? High BG levels! Why is Fancy Feast better than vet RX diabetic wet food? (pls help!)

Hi, my cat Taco has had high BG readings this past week. (approx 224-350). I was going to try vet prescribed Royal Canin Feline Glycobalance wet food but I've read many people feed their cats Fancy Feast. Also that one cat's BG was able to go down while on Fancy Feast. I'm really confused. I always thought Fancy Feast was like junk food, very bad for health. Please let me know why Fancy Feast is as good as the vet prescribed wet food and please can you tell me what flavors of Fancy Feast should I buy? Thank you so so much!
PS: Taco has had potential food allergies so he had to be on a selected protein (Royal Canin gel duck and rabbit but the Prozac (Fluexotine 10 mg) knock on wood, has been helping him for over 6 months and I pray continues to help him with itchy skin, so the vet says it's ok to try to not do the selected protein food anymore and to concentrate on his high BG to try to get that down.) He;s been on 4 units of Lantus for almost a year and was on 5 units before that. He's been diagnosed Diabetic since 2016. Thank you so much!

 

Hi and welcome!!

Regarding the food, actually Royal canin feline glycobalance is way to high in carbohydrates (carbs) for a diabetic cat (14% carbs) so it's not helping him to get regulated that is why some other brands are better, to really help a diabetic cat you need to feed low carbohydrate food, I would suggest you change the food, defeatedly no dry and you can really give him Fancy Feast since it has some varieties that are low carb (not all though,) and is not a bad food if you really look at the ingredients

Good news are, there's a good number of brands and proteins you can choose that are low carb, here's a list you can use pick one that suits him and you,(http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf) the only thing you have to make sure is that is 10% carbs or less and ideally as high in protein as possible but given his allergy problem I would look for an appropriate protein rather than % of protein that way you can address both issues

Are you home testing? If not I do suggest you consider doing it, it can literally save his life and will for sure help you get him regulated.

Do you have any blood glucose test results that you could share with us it will help get an idea of what's going on

 

Hi Veronica, thank you so much! I SO appreciate all of your help. He was on a selected protein, Royal Canin duck & rabbit for the potential food allergy (it was so expensive, I was having a terrible time trying to keep up with it) because the vet said it was ok to forgo the selected protein for his potential food allergy (the Fluoextine, his 10 mg of Prozac seems to be helping any potential food allergy) I looked at the link you sent, I'm sorry my brain is totally fried. I've been talking to the vet's office all afternoon, bc Taco has to go in for full bloodwork and Fructoasmine testing ... can you please tell me, what flavors of Fancy Feast have you used, that are good for Diabetic cats? There are so many to choose from.

 

Yes, I'm home testing, thank you! and yes I'll share the info. I so appreciate your help (and everyone . here!_)

 

Fancy Feast is a "brand" name that covers a whole gamut of different foods some of which do fall under the category of kitty junk food. The acceptable Fancy Feast variety, the Classics in the US (pates elsewhere) are meat, no grains, veggies, fruit etc. While they may have some meat by-products, they are perfectly fine for our diabetics. You can try any flavour but try to limit fish flavours given the concerns over heavy metals that we've all been warned about.
Mine will only eat Turkey and Giblet Feast but there is Chicken, chicken and liver, Beef etc. and several fish flavours to choose from.

I once had a vet dental specialist tell me Fancy Feast was really bad for their teeth and apparently this had been published in a medical paper she had written. When I asked her which variety of Fancy Feast, she said she never differentiated because she had no idea there were different varieties. When I told her the ingredients in the FF I fed, she agreed it definitely had no offending ingredients and sounded good. This is how some foods which are totally appropriate and healthy for our cats get a bad wrap!

 

I've actually not used Fancy Feast, don't get me wrong not because they are not good a lot of people here feed it, but because is not easy to get the low carb ones where I live (I'm not in the US) but most of the Fancy Feast classic are low carb ( you really have to look the list to be sure) I give actually all my cats a diabetic a special home made diet ( because of other issues ) or Nature's variety instinct either the original chicken recipe or limited ingredient turkey when I can not cook

 

Oh, wow. That is so good to know! and thank you SO much for the specific FF flavors. I've been having such an emotional roller coaster with this. thankyou Veronica !

