Evo discontinued, any good choices?

[PamJV]

Hello all,

I'm dropping back in to ask if any of you would know of good dry food suggestions to replace Evo that was discontinued. (My cat Ricky is one of those cats who has refused wet food his entire life and I also cannot do daily blood tests with him. I tried but it turned him into a nervous unhappy wreck. So my current dosage of 6 units twice a day, was arrived at with my one last curve and a Fructosamine test the new vet did at the practice.)

Regarding dry food choices I have looked at and tried Young Again Zero carb, and Dr. Elsey's. The Young Again Zero seems complicated if I can't do daily blood tests. That makes me wonder if it would be safer to use the Young Again 50/22. In either case Ricky doesn't like YA Zero even with the flavor enhancer nor does he like Dr. Elsey's.

Have any of you found an issue with the flavor of YA? Does that ever go away? Also I have 4 other cats and I have one auto dry feeder for them with regular carb dry food. Ricky can't get into that auto feeder. Lately Ricky is trying to get into that....so I wonder if it's just that Ricky is craving carbs and that's why he won't eat the YA or Dr. Elsey's ? By the way all this started right after he had a dentistry and some teeth removed and he was getting Bupenorphrine pain killer. This occurred right as the Evo was going out of stock.

At Pet Stores I've been told that some Evo users have switched to Orijen, and that has a lot of good whole meat sources but it also has a lot of fruits. The difficulty is that the dry foods with the nice whole meat ingredients like Orijen, Wellness Core, Arcana all seem to add a fruit and potato. Looking at Evo that Ricky was eating before even that one had Apples, Carrots, Peas, Cranberries, Alfalfa Sprouts, and Pumpkin. Yet Evo still managed to have 53% protein and 6% carb.

My vet official recommendation is to use Purina DM. Now that looks like garbage to me but I get it....it has no fruit so it's carb sources are probably low glycemic. Purina DM main ingredients are Poultry by-product meal, Soy Protein Isolate, Corn Gluten Meal, Soy Flour, Animal Fat, Corn Starch. I have had this out offering it to Ricky but he prefers the Evo. Other cats in my house do like this Purina DM though so it can't taste that bad.

The new vet at the practice advocated me using Young Again Zero, If I would do some home testing to get started. He said I'd have to stop all insulin and do the home testing to see what happens. To suddenly stop giving Ricky 6 units twice a day scares me. Right now I have no guarantee he'd even eat the Young Again Zero. I wonder if there would be a away to ease into that ....such as first see if he'd eat the Young Again 50/22 to at least get him used to that flavor first.

Thanks, for input. I know wet food it better and I do feed wet food to my 4 other cats. It's not that I'm lazy it's that Ricky really is stubborn about food. He's always been slim and and a light eater.

Pam

 

[JanetNJ]

Hello all,

I'm dropping back in to ask if any of you would know of good dry food suggestions to replace Evo that was discontinued. (My cat Ricky is one of those cats who has refused wet food his entire life and I also cannot do daily blood tests with him. I tried but it turned him into a nervous unhappy wreck. So my current dosage of 6 units twice a day, was arrived at with my one last curve and a Fructosamine test the new vet did at the practice.)

Regarding dry food choices I have looked at and tried Young Again Zero carb, and Dr. Elsey's. The Young Again Zero seems complicated if I can't do daily blood tests. That makes me wonder if it would be safer to use the Young Again 50/22. In either case Ricky doesn't like YA Zero even with the flavor enhancer nor does he like Dr. Elsey's.

Have any of you found an issue with the flavor of YA? Does that ever go away? Also I have 4 other cats and I have one auto dry feeder for them with regular carb dry food. Ricky can't get into that auto feeder. Lately Ricky is trying to get into that....so I wonder if it's just that Ricky is craving carbs and that's why he won't eat the YA or Dr. Elsey's ? By the way all this started right after he had a dentistry and some teeth removed and he was getting Bupenorphrine pain killer. This occurred right as the Evo was going out of stock.

