? Glycobalance vs other wet foods

My cat is newly diagnosed so we’re still getting stuff figured out. We’ve been taking his blood sugar before a diet change and it’s been ~400. Usually he has dry crunchies, but today we gave him a couple of cans of Blue wet food that were in the pantry and this evening his bg was 180. My question is how do other quality wet foods compare to the glycobalance that our vet recommended (and conveniently sells). Is glycobalance so superior to warrant the price premium and the headache of prescription-only food?

As an aside, Royal Canin says one can per day per 2 pounds of cat. For my guy that would be 8 cans a day. That’s so many cans and I’m confident he wouldn’t eat that much. He’s giant but not super fat. Part Maine Coon maybe? Is this a realistic expectation?

 

Welcome Damon
Where do you live so we can suggest some wet food to feed
Just want to let you know the GA you have in your title means Gone Away ,kitties that have passed on so you can delete that
Tap on the word Thread Tools to your right ,then tap on edit Title and delete that
If I were you I would put NEW MEMBER also

The RC Glycobalance wet is about 14 % carbs, too high for a diabetic cat
How was your cat diagnosed did they do a fructosamine test ( it shows the BG for the last 2 weeks )
So you are not giving any insulin yet I presume?
Dry Crunchies too high in carbs
That 180 you got wasn't a bad BG at all ,
I don't know how many carbs are in the Blue wet , I'm not familiar with that food
There is no need to give prescription food at all

I'm going to ask you to set up what we call our signature it's info about our kitties at the end of everyone's posts, Fill out as much as you can
If not giving insulin yet just put no insulin yet

Also we have a spreadsheet where we track our cats BG .
Since you have already some BG numbers you can fill in the spreadsheet so members can give you advice


If you can fill out what we call our signature that will be helpful,it's at the end of everyone's post in gray

To set up your signature which you will see is at the end of everyone's post in gray, click on your name up top and then tap on the word signature and add this information

• Add info we need to help you:
  • Caregiver & kitty's name
  • DX: Date
  • Name of Insulin (do not include dose or frequency)
  • Name of your meter
  • Diet: "LC wet" or "dry food" or "combo"
  • Dosing: TR or SLGS or Custom (if applicable)
  • DKA or other recent health issue (if applicable)
  • Acro, IAA, or Cushings (if applicable)
  • Spreadsheet link. Please put the signature link on the bottom line of your signature information, on its own, so it is easy to find.
  • Please do not put any information about your location in the signature for security reasons. If you wish to add your country location, please add it to your profile.

Be sure to click the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom. If you need help urgently it is important we know these things at a glance. We don’t want to waste valuable time finding out information.

Take a look at mine


We also use a spreadsheet to track our cats BG so we know how the insulin is working and how low they are dropping so we know when to either increase or decrease the dose
We adjust the dose by 0.25 units at a time . We don't adjust the dose by going by the Pre Shots

About the spreadsheet
AMPS - means AM Pre Shot the first test you take in the AM ,you need to withhold food 2 hours before testing so it's not food influenced

Units is where you would put how much insulin you gave
+1 is one hour after giving insulin if you were to test then that's where you enter his _BG number
+2 two hours after giving insulin. ditto
+3 and so on until you get to PMPS - PM pre shot withhold food 2 hours before testing

+1 same as you do for AM cycle

We don't give times because we are all in different time zones that's why we use the + numbers
I'll give you the link to set it up , if you have trouble just ask and we have a member who will gladly do it for you


You can look at any members spreadsheet to see what it looks like, it's at the end of everyone's signature just tap on it


Link to set up your spreadsheet
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/

 

Hi Damon and welcome to the forum.
Are you giving insulin yet?
If so what are you giving and what dose?

There is absolutely no need to feed a prescription diet to a diabetic cat. Here is a food chart for you to look at.
Look for foods that are 10% or under carbs. However I would not do a food change to low carb food unless you are hometesting as the change could drop the BGs considerably, which you have seen!
FOOD CHART

 

Personally, I wouldn't consider Glycobalance a "quality" food. Take a look at the ingredients. They are kinda scary. Lots of by-products and my favorite -- powdered cellulose (aka sawdust).

What is important is to get your kitty on a low carb, preferably canned food diet. We consider low carb as less than 10% carb although, most members here feed their cat in the neighborhood of 5%. The food chart that Bron linked has the nutritional values, including carbs, for most of the foods available in the US. The higher quality foods include Weruva, Tiki, ZiwiPeak and several others. Many people here feed their cats either Fancy Feast or Friskies pate style foods.