Ken & Tara
Member Since 2016
One of my many cats was diagnosed as diabetic after a ketoacidosis crisis in December of 2015. Prior to the diagnosis we were free feeding her an inexpensive commercial dry food with about 34% carbohydrates on a dry matter basis, as well we offered them a twice-as-expensive (per lb) "grain free" dry food with about 27% carbs on a dry matter basis which they generally did not prefer but would consume slowly. Wet food was limited to one can per week divided up between all of them as a treat.
After the ketoacidosis crisis was diagnosed in one cat, we removed the inexpensive dry food from the indoor cats diets. The diabetic cat never had an overweight problem, she was and still is skinny, small, and weighs about 9 lbs. Because we have multiple cats, there were practical issues involved in feeding any one of them a special diet. We free feed our indoor cats and did not wish to stop that technique, nor do we wish to keep the diabetic cat in a crate all the time. Our home does not have doors on the various rooms (open floor plan), so there were and are practical and humane issues involved which limited our ability to strictly control her diet and only her diet. If the diabetic cat had been our only cat, we would have eliminated all dry food, but we did and do not wish to do so for all of our other cats. For us, managing the diabetic cat's condition is a work in progress, and we may figure out better ways to manage all their foods in the future.
At first, while the diabetic cat was sickest, once she began eating again, she ate mostly canned food varieties carefully selected to have carbs less than 8% when calculated on a dry matter basis (my desired method). At this time she also spent some time in a crate further limiting her food choices, as the other cats were not reacting well to her (we believe she smelled different to them) and she was not active (she was very sick, I believe she almost died). As she recovered and didn't need the crate anymore, and as the novelty of having wet food every day wore off, she began to eat more dry food (the 'canned food:dry food' ratio is a data point which we did not track, and sort of wish we had) After a few weeks and learning a lot more about various available foods, we found Innova Evo. Its nutritional stats 'appeared' fantastic (I do not believe the company reports them on a dry matter basis, but it was still a very low figure), so we decided to try the food even though it was yet more expensive on a per lb basis. It was our plan to watch her blood glucose (BG) response to the dietary change. Her BG increased, which was the opposite of what we expected had the food actually had lower carbs relative to the other dry food it substituted which calculated to about 27% carbs on a dry matter basis.
Here is some of the data I accrued. All these BG measurements were made by the veterinarian, most are only done once each week. I have not attempted to take them myself (and may not ever), all were taken approximately the same number of hours after insulin injection. "Insulin" and "(notes)" columns are instructions for the next week.
Date BG Insulin (Notes)
12/11/2015 331 1 U twice per day (diabetic ketoacidosis. Vetsulin. Appetite stimulant, anti-nausea)
12/18/2015 339 1 U twice per day (after this BG reading, switched insulin to PZI)
12/24/2015 75 1/2 U twice per day
12/31/2015 63 1/2 U once per day
1/7/2016 71 no insulin (note next BG measurement is next day*)
*1/8/2016 182 no insulin (switched dry food to Innova Evo Turkey & Chicken)
1/15/2016 320 1 U on MWF (BG taken a few hours after insulin)
1/22/2016 319 1 U on MWF (after this reading, stopped feeding Innova Evo)
1/29/2016 180 1 U on MWF
(My apologies for the poor table formatting, this forum's software does not seem to accept BB table code.)
My own interpretation of the above data is that Innova Evo most likely has higher carbohydrates than Innova's label asserts, or the other dry food we were feeding prior (and afterward) had much lower carbohydrates than that other company's label claimed. Please note I have not said the names of all the foods, it is not my intent to advertise for any particular company.
I'd like to point out that there are many things that are not controlled in our above experience, and I do not believe that you should use our experience and data points to come to the same conclusion as I have. Rather, you should be cautious about the food, and take careful BG measurements if you switch to it, to see if your diabetic cat has the same reaction.
One of the things that did not make sense to me regarding Innova Evo Turkey and Chicken dry food was how, a few years back when company ownership changed, the herring meal which had been in the 4th ingredient position was changed to tapioca starch. It seemed intuitively odd to me that in the number 4 sequential position, tapioca starch (which is 100% carbohydrates), that the overall food analysis would be as low as 12% carbohydrates. That oddity was confirmed by the rising BG measurements relative to the prior dry food we had been free feeding which has 27% carbs as calculated per that company's disclosed nutritional data. I am unlikely to attempt a repeat.
