Commercial dry cat food high protein/ low carb for cats with diabetes

Hi I just went to my vet today and awaiting blood work and urine tests. Most likely my cat has diabetes. Right now he is on Iams Dry cat food Pro Active HealtyH Choice Chicken Flavor. My vet said he can stay on what he is eating now and will discuss it when the blood work comes back. He does not eat wet food at all. I was wondering what some of you give your cats who have diabetes that will only eat dry food. From what I read it should be high protein and low carbs. I wrote Iams and asked them how many carbs there are in what I feed him. I also see they make the same one in salmon and tuna. Thanks so much

 

Hi Mamakin, and welcome! While there are a couple of dry foods that are low enough in carbs, no dry food is really okay for a cat. And believe me, I understand where you are coming from. My cat didn't even recognize that wet food was food. He would scarcely even smell it let alone taste it. Getting him off of dry food and onto wet food was a long process, although in the end I could look back and say it was probably harder on me than it was on him. This website has some great information about feline nutrition, and some great tips for helping a cat to transition off of the crunchy stuff.

https://catinfo.org/docs/TipsForTransitioning1-14-11.pdf


https://catinfo.org

The thing is that even though you can get dry food that's low enough in carbs, the dry part of the dry food is hard on the rest of their systems: kidneys, skin, urinary tract, etc. It's okay for the transition to take awhile. If you decide you want to, you'll get there eventually. We have lots of tricks to help along the way too.

I really hope your kitty doesn't have diabetes! If he does though, please come back and let us know which type of insulin he'll be using. We have so much great information here, and lots and lots of support for you!

 

Thank you so very much, I will read about transitioning to wet. I will keep you updated. Thanks so much

 

Oh goodness! I just realized I typed all of that and didn't answer your question: Young Again Zero and Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein are the two that are low enough in carbs. Of those two I have heard more favorable things about the quality of Dr. Elsey's. Young Again gives lots of cats bad diarrhea.

Personally I would recommend that you skip both of those and use a dehydrated raw food like Vital Essentials or Primal. Then slowly start adding more and more water until your kitty is on wet food.

 

You said he doesn't eat wet food at all - have you tried recently? Which brands, how much, how - dry/wet mix, wet only..?

Just remember, if you do Zero or Dr. Elsey - you'll need to do it SLOWLY, to transition. Not quick.. slow. While you're doing that or before, try transitioning to wet. Go SLOW - this won't be fast. Mine took almost a MONTH, and even then that was considered "wild". You can do this, tell us about your baby and we can help you.

 

Hi no I haven't tried recently to give wet food. I'll give it a try with what you suggested. Thanks again

 

Oh bless, it's the best thing for them whether they're diabetic or not! Dry food is NO good for them, too high in carbs which can cause the body problems - diabetes, kidney issues, immune issues, constipation, etc. Wet food is the best - I wish I would've done this SO much sooner.

If you need help, we'll help you - don't worry. It'll take time, maybe lots of time.. the one thing diabetic cat parent's need, in abundance I've found since my own diagnosis is PATIENCE. Do NOT take no for an answer - they may be cats, but think of them like kids. "I won't eat my veggies! I won't eat this, or that, or anything!" You wouldn't abide by that would you?

Same with us... it takes time, which is stressful, frustrating, but ultimately.. you can DO THIS. I did!!!

I thought I'd be royally screwed but, it worked out so far!

Commit to your baby(ies), yourself, and to us.. and we'll always help you. Step 1 though is making sure they EAT - if all they're used to is dry, keep feeding them (with extra water) - but work with us to transition, to a better dry to wet, etc. Okay? I trust about as well as a troll, but I put myself in this websites hands and they have me doing things I didn't think I could do - starting to TRY and test my baby, not giving up, reminding me always why I'm here... I wouldn't trade it for anything, even if I suck at testing still, thus far.

Give yourself over to this website and I swear to you, you'll help not only your baby(ies) but yourself.

Welcome to Feline Diabetes.Com!!!!

 

Welcome!

Both Young Again and Dr. Elsey’s will send you some samples to try. Just go on their websites and look for their contact pages. My baby is a confirmed dry food addict but used to eating a small amount of wet. I tried converting him over to all wet and fed him that for two months. No dry. He’s experienced hairballs and constipation that he never had when he ate both wet and dry. The wet has less fiber than the dry. He loves Dr. Elsey’s clean Protein Chicken. I’m waiting on a delivery now and will start adding dry back into his diet. I also want to try some of the other things members here do for their kitties such as homemade bone broth, chicken breasts, gizzards and whatever else might seem good to a cat. Doesn’t hurt to have lots of options, tools and tricks. The Diabetes road is a long and difficult one. Keep coming back here for advice and support.

 

My cats (both the diabetic and the non diabetic) used to just eat dry food. I switched them to all wet after Mitsy was diagnosed, but I also use Dr. Elseys Clean Protein Chicken dry just as an option on the side since it is diabetic friendly. So they mainly free feed wet, but if they run out while I'm at work they have the dry option.

