Suggestions to get cat to eat low carb food.

I’m trying to convert my cat from Friskies chicken pate to fancy feast pate. For the first time in her life I put wet food in front of her and she doesn’t want it. I’ve always fed her Friskies chicken pate but isn’t that stuff high in calories? I don’t if it’s because she’s 24 hours off of Insulin since the vet said she was no longer diabetic. But she’s not eating her high fiber dry food ( also been thinking/trying to wing her off.) just now she wouldn’t eat the fancy feast so I put some Friskies on top and she’s not eating that? Any suggestions?

 

Why are you changing her wet food if she likes the Friskies chicken pate and it is low enough in carbs? I am not sure exactly which chicken one you give her, but I just looked up the calories in a 5.5oz can of one kind, and it has 182. Fancy Feast chicken pate has 99 calories in a 3 oz can. So, the calories are pretty much the same.

 

First I’d like to thank you for being someone on here who’s good about replying. I thought maybe this whole diabetes thing started because of the food I’ve been feeding her. For years she was eating Iams adult cat dry food. Then earlier this year she was having constipation issues. So it was recommended that I feed her hills science diet perfect weight dry food, because it was high in fiber. And for dinner I would feed her half a Tuna can size of Friskies chicken pate. Just pate no gravy. I’m having troubles finding calories content for both, nor do I really understand how how many calories or carbs she should be getting? I just see a lot of people on here recommending fancy feast pate (classic) I’d love for her to just eat what I’ve been feeding her all along but I’m afraid it might make her revert back to diabetic. Between family illness, work, personal life and cat being diabetic for a few weeks and suddenly vet tells me she’s no longer diabetic my brain has been in overdrive. I felt such relief and the heavy skepticism since I got the good news yesterday. And today I get home and she hasn’t touched the fancy feast I gave her this morning. I put out a quarter of a cup of the dry food, and maybe she’s had a couple kurnels since I’ve been at work. Usually she’s meowing my face off the minute I get home for wet food. I put down some fancy feast and she walks away from it. So I put some Friskies pate in with. Still uninterested. Then I grab a new bowl and put a small abount of Friskies and she gave it a couple licks and walked away. Just now she walked over to the dry food and ate a couple Kernels, walked away and now she’s laying on me. Litter box is dry since I cleaned it this morning. I wish she could speak so I know what’s going on. I don’t know if I’m just over thinking it. I’m still Unsuccessful getting any type of reading on the glucose machine I have nor will the cat hold still or can I get a decent sized amount of blood on the strip. I feel like I’m just waiting for her to start drinking a ton of water and peeing islands before I got to go through the whole diabetic thing again...

This is what I’ve been feeding her the past year

https://www.amazon.ca/Purina®-Frisk...ocphy=9060187&hvtargid=pla-569217265333&psc=1

And

https://www.amazon.ca/Hills-Science...ocphy=9060187&hvtargid=pla-624602619527&psc=1

 

The Friskies is fine, as is the Fancy Feast....the Science Diet is too high in carbs (and the ingredients are lousy too)

If you look on Dr. Lisa's Food Chart it lists lots of foods and their nutritional breakdown (protein, fat, carbs and calories)

If her appetite is still off tomorrow, it may be time to have her checked again, but hopefully she'll eat for you again soon so you don't have to go back to the vet!

 

Thanks Chris. You’ve been good about answering my questions aswell. I will stop the dry food and maybe just give her the Friskies pate for breakfast and dinner. My only concern is her constipation issues. She’s never been diagnosed with anything but I just feel so bad those times at 3 in the morning where she can’t poo and yowels at the top of her lungs. I’ve only had about 4 constpation issues with her since she started having this issue back in January. The vet recommended 1/4 of a teaspoon of Miralax on her food, but I’m unsure if that’s a good thing for the long run. Having daily laxatives I would imagine would do something to her insides.

 

It’s not like she not eating anything. I give her a few treats and she eats them. I’ll be more worried if she’s turning down everything.

 

I know what you mean. I often wish my girls could just tell me what's going on with them. I found the calories for your specific kind of Friskies, and it has 182 for the can: https://www.purina.ca/products/friskies-pate-chicken-dinner-cat-food/#feeding That is on the Instructions tab. About 20 calories per pound of ideal body weight is supposed to be about right for the 'average' cat.

You want to keep carbs under 10%... really, lower than that is usually best for a diabetic. Catinfo.org has a lot of info on feline nutrition, if you want to check it out. I have a link in my signature to the database version of the cat food list Chris gave you a link to. I find it easier to use since you can filter by your desired criteria. (If food options are different in Canada, maybe one of our Canadian members can offer you some assistance.) Dry foods are usually too high in carbs. It is best to get rid of the dry food completely, but if you want to keep using it, you may want to consider lower carb options. Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein Chicken has 4-5% carbs, and Young Again Zero has only trace carbs (though it has been known to cause runny, stinky poop issues).

Sometimes a little plain pumpkin added to food will help with constipation. Miralax is fine to give as well.

 

Here is what Dr. Pierson says about Miralax dosing:
"Start with 1/8 tsp once or twice-daily mixed into the food and increase from there to get the desired fecal consistency. Most cats do well on no more than 1/4 tsp twice-daily but it is safe to go higher. If your cat’s stools are too loose, lower the dosage."

 

Miralax doesn't really work like laxatives do. All it does is pull water from the intestines into the stool so it's softer and easier to pass.

It's not like Ex-Lax where there's a drug involved that forces the intestines to "push" more.

It's very safe and lots of people here use it

 

I guess that would also cause her to drink a little bit more water hey? I’ll try not to jump to conclusions its diabetes again untit I can get her glucose meter figured out. Think I’m just going to buy a new one.
She did eat some more Friskies tonight but she been under the bed for a few hours. Thanks again Chris

 

Thanks very much for taking the time to provide all that information!