About the famous food switching

[EDMarie]

Hello everybody !

I joined this board last year, when my 8 years old cat was diagnosed with diabetes. I never wrote here, but found a lot of valuable information. The diagnosis as well as learning about home testing and injections was pretty upsetting at first, but now I am way more comfortable with all of this!

It took several months and a lot of effort in order to get my cat regulated. It's still not perfect though. She is on Lantus, 5 units twice a day. Her average BG is about 12-13 mmol/l, sometimes a bit lower.

I went to the vet for the annual visit last week. When I first brought her last year (when I learned she was diabetic), she weighted 11 lbs. She was 16 lbs a couple of months before, and the fast weight loss was one of the signs that made me realize something was wrong with her. Now, she is back at 16 lbs !! I feel pretty guilty because I let her gain all her weight back, but I was pretty afraid of hypoglycemia so I guess I let her eat way more than necessary.

However, I now would like to change the situation ! The vet where I go suggested Royal Canin for diabetic cats, but from what I read it isn't really the best choice, and moreover my cat used to be on RC and she had diarrhea for months (until I changed her food for Purina ProPlan Focus - salmon). I would like to change her food in order to feed her wet food, but I wanna make sure I do it in a safe way. I was told that the diarrhea could be caused by a poultry allergy, so I guess something with fish would be safer ? I can't feed her seafood cause I have a serious allergy to that myself.

I would be thankful if any of you could share your experience with switching food, or any advice as to how to proceed safely.

Thank you very much ! Hope this thread is in the appropriate section also ! (Forgive me if it isn't!)

 

[Sharon14]

Hi! When switching food it’s good to do it slowly, mixing it with the old, over a weeks time. If your cat has allergies to chicken or poultry a diet using a novel protein, such as rabbit, duck or venison would be best. Always read the ingredients label because many foods labeled as one thing also contain other proteins. I’m glad you’ve started posting and I hope you continue, we like to make new friends around here!

 

[EDMarie]

Hi,

Thank you for your kind answer I am going to try to post more, I don't know anyone around me who owns a diabetic cat, so most of the time people don't understand my concerns and situation ! Most people actually think I take it too seriously haha and indeed I am overly attached to my cat !

I can't remember seeing canned food made with duck or rabbit in my area, however since I wasn't looking specifically for that, if I look carefully I might as well find some. I am going to give it a try I believe, I wouldn't want to risk another diarrhea episode. I spent a lot of money on vet consultations and medications to finally find out by myself that the food was the problem. I live in a small town, and I went to a couple of stores where they sell products for animals and nobody could answer my questions or give me advice that I would trust. In fact most of them told me that dry food was best than canned food and/or were not at ease with the fact that my cat has diabetes. So I told myself I might as well ask people here for some reliable information.

I wonder, while doing the switch, should I give her a little less insulin right from the start ? Or keep her usual dose and test frequently ? She is on a pretty high dose so I wouldn't want to take any risk.

Have a great day !

 

[Kris & Teasel]

keep her usual dose and test frequently

If you can test frequently you'll be able to see whether the food change is causing any significant drop and then adjust the dose accordingly as you go along.

Do you have any interest in setting up the spreadsheet we use here to track your kitty's BG numbers? With input from experienced Lantus users here you might be able to improve your kitty's BG control.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

 

[Glassgoblin]

If you can order online, there are some wonderful stores like Chewy.com, and even Amazon has some really good options for cat foods (canned and dry). My Jaxa has switched over this last two weeks to Young Again (a kibble for carnivore diet) and I was lucky that she took to it right away. Some soft stools, but that has mostly passed, but she is a bit gassy (and stinky).

For digestive upset, if you are not opposed to supplements; slippery elm bark can help with both diarrhea and constipation. You just need to look at the other ingredients if it is a mix to be sure that it doesn't have a anything that might interact negatively with other medications or insulin (my phytomucil has marshmallow root, which some say can interfere with blood glucose control).

