Klancy’s story (we’re new here)

Hello,
This is Klancy’s mom Judie. Klancy is 11 and has been diabetic for about a year.
we started with tummy trouble we thought might be IBD or cancer. We lucked out and he was diagnosed with IBD. He was started on Methylprednisolone.
I honestly can’t remember how the vet figured how his sugar was so high, but he was immediately transitioned to sugar free Budesonide and put on Lantus. the thought was he would probably go into remission.
well he didn’t. We’ve had some good numbers and watched his fructose go up and up.
His fructose is now over 600 while his daily numbers are under 200.
He’s on Hills W/D for the IBD.

 

Hi there!

W/D is a very high carbohydrates food and most likely why Klancy's numbers are high.

Does the IBD do that he can't eat wet food?

We have an extensive wet food food chart made by the Vet Lisa Pierson who is an expert in cat nutrition catinfo.org

Here is the Food Chart link https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf


You are looking for a low carb 5-6 % wet food.

Also if you find one better low carb wet food and switch, you have to lower the insulin dose to avoid hypo.

What insulin are you using and how many units do you give now?

 

At present Klancy is on Lantus. 3 units am and 2 pm.
He’s offered both wet and dry W/D and has a two hour window from 8-10 am and pm to eat. He used to be a grazer.

I will check out the Drs page to understand a bit more about the different foods.
Thank you.

 

Hi Judie and welcome to FDMB.

I have a couple of thoughts. The Hill's W/D is not ideal for a cat with IBD. You want to find several novel protein foods (e.g., venison, rabbit, lamb) that were not part of Klancy's diet prior to the IBD diagnosis. It helps if you think of IBD like a food allergy. The foods that your kitty was used to cause his gut to become inflamed. The steroid (either prednisolone of budisonide) help to reduce the inflammation and transitioning to foods that don't cause inflammation are both key to resolving the problem. I have an IBD non-diabetic kitty and he's been on a small, maintenance dose of pred and I feed him primarily a raw diet. The website, Raw Feeding for IBD Cats has a wealth of information on diet, health, and supplements even if you opt to not feed a raw diet. They also have a Facebook group if you have questions.

The fructosamine numbers your vet provided are to on the same scale as the numbers you get from blood glucose testing. Fructosamine levels start at around 191 and run to over 600. If you are testing several times a day on a daily basis there is really no need for fructosamine tests. (They are similar to a hemoglobin Aic in humans -- it's an average of several weeks of blood glucose levels.)

 

That’s what gets very confusing. His glucose tests at home range from the mid 100’s to the low 200’s. Yet his fructosamine was 640. His bloodwork came back WNL. Nothing is out of line for a healthy senior cat. I’m going to read up on changing his food as soon as I get rid of my migraine.
My main question will be, is a diet for an IBD cat a healthy one for a diabetic cat?

thank you

 

A cat's BG readings are effected by stress. Being at the vet's office is a big stressor. It doesn't make sense that the fructosamine would be that high if the readings you're getting at home are in the 100 - 200+ range.

The quick answer to your question is "Yes." The only thing that is different for a diabetic IBD cat is the protein. So while other diabetic cats may eat chicken or turkey or beef, your cat would get venison or rabbit or lamb.There are several people with diabetic cats who feed their cats the same diet as an IBD diet. In fact, two of them are the other moderators. @Marje and Gracie fed Gracie a raw diet (and Gracie was diabetic) the same for @Wendy&Neko. Basically, you are looking for a novel protein diet that is low in carbohydrates. Frankly, if you are reading on Dr. Lisa's site, you'll read that cats are obligate carnivores -- all they need is protein -- no grains, fruits or veggies -- and specific supplements such as taurine that keep them healthy.

While it's a premium cat food, ZiwiPeak makes a good cat food (no gums or carrageenan which can contribute to iBD) and has novel proteins. They have both a canned line of food and an air dried raw line.

 

Once Gracie was diagnosed with IBD, I fed her Ziwipeak and homemade, cooked using FoodFurLife’s EZ Complete (EZC). The only reason I fed it to her cooked (and they have instructions on how to do that) was because she vomited raw even little tiny bits so I started with cooking it and then backing it off little by little with the goal of getting her to raw but she crossed before we got there At the same time I started her on EZC cooked, I fed my other kitty, Tobey, (who had long since been on a raw diet) the EZC raw and started my kitten on it as soon as we got her. I already know Tobey has a sensitivity to chicken so I use primarily novel proteins such as lamb, venison, elk, bison, pork. I buy them ground, frozen at Sprouts or Whole Foods and make the food. Easy peasy.

The EZC with the different raw meats is LC and lower phosphorus for cats that have chronic kidney disease. But I also like it because it was designed to be sure IBD cats would also thrive on it so also has digestive enzymes, green-lipped mussels, etc.

 

Shortly after my kitty was diagnosed as diabetic, I switched her to raw food. I needed a diet that she and my other cat with idiopathic cystitis could both eat. His vet recommended raw. I fed a mix of premanufactred raw, and meals made with a premix. I had a organic exotic meats butcher nearby. Later when Neko got CKD, I used raw without bone for lower phosphorus. The premises I used were already low phosphorus. She was later determined to have either IBD or small cell lymphoma, but we could not diagnose due to her heart. At that point she went on budesonide, which did not impact her blood sugars. I didn’t change her diet, raw still worked.