Switching From W/D Wet To Either Friskies, FF, Or Other Wet

I would like to know when I decide to switch Blackie's wet W/D to a more financially manageable commercial brand of wet, do I do this gradually,

take out 1 tblsp. of W/D, add 1 tblsp. of other wet) one feeding, the next feeding take out 2 tblsp. of W/D wet and add 2 tblsp. of other wet; 3rd feeding take out 3 tblsp. of W/D and add 3 tblsp. of other wet, etc., and gradually lower her insulin levels down to 1 unit a day or 2x a day (according to the readings);

or do I just start out fresh one morning, give her the new stuff (ie. Fancy Feast, or Friskies, or whatever), measuring what is required for her body weight, and immediately cut her insulin down to 1 unit 1x or 2x a day?

She's currently 10.25 lbs. at last vet check, which was this past Saturday. She's gained 1/4 lbs. from the dry stuff (which she's not eating now as of Saturday, but is still on the W/D formula wet food until this coming Sat, at which time I'll talk to the vet yet again and go from there).

Mary, from this board, is coming today to help me hometest her, etc. Since I already give shots 2x a day, I'm sure that I can get the hang of this as well. Practice makes perfect. LOL

I want to thank everyone on here who has given their advice. I greatly appreciate, and I am sure that I'll have more questions, and hopefully a ton of success stories to share.

 

There is no hard and fast rule, because every cat is different. There is nothing wrong with transitioning quickly, if your cat likes the other food and there are no tummy issues. That is, if you are able to get the hang of testing after today and start doing it for every preshot etc...

Good luck

 

You can transition quickly or slowly (if you are testing). Some kitties love the new food instantly and don't have any tummy troubles. Others aren't keen on the new food right away and/or get tummy troubles from the change, in which case you would go slowly. You really need to take your lead from how the cat reacts.

I'm very glad you are getting some in-person help to get you started testing. Testing is unbelievably important, because the BG may drop quite a bit with the food change.

 

If it were me I'd just do a cold-turkey switch and drop the insulin. But that's also because my cats have very few stomach issues. We did a cold-turkey switch from dry to canned with no incident, but I did it before we started insulin.

As long as you can handle hometesting, I don't see a problem with not doing a gradual change over--but as other posts have mentioned, only you know your cat.

 

It is important for all cats to eat, but especially diabetics.

If your kitty LOVES the canned food -- then great - Cold Turkey change and a big reduction in insulin.

If your kitty refuses to eat the canned food -- plan for a slow transition - mixing foods and gradually reducing insulin.

Since I was changing all my cats to canned food -- I went the slow route --
First we added Fancy Feast
Then we changed from Science Diet dry to Wilderness (18% carbs)
Then we changed to EVO dry (8% carbs) and started Wellness canned and EVO canned (95% meat) (since FF only comes in small cans)
then we reduced the EVO dry
and finally --- got to 100% canned food below 10% carbs

 

Try putting half of what you would normally put out of the W/D, and the same amount of the new food. put them in different piles in her dish, and see if she will eat both, or just one then comes back and eats the other when she is more hungry.

I'm transitioning my kitty to new food right now as well, and I am giving her the old food in the morning and testing the new food at night. So far she has scarfed down the new food I put out. But if there is a flavor or something she doesn't seem to like, then I'll try another flavor that night.

 

I went and visited Angela and her crew today. She is very nice, has a lovely pride of kitties,
a sweet german shepherd dog, and a lovely bay mare.
Angela is very dedicated to doing the best for Blackie in managing her diabetes.
First, we practiced on one of her civvies as he liked me, (he looks like a super sized Stormy Blue as he is the same color,
but three times Stormy's size!!), and Blackie was hiding from me - she is not too fond of strangers.
After showing Angela how to do the ear poke, blood sip, and the test results, Angela went and fetched Blackie from her hiding spot.
Angela handily tested Blackie and got a +9 reading of 97. I think that Angela is going to be a pro at testing in no time!

~M

 

Good job to both of you! I hope the civvie got a nice treat!

 

When I transitioned Vesta, I did 1/2wet and 1/2 kibble for a week, then 3/4wet 1/4dry for another week, then almost all wet with a few pieces of kibble for crunch the 3rd week. She transitioned well.

Our civvie kitty Ellie, however, would pukkus maximus every time. She's gobble down the wet so fast she couldn't handle it. We had to do literally a tbsp of wet food for a couple weeks, and work up from there.

Good luck!