NEW MEMBER Need help with diet change

[milo43]

Hi everyone! I am seeking advice. Our cat is being fed Hill's Biome due to pancreatitis and IBS, which has been solved right before receiving diabetes diagnosis. Our vet has told us to stay on hill's biome while our cat is receiving insulin for newly diagnosed diabetes to not switch up his diet and introduce too many changes.

His levels have not changed from over 350 at all over 3 weeks of doing this, and he is now pooping (like dog-sized large poops) 3 times a day too. We asked if diet is affecting this since he was only on biome for IBS before the diabetes diagnosis, and that biome isn't his normal food, and our vet has said to continue staying on the biome food while we just up his insulin dose to 2 units.

This was yesterday that he started 2 units and still no change. So we have done our research and see that Hill's biome is 34% carb and that's 3x the amount needed and probably the worst thing to be giving him. We want to switch his diet because we now believe we are killing our cat by keeping him on this while our vet continues to dismiss it, but with it being Saturday our vet is not in office to help guide us on how to go about changing the diet. The vet we did talk to at the same office said to keep him on hill's biome until monday and we can change it then (after they tried to bring up changing prescription foods in the future, whereas we said we read fancy feast is fine). It is as if they don't know carbs affect diabetes.

My parents are suggesting we go half fancy feast classic and half hill biome and administer 2 units tonight, but I am very weary of this being an accurate method. If anyone could offer any guidance on how to go about changing his diet since we think its solely the issue I would be so appreciative. We do have one of those home monitors that you place on their backs for 2 weeks, I included pictures of his levels.

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

@milo43
Can you go back to your title and put in front of Need help. NEW MEMBER
To do this tap on the word to the right that says Thread Tools then tap on Edit Title and add what I said and tap save , I will tag a few experienced members for you , meantime we need you to create what we call our signature and set up our spreadsheet

Here is the information we need for your signature
Just click on your name up top and then tap signature and add this information. It's at the end of everyone's post in gray letters

• 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)
  • Bexacat or Senvelgo (if applicable) and dates
  • 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.


Here is the link to our spreadsheet so you can record cats BG numbers , the link will also explain how to use it
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Hi everyone! I am seeking advice. Our cat is being fed Hill's Biome due to pancreatitis and IBS, which has been solved right before receiving diabetes diagnosis. Our vet has told us to stay on hill's biome while our cat is receiving insulin for newly diagnosed diabetes to not switch up his diet and introduce too many changes.

His levels have not changed from over 350 at all over 3 weeks of doing this, and he is now pooping (like dog-sized large poops) 3 times a day too. We asked if diet is affecting this since he was only on biome for IBS before the diabetes diagnosis, and that biome isn't his normal food, and our vet has said to continue staying on the biome food while we just up his insulin dose to 2 units.

This was yesterday that he started 2 units and still no change. So we have done our research and see that Hill's biome is 34% carb and that's 3x the amount needed and probably the worst thing to be giving him. We want to switch his diet because we now believe we are killing our cat by keeping him on this while our vet continues to dismiss it, but with it being Saturday our vet is not in office to help guide us on how to go about changing the diet. The vet we did talk to at the same office said to keep him on hill's biome until monday and we can change it then (after they tried to bring up changing prescription foods in the future, whereas we said we read fancy feast is fine). It is as if they don't know carbs affect diabetes.

My parents are suggesting we go half fancy feast classic and half hill biome and administer 2 units tonight, but I am very weary of this being an accurate method. If anyone could offer any guidance on how to go about changing his diet since we think its solely the issue I would be so appreciative. We do have one of those home monitors that you place on their backs for 2 weeks, I included pictures of his levels.

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@Bron and Sheba (GA)
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)
@Wendy&Neko
@tiffmaxee

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Hello and welcome. There are a few things I'd like to know before answering. First is the type of insulin you are giving.

Next a bit about the IBD - cats tend to get inflammatory bowel syndrome, not IBS. How was that diagnosed? Did he ever get a full GI panel including TLI test (trypsin-like immunoreactivity). The frequent large poops is making me wonder about EPI.

Does he have any food allergies? If he does have IBD, people with diabetics tend to treat with a low carb novel protein diet, mean a meat/protein he might not have had before, like rabbit, duck, venison, lamb, and a good probiotic like Visbiome. And also a fiber like psyllium husk fiber. I would for now stay away from the Fancy Feast - if he has allergies, don't know what is in the "meat by products". And a lot of their cans have fish in them, which is a common allergen.

Note, pancreatitis typically isn't treated with special food in cats. I just read the Hills Biome ingredients - yikes! No wonder it's high in carbs.

When you do switch foods, think more like a 10% difference per day, not 50%.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi and welcome to the forum.