3 cats, one just diagnosed with diabetes

I have 3 wonderful cats, a 15 year-old (Penny) who was just treated for thyroid and is too thin, and two 10-year old litter mates, one of whom (Lilly) was just diagnosed with diabetes. Her brother (Tiger) is healthy. I need to come up with food that they will all eat, since I can't separate them, and I need Penny to free-eat as much as she will (and I'm not home during the day). Lilly is going to the vet this week to determine her initial insulin treatment regimin. I bought lots of different grain-free foods to see what might work. As instructed by the vet, I tried EVO 95 and Wellness. Tiger was happy to eat the EVO 95, but didn't like Wellness. Penny and Lilly would not touch either one. Lilly and Penny seemed to like cat foods made by Tiki. These are grain free and mostly tuna and other sea foods. All 3 liked two grain free dry foods -- Orijen and BG Chicken. I know dry is not great, but they much prefer it and Orijen boasts winning awards from the Glycemic Research Institute. They also seem to like various canned foods by BFF. The Weruva also had some (but mixed) appeal. They are all grain-free but I can't tell from any of the labels what the carb contents are. Before Lilly got sick, they liked fancy feast cat food mostly, and whenever I tried to change, they would stop eating.

My questions are which of these foods are OK, and which aren't: Orijen dry, BG Chicken Dry, Tiki canned, BFF canned, Weruva canned, Wellness Core canned, Fromm Pate canned (e.g. duck & chicken pate). Are there any foods that taste like Fancy Feast? Or any Fancy Feast foods that are OK? I'd really appreciate any clues. I'm currently overwhelmed!

 

Others will be along but I wanted to jump in and comment on the dry foods.

NO dry foods.

There is a sweet kitty new to the board who came along eating dry foods and getting 21units of insulin twice a day. Suggestion was made to switch to wet foods that are low carb, but also lower the dose a bit because switching the foods will make a big difference, so he was given only 15units.

His BG number dropped to a very low number! So, the next shot, he was given only 7units. Same thing! He dropped again to a very low number!
You know what his dose is likely to be next?
Only 1 unit! And he may end being a DIET-CONTROLLED diabetic.

Food matters a great deal, so switching to low carb wet food may help your sweet Lily and the others to a healthier future that does NOT include insulin!

I am just on my way out, but there are sites with tons of info on foods and also a list of foods with the carb values.
You can get an auto feeder for Lily to balance out the foods she eats during the day and so keep her BG balanced as well.

Binky’s Food Lists
Petsafe 5-meal Auto Feeder
Feeding Your Cat: Know The Basics of Feline Nutrition


Welcome and good luck!

edit to add: yes, the fancy feast pate's are good and also friskies - see binky's list and pick some foods that are under 10% carbs.
Stay clear of the grilled ones and stuff with gravies and that's cholk full of carbs and Lily's bg with go throug the roof!

 

You're right - I don't see most of those foods on Janet & Binky's food charts.

I have not used Orijen or BG dry. When I do get dry food, I buy EVO Core which is 8% carbs or Blue Buffalo Wilderness which is 18% carbs. I give it as snacks and feed my two underweight kitties a bit more ~1/8 cup per day in addition to the canned food.

I give the Tiki (no grain) and BFF as snacks/treats and neither has made my two diabetic cats blood sugar go up. I'll split one BFF can or two small Tiki cans amongst my 5 cats on TOP of their Wellness to "jazz" it up a bit.

I have not used Weruva or Fromm.

There are a dozen or so flavors of Fancy Feast that are low carb -- see Janet & Binky's OLD CANNED FOOD chart for FF flavors, or there is a "Gluten Free FF" list posted somewhere.

Basically, the FF flavors that are "X Meat Feast" are ok -- (NO GRAVY!!! Avoid the "Grilled", "Sliced" and "Chunky" flavors as these all have high carb gravy) Read carefully, because some of the "X Meat Feast" are "X Meat Feast with Gravy" (I've had to return several CASES of FF over the years :lol: )

Since one of my cats has allergies, we get FF Chopped Grill, FF Turkey Feast, FF Chicken Feast. (we avoid beef and fish)

With 5 cats, we buy Wellness Chicken and Wellness Turkey in the 12.5oz cans.

So -- at the morning feed, we open up 2 big cans of Wellness and split into various bowls.

In the evening, I'll open 2 3oz cans (FF or Tiki) or 1 5.5oz can (BFF or Friskies) and mix some into the Wellness left from the morning.

All my cats are grazers and just free feed whenever they want.

 

I have 6 cats, one is diabetic. Mine eat Friskies canned foods. Most of the flavors are on Janet & Binky's list. Avoid the foods with gravy.