Dry Food Suggestions

Hello Everyone, I'm asking for a friend with 1 cat that is diabetic. She has 4 cats total and does not have the funds to feed them all wet food. She is currently feeding her diabetic cat wet food during feedings but she allows her other cats to free feed. So we're trying to find a dry food that isn't horrible and is the same brand to affordable wet food so on the chances that her diabetic eats from the kibble bowl it won't throw off her numbers horribly. Currently, she is feeding special kitty indoor kibble and Friskies flaked tuna & Egg wet food.

Thanks for the advice

 

The only low carb dry foods are not cheap. Young Again Zero and Zero Mature have only trace carbs but have been known to cause runny poop for some cats. You have to buy those from the company's website: https://www.youngagainpetfood.com
Dr Elsey's Clean Protein is almost 5% carbs. You can buy it at Chewy.com.

 

Hi. I have 4 cats, 1 is diabetic. I use Dr Elsey's Clean Protein Chicken dry kibble. My diabetic cat does not have access to it; he is strictly fed canned Friskies Pate. Unfortunately, none of the cats liked Dr Elsey's canned food. Yes it is very expensive but it seems to last a long time. The 6.6 pound bag lasts about 5 weeks or longer. I suspect the cats do not eat as much because of the high quality ingredients. High level of fat and protein fills them up better. Their coats look good and weights are stable. Good, non stinky poops daily. The 3 non diabetic cats also get 1/3 can Friskies Pate daily for the extra water.

May I suggest she switch to Friskies Classic Pate. The one she is feeding has soy flour and wheat gluten which can increase carb count. Avoid those ingredients.

 

IMHO: this dry kibble is crap as are most dry kibble from my reading and research. See Dr Lisa's information on cat food. 2nd and 3rd ingredients are ground whole corn and ground whole wheat; therefore this is probably very high carb.


https://www.walmart.com/ip/Special-Kitty-Complete-Nutrition-Formula-Dry-Cat-Food-16-Lb/16935735

 

This is high quality dry food and does not contain wheat or grains - Nature's Logic Dry Food - too many carbs for a diabetic cat though.

 

This looks to be inexpensive and Possibly lower carb. The only questionable ingredient I see is Wheat Middlings; no clue what that is! Unfortunately, only the tuna product shows a list of ingredients. Your friend may want to email Special Kitty and ask for the carbohydrate count of their Pate wet foods.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Special-...at-Food-Variety-Pack-13-oz-12-Count/183095593

May I also suggest she/you calculate the cost of feeding canned to ALL the cats vs using dry Kibble from Dr Elsey.

This is what I use (below). It is unfortunate that it includes rice but the carb count is still low. So your Special Kitty canned maybe OK. Best bet is to question the manufacturer.


https://www.walmart.com/ip/Purina-F...Cat-Food-Variety-Pack-32-5-5-oz-Cans/39263624

 

Wheat Middlings, interesting!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_middlings

Can you tell I enjoy researching Cat food!!

 

http://my.execpc.com/~geezer/catfood.htm Just came across this page. May help you; I don't know who wrote the page, or where they obtained the info (from manufacturer??).

 

I tried so many dry foods with Lilly and really paid attention to the carbs. Her BG levels did not become under control until I finally switched her to either Friskies Classic Pate or Tiki Cat - the ones with the lowest of zero carbs. Now, she is really doing well. I didn't have success with dry food even though I tried about 8 different kinds.

 

Every Cat is Different - ECID - my kitty didn't do well at all on zero carb food - yours may - but some cats need 2 or 3 or 4% carbs to do better. Again, your experience may be different.

 

Yes, of course. And Lilly doesn't eat only the zero carb Tiki Cat, she also has the Friskies Pate which usually has 5 or less depending on the one. So she gets some carbs for sure. She just never did well on the dry foods. I see that there are some that have very low carbs though.

 

The kind she is feeding is listed on the food chart as 6% carbs which is acceptable for our diabetic kitty's. I feed the pates as well but my boy much prefers the flaked/roasted/chunky which all have a good variety and are under 10% carbs. Actually that's all I bought this week because he was starting to turn his nose up to all the pates.

 

Dry Food Dr Elsey--IMHO best dry on the market