low carb food question

in my intro, I mentioned that my baby Sam was recently diagnosed as Diabetic. My plan is to start him on a low carb wet food diet along with the insulin he will be starting on Saturday. The vet wants me to start him on the Royal Canin prescription food but from the support group on Facebook and in reviewing the information here, that is not good since it is not low carb. They have mentioned Friskies Pates or Fancy Feast Classics, which I will buy tonight to start trying. Luckily both my cats currently eat some soft food as well and love it based so won't be hard to completely just feed them wet food, I currently give them some once in the AM and when I get home- Science Diet Salmon and Weruva Cat's in the kitchen brands "Kitty gone wild" Yes you can tell they love fish which I have seen in threads is not recommended to be fed every day. So I will have to work on other flavors to see what I can add along with the Salmon. I just reviewed the latest Cat Food nutrition guide and see that Weruva is noted as low carb high protein so if I can stay on that I am ok with the cost and get rid of the science diet since that is high in carbs and remove the hard food all together and add more wet for them to graze on throughout the day since they are use to having the dry food out.

I could get chicken flavor or others and just mix in the salmon to get them to eat it. So long question, but to make sure I am reading the charts accurately, is Weruva a good option for me to stick with based on certain flavors of course that are low in carbs. I also saw Tiki noted which I am willing to try as well but I know they love Weruva. Sorry for the long post, just a nervous nelly with lots of questions on food since I want to try tonight and just do straight soft food the next two days before I go to the vet to get the cats use to no kibble out during the day.

 

Weruva is a great brand with options that are high protein and low carb. I feed my girls Chicken Frick A Zee. (If you have no issue with the price of Weruva and your cat likes it, I would not bother with Friskies or Fancy Feast. Weruva is higher quality food.)

Will you be glucose testing at home?

 

That is the plan. My vet never mentioned anything about it, they are planning on me bringing him back in 4-5 weeks to test. But the support group said to buy the testing kit at walmart and do it so I can monitor better. I am nervous about all of as far as giving him shots and doing the tests but it will all work out. I just bought of the Chicken Frick A Zee to see if they will eat it tonight and mix it with the Kitty gone wild which they love, Sam ate it but they really don't like the chunks so he is leaving that behind. his sister who is not diabetic just turned her nose at it so I am leaving it down in hopes she will be hungry enough, if not she loves the kitty gone wild so will just feed more throughout the day. I will have to leave some while I am at work so they can free graze like they are use to with the dry kibble I am stopping. It will be a challenge, I also bought a couple other types of Weruva that are pate style and try those over the next two days and I bought Tiki brand too since that has no carbs but high protein to see if they will eat that too. It will be a learning curve for all of us to get use to just a wet food diet, thankfully they love wet food, they are just picky with flavors. I don't mind the price and I can get autoship on chewy as well to get a littler better rate.

 

Several of the Tiki foods are shreds, not pate. Some cats don't like pate; some don't like shreds. An the minute you think you have it figured out, they change their minds!! You might want to look at ZiwiPeak They have a range of different flavors, some that are novel proteins, and are pate style. They also make an air dried raw food that is like a jerky style treat. None of their products contain gums or carrageenan.

I'm linking a post that is helpful for new members. It gives you instructions on setting up a spreadsheet, your signature, along with several, "what to do if..."

From your intro post, it sounds like you'll be starting your kitty on Lantus. There is a weight-based formula for calculating initial dose (initial dose = ideal weight in kilograms x 0.25). Unless Sam is very large or tiny, the calculation usually comes out to about 1.0u. Lantus is a very good insulin for cats. I would make a suggestion. Lantus is very expensive. I would suggest calling around to see if you can purchase a single pen. (Lantus can be purchased either as a vial or as a box of 5 pens. The pens end up being more economical.) When the vet gives you a prescription, make a copy (or take a photo). Most people will order their insulin from Canada. You will need to send the Canadian pharmacy a copy of your prescription. (The cost of Lantus in Canada is about 1/3 of what it costs in the US.) This is a link on ordering from Canada.

I would also suggest that you take a trip over to the Lantus board and review the sticky notes at the top of the board. There is a huge amount of information in those notes and it will help prepare you for getting Sam started out on Lantus.

Great plan regarding home testing! It is the best way to insure that Sam is safe. It will also save you the cost and aggravation of having to take Sam to the vet monthly. The test the vet was referring to is likely a fructosamine test. It's like getting a hemoglobin A1c for a human -- it gives you an average of blood glucose (BG) levels. If you're home testing, there's no need for an average. With home testing, it also means you're not relying on getting a curve at the vet's office. Most cats are stressed by being at the vet's and their BG levels are higher than at home. Relying on numbers from the vet's office increases the risk of over dosing your cat.

Please let us know if you have questions. We're here to help.