Amount of foods question for stabilized diabetic cat

Hello, this is my first time posting here! My 8 year old cat Pluto was diagnosed a little over 18 months ago. He was quite chunky before the diabetes, his heaviest was about 19 pounds. When he was undiagnosed, he got down to about 11 pounds and looked emaciated. Since then, his weight has kind of fluctuated between 13 and 17 pounds. He's one of those cats that gets fat on air, it seems. Right now, he's about 16 pounds and is looking pretty pudgy. I moved about 6 weeks ago and he did really well with the transition. However, he used to be indoor/outdoor and was out for at least a couple of hours every day. Now, he's primarily inside although he has been much more playful so I've been playing with him to get out some energy/give him exercise.

Originally, it took about 6 months to get him stabilized, but he's done really well on 3 units of Lantus twice a day. He's been on that dose for about 8 months now. He eats Purina Pro Plan diabetic management dry food - at my vets suggestion, I give him the amount for a 13 pound cat but it's split about evenly between him and his non-diabetic sister (and it seems like plenty for him). He also is supposed to get 3/4 a can of Royal Canin Glycobalance wet food (3 oz plan) but I recently cut that down to 1/2 a can because he's so chubby.

He doesn't seem to be starving all the time like he was before he was stabilized, but he definitely loves his food and begs leading up to meal times. Does this sound similar to what you all feed your cats? I'm afraid to cut his food too much without vet supervision because I'm worried the insulin will be too much. Thanks for any advice you have for us!

 

Most of us on here skip the expensive perscription food as it's often higher in carb and no better than grocery store foods. The diabetic dry food you is about 14-16 % carb.... Much too high for a diabetic which is probably what is keeping your cat on such a high dose. You want to feed low carb under 10%. Under 7 is even better.

Most of us feed fancy feast classic or Friskies pate foods. You will want to ditch the dry but before you do you'll want to start home testing as I'm willing to bet the blood glucose numbers will go to a better range and you will need to lower the insulin dose.

If you are willing I can write up a shopping list for you. I have a video in my signature showing how I test my cat CC at home.

 

Baby weighs 9 lbs. & eats most of her food early in the day. She loves being outside all day, & never sleeps much. Not like other cats I’ve had & I’ve had plenty! She sometimes comes in for a short afternoon nap...just some background in her activity. And she’s blind.
Unfortunately the vets recommend their prescription diets that aren’t the best in a diabetic cats diet. I feed more wet friskies, about 1 1/2 cans a day to my cat, then what I fed before when she grazed on dry food. With dry food I gave her about 2/3 can a day but of course the dry food it high carb. Luckily I fed her friskies pates & some shreds all of her life. Her food of choice. She eats about 5 meals a day. She is on a little over 1 unit of prozinc. Her bg is not always consistent but lower numbers throughout the day. I hope this helps.