Cat treat suggestions?

Our diabetic kitty Zorro is far from thrilled about having his BG tested. I wanted to try and make the experience a bit better by giving him a treat after he is done. Any suggestions for low carb treats?

Thanks for your help

Kate & Zorro

Got lots of them if he likes human food. Any thing that is pure meat..the gang here gets raw or boiled chicken breast pieces, salad shrimp boiled in plain water, or bites of sardines packed in water. Also small bites of cream cheese works well with some kitties and has the added bonus of being able to hide a pill in it. ;-) I know others use Bonita flakes. Also the treat doesn't have to be food..I have one guy that his idea of a treat is a good brushing.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang

I get the salmon and chicken beefeaters treats at petsmart in the cat treat section...but anything that is 100% meat (usually freeze dried) is low carb and ok to give.

There are PureBites ( entirelypets.com) available also at PetsMart . I like the baby freeze dried shrimp. I rehydrate them with a tiny bit of
water and the turkey. My cat doesn't even notice the chicken ones.

Some cats really like parmesan cheese.

My cat also likes raw shrimp which is how I get her to let me give her a shot. I mix little bits into her food.

There is also a freeze dried salmon at PetsMart in a white plastic tub with all the cat treats. I use the crumbs on the bottom sprinkled
on some of the foods she hesitates eating.

There's a list of popular low carb treats here: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=9172

I use DOG freeze-dried chicken - a LOT cheaper than the ones marketed for cats. They're the same thing, just bigger chunks which I easily break up. I get the 'Simply Nourish' brand at Petsmart...not the ones with other stuff like sweet potatos, just plain 'Freeze Dried Chicken'. Right now they have a $1 off coupon in the flier at the front of the store....the regular price is $8.99.

HUGS!

Kate:

When I was getting Pumbaa used to being tested, I put sardines (packed in water, no salt) in front of him on the table to distract him while I poked.

Now, for treats, they like the Stella & Chewy's freeze dried raw nuggets.

Suze

My boys LOVE purebites freeze dried chicken. I started with the cat version (PetSmart) in a small bag, but they love them so much I buy the large dog size and break them up (I get these at PetSupplies Plus).

Great tip on getting the drooler version of the freeze-dried chicken. Waaaay more cost effective! How on earth can they justify charging more for the cat kind simply because they cut it up into smaller chunks?

Seriously... cat(2)_steam

Just a suggestion, for everyone on a budget.

I cook at least two chickens a week for me and my drooler, with no seasonings other than EVOO. My cats get that as a treat, as well, more frequently than what I posted above.

The cooked chicken is good for their teeth since they have to chew it, I always have some in my fridge (the drooler and I both eat a lot of chicken), and if you compare cost per pound, it's much more affordable and healthier than purchasing processed treats.

If you're not a vegetarian, and regularly eat meat or fowl, and don't add a lot of spices when you cook, your leftovers make wonderful low-carb, high-protein treats for the cats!

Or, think about buying a chicken when it's on sale, cooking it in the oven (don't ever boil chicken/fish/meat), then shredding it and putting it in the freezer in portions that would last for a week of treats. I don't eat many processed foods and my drooler is now off of all traditional processed dog foods and gets people food only (yoghurt; ground carrots, peas and green beans; and cooked chicken), and I would love to get my cats off of canned food as well.

Suze

Tara & Buster said:

Great tip on getting the drooler version of the freeze-dried chicken. Waaaay more cost effective! How on earth can they justify charging more for the cat kind simply because they cut it up into smaller chunks?

Seriously... cat(2)_steam

Click to expand...

Well, I bought a bag of the dog ones and with just one cat I couldn't get through the whole thing before they went stale, so I ended up tossing some. That's why I went back to the Beefeaters (which are much cheaper than the purebites), which also come in resealable containers so they lasted longer (although I suppose I may have been able to extend the life of the bigger bag of dog treats had I stored them in a resealable container instead of the bag; the thought didn't occur to me at the time). Anyway, there wasn't a big enough difference in price to make it worth it to me get the dog ones, and Bandit likes the salmon treats along with the chicken.

+1 To the Pure Bites. I was the 500th local follower of my vet on Twitter and we won treats, they asked what he liked. I said well, first, he's a cat (they were going to send dog treats initially) and he's diabetic (they didn't realize it was me at first) and thus he'd need something as low carb as possible. They sent Pure Bites. I didn't think Hobbs would like them b/c I tried giving him these shrimp flakes a few years ago and he wouldn't touch them. The first time I gave him some he sniffed them but was unsure. "Rehydrated" them with some water and he ate them up. Second time I didn't get to the water and he was grabbing them out of my hand. So far just the turkey though, haven't opened the chicken bag yet.

We will also bake or (Foreman) grill a chicken breast and cut it up, keep it in the fridge for a few days for him.

I get the large bags of freeze dried chicken frm the dog aisle too. the bags are resealable I get a weeks worth cut up, reseal the bag and toss it in the freezer.

I also started getting freeze dried turkey heart slices (good for extra taurine) on Amazon. Then I found http://www.justwheatfreedogtreats.com/poultrydogtreats! They have duck hearts and chicken hearts as well AND freeze dried duck breast!!!!!!! The ultimate treat!

My diabetic didn't really like Pure Bites! Tried liver, chicken, and shrimp and he would eat them sometimes but they weren't enough to make him go crazy (especially when we were first starting home testing) I didn't try rehydrating them with water though, maybe i should try them again...

I couldn't find a treat they could both agree on that was low carb. They both liked raw/partially cooked chicken breast but I might as well be vegetarian with how often I eat meat!

But my diabetic cat's not really a carb spiker on high carb treats/kibbles unless he eats a ton of them (and my civvie would eat anything) so I got My Mighty Lion (Canadian I think) treats that are grain free but not low carb (since they have potatoes in them). But they both go CRAZY for them. So they work for me.