At Pet Stores I've been told that some Evo users have switched to Orijen, and that has a lot of good whole meat sources but it also has a lot of fruits. The difficulty is that the dry foods with the nice whole meat ingredients like Orijen, Wellness Core, Arcana all seem to add a fruit and potato. Looking at Evo that Ricky was eating before even that one had Apples, Carrots, Peas, Cranberries, Alfalfa Sprouts, and Pumpkin. Yet Evo still managed to have 53% protein and 6% carb.

My vet official recommendation is to use Purina DM. Now that looks like garbage to me but I get it....it has no fruit so it's carb sources are probably low glycemic. Purina DM main ingredients are Poultry by-product meal, Soy Protein Isolate, Corn Gluten Meal, Soy Flour, Animal Fat, Corn Starch. I have had this out offering it to Ricky but he prefers the Evo. Other cats in my house do like this Purina DM though so it can't taste that bad.

The new vet at the practice advocated me using Young Again Zero, If I would do some home testing to get started. He said I'd have to stop all insulin and do the home testing to see what happens. To suddenly stop giving Ricky 6 units twice a day scares me. Right now I have no guarantee he'd even eat the Young Again Zero. I wonder if there would be a away to ease into that ....such as first see if he'd eat the Young Again 50/22 to at least get him used to that flavor first.

Thanks, for input. I know wet food it better and I do feed wet food to my 4 other cats. It's not that I'm lazy it's that Ricky really is stubborn about food. He's always been slim and and a light eater.

Pam

My cat eats young again mature zero limited ingredient. I find she's less gassy and no runs out smelly poop on that compared to the regular Yaz. I suggest you minimize the risk of your other cats developing diabetes by getting them in a lower carb diet. All my cats get feed fancy feast classic twice a day. CC the diabetic has access to Yaz limited ingredient mature, and the rest have access to epigen 90 which is about 8-9% carb. Is leave out the ya for them too except one of my other cats had a pork sensitivity.

Six units is a huge dose. More than twice what most diabetics ever need. It's really important you home test every day. At minimum get a preshot test and then at least one mid cycle number.

 

[PamJV]

My cat eats young again mature zero limited ingredient. I find she's less gassy and no runs out smelly poop on that compared to the regular Yaz. I suggest you minimize the risk of your other cats developing diabetes by getting them in a lower carb diet. All my cats get feed fancy feast classic twice a day. CC the diabetic has access to Yaz limited ingredient mature, and the rest have access to epigen 90 which is about 8-9% carb. Is leave out the ya for them too except one of my other cats had a pork sensitivity.

Six units is a huge dose. More than twice what most diabetics ever need. It's really important you home test every day. At minimum get a preshot test and then at least one mid cycle number.

6 units twice a day sounds like a lot to most people but he his a big cat. He weighs 18.5 pounds and he's very slim and tall. He looks the size of a bob cat. Of course part of it is that he will only eat dry food which would necessitate him needing more insulin. I already did do pre shot testing for several months and I tried doing more frequent testing too, it all just made him a nervous wreck who didn't enjoy life, and none of it was helping. So I couldn't do it any more. I went for advice to new vet at our practice and he told me based on his Fructosamine test and his size to just go up to 6 units twice a day and that did help Ricky because his plantigrade gait went away and he gained some weight, his fur looked better.

How did you know when the cat had a pork sensitivity. Ricky's never eaten a pork based cat food before. I wonder why YA doesn't offer other protein source choices?

 

[PamJV]

CC the diabetic has access to Yaz limited ingredient mature, and the rest have access to epigen 90 which is about 8-9% carb.

I just looked into Epigen 90. On the Chewy.com website one of the answers claims that this food has only 4% carbs (dry matter weight basis). I am not sure what dry matter weight basis means. Are you not giving it to your diabetic cat because of the carbs? I think even some canned foods have similar carbs if it's true there are only 4%. I wonder about this.

 

[JanetNJ]

6 units twice a day sounds like a lot to most people but he his a big cat. He weighs 18.5 pounds and he's very slim and tall. He looks the size of a bob cat. Of course part of it is that he will only eat dry food which would necessitate him needing more insulin. I already did do pre shot testing for several months and I tried doing more frequent testing too, it all just made him a nervous wreck who didn't enjoy life, and none of it was helping. So I couldn't do it any more. I went for advice to new vet at our practice and he told me based on his Fructosamine test and his size to just go up to 6 units twice a day and that did help Ricky because his plantigrade gait went away and he gained some weight, his fur looked better.

