Ara from Florida

Hello everyone, and thank you in advance for any advice you may offer me. My name is Ara and my cat Garfield was diagnosed this Friday, November 4th with diabetes.

In May I left to Europe and was gone for 4 months, both cats were put on hypoallergenic prescription medication from royal canin. Upon my return, I noticed my boy was urinating more, and also drinking more.

I finally took him to the vet and his sugar levels were at 580, I have done a lot of reading, and a lot of people state that a change in diet could bring the cat into remission almost immediately. Both cats are now on Instinct raw, nature's variety grain free. They were on dry and wet food, but I have now stopped dry food as I have read that diabetic cats and all animals in general should not be on dry food.

I am a diabetic myself, so I home tested his glucose this morning and he has already gone down to 460, which is an improvement from where he was last week when he visited the vet.

My idea was to trial changing his diet for a week before going for insulin. Please give me your best advice, I feel helpless and terrible, and in a way, guilty. I think a mix of me leaving for so long and the royal canin triggered his diabetes, he was just fine before I left.

I would also like to mention that he is FIV+ but other than the diabetes, he is completely healthy and has been since I found him at just 8 weeks old, and he is now 9 years old.

Is my approach on changing his diet for a week before doing insulin a good idea?

Also, if adjusting his diet, how often do I feed him? they have both been free fed since they were small.

I work all day and leave my house at about 8am and do not come back till about 6 or 7pm. Which is why free feeding was so easy to do.

Please, please, help me! I am hurting just knowing my little boy has to go through this, I just want to make the best choice for him and make sure he is not hungry.

Again, thank you for your time, and any advise.

Regards,
Ara and Garfield <3

 

Welcome Ara! If you repost on the main health forum more people will see your questions. Include info about what insulin your vet is recommending. Some kitties can be regulated with a low carb wet food diet. It's good that you're trying that and have removed all dry food. We all understand how stressful this is but it's manageable and we can help.

 

Thank you so much, I will go ahead and do that.