Recently diagnosed - food options

My 14 year old cat was recently diagnosed with diabetes. My vet wants to try a month of glipizide before deciding if she needs insulin shots, and also said I should switch her food to Purina Pro Plan DM. I did this, mixing in her usual food (Fancy Feast grilled tuna in gravy) at first, and she seemed to do well, and a day or two later switched to just the new food. For about a day, she ate it all, but then decided she no longer wants it. Every time I put it out she just sniffs it and walks away. I've added back in her usual food and she eats it fine. She's certainly been hungry as she's gotten very vocal when I've tried to get her to the new food, as well as have tried some different Fancy Feast variants that I read were lower in carbs, such as flaked trout and flaked tuna, not in gravy, but she refuses to eat those as well. This morning I picked up a couple cans of the natural tuna in gravy and she's eating it, and I'm going to continue using her usual tuna as well just so that she eats. In the mean time, I did order a case of the regular purina pro plan DM (I had originally ordered the savory select version) and will see if she takes to that.

While I wait for that and to hear back from my vet, I wanted to look into how the grilled tuna in gravy compares to the natural tuna in terms of health for a diabetic cat. Any suggestions/tips/resources? Thank you.

 

Hi and welcome to the forum. There is no need to feed prescription foods. You just need to feed low carb 10% or under canned food.
Have a look at this FOOD CHART
Fancy feast pates are good and there are plenty of others to choose from.
Please do not let the vet prescribe glipizide. It will only stress the pancreas more and will not do any good. Ask the vet to prescribe insulin now…either Lantus or a biosimilar one or Prozinc. Don’t accept vetsulin or Novolin insulin. If the vet won’t prescribe insulin I would find anther vet who will.
We have lots of information here for you and we can help you in lots of ways to manage your kitty.
Bron

 

I saw that chart but the natural tuna in gravy isn't listed. The grilled tuna in gravy which she usually eats is above 10% carbs but as of right now those are the only two I've tried that she'll actually eat. I will try a ocean whitefish/tuna pate, but she's never taken to pate foods the few times I've tried in the past when I first got her.

She's been on glipizide for a week as of now, though with the food issue causing additional stress there's no way to tell what it's doing either way.

 

The bigger issue is that glipizide may burn out your cat's pancreas (i.e., pancreatic amyloidosis). Diabetic cats can go into remission. In order to do so, they need to get their pancreas working again. The American Animal Hospital Assn only recommends glipizide if you refuse to administer insulin. This is a link to the AAHA guidelines -- see p. 6. The AAHA recommends either Prozinc or glargine for the treatment of feline diabetes.

Many cats get tired of DM. The ingredients are not wonderful -- especially given the cost. I'd also point out that despite it being "prescription" food, there is nothing prescriptive in it. In fact, the pet food manufacturers lost a class action suit for calling their food prescription. The DM used to be called diabetes management. It's now called dietetic management. As long as your cat is eating a low carb diet, you're in a good place. We regard low carb as less than 10%, although most members will feed their cat a variety of food that's in the neighborhood of 5%.

 

I gave her a can of the fancy feast ocean whitefish and tuna pate at lunch, no carbs according to that chart, and she did it eat, so for now I'm going to give her that. Bringing her to the vet on Thursday. Thanks for the fast replies!