It's been a rough 2 months w many tears.

my 10.5 YO male, Gadget, was diagnosed 11/17/14 during his yearly physical w the BG 291. I started him on 1U Lantus 12/12 after removing all dry food and switching all 3 cats to FF various flavors. By 12/1 they were all on wet food. But I did not know what food to feed so I went thru all the varieties I could find that seemed healthy. Haha! My cats all lost weight and in Gadget's case that was ok but in the 2 females not so much. Gadget weighed 17.8 lb in 11/14 and now weighs 16.9 1/16/15. He had gone down to 16.1. The 2 females are 14 YO and need low phos food but I have yet to find the magic food they will all eat. Texture seems the most imp factor. They like ground not shredded. Even if I blend it and add FortiFlora the girls will not even sniff Tiki cat, any variety. Gadget will eat some though. All 3 cats free feed.
The coats on the females have improved dramatically. No shedding, no dandruff. Luna was vomiting almost every day when not on steroids ..... For 10 years ( and yet when I bring it up to my vet she still does not admit it was the dry food. I have recently changed vets.
I am using RiliOn Micro. I have tested against a ReliOn Cofirm and the number on the Confirm was very similar, slightly higher. I also had bought an Alphatrax but only used it a couple of times, however it's readings were quite a bit higher. I am sticking with the ReliOn for now just for consistency.
Gadget is a champ at this whole ear poke business but he minds the shots a little bit. Right now he is at 1.25 Unit Lantus 8:30 AM and PM.
I am keeping a chart and Dr Pirson is monitoring it.
His numbers are extremely variable. There really does not seem to be a pattern. In one week he had his highest number (429 +11 PMPS) and his lowest number (50 AMPS). That was the only time he has had a number in the 400s. He does not have that many numbers below 100 either. Mostly he spends his time in the 100s or 200s but is often in the 300s in the mornings and evenings.
Right now I would like to have Gadget loose weight. I have a small apt and he does not do much. All 3 cats are totally indoors all year. That is why I have signed up for this message board to scour it for food info! And also this all happened during Christmas mayhem. There is so much I don't know! I feel like I just did not have enough time to absorb it all.

 

Welcome to mommabean Deborah and sugar dude Gadget.

Great job so far! I see you have Dr. Pierson helping you out. We point a lot of people to her website for her various articles on feline health and most of all the Food Chart.

Someone else was looking for different textures in the food they serve.

When you say ground do you mean the pate style?

 

One thing to check is that the carbohydrate percent is consistent among the varieties. Some cats are very sensitive to changes in these.
Another thing is to be religious in shot times; as close to 12 hours apart as possible.

 

Yes. Pate style. They all love FF Classics except Turkey and Giblets. Prob because they know I bought a case of it and it's low in Phos. So Salmon Feast is the lowest Phos variety I've found they will eat. Of course I don't want to feed all fish.

 

Hi and welcome

It sounds like you are doing really well. Could I encourage you to set up and fill out a spreadsheet as that way you and members can get some idea as to what is going on and possibly give you advice that may help.

This link tells you how you go about setting it up

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...te-a-ss-and-link-it-in-your-signature.130337/

 

I'm only doing Classic flavors but will look at it again for consistency. Thanks!!
I have been able to consistently dose him 12 hours apart. Maybe once or twice I have been half an hour off schedule.

 

The way Lantus works, shooting early can act like a dose increase and shooting late can act like a dose decrease.

 

Thanks so much for getting back to us Deborah and clarifying that you meant the pate style foods.

I see you live here in the USA in Vail CO so you should be able to find the Friskies Special Diet cat foods. I feed my Wink the Friskies Special Diet Beef and Chicken flavor or the Turkey and Giblets flavors. You may want to try those as your 2 girls that need low phosphorus foods could eat those too.

@rhiannon and shadow have a shortcut food list that lists the phosphorus content of foods that are also <8% carbs. Let me go dig that post up for you.

 

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...st-all-8-or-less-updated.117688/#post-1284258

Above is the link to that post I mentioned. I also bumped this thread up, so other people will see it.

 

I t