raw isn’t cheap but he’s doing great and his insulin levels are in the perfect range now.

I would recommend sticking to a canned/wet food diet. Try to find a brand that the bulk of the ingredient list is meat and try to avoid the by-products, grains and starches. My cats like the Weruva, EVO and Wild Calling brands.

I feel your pain though as I have 3 kitties (1 diabetic) and they are all on a raw diet now. It does hit the pocketbook

[tbchick84]

Do you have Trader Joes out there? Canned food is only 59 to 79 cents per large can depending on the variety.

[shiloh]

The dry food I’m feeding now is for diabetic kitties (what vet recommended) but I figured that since she is eating canned kitten food (when she went off canned DM vet said this was okay) I was hoping that maybe I could switch to DRY kitten since it has more protein. She eats canned food twice a day and her “late night snack” is 1/4 cup dry DM.

I’m starting to change my mind, though after I saw her tucking into her DM so happily. I mean, literally with blissful smile and food falling out of her mouth. dork…g

[shiloh]

Blumeroo - I know - the cost $$$$ yikes! Diabetic PEOPLE cost less. We need a support group for our wallets - otherwise known as either winning the lottery or marrying a rich dude. lol

And TBchick - I LOOOOVVEEE Trader Joe. Sadly the nearest one is an hour drive from me.

[Angela_Freda]

My cat was Dx’d diabetic earlier this month.
My Vet wanted him on a food under 6% carb. and recommended canned, she sent me to Blinky, as well as the FDMBs.
I switched him from dry to Fancy Feast, as recommended on the Feline Diabetic Message Boards, and several Vet blogs that detail the content of cat foods.

My cats BG at the clinic at Dx was 419.
A week later when we went in to start him in insulin was in the mid 200s [I forget]
He had dropped that much JUST from diet change.

I ended up giving him a total of FOUR doses of Lantus, before his BG numbers fell below the 150 threshold.
I am supposed to do a BG curve this week, for 12 hours, to see if he peaks at any point now that he is on the diet and eating in moderation… but he has been doing fantastic.

Is you cat overweight? Mine gets a total of 3 3 oz cans of food daily, 1.5 cans twice a day.
He initially scarfed it all up in one sitting, now he eats about 1/2 then leaves the rest to finish later… ie he’s got himself on a grazing pattern rather than gorge/starve that could not be good for the BG either.

[Angela_Freda]

Out of curiosity I just looked up the DM,
[B]Calorie Content (Dry), fed
4118 kcal/kg
592 kcal/cup

And it says 18% carb for the dry food, no carb info on the can on the website[/B]

[shiloh]

Well, I suppose at the rate I’m giving her the dry food (1/4 cup once a day) it can’t hurt her. But I noticed no carb info on canned food, too. She eats Fancy Feast Kitten and Blue Wild Kitten. And if course she likes the expensive stuff…sigh

[CindyCRNA]

Vets push the dry crap, especially Science Diet , Blech! Like AF says, your best bet is Fancy Feast pate like chicken feast or beef feast but only pate. You could also do a freeze dried raw like Stella and Chewy’s.

[Angela_Freda]

@shiloh

Well, I suppose at the rate I’m giving her the dry food (1/4 cup once a day) it can’t hurt her. But I noticed no carb info on canned food, too. She eats Fancy Feast Kitten and Blue Wild Kitten. And if course she likes the expensive stuff…sigh

’

That dry food you are feeding is 148 cal of 18% carb though.
How much does she weigh and what is her max calories/day?

For my cat that would be more than half his total daily calories in that 1/4 cup.
Meow, my diabetic was getting 292 cal/day total, but we’ve scaled him back again since he’s not lost weight in the 2 weeks since he went into remission.
All his food is 3 or 4% carb., and I was told no more than 6% was recommended, though you see online it noted under 10% is recommended.

Oh the info is out there re analysis of foods:
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/CanFoodNew.html
http://www.felinediabetes.com/glutenfree.htm

Purina DM is 13% carb per this link:
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/CanFoodNew.html

[Marshfield]

@CindyCRNA

Vets push the dry crap, especially Science Diet , Blech! Like AF says, your best bet is Fancy Feast pate like chicken feast or beef feast but only pate. You could also do a freeze dried raw like Stella and Chewy’s.

Not all of us. I try to get as many of my patients as possible on wet food. My own haven’t had dry food for almost a decade. And I tell folks that Friskies is fine.

[shiloh]

Yeah, my vets really try to push the Science Diet but have found that I’m fairly resistant to their hype so they have given up. One thing I that annoys me is that that “Prescription Food” has NOTHING in it that actually requires a prescription/ So I figure that ‘s just a scam t get us to pay more. I actually got in a big ol’ argument with a vet over that and they absolutely would not back down. arrgghh…

AngelaFreda - I will go check out those pages you noted. Especially since she has decided she does not like the Fancy Feast Kitten Turkey flavor any more and I will only give her fish flavor as an occasional treat. I would do the “if you ain’t eating, you ain’t hungry” thing like I do with the other cats when they get picky but since she is diabetic I worry about setting her off again and she has been doing so very well.