EVO - no carbs - is this okay?

After reading good things about EVO, I located a store nearby and went out and bought a few cans of their chicken and turkey. It has zero carbs and now I'm not so sure if that's a good thing or not confused_cat , since Buffy's insulin dosage is based on some carbs - around 6-7 as far as I can tell from the list. She's now up to 2 units/twice daily. Are there any rules regarding this? I'm thinking maybe I should go slowly and give a very small amount along with her regular food, or maybe use it as a treat in between feeding? I'll be purchasing a meter tomorrow and she'll also be having her curves done next Wednesday at the vet, but last Wednesday's curves were at 300 (although she was under enormous stress).

 

All the EVO varieties are good to feed :smile:

I'm not sure if a zero carb only diet will have any effect on the cat's overall health. Probably not but I'd play it safe and mix up the diet with other low carb foods.

Some people feed their cats very low carb foods and see noticable good bg numbers but it also depends on the cat.

 

Thanks for your reply. I never thought twice about the carbs in Buffy's food and I regret that - if I'd only known. She loves gravy food and I thought it was okay. :sad:

There are so many factors to consider now, and I'm so afraid I'll make a decision that could hurt her, so I'm going to play it safe and call her vet on Monday.

 

zero carb food is ok for cats --

the normal diet for cats in the wild is mice and birds.

read www.catinfo.org for excellent Feline Nutrition information published by a veterinarian

 

If I thought she would eat it, I'd happily traipse out into the field and fetch a critter for her! I've seen lots of little brown mice and bunnies out there. :razz:

If I had known there was such a thing, I would have started her on the EVO last week, while she was on 1 unit twice/day and before she had her curves done. Her results may have been better. Anyway, her vet wants her below 7 carbs and wants her to lose weight, so I believe the zero carbs will be fine in the long run. I'm just concerned about how zero carbs might work with her insulin, especially now that she's been upped to 2 units twice/day. She's already eaten and had her dose, but she'll be hungry about 1:00, so I'm gonna try her on it then and see what she thinks.

Right now she's satisfied food-wise, but she's pestering me to do something for her. You just know she expects me to figure out what it is... :razz:

 

Are you testing her BG levels at home? You are right to be concerned about changing the carb load if you are not testing. She might very well have a reduced insulin need if you lower the carbs she is getting.

 

As others have said.. EVO is an excellent food.. I worry a lil bit about the fat content though.. neither one of my girls (Sadi & Baby) have a weight problem.. but it seems I read somewhere a high fat diet is not good for the insides? I dunno..

 

Nicole, I raised that question, about the higher fat, but Jill said that cat biology is different, and they can handle that level of fat. I did notice that Kitty puked the first time I fed all Evo; turns out the fat can be upsetting to their stomachs if they're not used to it.

I'm glad to read that a no-carb diet is okay. I wondered whether cats wouldn't need SOME carbs for energy. Maybe theyr'e different in that regard too.

Buff-puff, you are a devoted human! Maybe you can mix the two foods (higher carb and Evo) and gradually change over the diet, so you can see how it affects your kitty's insulin needs.

 

Venita: I'm not testing at home yet but I realize I need to. Yes, reduced insulin need is exactly what concerns me. I'm not sure exactly how to do it, but I want to get her on very low carbs and see if she can get off insulin.

Nichole: It didn't occur to me that it might be high fat so thanks for suggesting that. The variety I bought is a mix of chicken and turkey so I'm hoping it's low, but if it includes skin, maybe not.

 

You can compare the fat content of the different foods by looking at the famous Janet & Binky's list here: http://binkyspage.tripod.com/CanFoodNew.html

It's a full as-fed analysis of foods, a great resource.

Since you're not hometeting yet, I agree that a gradual shift in carb content is a good idea. Your kitty could need less insulin on lower carb, so you'll want to know how the diet change is affecting her.

Getting her off insulin is a great goal! With FDMB's help, we just got our kitty off insulin after 15 months. You're in the best possible place to achieve it.

If you want help choosing a meter and learning how to test, just post that in your subject line. There are lots of people in this forum who can help getyou started.

 

Kathy: You sneaked right past me there! Your suggestion of mixing the foods gradually was my intent when I ran out and bought the EVO, then I started worrying about bringing her carbs too low, too fast, so I'm gonna talk to her vet about it just to be safe.

And just as I knew she would, Buffy came looking for me between 12:30 and 1:00 (ET) - wanting a little snack, so I gave her a spoonful of the EVO as a treat. She slurped it up and then sat under the table smacking her mouth for a good minute! It was too darned cute :lol:

By the way, Buff-puff is one of Buffy's nicks. We call her that because of the little powder puff looking pouch that hangs underneath. :mrgreen:

What a great forum this is....that is very encouraging! :RAHCAT I can only imagine how that feels and hope I can share the same news one day soon. Congrats on a job well done!!

 

Hey, Kitty has a buff puff too!! :mrgreen: (That's just one of his nicks -- we call him everything from Buzzotron to Captain Meowie van Kattie!)

If you find a low carb food he likes, you're so lucky! A little Evo snack can't hurt.

Good luck getting going with testing, and with your vet visit!

 

High fat is thought to not be good if your kitty has pancreatitis - though this idea is somewhat controversial. Though I will tell you I don't care about the controversy, I'll avoid high fat food like the plague just for prophylactic sake. :smile: I mix in a relatively low fat home cooked recipe into our Wellness [which also has high fat] to make a moderate fat food for H. There are a couple flavors of the Merrick that are fairly well balanced and low carb and no grain [unfortunately H doesn't like 'em :roll: ]. To my knowledge, no one has proposed that high fat food actually cause pancreatitis in otherwise healthy cats [but I don't know everything].

 

Cats are quite different in regard to diet -- they don't make energy from carbohydrate. They make it, by preference, from protein and fat (not like us.)

See more at Dr. Lisa's site http://www.catinfo.org/

Evo is okay but it would be good to hop over to the drugstore and pick up a glucometer and start learning to test blood. Lowering carbs is an excellent idea but in some cats can dramatically lower insulin needs. (In other cats it doesn't make as much difference.) Having a meter is the best way to know.

We lowered Jock's carbohydrates from high-carb dry food to low-carb canned over the course of one dramatic weekend, but we were home and testing constantly and we're very glad we were. He lowered his dose three times that weekend alone, just by having his blood sugar dropping and us realizing we needed to lower it again. Without testing that would have been dangerous.