Hello from Megan and Musashi

Hello,

My beloved fur-baby Musashi, age 12, was diagnosed with diabetes today after having his lab work performed yesterday. I noticed several days ago that he was drinking much more water than usual and the litter box has been FULL of clumps lately, so I suspected it was diabetes .

My follow-up appointment with the vet is on Saturday, 10/27. I assume at this visit we'll go over insulin shots, diet modification, etc.

My question is, in the meantime until Saturday, what can I feed him? Is it okay if I go out and buy some low-carb canned food? He has been on dry food his entire life, but very much so enjoys tuna (Sunkist), so I'm hoping the transition to canned won't be too awful (I'm actually nearly out of dry food, maybe I should buy a small bag and mix it in with the wet food gradually?) I also have two other cats that will need to adjust to this as well.

I'm very overwhelmed, as a full time college student + full time worker as well. This all sounds like so much, but I'm ready to take the challenge head-on and get my little buddy feeling better!

 

Welcome. You can absolutely switch his food now. In fact making the switch before you start insulin can be smart, as long as there are no signs of ketones. Another smart thing to do before you start insulin is to get a glucose meter and learn to test Musashi’s glucose. It’s easy to do. Come to the Main health forum and we’ll tell you more about nutrition, testing and insulin as well as other tips and tricks. Hope to see you there!

 

Welcome. Yes start feeding low carb wet. There is a food chart in my signature. Pick ones under 10 percent carb (under 7 is even better). Most people here feed fancy feast classic or Friskies pate foods. I also like Tiki cat.

 

Welcome to the sugar cat club! I found transitioning to low carb wet food made all the difference for Coco. The food chart Janet mentioned has several low carb options.

 

That's great! I'm hoping that'll be the case for my little buddy too. He's really been loving the wet food so far and he hasn't vomited once!

 

After turning up her nose at Friskies and Fancy Feast, Coco settled on Merrick's duck (and occasionally turkey) pate. For variety I like to mix in some Instinct or ProPlan True Nature. I'm also looking at Tiki Cat and Weruva, but dang they're pricey.