 

Hi. Here is another post you may want to read: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...r-more-than-just-carbohydrate-content.175004/

The transition to wet food can be hard and take a long time, but it is the best thing to do. For SEVERAL months, Mia would not touch the wet food unless I put a few dry kibbles on top of it. Sometimes, I would crush them so that less kibbles would cover more of the surface area of the food. I initially used Young Again Zero Mature but then I got a bag of it that caused very stinky, runny poop (which others have also complained of), so I switched to Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein chicken. Now, I use a few kibbles for Mia's testing treat when she wants one (which is maybe half of the times I test her these days), and that is all she gets. I add homemade chicken bone broth to my girls wet food as well as water, and I microwave it few seconds. I use PureBites freeze dried chicken as a wet food topper. I think it is really a texture thing. After so many years of dry food being what food was for them, it seems that they think they should have a little crunch to their food.

 

For a few years, I need to give Murphy about a teaspoon of Wysong's Epigen 90 kibble before he'll eat wet. It is starch free and I've seen ~5% carb - it does not seem to impact his blood sugar as there is no difference between when he eats a bit and when he doesn't. (It has to be the Epigen 90, not the regular Epigen)

 

Thanks for the information

 

Thanks for the info, boy that Dr Enseys Clean Protein is so expensive

 

Thanks so much

 

Thanks for all your suggestions, My vet hasn't gotten back to me yet, most likely Monday with his blood work. What type of wet cat food can you suggest that I can buy in a store, not a prescription one. Does any one feed them fancy feast. Thanks

 

Do you put the Pure Bites freeze dried chicken on top of the wet food in order to get them to start eating the wet food

 

Willow starts eating without it, but after she eats some she likes me to add some PureBites, then she eats more. Mia does not eat the wet until I sprinkle the PureBites on top. She was the one whose food I had to put a few kibbles on for several months during the transition to wet food.

 

In my signature, there is a link to Dr. Pierson's food database. You can enter the desired criteria and filter the list. She recommends "start with protein minimum of 40, fat maximum of 50, carb max of 10, and for cats with kidney issues....phos less than 300."

 

Ok thank you very much.

 

True, it is expensive compared to the dry food you buy in the grocery store but you may be able to feed less than the carb heavy. It has been awhile since I bought food from the vet and when I did, their prescription food was expensive and too carb heavy to be good for a diabetic.

 

Well my cat does have diabetes. Started him on Vetsulin this Monday. How I noticed something was wrong was I noticed he was falling when trying to jump on the bed. Then I noticed he was walking funny. He was walking like a rabbit, meaning his back feet were completely flat when he walked. He was not walking on his back toes like he should be. His back feet were also slipping when he walked. Also the weight loss, he was eating like he was starving and peeing alot. As soon as my vet saw him walk in the office, she knew it was diabetes. Of course the blood work and urine confirmed it. I read this was definitely one of the signs. I asked her if he would start walking normal again and gain his strength back in his back end and she said he should once we got the sugar under control. Has this happened to anyone's cat. Did they regain their strength in their back legs once the sugar was in the normal range.

 

Yes, it's very common.....it's called diabetic neuropathy and your vet is right...the best thing you can do is get the blood glucose under control, but there's also something you can do to help.

It's called Zobaline for Cats....it's a special form of B-12 that helps repair the nerves. It takes time, but we've had a lot of cats do very well with it.

Here's a video that shows how far back they can come

 

Thank you so much, your cat that has diabetes looks exactly like my cat. I'm glad he's doing better. It's so sad to see them like this. Thank you so much for the information. Where did you buy it. Just found it on Amazon. Do you have to give them the other one first or can I just start on the zobaline. I was wondering if I couldn't get the pill down his throat and since he is still on dry food , he has never eaten wet food at all, he's 13 yrs old. I try to give it to him and he just won't eat it. I read the reviews on Amazon and some said they crushed it and mixed it with their wet food. I'm wondering if I crush it and then put some water in it, then put it in a syringe would that work. I'll talk to my vet about it.

 

Hi you had asked me what type of insulin my vet started him on, she gave him Vetsulin

 

You just crush it and add it to food (it's tasteless) or you could put it into a syringe if you wanted to....just easier to add to food.

Just FYI....in our posts, if you see something in blue, it's a hyperlink......Like in my original post where I said "Zobaline for cats" and it's in blue....if you click there, it would have taken you to Amazon.

 

Thank you

 

I'd like my baby on Zobaline but my vet keeps changing the damn subject, but I KNOW she needs it... *sigh* So far I have her constipation under control for now, her pancreatitis also.. she's not throwing up, she's playing again alone, with me, and with her brother.. she's grooming, etc. It's TIME I feel for it. How can I make my vet see?

God I still need help... even though she's doing so well, I wanna cry. At night, around 9pm when I snuggle down to go to sleep she comes up and snuggles me different then she ever did - in front of my stomach/chest, not a lot of room. I scoot back, plastered against the back of the couch and she...

Jesus, she just PURRS.. she goes with my pushes and pulls, she sniffs me, licks at me, nuzzles at me... makes me wanna cry she's so damn sweet! She sleeps with me, as close as she can get to my face - sometimes I wake up and we're damn near nose to nose and I'm hugging her so close I don't know how she breathes?

Her love and trust just.. shatters me.. it makes me love her SO much more, but at the same time... *shakes head*

My baby is fighting, how can I match her..? i'm starting to test, pushing her food intake, her water, encouraging her to play, etc.

Please, I'm sorry.. I'll do anything.

 

You don't need your vet's permission to use Zobaline

It's over the counter and available on Amazon

 

This article has good information about Kibble & how to gradually transition to wet food.

https://healthypets.mercola.com/sit...017/05/16/dry-food-diabetes-risk-in-cats.aspx

I hope it helps. Best of Luck