How did you know when the cat had a pork sensitivity. Ricky's never eaten a pork based cat food before. I wonder why YA doesn't offer other protein source choices?

I knew julie had a pork sensitivity because if she ate as little as 3 ya kibble she would have diarrhea for two weeks! Not a pretty site.

 

[JanetNJ]

I just looked into Epigen 90. On the Chewy.com website one of the answers claims that this food has only 4% carbs (dry matter weight basis). I am not sure what dry matter weight basis means. Are you not giving it to your diabetic cat because of the carbs? I think even some canned foods have similar carbs if it's true there are only 4%. I wonder about this.

4% is good.

I just looked into Epigen 90. On the Chewy.com website one of the answers claims that this food has only 4% carbs (dry matter weight basis). I am not sure what dry matter weight basis means. Are you not giving it to your diabetic cat because of the carbs? I think even some canned foods have similar carbs if it's true there are only 4%. I wonder about this.

They may have just used a carb counter off the internet for that number. The most reliable source is to get the as fed values from the manufacturer. Ill get in touch with wysong to see what they say. It's not a bad food. Cc does snack on it.... It's a good way to bribe her out of the closet at test time.

 

[PamJV]

4% is good.

They may have just used a carb counter off the internet for that number. The most reliable source is to get the as fed values from the manufacturer. Ill get in touch with wysong to see what they say. It's not a bad food. Cc does snack on it.... It's a good way to bribe her out of the closet at test time.

I just called Wysong and was told that Epigen 90 has 5.3% and Epigen has 5.5%. They are going to send me samples. The person recommended starting with Epigen regular first to get the cat transitioned to it. I wonder if the food is any fresher by ordering directly from Wysong vs Chewy.com ?

 

[JanetNJ]

I just called Wysong and was told that Epigen 90 has 5.3% and Epigen has 5.5%. They are going to send me samples. The person recommended starting with Epigen regular first to get the cat transitioned to it. I wonder if the food is any fresher by ordering directly from Wysong vs Chewy.com ?

Great! I've always had good expiration dates from chewy.

 

[Emmy]

After a year in almost complete remission my Mabel is back on insulin w bg in 200s daily so I am giving her .5 u Lev x1 daily. I am most concerned now with finding lower carb kibble because I suspect the Orijen Fit & Trim, which is 16% carb, which I feed in little amounts throughout the day (I work at home) in addition to lo carb wet food I feed x2 daily. She had been doing okay on the Orijen Fit & Trim but after I ordered a 12 lb bag because she was doing well, her numbers went up. I always first look to the food and I suspect Champion/Orijen of a slip up in carb amount with this lot or the larger bag. They are of course never going to admit it even if their KY plant messes up. However, I realize, of course, there can be other variables around the relapse.

I am again researching other kibble to find something lo carb. Mabel likes her kibble; she'll only lick the moisture off the lo-carb canned pates. I know about Epigen and Epigen 90 and the whole Wysong line (though Wysong mistakenly first sent all the wrong samples, had to be reminded to let me know when their nutritional analysis info update was posted, couldn't provide me with names of retailers in Minnesota that carry their canned food, wouldn't send samples of it, and were generally, I thought, snooty).

Young Again is out because I've had two bad bags, the first of which was moldy, the second which made both my cats very very ill. I reported these events to MN Dept Ag Pet Food. I don't know if they followed up. In any case, I don't want to risk getting bad food again.

I'm not sure where to turn for other lo carb kibble.

 

[PamJV]

After a year in almost complete remission my Mabel is back on insulin w bg in 200s daily so I am giving her .5 u Lev x1 daily. I am most concerned now with finding lower carb kibble because I suspect the Orijen Fit & Trim, which is 16% carb, which I feed in little amounts throughout the day (I work at home) in addition to lo carb wet food I feed x2 daily. She had been doing okay on the Orijen Fit & Trim but after I ordered a 12 lb bag because she was doing well, her numbers went up. I always first look to the food and I suspect Champion/Orijen of a slip up in carb amount with this lot or the larger bag. They are of course never going to admit it even if their KY plant messes up. However, I realize, of course, there can be other variables around the relapse.

