Cat Foods - UK pet owners please respond

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Jos Dennis

Jos Dennis

Member Since 2021
Hello
I’m asking UK rather than USA as we don’t seem to get your products over here.

Recently got Alfie’s diagnosis and he needs to build up fat stores. He went from 5kg to 3.8 very rapidly. He’s on high protein , low carbs and we’ve stopped giving him dry food (fortunately he’s lost his desire for that).
Vet initially sent us home with Royal Canin, but he didn’t want it. We’ve Found Lily’s Kitchen Fillets in broth and he does like that. Any other suggestions for shop bought or online alternatives (preferably but necessarily not so pricey).
I’m doing my analysis of product carbs/calories using the usual formulas
We cannot stick to two meals a day as vet would prefer, as his appetite is little but maybe 4 times a day. We are are saving biggest meals for pre injection.
Thanks Jos
 
Hi and welcome to the forum Jos and Alfie.
UK INFORMATION
Here is a list of a lot of great information from the UK made by @Elizabeth and Bertie .. you should find what you want in here.. Click on the blue writing

We recommend feeding before every dose of insulin and again giving a couple of snacks during the first half of all cycles (the first 6 hours after the dose)

Would you like to tell us what type of insulin you are giving? I can give you lots of information if I know what type you are giving.
Are you hometesting the blood glucose levels? If not I would strongly recommend you think about doing it s it is the best way to keep Alfie safe.
It is not hard and we can help you do it.


One thing I would strongly recommend is to set up a hypo kit in case Alfie drops low. If you are home testing, you will be able to see this happening and stop it, but if you are not, you won’t have any idea until he is showing symptoms and by that time his BG will be vet low. So you need to make sure you have a kit set up.
HYPO KIT link here.
Keep asking lots of questions. We are very happy to help
Bron
 
Hi thanks for your terrific information and links. Alfie’s insulin is Caninsulin. Jos

Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Hi and welcome to the forum Jos and Alfie.
UK INFORMATION
Here is a list of a lot of great information from the UK made by @Elizabeth and Bertie .. you should find what you want in here.. Click on the blue writing

We recommend feeding before every dose of insulin and again giving a couple of snacks during the first half of all cycles (the first 6 hours after the dose)

Would you like to tell us what type of insulin you are giving? I can give you lots of information if I know what type you are giving.
Are you hometesting the blood glucose levels? If not I would strongly recommend you think about doing it s it is the best way to keep Alfie safe.
It is not hard and we can help you do it.


One thing I would strongly recommend is to set up a hypo kit in case Alfie drops low. If you are home testing, you will be able to see this happening and stop it, but if you are not, you won’t have any idea until he is showing symptoms and by that time his BG will be vet low. So you need to make sure you have a kit set up.
HYPO KIT link here.
Keep asking lots of questions. We are very happy to help
Bron
Click to expand...
 
We usually are finding injecting him difficult as he is very nervous and can easily bolt when I try to make the ‘tent’ , so we tend to try to inject while he still has his some interest in his food, and before he goes off to his hidey hole or into the garden. We do not relish the idea of trying to do blood sugar testing, but it is early days yet.
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Are you feeding Alfie and waiting 30 minutes before giving the dose?

Here is Information about CANINSULIN BEGINNERS GUIDE

Would you like to set up a spreadsheet and signature.
Find links for both HERE
Click to expand...
Jos Dennis said:
Hi thanks for your terrific information and links. Alfie’s insulin is Caninsulin. Jos
Click to expand...
 
Jos Dennis said:
We usually are finding injecting him difficult as he is very nervous and can easily bolt when I try to make the ‘tent’ , so we tend to try to inject while he still has his some interest in his food, and before he goes off to his hidey hole or into the garden. We do not relish the idea of trying to do blood sugar testing, but it is early days yet.
Click to expand...
With caninsulin it is important he has food aboard for when the insulin onset starts which is quite hard and fast with Caninsulin. I understand your predicament but try and feed 1/2 hour before and then give him a treat he likes when giving the dose.

