Change of diet.

[AliMA]

Can anyone help please? Been told now that Lunar is to be on a low fat/High Protein diet. Can anyone suggest anything that would help her weight also please ESP treat wise.
Thank you

 

[Sharon14]

You're in the UK, right?

@Elizabeth and Bertie
@Critter Mom

 

[Critter Mom]

You can get Thrive freeze-dried protein treats from Sainsbury's (and, presumably, pet shops and other supermarkets). Zooplus.co.uk do Cosma Snackies freeze-dried treats and they're cheaper than the Thrive ones. The XXL Snackies are the cheapest; they're a bit large for a cat but you can easily break the large chunks into smaller pieces.

It's also OK to give little pieces of plain chicken poached in just water (NO seasonings or flavourings whatsoever). You could poach a few breasts of chicken, cut them up into treat-sized pieces, space out on a flat tray to freeze, then pop them in an airtight container and store in the freezer. Then you can just take out enough treats for a day at a time.

Here's a thread which includes UK food info and a link to the current UK low-carb food list.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...-including-link-to-low-carb-food-list.137376/

NB: I would very much recommend not feeding the new formulation of Sheba Fine Flakes in Jelly Poultry Collection pouches. Two of us here have had cats experience GI problems (some extremely harmful) with the new formulation (the one that comes in a box which is mainly black in colour) and I also saw a report from a reviewer on Sainsbury's online grocery site saying that their cat refused to eat the new formulation (even though their cat had eaten the old formulation happily for a very long time).

Diabetic-friendly foods are typically high in protein, moderate in fat content, and low in carbs.

Is there any specific reason why you've been advised to feed Lunar a diet low in fat?


Mogs
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[Elizabeth and Bertie]

Been told now that Lunar is to be on a low fat/High Protein diet. Can anyone suggest anything that would help her weight also please ESP treat wise.

Hi AliMa,

Is Lunar the diabetic kitty? Is she overweight?
And what is she eating at the moment? Am I right in thinking that she is eating dry food? If so, you may well find that she loses weight naturally if/when you transition her to a low carb wet diet (and there are lower fat wet foods that you can feed if you need to).

However, you should not transition to wet/low carb food unless you are testing her blood glucose at home, and can monitor the effect on her blood glucose levels (switching to low carb can reduce the blood glucose a lot in some cats, and the insulin may need to be reduced accordingly...)

Eliz

 

[AliMA]

aw wow thank you everyone. the link is amazing.
Lunar is my remission diabetic cat in the picture who is ultra fussy ! she struggles to eat dry food as its too hard for her (but has a clean bill of health with her teeth/gums/jaw), so are the cosma treats hard or soft please?
She was told originally to be on a diabetic diet plan but now they have said to move her to a high protein/low fat to help aid her lose weight which she is on wet food once a day on a spike tray (no problems and loves; even wakes me for it), and then once a day has dry food in a eggersizer and a spike tray.
Yes we are in the UK.
with the chicken, you say about poaching it; i will not handle uncooked meat, so i get family to bring it ready done, they are getting it cooked as a whole chicken for their tea and then getting the bits for Lunar which is not near the skin, so near the middle; is this ok? its on a rotisserie i think?

 

[Critter Mom]

She was told originally to be on a diabetic diet plan but now they have said to move her to a high protein/low fat to help aid her lose weight which she is on wet food once a day on a spike tray (no problems and loves; even wakes me for it), and then once a day has dry food in a eggersizer and a spike tray.

You could pop freeze-dried or home-cooked protein treats into the tray.

with the chicken, you say about poaching it; i will not handle uncooked meat, so i get family to bring it ready done, they are getting it cooked as a whole chicken for their tea and then getting the bits for Lunar which is not near the skin, so near the middle; is this ok? its on a rotisserie i think?

I wouldn't risk feeding cooked meats; there is no way of being certain that they are free of seasoning - even the inner parts of the meat as seasonings permeate the meat during cooking.

I've had no problems with excess kitty weight since switching to all-wet, diabetic-friendly food (as described above) with a teaspoonful or two of water added to each meal. To manage weight I use:

1. a reasonably priced digital baby scale (can get them for about £20 or so on ebay or Amazon).

2. a body condition chart for progress monitoring.

3. a daily log of how many tins/pouches fed. (Calorie / carb calculator here.)

4. Weigh once a week at the same time of day.

A cat needs to lose weight s-l-o-w-l-y. More info on safe weight reduction for felines here at catinfo.org.

For an overweight cat - if weight remains the same or increases reduce the daily food allowance a little (in line with recommendations from catinfo.org). If safe amount of weight lost then keep feeding the same amount. Rinse and repeat until ideal weight is reached. Thereafter use the same method to maintain ideal weight; if cat gains a little reduce daily food allowance a little; if weight is lost, increase the allowance a little.


Mogs
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[Critter Mom]

are the cosma treats hard or soft please?

The XXL treats are softer than the regular Cosma Snackies; they crumble to a powdery consistency quite easily between your fingers (although you do get the odd hard one).


Mogs
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[Larry and Kitties]

No need for low fat and it is very hard to get low-fat and low carb food. Foo is only three constituents (besides water, vitamins and minerals), fat, protein and carbs.
To lose with just feed less.

 

[Capoo]

Hi @AliMA ,

At one time, I was also looking for a food low in fat and in carbs, and I found it on Zooplus: it's Terra Faelis with Rabbit (only this flavor is low in fat).

 

[AliMA]

Thank you so much for al your knowledge. Much appreciated