Success on wet food diet

Just wanted to share the good news that Tabby no longer has diabetes (vets words not mine) and kidneys back to normal after two months of removing dry food. This is based on blood tests.

I had suspected this would be the case when she no longer had glucose in urine after 3 weeks of change in diet (I wimped out with blood glucose testing as didn't get hang of it on myself) and from what I had read.

It was a difficult transition as she loved her dry food and wasn't all that bothered by wet food, the wet food she was on turned out to be a source of the allergy I'd been trying to get to the bottom of and so that got worse, she went off her food (due to meds in it and allergy) and lost weight (3.6kg to 3kg in 4 weeks), next food I tried she wasn't interested in, had a week or so when all she'd eat was a bit of tuna, I'm vegan and fully homemade especially rabbit wasn't something I was comfortable with so she has store bought frozen cooked chicken strips (cut down as missing most teeth), duck fat, felini complete and some slippery elm. She was over grooming from allergy so lots of hair passing through as well as it going slower meant at one point only one or two BMs a week, the slippery elm seemed to sort that as she wasn't so keen on the granules the vet recommended.

It's definitely been a learning curve and although I might get a couple of packs of wet food for an emergency I wouldn't go back to store bought wet food, only this week there was another recall in UK due to too much vit D being added.

In time I may get my carnivore boyfriend to make her some food at his that I can freeze and defrost as required but for now she's doing okay, eating plenty and thinks she's being spoilt with all this chicken.

.....next I need to see what diet can do for her high blood pressure and early signs of arthritis.

Had I not gone down this route I'd have been unnecessarily giving insulin and stressing me and the cat out doing glucose curves when all it took was a change of diet (nervous blind ex rescue cat, not handled other than when she comes for fuss). My vet wasn't resistant to me trying the diet change before going down insulin route, but she said they would not recommend not treating with insulin so had I not done my research and come across this website I could easily have blindly followed that advice.

I will continue periodic urine checks and monitor for symptoms of diabetes returning (it was the excessive thirst & urination that triggered the investigations previously), she has regular check ups at vets for other issues so plenty of opportunity to spot if anything going awry.

Just wanted to share some success especially for newcomers to the site with recently diagnosed cats that may we unsure on how much diet can help.

It may be that she never had diabetes just that she couldn't handle the carbs in her dry food, or that I caught it early and she's at the start of her journey and the diet change is enough for now but at a later date she may need insulin. For now I'm happy she's a healthy little older lady and thankful for sites like this as a source of information and support for what can be a bewildering time.

*Disclaimer all pets are different and follow advice of those qualified when changing diet esp if already treating diabetes with insulin.

 

That is awesome congratulations!!!

 

Congratulations!!

 

Very nice. Sometimes I wonder if that was the case with Dusty. It only took two weeks of insulin and a change to wet food to get him in "remission". Just feeding wet all this time and going on 5 years already. Hope your kitty has a long happy insulin free life!

 

Congrats. If she has high blood pressure she needs to take amlodipine. Left uncontrolled can lead to a cat going blind or a stroke.

 

Hi Hanna congratulations! Many good news! I am glad for you both. I started Kitiara's transition to wet food only a week ago and so far so good. The first days she stared and her bowl in complet bewilderment and she gave me the "serioiusly?" look but I persisted. It wasn't easy. I had tried in the past and had given up before the diagnosis and before I knew what I now know about dry food. Glad to hear things are working out.