What to do, what to do ...

Does anybody have any ideas for a first diabetic cat food? I have a 10-yr-old inside cat with high triglycerides and sugar levels but not to the medication stage yet. I'd love to give her something to start her on a Low-carb diet but don't anticipate an easy transition. Talk about 'old, and set in her ways '!

She has a sister who isn't diabetic and feeding is going to get cute! Anyway, I'd welcome thoughts and/or ideas.

 

Hey there and welcome. We recommend low carb wet food as dry food tends to have a much higher carb count. Here is a link for a food chart that we use.

foodchart The carbs are in the 3rd column from the left. You want to keep the carbs under 10%,

Most of us give Fancy Feast CLASSICS, and 9-Lives PATES or Wellness NO GRAIN. These that I just mentioned are around 4-6 % in carbs. I put in bold lettering for you to stay within those lines as not all Fancy Feast , 9-LIves, and Wellness are created equal in the carb department.

When you transition, you need to do it slowly to prevent GI upsets. There is a system to doing in in percentages of the new to the old and slowly increasing the new and diminishing the old. I'm not sure what it is because my cat has an iron stomach and could transition without any problem. @BJM can probably give you the formula for the transition.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

All the foods Bobbie mentioned are fine for both your kitties. It will be much easier for you to feed everybody the same thing.

 

You've come to the right place. I've been here for a few days with a new diabetes cat who just started insulin and has triglyceride of 4954! No that is not a typo. I guess it goes hand in hand.

My cat is on purina DM canned. Very expensive. On this site you will learn form real life experience and they will tell you lots of brands of food that is low carb. I had no idea that some that are mentioned are right in grocery store. I'm going to transition him after his levels are down.

As far as feeding I'm going through same thing. My other cat Layla who is a princess is not happy about all of this. She loves my daughters room and hangs there most of day and night. So I started feeding her in there with door closed or else Tripp will steal her food. She seems to like being removed when it's testing time etc. I figure I have one stressed out cat why stress out another. Maybe she has a favorite room you can feed her in or if the diabetic cat has a favorite room do everything in that room. You will get replies here with great info.

 

Hello, welcome to FDMB! It's great that you are being proactive about your kitty's food!

All the above is excellent advice so I can't really add much to it. Most of the lower carb foods are paté style, and just about anything with gravy is going to be much higher in carbs. Yes, a gradual changeover is recommended. Start out by mixing about 25% of the new food with her old food, and gradually increase the amount of new food, lowering the amount of old food, until she is eating only the new.

It really would be easiest for you if you could transition your other kitty along with her, and it's a better diet for both of them. I never thought I would be able to switch my senior kitty, the diabetic, over to canned food, he would always turn his nose up at it, but now he eats it with great gusto, and scarfs down some frozen raw as well! I have four cats, and they all eat the same diet because I am unable to feed them in separate areas or run around chasing them away from each other's bowls. I was amazed at how easy the transition went, and so glad I did it!

Once you have your kitty on a low carb diet, you can expect to see her blood glucose drop quite a bit, maybe even enough so that she won't need insulin! Fingers and paws crossed for you!

 

Switching to new food about 20-25% new food each day reduces the chances of food refusal, vomiting, or diarrhea which may happen with abrupt food changes.