 

Thanks so much! I was wondering about cooking food for Taco, when he was on selected protein I thought about cooking him only rabbit or duck (what was RX for him via the vet) do you also mix in some wet food, canned so they get the saurines? I forget, the chemical they need from commercial cat food for their eyes? Thank you so much!

 

Oh! I SO . appreciate this. Thank you!! I really appreciate the info on what flavors too. So interesting about the vet experience. (this really helped!!!)

 

BG levels may really change when you change foods so be really aware and testing often.

Others here have more experience with this and can give you more info.

 

OMG. Thank you, Jean. I had no idea of this. Whoa. Taco's been diagnosed since 2016 he's on 4 units of Lantus but this is like an emotional roller coaster that never ends. That said, I'm more than 100% devoted to him. Just very upset right now bc I'm worried about him. I talked to the vet's office several times and just ordered him new food. Thank you so so much for your info. Hope ur cat is well!

 

Jean makes a very good point! Diet change can make a profound difference in the amount of insulin kitty needs. You might want to consider setting up one of our spreadsheets to track your readings so if you need any help as you work to transition Taco over to a more appropriate food, we'll be able to see your readings and offer some help should you need it.

The instructions for setting up the spreadsheet are HERE and THIS document explains how to use the spreadsheet. It's really simple and automatically colour codes readings so it's easier to see patterns. Without some data it can be difficult if not impossible to offer suggestions.

While you are shopping for some Fancy Feast, it would be a good idea to pick up a few cans of the higher carb variety of Fancy Feast with gravy just to have on hand in case you need to prop up Taco's BG quickly at any point in time.

 

You're welcome. Reducing the % carbs in the food MAY really lower the BG level which is why it's so very important to be careful so that Taco is safe.

 

Yes, to what @MrWorfMen's Mom said. Also have some honey or karo syrup on hand in case the BG levels get too low. There are instructions here what to do in a hypoglycemic emergency. Let me find the link.

 

I usually give them the home cooked food and only if for some reason I was not able to cook then I give them the comercial food I do not usually mix them.

If you are going to home cook you will have to add some supplements to the food not only taurine ( that's the one for the eyes and hart) , Dr. Lisa Pierson the one that made the list also has a very good recipe and very good instructions on how to do it if you are willing to try (this is the link https://catinfo.org/making-cat-food/) together with a lot of amazing information on cat nutrition, she actually designed the recepie I'm using and I'm pretty shure is one of the main reasons that one of my cats (non diabetic ) is still alive and Babu is still on remission

There are also some prepared supplements you can add if you can get them where you live I know some people here use them (http://tcfeline.com/)

 

@lovemycat444 - here's the info - it's a good idea to print this out and have it handy.

From the "Health Links /FAQs" forum of this website...

How to treat hypos:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-treat-hypos-they-can-kill-print-this-out.15887/

Jojo's Hypo Toolbox:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/jojo-and-bunnys-hypo-tool-box.2354/

 

Have you looked at the food chart yet? There's information on Fancy Feast regarding protein%/carb count/calories/phosphorus. It's at the top of the forums list. https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf Also right there. I feed my boys FF pate. Usually it's the seafood selection in the 24 or 30 count box which includes ocean whitefish & tuna feast, savory salmon, and cod/sole/shrimp feast. There's also a box of poultry and beef. There are also a lot of loose pate cans. Chicken feast is popular here. Anything with gravy is a no no for diabetic cats but once in a while I'll give them a treat of turkey & giblets in gravy. They used to be on Purina One dry food with half of a can of FF in the morning and night until Milo was diagnosed earlier this year. Once he was diagnosed we went through a quick transition period to all wet food. Now they're fed 4 times a day unless I see Milo laying in front of his feeding area. That means he's hungry and I feed him. I don't make him wait for food, ever. I split a 3oz can between him and his brother Roo.