choas at feeding time

I just wanted to say hello and let you know how appreciative I am in finding a group where I will be able to learn about this new diagnosis. As I see from others there is this learning curve which I am currently experiencing. I am surprised however as I am feeling somewhat angry with the behaviour my newly diagnosed diabetic cat is exhibiting. I also have two other cats (non diabetic) that I seem to be feeling the most compassion-sorry for. Fern is going stir crazy at meal times and will literally jump up and cling onto me with her claws as I carry her food into the laundry room for her to eat. I then have to find other closed off spots for the other two as I have two large dogs now smitten with the smell of this highly enticing food that has appeared,
Currently fancy feast Pate. I live in Nova Scotia Canada and yesterday picked up some Orijen kitten and cat food kibble. The cats have always been fed a dry food so switching to wet is a process for sure. With 3 cats and two hovering dogs I am feeling slightly overwhelmed.

 

Hi and welcome! It is chaotic at first, but soon you will figure out a routine that will work for you. I have 11 cats in the house that were used to being free fed kibble. It took me awhile and lots of mistakes to get a routine going. I now get up, test Colin's BG, then feed the wet food eaters in the kitchen and the kibble addicts get fed in a bedroom with the door closed so Colin can't sneak in & get any. At first cats were fighting and running around screaming and it was quite hectic (especially @5AM!) but now they know where to go and just sit in the area they are going to be fed. If you need some more suggestions, try posting on the Main Health Forum. That is also where you should ask any other questions you have as there are many more eyes there.

 

Hello and welcome to FDMB from a fellow Canadian in Ontario.

The feeding of our cats in a multi pet household can indeed be challenging. I have to play lunch room monitor with my 2 young ones because my extra sweet girl will push her little brother out of his dish and try to pilfer his food too. Separating them is sometimes the only way. The other option is auto feeders programmed for each pet using a microchip either imbedded or on a collar but that would be very expensive with several animals.

The Orijen Cat & Kibble while one of the lower carb dry foods available in Canada is still somewhere around 18-20% carbs which is too high for a diabetic cat. Ideally they should be fed a wet diet with no more than 10% carbs. That said, I have a kibble addicted cat with whom I still hold daily standoffs after 6yrs. (been trying to transition her since long before her diagnosis) so I sympathize with you completely.

The lowest carb dry foods available here are:

Go Fit & Free which is about 14% carbs
Nature's Variety Ultimate Protein at about 15%
Nature's Variety Instinct Raw Boost -about 15%
Tiki Cat Born Carnivore may be in the same range although I have not got the as fed values to check it yet.

The good news is that once Fern gets better regulated her hunger should calm down to a normal level. Diabetics cannot utilize the food they take in efficiently and therefore are hungry all the time and can get quite frantic for food. As her BG levels drop you should find that Fern's excessive excitement at the prospect of food will no longer result in an assault with her claws! You could also try feeding her main meal at shot times and a couple of snacks in between to try to keep her a little more satisfied. Just divide her daily food allowance up to spread it across 4 or 6 feedings giving larger portions before shots.

 

Hello and welcome. It can be frustrating to say the least. My 3 cats (1 diabetic) where on a schedule, however, when husband comes home (works out of state for 4 days) he messes everything up. Here is what works for us when husband is not here.

My diabetic cat must eat every 3 hrs around the clock and will eat anything.

1 cat only prefers 1 brand, one flavor of wet but is dry food addicted and only so far 2 brands.

1 cat prefers wet food, occasionally will eat kibble other leaves behind, prefers beef, occasional turkey/chicken. No novel protein whatsoever.

I put food down and stand there while they eat, all together. Dry food is only put down, guarded and pick up (except when hubby is home) switched the dry to EVO in case sugar kitty got to it. Civvie cat does not care for it, but that is what she gets. All wet food is low carb.

Feeder used during the night for sugar kitty, I put the wet food flavors the other two don't like (novel protein).

Never are they left unattended when eating so I can keep sugar kitty away from stealing. In my case I refused to feed in separate rooms, for me it's easier to stand with them for the 5-10 minutes. I get dishes washed or dinner prepped, make the shopping list.

 

Thank you all very much for the welcome, as well as tips and hints I know I will have questions as we go. The numbers for reading BG are different here. Fern is still high last reading 19.6 ( metric ) battery has just died in the glucometre. I will be doing a glucose curve testing this Monday. She is recieving 1 unit of insulin twice a day.
The list of dry kibble is much appreciated it can certainly be confusing enough and then find out one cannot get some of the foods suggested, but wonderful that I can find out what other Canadians are feeding. Cost is definitely a factor so I am feeding the FF pate at the moment.
I thought I was looking at a picture of fern when I saw smokey above under woodsywife how funny. I will figure how to get a pic up of her.
I gather that I will now post on the main forum but once again many thanks for the welcome.

 

Yes you can post on the Main Health forum and we'll be able to answer more specific questions there. In the meantime here is a list of some other Canadian foods (canned) that you can try for Fern. One of our fellow Canadians put this together, bless her heart!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...0KlRA2ZVTk_tYNVRaoG_3Dfy64/edit#gid=964479244

 

Wonderful thanks for this is makes life going forward much easier with some Canadian food options. I will return the Orijen and pick up some Go Fit and Free.

 

Would love to see Fern.

 

The other numbers are US scale of BG measure. It's what we used here before metric too. Not to worry, our spreadsheet automatically converts our readings into US scale so you can get assistance from everyone here when needed. In the meantime, to do the conversion, take your reading and multiply it by 18. To go from a US number to our scale simply divide by 18.

 

Fern in all her current miserable glory!

 

OMG! She is gorgeous. Is she a muted tortie by any chance? Such a soft kitten face!

 

Beeeauuuutiful. Does look like medium hair (?) muted tortie in this pic.

 

Thank you, fern is 12 years old and was born on my farm in PEI we have since moved to Nova Scotia this year. I have her mother too, Spook who is a little slate grey short hair. I don't know who ferns dad is but suspect it is my other cat who was newly rescued at the time and not neutered so it makes sense that he is the father. His name is Sinbad and he is a short haired tabby. My name is Judy and I look forward to keeping connected.

 

She could easily be she as she certainly has tortietude!
She has lost a lot of weight most of what you see here is hair she weighs 3.5 kg at the moment and I hope we can balance her out soon so she can return to her former lady of the manor self.

 

It's tough to figure out what mix strays are. Tux I think has Norwegian Forest in him. PJ I swear is part possum.

Yep Smokey was all fur.

 

She's very pretty!

 

Beautiful!