After the ketoacidosis crisis was diagnosed in one cat, we removed the inexpensive dry food from the indoor cats diets. The diabetic cat never had an overweight problem, she was and still is skinny, small, and weighs about 9 lbs. Because we have multiple cats, there were practical issues involved in feeding any one of them a special diet. We free feed our indoor cats and did not wish to stop that technique, nor do we wish to keep the diabetic cat in a crate all the time. Our home does not have doors on the various rooms (open floor plan), so there were and are practical and humane issues involved which limited our ability to strictly control her diet and only her diet. If the diabetic cat had been our only cat, we would have eliminated all dry food, but we did and do not wish to do so for all of our other cats. For us, managing the diabetic cat's condition is a work in progress, and we may figure out better ways to manage all their foods in the future.
At first, while the diabetic cat was sickest, once she began eating again, she ate mostly canned food varieties carefully selected to have carbs less than 8% when calculated on a dry matter basis (my desired method). At this time she also spent some time in a crate further limiting her food choices, as the other cats were not reacting well to her (we believe she smelled different to them) and she was not active (she was very sick, I believe she almost died). As she recovered and didn't need the crate anymore, and as the novelty of having wet food every day wore off, she began to eat more dry food (the 'canned food:dry food' ratio is a data point which we did not track, and sort of wish we had) After a few weeks and learning a lot more about various available foods, we found Innova Evo. Its nutritional stats 'appeared' fantastic (I do not believe the company reports them on a dry matter basis, but it was still a very low figure), so we decided to try the food even though it was yet more expensive on a per lb basis. It was our plan to watch her blood glucose (BG) response to the dietary change. Her BG increased, which was the opposite of what we expected had the food actually had lower carbs relative to the other dry food it substituted which calculated to about 27% carbs on a dry matter basis.
Here is some of the data I accrued. All these BG measurements were made by the veterinarian, most are only done once each week. I have not attempted to take them myself (and may not ever), all were taken approximately the same number of hours after insulin injection. "Insulin" and "(notes)" columns are instructions for the next week.
Date BG Insulin (Notes)
12/11/2015 331 1 U twice per day (diabetic ketoacidosis. Vetsulin. Appetite stimulant, anti-nausea)
12/18/2015 339 1 U twice per day (after this BG reading, switched insulin to PZI)
12/24/2015 75 1/2 U twice per day
12/31/2015 63 1/2 U once per day
1/7/2016 71 no insulin (note next BG measurement is next day*)
*1/8/2016 182 no insulin (switched dry food to Innova Evo Turkey & Chicken)
1/15/2016 320 1 U on MWF (BG taken a few hours after insulin)
1/22/2016 319 1 U on MWF (after this reading, stopped feeding Innova Evo)
1/29/2016 180 1 U on MWF
(My apologies for the poor table formatting, this forum's software does not seem to accept BB table code.)
My own interpretation of the above data is that Innova Evo most likely has higher carbohydrates than Innova's label asserts, or the other dry food we were feeding prior (and afterward) had much lower carbohydrates than that other company's label claimed. Please note I have not said the names of all the foods, it is not my intent to advertise for any particular company.
I'd like to point out that there are many things that are not controlled in our above experience, and I do not believe that you should use our experience and data points to come to the same conclusion as I have. Rather, you should be cautious about the food, and take careful BG measurements if you switch to it, to see if your diabetic cat has the same reaction.
One of the things that did not make sense to me regarding Innova Evo Turkey and Chicken dry food was how, a few years back when company ownership changed, the herring meal which had been in the 4th ingredient position was changed to tapioca starch. It seemed intuitively odd to me that in the number 4 sequential position, tapioca starch (which is 100% carbohydrates), that the overall food analysis would be as low as 12% carbohydrates. That oddity was confirmed by the rising BG measurements relative to the prior dry food we had been free feeding which has 27% carbs as calculated per that company's disclosed nutritional data. I am unlikely to attempt a repeat.
In my defense, I have a 17 year old who loved his Whiskas kibble (my Mom's cat) and he has given it up completely and now eats the perfect diabetic diet of FF pates as does my other youngster! 
) is so fussy about shots and you don't feel you can home test. Home testing would make it much easier to gauge if the food changes are having a positive or negative effect. A lot can happen quickly in a sugarcat's system and too much insulin can disguise itself as not enough. 
I don't think he meant to shoo me off..It all depends on the owner and how involved they really want to get. Perhaps he just didn't want to scare me at first. Didn't matter...I was TERRIFIED.
