? Feeding Kitty

Is the only time I feed my cat is after her injection or is it alright to leave food sit out all day? My cat has trouble eating the canned. She licks the juice off and leaves the rest. I worry about her cause she is boney.
She does nibble a little bit on dry Hills W/D.

 

The normal routine would be to withhold food for 2 hours prior to shot time so you get a pre-shot number that is not food influenced. We then test, feed and then shoot. You want to make sure Rebel is eating before you give her insulin. You can even give her the insulin while she is eating, but you need to know she will eat. A lot of vets will tell you to feed twice a day at each shot time but many of us feed mini meals throughout the day to keep kitty happy and give the insulin something to work on.

There are lots of tricks to try to get Rebel to eat canned food but I can understand your frustration because I have a kibble addict I've been trying to get to recognize soft food as edible for over 5 yrs. The W/D is listed as a weight control food so I am not sure why your vet would have suggested it if Rebel needs to gain some weight. Prescription foods are expensive and are not the best options. The canned prescription food is not horrible but the dry food is far too high in carbs for our sugar cats.

There are two varieties of dry food that are low enough in carbs for sugar kitties.... EVO Cat & Kitten Turkey Kibble and Young Again. The EVO is available in specialty pet stores and can be ordered online. The Young Again Zero Carb is only available online and is a bit pricey although they say cats eat less of it because it is calorie dense. Either one would be a better option for Rebel while you try to get her onto a canned diet.

 

One last note....given the high carbs in the W/D (almost 37% for the dry food), if you switch to one of the lower carb foods, you will have to monitor Rebel closely during the transition as the decrease in carbs can bring about a profound lowering of glucose levels leading to less insulin requirements.

 

The glucose can drop 100-200 mg/dL when phasing out the high carb food. This may result in a reduction of insulin by 1-2 units. One cat even dropped 300 mg/dL. Some cats even go off insulin by feeding low carb foods.

 

Squeaker has become a "licker" also. He wants only the fluid so what I am doing is putting the food in the blender and liquefying it. Now he get "drinks" all of the food.

 

I am getting low on her canned cat food. Purina DM. She seem to be eating it better. My question is would it be better to get her switched over to 9-lives, fancy feast etc. (cheaper) now or wait until I am a little more
experienced. Also any recommendations?? Thank You

 

The carb load in the Purina DM wet food is relatively low (well under the recommended max of 10% I believe) so I don't think there is concern switching over to a more practical option like FF pates or 9 Lives. My warning re: monitoring is a general one given Rebel has been eating the higher carb dry food so any change to canned is going to mean considerably less carbs. Anytime we lower the carbs for our sugar kitties, they may have a lowering of their glucose levels. Some cats are more carb sensitive than others. Some will immediately show a sharp drop in their glucose and others will just gradually lower and possibly very little. A lot of this dance is getting to know your own cat's reactions. So if you change to another brand, just keep an eye on Rebel's numbers to see how the new food is translating in her numbers. I mentioned the EVO kibble earlier but despite it's 8% carb load, some folks reported their cat's glucose went up on it. My girl is an example because she didn't show any change in her numbers when I switched her to EVO from a high carb kibble. We have a saying around here....Every Cat Is Different (ECID).

Here is a link to a page with multiple links to food information. I am in Canada so my choice of food is a little different than yours but many of the brands like FF pates, 9Lives and Friskies are popular picks both here and in the US. There are others like Wellness Grain Free, Tiki Cat and Weruva all of which are a bit more expensive but good options. I would just keep any fish flavour foods to a minimum due to mercury concerns and use them once or at most twice a week rather than everyday.