Feeding - Homemade Food vs. Fancy Feast and How Often?

Hello, from a newbie! I bought some cans of Royal Canin Glycobalance to get us through the first few days of our new diagnosis. My plan is to make PJ's food from a recipe on Lisa Pierson, DVM website to cut cost and to also be able to feed our other non-diabetic kitty, Max, the same diet. My meat grinder and supplements are on the way!

Question 1: I see a lot of you using Fancy Feast...should I go with that instead?
Question 2: I was instructed by vet (who I am dropping like she's hot) to feed only 2x/day, but I am left wondering based on his hunger level and sugar levels dropping like they did with first insulin dose if I should squeeze in a midday feed as well since I am able?
Question 3: Are there any appropriate treats for diabetic kitties? He LOVES sliced turkey, is it ok for me to still give him that and just cut out standard cat treats?

Thanks everyone!

 

It sounds like you have jumped right in on the homemade food and already have the needed items coming. So, why would you not want to see that through? If you are willing to put in the work, it seems like you will have better control on what is in the food. I feed FF Classic Chicken Feast but am not 100% thrilled with all of the ingredients. I already supplement with chicken breast and bone broth that I make, so I have been tossing around the idea of just going all the way and trying homemade food. I know @Jennifer block has had great success with homemade food. Here is a post about her meal prep day. Her baby is in remission.

I feed 4x a day (6am/pm and 12am/pm). That is what is recommended by the AAHA.

I use shredded chicken breast for treats. There are several brands/kinds of treats on the market that are only meat. I think sliced turkey would be fine as long as you make sure it is 'natural', meaning not loaded with additives, flavoring, salt.

 

i would grab some fancy feast classic just incase your cat doesn't take to homemade right away like ours, although not all flavors are liked apparently. most of my cats will only eat savory salmon which i am not thrilled about. We tried homemade with tcfeline for supplements with our 10 cats, it is only a hit with the two kittens whom we started on it and freeze-dried raw from the beginning. older cats are stubborn so good idea to have fancy feast on hand i think in the beginning and perhaps start low on supplements especially if using tcfeline at first (even our kittens won't eat homemade if i use the full recommended amount of tcfeline chicken liver but, okay with half so i use half and add extra taurine now. no one liked the beef liver tcfeline supplement though no matter how much i use).

i feed my newly diabetic around 1/4 of a 3oz FF can or some freeze-dried raw like every other hour and he grazes on young again dry zero formula somewhat throughout the day and eats that only at night while i am asleep..his numbers have still gone down to low-mid 100's on this feeding schedule and it has only been a week so some cats do fine feeding them throughout the day i think. No expert so don't know if this would be the case on other insulins though (we use lantus).

 

Twice a day feeding is an "old school" approach. While you do want to feed just before shooting, most of us feed several small meals a day. As long as you don't feed at least two hours prior to the preshot test so the number is not food influenced.

 

We have done Dr. Pierson's diet for about 10 days now. Before that we were on Natural Balance LID salmon and pea or chicken and pea. We have also tried Fancy Feast chunky chicken for a couple days.

In term of cost, the NB are about $2 each(we are in Canada) so $4 a day for 2 cans a day. FFs are about 75cents(they are half the size as NB) so $3 a day for 4 cans a day.

We followed Dr. Pierson's recipe very closely. Her example was based on 3 lbs of hormone free/antibiotic free chicken thighs. We can get a package of 4 (about 1.5 lbs so I can just use half the amount of vitamins in her example) for those here at about $7. Chicken livers for about $1. The one egg is nothing. I spent about $100 on the vitamins and they are good for 100 uses so figure $9 each time. This will last for 3 days so about $3 a day, same as FF. However, if you use regular chicken thighs, you can easily half the cost.

Since I cannot get the meat grinder she recommends here in Canada, I just cut and dice everything myself. I love to cook and am fairly good with knives so that's not a big problem. The hardest thing is crush and dice up the bones but you can use bone meal powder for that. I figure I spent about 30-40 minutes every 3 days on the prep.

If you can get the meat grinder, you would save a lot of time and potentially a few of your fingers too. Dr. Pierson also makes big batches that she freezes so that should save time too.

In term of snacks, I give him chicken gizzard as per Dr. Pierson's recommendation. After cooking them and finely slicing them, they taste like Beef jerky without the smokey favor. They are also good for promoting dental health as well as he is forced to chew on it before swallowing.

 

What I've been doing had been working for us. Mufasa was diagnosed last year but I didn't start insulin until July. I was trying to see if just changing his diet & making him play more would help. I think it been doing his meal prep since January. He has been in remission for over a month now.

His treats we use fancy feast purely fancy, they are pure chicken or beef or seafood. And I try to stick with freeze dried, Pure bites chicken are his favorite. I just bought duck liver ones. He immediately was in love. If you have questions on what we do, message me.

He says "hi" btw!!!

 

Oh and he gets a lil over 3 oz, 3 times a day. A purely fancy treats before I leave & a handful of freeze dried at 3am when he likes to wake me up cause he thinks mama shouldn't sleep & be at his beck & call 24/7. Lol he gets treats from daddy when mommy is not looking too. Lol