Have you thought about putting on a freestyle libre for a couple of weeks to see how the blood glucose is going? It measures the blood glucose and you just have to read it.
https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=9150771
 
Will do as you suggest. We’ve found a freeze dried chicken treat from Wilco he adores, so a few scraps of that will do at injection time. I think that a permanent bs monitor was mentioned in the early days when the vet had trouble getting a blood prick. I’ll ask again.
This past week his appetite is much improved, but despite feeding him about 250 g of high protein low carb he doesn’t appear to be putting weight back on. I could feed him more but it would all have to be consumed at 4 or even 5 sittings per 24 hours, as he’s a little and often puss, used to grazing. What do you think?
Seeing vet today for weight and glucose readings which have to date seemed very high. She wondered if the stress of getting into the surgery may be contributing.
Thanks so much for your help, best wishes to you and Sheba.
Jos and Alfie
 
Jos Dennis said:
We’ve found a freeze dried chicken treat from Wilco he adores, so a few scraps of that will do at injection time. I t
Click to expand...
That is perfect

Jos Dennis said:
I think that a permanent bs monitor was mentioned in the early days when the vet had trouble getting a blood prick. I’ll ask again.
Click to expand...
The freestyle libre lasts 2 weeks. It’s a good temporary way of measuring the BG but really the only way to do it long term is to do it yourself. We can teach you to do it and Alfie won’t hate you!


Jos Dennis said:
This past week his appetite is much improved, but despite feeding him about 250 g of high protein low carb he doesn’t appear to be putting weight back on. I could feed him more but it would all have to be consumed at 4 or even 5 sittings per 24 hours, as he’s a little and often puss, used to grazing. What do you think?
Click to expand...

It depends on his weight as to if that amount of food is enough. Also in unregulated cats, the nutrients in the food are not absorbed properly so the cat is always hungry and won’t put on weight. I would feed the preshot main meal and then at least another two or three snacks during each cycle. Both am and pm cycles. That is what post people with diabetic cats do here on the forum.


Jos Dennis said:
Seeing vet today for weight and glucose readings which have to date seemed very high. She wondered if the stress of getting into the surgery may be contributing.
Click to expand...
It is well known that cats get stressed at the vets and that sends up the BG readings. That is why it can be unsafe to use the readings from the vet office to change the dose, as many cats are quite a bit lower at home.
 
Until he's regulated he won't gain weight.
The high BG is making him unable to use his food. So more focus on getting him regulated, then the weight will come on it's own.
Might also be a good idea to switch insulins.
 
That makes sense.
I read an article (not on this forum/site I hasten to add) that said that anorexia was more dangerous than diabetes so to try to get weight on as priority. But clearly that won’t work. This whole thing is a minefield. I’ve been advised to try to monitor his bloods at home and I think that would help the situation. Thanks
 
Thanks for thinking us Elizabeth and Bertie, I’m so sorry to have to say that we lost our dear old boy a few weeks ago.
Basically we (and vet) were unable to stabilise him with insulin and new diet after about 6 weeks of trying. He continued to loose weight and was constantly hungry. The vet suggested that he be taken in to pet hospital as a last resort where they would take bloods etc over several days to see if they could fix it. Alfie hated having injections and got very distressed when a needle of any sort came near him and he seemed to intuit when this was going to happen. The thought of him caged up, prodded and poked by strangers with needles for several days, in a strange noisy place without us, with no great chance of improvement was too much to bear. We had a few days of fussing him at home before the vet came to us. So sad but we have our memories.
My best wishes to all cat families out there.
xxxxx
PS please anyone, don’t ‘troll’ me if you think we made the wrong decision. We and our pet loving friends who knew our boy were very supportive of our decision under the circumstances and we made a hard choice.
 
Jos Dennis said:
Thanks for thinking us Elizabeth and Bertie, I’m so sorry to have to say that we lost our dear old boy a few weeks ago.
Basically we (and vet) were unable to stabilise him with insulin and new diet after about 6 weeks of trying. He continued to loose weight and was constantly hungry. The vet suggested that he be taken in to pet hospital as a last resort where they would take bloods etc over several days to see if they could fix it. Alfie hated having injections and got very distressed when a needle of any sort came near him and he seemed to intuit when this was going to happen. The thought of him caged up, prodded and poked by strangers with needles for several days, in a strange noisy place without us, with no great chance of improvement was too much to bear. We had a few days of fussing him at home before the vet came to us. So sad but we have our memories.
My best wishes to all cat families out there.
xxxxx
PS please anyone, don’t ‘troll’ me if you think we made the wrong decision. We and our pet loving friends who knew our boy were very supportive of our decision under the circumstances and we made a hard choice.
Click to expand...
Oh, (((Jos))), I am so very sorry for the loss of your beautiful Alfie.
Huge hugs to you. xxx
 
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