? New member from the UK seeking information

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Melva Lingard

Member Since 2021
Please can anyone recommend a good low carb wet food that is affordable to someone on a low income , available in the UK.
 
Hi and welcome.
Here is a link to UK INFORMATION which should be helpful
If you change your subject line to ‘New member from the UK seeking information’you will get more responses.
Let us know if we can help you with anything else.
 
Melva Lingard said:
Please can anyone recommend a good low carb wet food that is affordable to someone on a low income , available in the UK.
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Hello, waving from Surrey!
There are lots of ordinary low carb foods in the UK suitable for diabetic kitties.
Do have a look at the food list link in my signature at the bottom of this comment.

What are you feeding at the moment?
Are you looking to buy in a supermarket, or can you buy online?

Eliz
 
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Elizabeth and Bertie said:
Hello, waving from Surrey!
There are lots of ordinary low carb foods in the UK suitable for diabetic kitties.
Do have a look at the food list link in my signature at the bottom of this comment.

What are you feeding at the moment?
Are you looking to buy in a supermarket, or can you buy online?

Eliz
Click to expand...
Hi Eliz.
I am currently feeding Royal Canin diabetic wet food. £11+ for 12 pouches. Cat has been off insulin now for 5 weeks, fructosamine test last week returned 356, up from 266 on last test whilst on insulin, so borderline as to returning on to insulin.
I can buy at a supermarket or online. It's just that there is so much information on the charts available that I am bamboozled!
Would appreciate personal recommendations.
 
Hi Melva :)
Elizabeth is our UK food expert and created/maintains the UK food list… it is quite comprehensive yes! As for low carb foods at reasonable prices, many UKers feed supermarket brands such as Sheba Fine Flakes, or Whiskas or Felix. Just be sure that you get the jelly varieties, not the ones in gravy (which contain more carbs).
 
Diana&Tom said:
Hi Melva :)
Elizabeth is our UK food expert and created/maintains the UK food list… it is quite comprehensive yes! As for low carb foods at reasonable prices, many UKers feed supermarket brands such as Sheba Fine Flakes, or Whiskas or Felix. Just be sure that you get the jelly varieties, not the ones in gravy (which contain more carbs).
Click to expand...

Thank you. xx
 
Butcher's classic is 7%, so not the lowest, but many here have used succesfully and is available in sainsburys and morrisons.

Cheaper lower carb foods are available through zooplus.co.uk. Feringa is moslty bellow 3%, Smilla poultry with duck is also a good option or catessy foil tins.
 
If your question above is related to food, a cat in remission is a cat that is a diet controlled diabetic. Your cat should remain on a low carb diet regardless of whether blood glucose is elevated or if your cat is in remission.

(I wasn't sure what you were asking about regarding "this advice" so if I'm not answering your question, could you be more specific?)
 
Melva Lingard said:
fructosamine test last week returned 356
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Hi Melva, just looked on a comparison chart and a fructosamine of 356 equates 'very approximately' to a blood glucose level about 11mmol. Since this test has been done while your cat is off insulin the result is more useful/reliable than would be the case if your cat was on insulin.

Quick explanation... Fructosamine tests can be very useful for diabetes diagnosis, and for testing the status of cats who may be in remission. But, once a cat is on insulin they are not nearly so useful, and can even be misleading. This is because the test indicates a sort of average of blood glucose levels over the preceding couple of weeks. And for cats on insulin the blood glucose levels can fluctuate a great deal sometimes, so an 'average' is not necessarily helpful... For example, a cat on insulin could be in relatively stable blood glucose levels, or could be swinging from very low to very high and back again, and the fructosamine could indicate a 'good' result...

'If' we can take that 356 fructosamine (equating to blood glucose around 11mmol) at face value, then that is above the normal blood glucose range. But it may still be below the 'renal threshold' (the point where glucose from the blood starts spilling into the urine). In short, it is a diabetic number but it is not that high...
...It may be possible to bring the blood glucose down a bit by switching to a food lower in carbohydrate than the Royal Canin diabetic pouches...
So, it could be possible to find a cheaper food and one that is lower in carbohydrate...

I'm just going to see if I can find the carb content of the RC pouches...
 
Melva, the data I've found online for the RC diabetic pouches puts them at around 13.5% calories from carbohydrates. So, there is quite a bit of scope for reducing the carb content of your cat's diet, and hopefully (fingers crossed) also bringing those blood glucose levels down a tad too... BTW, there is nothing 'special' about the so called veterinary/prescription diabetic foods. And the vast majority of people in feline diabetes groups just feed ordinary low carb wet food...

We recommend that diabetic kitties eat foods with less than 10% of calories from carbs. And many cats seem to do better on foods no higher than about 4 - 6% calories from carbs (but it all depends on the cat..).
The foods on the UK food list should all have less than 10% calories from carbs.

Hercule's Mom has made some good food suggestions further up the page.
In addition to those, and regarding supermarket foods, many UK folks currently feed Sheba 'fine flakes'. But there are quite a few other supermarket options...

If you look at the food list and scroll down to 'Widely available foods' you'll find lots of options there.
If you scroll down a bit further you'll find the 'Supermarket own brand foods'.
The carb column is the yellow column.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J5JpMe6TDXrHq_aTl9hUtHy6Gs9oRBqlz4nPGKxtySA/pubhtml

If you need more help please just shout out.

Eliz
 
Elizabeth and Bertie said:
Melva, the data I've found online for the RC diabetic pouches puts them at around 13.5% calories from carbohydrates. So, there is quite a bit of scope for reducing the carb content of your cat's diet, and hopefully (fingers crossed) also bringing those blood glucose levels down a tad too... BTW, there is nothing 'special' about the so called veterinary/prescription diabetic foods. And the vast majority of people in feline diabetes groups just feed ordinary low carb wet food...

We recommend that diabetic kitties eat foods with less than 10% of calories from carbs. And many cats seem to do better on foods no higher than about 4 - 6% calories from carbs (but it all depends on the cat..).
The foods on the UK food list should all have less than 10% calories from carbs.

Hercule's Mom has made some good food suggestions further up the page.
In addition to those, and regarding supermarket foods, many UK folks currently feed Sheba 'fine flakes'. But there are quite a few other supermarket options...

If you look at the food list and scroll down to 'Widely available foods' you'll find lots of options there.
If you scroll down a bit further you'll find the 'Supermarket own brand foods'.
The carb column is the yellow column.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J5JpMe6TDXrHq_aTl9hUtHy6Gs9oRBqlz4nPGKxtySA/pubhtml

If you need more help please just shout out.

Eliz
Click to expand...
 
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