New to forum....

Hello. Just joined up. Looking for help and advice as my cat is really large and I need to help him lose weight.... I will go through the forum and read threads..hope they help. Thanks to all in advance.

 

Welcome to FDMB, the best place you never wanted to be.

There are 4 things you'll need to manage your kitty's diabetes:
- You - without your commitment, the following won't work
- Low carb over the counter canned or raw diet, such as Friskies pates
- A long-lasting insulin such as ProZinc, Lantus, BCP PZI, or Levemir
- And home blood glucose monitoring with an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart Relion Confirm or Target Up and Up (the pet ones will break your budget!)

 

A canned food diet can be very helpful in weight management for your kitty. The wet food fills them up quicker, is lower calorie and is so much lower in carbs than any dry food which makes it great for a diabetic cat.

 

Thanks for your replies. Any advice on which wet foods to use? Are there any that are "light" or lower in calories?

 

It's not so much that you want to feed a "light" version of food, but you want to feed a lower carb version of food. Most wet foods will be lower in carbs than any dry food and lower in calories.

I feed the Friskies classic pate style foods except for the Mixed Grill flavor. The Friskies Special Diet pate foods are nice and low in carbs also. Fancy Feast classic pate styles are also good low carb, inexpensive choices, readily available most places in the USA. People also recommend the Wellness grain free canned foods, but I've never tried them as they are too costly for me to feed 3 kitties.

See vet Dr. Lisa Pierson's food chart at catinfo.org and look for choices that are <10% carbs. You don't say where you are from, but if not in the USA or Canada, we have food lists for international members too.

If you mix some additional water into the food, it can help your cat to feel fuller. Think applesauce consistency to even a bit more soupy.

Usually with a diabetic cat, they are losing weight already, since they can't properly process the food without enough insulin.

We strongly recommend that you be home testing before you switch to a lower carb food, as the diet change can dramatically drop the BG (blood glucose) levels and a reduction in the insulin dose is usually required.

 

What, do you get up early to help out strangers on the net? Thanks very much.

 

Specifically, changing to a low carb canned or raw diet may drop the glucose level 100-200 mg/dL and drop the glucose dose as much as 2 units.

(Some folks are early morning larks and some folks are late night owls. Me, I'm an owl.)

 

Thank you, apprcciate the help. Any tips for getting my cat to exercise more? We play with him and brush him frequently but any particular devices or toys that work well?