Hi Marisofi
I am so glad you joined FDMB! Although I have no personal experience with a diabetic kitty, I have found the forum really helpful, there’s a lot of wonderful people here with a lot of experience and knowledge.
I am sorry Maya is also experiencing diarrhea since October, on top of diabetes, and that she has lost 2 kilos since summer, it is a long time and a lot of weight to lose for a cat. How is her appetite and how much does she eat now? Also, I don’t know about fTLI, but I am sure B12/folic acid are run in Greece too, (I am in Greece myself and my cat has had a B12 test here before), and I agree 10 days is too long for the clinic to send the results anyway.
That said, I feel you should use all the advice you can while you wait for the results of these lab tests. I will repeat I have no experience with a diabetic cat myself, so please
@Critter Mom ,
@Sienne and Gabby (GA) ,
@Aleluia Grugru & Minnie and everyone correct me, but I think you should consider switching Maya to a high quality low carb wet food, regulate insulin accordingly, and try better probiotics than fortiflora. I also don’t understand exactly when you feed dry and wet during the day, and if and how this can have effect on the measurements on Maya’s spreadsheet, as dry can have a big impact on glucose levels. So, here are my thoughts on food, insulin, and supplements:
FOOD:
As far as food change is concerned, I understand it should be done while monitoring glucose with the help of the members here at the same time. There are wet foods with lower carbs and better quality than diabetic prescription food. A good quality wet food (avoid fish though) will also be of benefit even if Maya turns out to also have EPI (or IBS, or IBD, or anything basically). Royal canin diabetic dry can have more than 25% Kcals from carbs, hills m/d wet is just over 10%, whereas with wellness core, some flavors do have lower carbs, but I see it contains a lot of ingredients and I assume you can find better quality. You can check out %Kcals from carbs from the excel:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J5JpMe6TDXrHq_aTl9hUtHy6Gs9oRBqlz4nPGKxtySA/pubhtml# and also calculate them yourself using this one:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NOyUfaKxNa580Wnz-0c0_kRQgvlMJgnu/edit#gid=984948269, it is wise to verify content yourself because sometimes they change the recipes and the first excel may not be updated yet. You can check out some good quality wet food, verify carb content, and compare ingredients with wellness core to see the difference for yourself. If you want info on can ingredients, also search for “If you opt to feed canned food” in this link:
https://www.ibdkitties.net/feline-nutrition/. I would check out:
thrive complete,
granatapet,
mac’s,
grau,
wild freedom, available on zooplus.com and zooplus.gr. Some of these brands also offer single protein cans, which are great for an elimination diet. Remember to change foods gradually, so first eliminate dry and prescription and stick to low carb wellness core, and then slowly introduce new food while home testing and seeking advice here in the forum. I will please the older members to commend and correct me!
INSULIN:
I am not experienced at understanding readings, I understand Maya will need constant monitoring and a lower dose after you eliminate high carb food from her diet, but I am leaving dosing and optimal levels to experienced members of the forum.
SUPPLEMENTS:
Please consider a better probiotic than fortiflora, if knowledgeable members of the forum can verify it won’t harm even before you know b12 levels. Also, be sure to space out with any antibiotic. I don’t see visbiome available in Greece, however I do see Lamberts s. boulardii 300mg.
Also, I don’t know if Maya can benefit from b12 supplementation even before Marisofi receives the lab results?
Please everyone commend on the above, correct me and help Maya and Marisofi!
You're doing great with the testing, Marisofi. 