Weight Loss Linked to getting off Insulin Quicker?

Cats who recently went OTJ: Did you restrict food so your cat would lose weight during treatment and do you think there is a correlation between your cat's weight and your ability to get him/her OTJ?

Our vet told us that it's important to get our kitty in the 4 - 4.5 kilo range. We'd like to do so, and are starting to measure out the food, but we find it difficult to be disciplined since we like to also leave out some low carb wet food after mid cycle (in case the cat goes low and wants to graze).

Thoughts on if it makes a difference? In people, it seems to have an impact in type 2 diabetes improvement, or at least that's what I've heard.

 

There is a relationship between weight and diabetes - at least in humans. I'd have to do some research to see if it extends in much the same way to cats. What you certainly can do is to feed the desired amount (what you desire, not what your cat desires) and just spread it out over the course of several hours. I don't think I can immediately recall anyone who had their cat on a diet as a means of speeding up the remission process.

 

Get a baby scale or a shipping scale that weighs to the ounce or better. Maverick's story is in my signature - please read it. My vet told me Maverick had to lose weight without telling me about the risk of feline hepatic lipidosis. Cats can die from weight loss. Maverick needed a feeding tube for 10 weeks and was very lucky to be alive. Weight loss in cats has to be slow and closely monitored. No more than 1-2% a week. And after a few weeks a week or two of maintenance to keep the liver happy.

 

I have a pet scale from Amazon.com that I use to weigh Blackie (and anyone else who needs it... Cats, that is). I'm monitoring Blackie's weight closely. I don't think she'd look good at 11 lbs. since she's a bigger boned kitty than one of her daughters, who weighs about 6 lbs. soaking wet. :lol: So, I'm trying to maintain the 11.5 lbs. mark, if at all possible (however she weighs a bit less than that right now, and still looks good). I also measure out Blackie's food to the gram since my kitchen scale doesn't have a 0.05 oz. reading... Only a 0.10 oz. reading (I did a conversion on the internet to come up with 21 grams = 0.75 oz. approx.). She's getting 198.64 calories/day, whereas she was getting 183.36 calories/day. The increase in food was to hopefully stop the weight loss and/or drop. I would like to think that weight loss has an impact on diabetes in cats like it does in humans. Why wouldn't it? :smile:

 

Ruby started out right around 14 lbs at her diagnosis. We switched from dry food to canned but the amounts she eats really isn't that different. I give her 1 can of Fancy Feast for both breakfast and dinner. She was on insulin from December 22nd to April 19th and has been diet controlled since. She's down about 2 lbs from where we started, but I didn't really go out of my way to make her loose weight. It was really just the change the kind of food she was eating that did the trick.