 

[Deb & Wink]

Try looking at this food chart for some possible canned food choices that do not have poultry or fish, since either your cat or you have allergies. Plus you want low carb, <10% if possible.

Even when a food is labeled "Rabbit" or "Lamb" it often has other ingredients in it like pork or poultry or often some type of fish oil. Don't know exactly what type of fish allergy you have, but close reading of any ingredients list looks likely to be beneficial to you.

Could you help us to understand more about your seafood allergy so would could try to help you better? You said you were feeding Purina Pro Plan Focus Salmon, but that contains seafood and poultry- salmon, fish meal and chicken meal in the ingredients. But you said your cat has problems eating poultry.

Maybe try to make your own raw food? I know you can buy ground rabbit online, just not sure if your cat would like the rabbit.

 

[EDMarie]

If you can test frequently you'll be able to see whether the food change is causing any significant drop and then adjust the dose accordingly as you go along.

Do you have any interest in setting up the spreadsheet we use here to track your kitty's BG numbers? With input from experienced Lantus users here you might be able to improve your kitty's BG control.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

Thank you ! I will have a look at the spreadsheet and see what I can do. I didn't keep her previous curves (gave them to the vet), but as soon as I have enough information to start the food switch I might use this, as well as for future curves.

 

[EDMarie]

If you can order online, there are some wonderful stores like Chewy.com, and even Amazon has some really good options for cat foods (canned and dry)...

Oh thanks, as I live in Canada I think Amazon will be the best option, I checked on the other site and they do not ship here unfortunately ! Great idea however, wouldn't even have thought of buying from Internet ! Even though I buy a lot for myself !

I've read a lot of positive reviews regarding Young Again. So you took two weeks to make the switch? Did it significantly impact your cat's ? I am more than afraid of soft stools though, I had such a hard time getting rid of the problem ! I will look for more info regarding slippery elm bark, never heard of that before.

Thank you very much !

 

[EDMarie]

Try looking at this food chart for some possible canned food choices that do not have poultry or fish, since either your cat or you have allergies. Plus you want low carb, <10% if possible.

Could you help us to understand more about your seafood allergy so would could try to help you better? You said you were feeding Purina Pro Plan Focus Salmon, but that contains seafood and poultry- salmon, fish meal and chicken meal in the ingredients. But you said your cat has problems eating poultry.

Thank you for the info ! I will definitely look at the chart. SO helpful !!

Actually, I am not 100% sure that she has a poultry allergy. However, a couple of weeks after starting RC gastrointestinal she started pulling out her hair like crazy, she had bald spots and everything (plus the diarrhea, poor cat). It was awful. So I went to 2 different pet stores for some counseling, and both employees told me that it could be a poultry allergy/intolerance. The behavior disappeared a couple of days after I switched to Proplan, but you are right there is chicken flour in the recipe. Kind of confusing! I did not investigate the matter much more after since the food switch made both the diarrhea and the hair pulling stop. I assumed it was better to avoid chicken and such things since that episode.

 

[Glassgoblin]

Oh thanks, as I live in Canada I think Amazon will be the best option, I checked on the other site and they do not ship here unfortunately ! Great idea however, wouldn't even have thought of buying from Internet ! Even though I buy a lot for myself !

I've read a lot of positive reviews regarding Young Again. So you took two weeks to make the switch? Did it significantly impact your cat's ? I am more than afraid of soft stools though, I had such a hard time getting rid of the problem ! I will look for more info regarding slippery elm bark, never heard of that before.

Thank you very much !

We didn't take two weeks to switch, more like one but they say on the bag to go ahead and switch faster if the cat is willing to eat the new food. Jaxa had some soft stools but they weren't too bad and easy to scoop. She was really gassy for a day too, but seems better today. It is hard to get the right food when you have a picky cat and so many of the good foods are expensive; what helped me choose was the free samples I got from Young Again and Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein. All foods should have a taste test choice, or so I wish.