One month in

I joined the FB Feline Diabetes page, and thought I'd introduce myself here as well. Thanks very much for the welcome! Yes, I am very discouraged by the vet/prescription diet company team. Our Kitaibelia (Kit), now 4 years old, had bladder crystals 2 years ago and the vet put her on Royal Canin SO and Hills c/d. Last month she was diagnosed with diabetes. This sounds like a story that is much too typical after reading many similar accounts on the FD Message Board. Now the (new) vet (who we really like) has prescribed Royal Canin Glycobalance. She is on ProZinc 2 units after first starting at 1, then 1.5. So far, we've had them do BG curves at their office because we are not up to speed on this yet. I have read and read catinfo.org and realize the Glycobalance is 14% carb, and <10% is recommended by every feline diabetes organization. I am at a loss at how to negotiate this territory with my vet. I don't want to start doing our own thing before really getting the hang of home testing and the ins and outs of this disease. Thank you for being here, it is a comfort. One last thought...IF the prescription diets really are causing and/or contributing to diabetes, where is the general outrage, and why not class action suits? Are there outlying vets and clients that are bringing attention through litigation to this?

 

Just a follow up to my first post...I am really wanting to switch Kit from this prescription food to a low carb Fancy Feast but I am concerned about bladder crystals. The Glycobalance is supposed to help this situation. Are there others here that have negotiated this? It's been SUCH a stressful time and we want to do right by our best kitty beloved Kitaibelia. I am so encouraged by reading all of your posts. Feline diabetes is not for the faint of heart that's for sure!

 

Hi Joji! I can give you one person's opinion about some of the prescription foods not being up to snuff and why vets still suggest them. Honestly, like most people doctors, most vets are not nutritionists. It's understandable, they have so much to learn about so many different species. I think it must be much harder to be a vet than a doctor because of this. Because they have little training on nutrition and how it effects the body and disease, too often they may rely on what they are told by the prescription pet food companies. And these companies are still producing old-fashioned products that have not changed as we've learned more about nutrition and it's effects on disease. Those companies are also in the business of making money, and they can certainly make more money if they sell food with tons of fillers.

Our Billy used to have big troubles with crystals. We did our research online, and found that many vets recommend a wet food diet to avoid them. One online vet we followed specifically said she's rather see these cats being fed the cheapest of canned cat food rather than any dry. And it makes sense. Humans with bladder stone issues are told to seriously up their water intake to help. Since are kitties are notoriously bad drinkers, eating wet food really increases their water intake. A wet food diet should both help Kitaibelia's diabetes and her bladder crystal issues. I would avoid too many fishy flavors, and watch the phosphorous level of the foods. The lower the phosphorous the better.

It can be hard to go against a vet's advice. My sweetie took our Billy to the vet when he was diagnosed, as I could not go with him. He came home with a bag of Hill's dry prescription food. I took one look at the ingredients and said I am not feeding my cat this crap. Seriously, that food is made of grains. Brian argued with me for a hot minute. We love our vet and are used to trusting him, but like I said, he's not a nutritionist. Then we did some research online, found this site, and the rest is history. Our Billy is heading right into remission. Now, every cat is different, but a good insulin like ProZic or Lantus combined with a low carb, wet food diet, will give your cat the best chance at remission. Yes, it can be hard to go against a vet's instructions, but ultimately it's you who is in charge of your cat's treatment. If you are home testing and show the vet the results, it could turn into a teaching moment. If the vet gives you too much grief, it could be time to find a new vet.

You are right to be cautious about not making changes before you start home testing. A change to a lower carb diet can majorly drop blood glucose levels. It's imperative to be home testing while you adjust the diet. While home testing is not difficult, it does take a little time and practice for you and your cat to get into a routine. You don't even have to get a pet meter that uses expensive testing strips. Most members here use people meters and it works fine. I use a cheap meter from WalMart, ReliOn, and the strips are very inexpensive.

There's a thread here on the board you should start with-- New? How You Can Help Us Help You!
There's also a ton of informative Links here, including tips on home testing.

In the beginning, all of this can be very overwhelming. We've been there. We understand. You are in here, learning all the things and asking questions to help your furbaby. You're going to be awesome!

 

Thank you

Thank you for your reply Juls and Billy! Kit has been on wet food since we adopted her 2 years ago. The prescription food for bladder crystals was also wet. We've always added water to her food as she has never been a drinker. I'm now devising a plan to talk to our vet this coming week about switching her food. I'm also looking at this to address urinary issues:
Pet Wellbeing Urinary Gold Dog & Cat Supplement, and wondering if anyone has any experience with it?

I see that Fancy Feast Classic food is actually not low enough on phosphorous to use when urinary issues are present. In fact I think this is what we were feeding her prior to the bladder crystals.

Thank you again for reaching out. It was almost like magic when someone actually replied to me! I agree with you regarding what a challenge it must be to be a vet. We are finally happy with ours after going through 4 previous vets! Now to try to get her onboard with changes we want to make....

 

Joji, there's a great food chart here. It lists a ton of wet food brands and has the carb content and the phosphorous content. It would be a great place for you to find some lower phosphorous brands and flavors.

Oh, and if you are not in the US, let us know, there are some different recommendations for other countries.

 

Hi JOJI,

Would you do one thing for us please? This is our READ ME FIRST document here.
New? How You Can Help Us Help You!
Thanks.

Then I'll try to answer some of your questions. Got an alert that you are 'following' me, so that is why I'm replying.

More later. Need to check my other alerts and inbox. (Please be understanding, dealing with an illness right now and not at my best).

Please keep all your questions in this thread if you would please. That way, it's easier to follow along with you. (What is your Facebook Feline Diabetes user name? Some of us are also members of that group, and some of us are not. There is only so much time in the day to help all the people that need help, and here is where I like to help. On the FDMB message board.

 

Yes, this is the doc I always refer to. Thx!

 

Yeah! Signature up and running. (And I see you changed your username to include your kitty's name.

Do you mean the Alphatrak 2 for you meter? That's one of the pet meters.

 

Oops! Yes Alphatrak 2. Kit was sleeping on me and I forgot the name. ; )

 

Sleeping kitties on top of you shall not be disturbed. Unless you want to make them mad at you.

A couple of questions for you. How were the 'bladder crystals' diagnosed? Via cystocentesis? other method? Like a free catch of urine at the vet? urine sample from home? how long between sample and vet seeing it? other diagnostic tests?

What kind of 'crystals'?

What symptoms did Kit show? Is she still having symptoms?

 

Struvite crystals that they diagnosed with direct bladder cysto. That was 2ish years ago, after which she was on prescription diet for that issue, and now the diabetes. One more bout last fall but it may have been a UTI. They could not get urine. I don't blame Kit, the tech was not happy in her job. We've switched vets since.

 

Cystocentesis is the best way to diagnosis crystals. Don't know anything about struvite crystals and suggestions for food choices.

It's not as simple as saying 'Feed a low carb food, under 10%" for a diabetic cat. We have to consider all of Kit's medical issues, both the diabetes and the struvite crystals.

Anyone else know? @Larry and Kitties is signed on. Maybe he has a suggestion.

 

Not sure if I am in the correct spot to ask this question as I just joined this morning, but is there a more up to date list as I take this list with me to get low carb wet cat food for my diabetic cat and I am trying to keep her under 2 carbs, but this list is from 2017 and I know there are new cat foods out there. Any suggestions on an updated list? My cat has diabetes, a pituitary adenoma and has undergone radiation in September 2019 and is on insulin twice a day. Thank you for any assistance.