I am again researching other kibble to find something lo carb. Mabel likes her kibble; she'll only lick the moisture off the lo-carb canned pates. I know about Epigen and Epigen 90 and the whole Wysong line (though Wysong mistakenly first sent all the wrong samples, had to be reminded to let me know when their nutritional analysis info update was posted, couldn't provide me with names of retailers in Minnesota that carry their canned food, wouldn't send samples of it, and were generally, I thought, snooty).

Young Again is out because I've had two bad bags, the first of which was moldy, the second which made both my cats very very ill. I reported these events to MN Dept Ag Pet Food. I don't know if they followed up. In any case, I don't want to risk getting bad food again.

I'm not sure where to turn for other lo carb kibble.

Mabel is a cute name. What are the ingredients in the Orijen? As I remember they add fruits and veggies. My vet tells me that it's not just about total carb content but about the type of carb whether it be a high glycemic type or not. Fruit and potato would be high glycemic. That's one of the reasons I didn't go for Orijen. I guess it's true that Evo did have cranberries but their over all carb was just 6%.

Right now I did receive samples of Epigen 90, and regular Epigen...... so far none of my cats will touch it and especially not Ricky the diabetic cat. Wysong instructs to first mix 10% of the new food into the old food, so I am trying that. I just don't have much hope. I know how they are. It's really exhausting because I want to feel that they can enjoy their food. With the non diabetics of course I have more options, but the free feeding dry I leave out has to be good for Ricky. It would be nice if they could all eat the same food.

Dr. Elsey's has dry food with only about 5% carb and no fruits or potato but my cats don't like the taste of that either.

I think he problem is with the smell. Cats seem to base a lot on what a food smells like.

 

[Emmy]

I am online only intermittently, but here's an update on Mabel. While she had been in remission for about a year, her blood sugar elevated when I started feeding her from a newly arrived 12 lb bag of Orijen Fit & Trim. She had been eating Orijen Fit & Trim from the 14 oz or 4 lb bags of food I had been buying at a nearby retailer for several months without problems. I immediately suspected the carb content in the 12 lb bag I had ordered from an online retailer was higher. I wrote the online retailer and I wrote Champion, which now owns and produces Orijen. The online retailer would not take the opened 12 lb bag back but did offer token credit. Customer care at Champion sent me a voucher for a smaller bag of Orijen at my request. I bought a 4 lb bag of the Fit & Trim at my nearby retailer. After two weeks and some days of elevated blood sugar requiring me to put her back on Levemir, then within two days of feeding from the smaller bag of Orijen Mabel's blood sugar went back to normal and she does not now require insulin. I have been communicating with customer care at Champion, giving them the identification numbers on the 12 and 4 lb bags of food because I interpret these as coming from different lots at the very least. I don't know about different plants. I have written them how critical it is to those of us with diabetic cats that the carb content in their food is what they claim it is on the bags and on their website guaranteed analysis. I am getting the run around from them, of course. And they haven't yet fully compensated me for the 12 lbs of food, which I am asking them to do since I cannot use it. I'll give it to a place in the country where I know they are feeding a lot of feral cats because those cats are always very hungry. I sort of don't trust Orijen any more not just because of this but because of the class action law suit which is directed toward truth in advertising about their dog food. It makes me wonder about those problems in their production and if they spread to the cat food. But for now, Mabel is back on Orijen Fit & Trim from the 4 lb bags which apparently comes from a different lot at least that the distributor that serves my nearby retailer uses. The difficulty of all this is time consuming and stressful. I have learned this though--first, look to the food.

 

[PamJV]

But for now, Mabel is back on Orijen Fit & Trim from the 4 lb bags which apparently comes from a different lot at least that the distributor that serves my nearby retailer uses. The difficulty of all this is time consuming and stressful. I have learned this though--first, look to the food.

Your story makes me wonder. I always used buy the 2 lb bag of Evo from a local retailer and Ricky always liked it. Then when the discontinuation was announced, I could only get some 2 lb bags and one larger bag from Chewy. Ricky never liked the ones from Chewy much. I don't know if they could have been different. Maybe as Evo's production was shutting down the quality changed? So I had to try to something different. At least you can still get the Orijen 4 lb bags, so that's good.