Food advice

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Minimini

Minimini

Member Since 2021
Hi everybody!

Mini has been out of insuline for 5 months and giving wonderful low sugar levels by just changing his food to a no-carb wet one.

However, 3 weeks ago I took him to the vet for a check and he found some irregularities:
Tcho: 358 mg/dl.
CRE: 1,88 mg/dl.
BUN: 39,80 mg/dl.

He told me to start feeding him Royal Canin Urinary S/O. I was reluctant as it has tons of carbs, but at the same time, I was fearing a kidney failure so I started with his new diet.
3 weeks later, I come back home, (I work temporarily out of home, so my hubby takes care of him but can't test sugar levels). I test Mini, and he throws 464mg/dl . He has also lost 2 kg.
He isn't in pain and still doing his regular things, totally not like the time he was diagnosed. I'm taking this Royal Canin food away right now and we are going back to his canned food. But I'm completely aware this wet food wasn't optimal for him either.
Could you recommend me anything that's suitable for diabetes while caring their renal function?
There is another problem too, it has to be sold in Europe, I often find imposible to buy some of the brands that you recommend here.

Thank you so much in advance.

EDIT:
I called the vet. It seems I got everything wrong. Mini's health issue is the presence of struvite's crystals in his urine, so it is not a kidney issue.
He told me to mix wet and dry half and half this week, and then stick to wet. While we do so, I have to start with glipizide, vitamin C for the crystals and benazepril.
 
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I am sorry the vet told you to feed the Royal Canin Urinary S/O. It is very high in carbs.
No wonder your kitty has fallen out of remission.
Have you started insulin again? What insulin was he on before ?
I would also test the urine for ketones to make sure there are not any.
You will need a bottle of Ketostix or Dia-Ketostix to do that. There should be no ketones in the urine.

I’m not sure what foods are sold in Europe but you need to get foods that are low in phosphorus.
Have a look at this FOOD LIST FROM THE UK and see if you can buy any of these in Europe.
Where in Europe are you?

You might find a lot more information on this website
https://www.felinecrf.org/

I would also recommend you think about setting up a spreadsheet so we can help you. Here is the link.
HELP US HELP YOU

@Bandit's Mom can you think of anyone who lives in Europe who might be able to help with food? My mind has gone blank.
 
Thank you so much.
I'm in Spain, so I'm pretty much restricted to what Zooplus, Bitiba or Tienda Animal can provide.
He was taking Caninsulin and he did fine on that. I have no more left, so I was wondering if the levels would go down if we just stop the carbs. The reactive stripe that I used expired one month ago. I'm getting new ones this afternoon, so I'!! start with the spreadsheet as soon as I get them.

Edit: The food I'm feeding him (Animonda Carny Adult) is on the UK list, but the phosphorus' levels are not listed. I'm writing the company and tell you the moment I know.
 
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@Gill & George lives in Spain. I’m not sure if she will see this tag or not. She may have some ideas of food for you.
Also if you need to buy more insulin, I would ask for Lantus or Prozinc. They are much better insulins for cats.
 
Minimini said:
called the vet. It seems I got everything wrong. Mini's health issue is the presence of struvite's crystals in his urine, so it is not a kidney issue.
He told me to mix wet and dry half and half this week, and then stick to wet. While we do so, I have to start with glipizide, vitamin C for the crystals and benazepril.
Click to expand...
Have just seen you edit and add
Please, please do not use glipizide. It will stress the pancreas more and will do much more damage than good. And you will lose your chance at remission again. If the BG is above normal you need to restart insulin.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
@Bandit's Mom can you think of anyone who lives in Europe who might be able to help with food? My mind has gone blank.
Click to expand...
Tagging some members in Europe. Not sure how many of them will see the tags

@SashaV
@Marina & Chico
@Cris & Wolvi
@Airun (Spain)

A number of the foods in the UK food list should be available via Zooplus etc
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J5JpMe6TDXrHq_aTl9hUtHy6Gs9oRBqlz4nPGKxtySA/pubhtml


@Minimini You may also want to check out this excellent website on feline nutrition by a vet, Dr. Lisa Pierson and specifically this page of urinary tract issues in cats:
https://catinfo.org/feline-urinary-tract-diseases/
 
Minimini said:
Edit: The food I'm feeding him (Animonda Carny Adult) is on the UK list, but the phosphorus' levels are not listed. I'm writing the company and tell you the moment I know.
Click to expand...
Hola Mini y su mami.

The UK food list has a number of foods that have phosphorus listed if you are worried about kidneys look for those below 1%,
My old boy George is on Feringa, thrive, wildfreedom (the varieties listed with p below 1% they are all low carb of course)
One of the animonda renal is also low carb, it's all on that UK SS listed and I get my food from zooplus. Though I have to buy the thrive from the German zooplus shop, they will still deliver to Spain, the Spanish shop stopped stocking some of the foods
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J5JpMe6TDXrHq_aTl9hUtHy6Gs9oRBqlz4nPGKxtySA/pubhtml
I also agree with Bron RE the glipiside.

If your mini likes wet food I would just swap her straight over onto a low carb wet diet if she's happy, no don't see the need to drag it out for a week, unless she is sensitive to changes.

The link bhooma gave you is really interesting, the vet shares a case history of a cat with chronic urinary tract problems and discusses it's association with dry food. https://catinfo.org/feline-urinary-tract-diseases/
 
Gill & George said:
Hola Mini y su mami.

The UK food list has a number of foods that have phosphorus listed if you are worried about kidneys look for those below 1%,
My old boy George is on Feringa, thrive, wildfreedom (the varieties listed with p below 1% they are all low carb of course)
One of the animonda renal is also low carb, it's all on that UK SS listed and I get my food from zooplus. Though I have to buy the thrive from the German zooplus shop, they will still deliver to Spain, the Spanish shop stopped stocking some of the foods
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J5JpMe6TDXrHq_aTl9hUtHy6Gs9oRBqlz4nPGKxtySA/pubhtml
I also agree with Bron RE the glipiside.

If your mini likes wet food I would just swap her straight over onto a low carb wet diet if she's happy, no don't see the need to drag it out for a week, unless she is sensitive to changes.

The link bhooma gave you is really interesting, the vet shares a case history of a cat with chronic urinary tract problems and discusses it's association with dry food. https://catinfo.org/feline-urinary-tract-diseases/
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for all your advice, I can get all of the brands you mentioned, so it's time to give them a try.
Yes, he's a chompy greedy cat, swaping to wet food right away hasn't been a problem. I gave him half a 5mg pill, though, because I didn't read it on time.
His sugar levels are going down steadily. 360 six hours ago, 310 now. I'll be cautious, if his levels continue going down with his old food I don't see any reason to go back to insulin.

Again, thank you all for your quick and thorough response, what an amazing community.
 
I hope the switch to low carb food brings down Mini's numbers. You should know in less than a week. Please do not use Glipizide. Like Bron pointed out, it puts too much pressure on the pancreas and reduces your chances of remission.

If the food change is not enough to regulate his numbers, please get him back on insulin asap. The sooner you get him back on insulin, the better the chances of him going into remission.
 
There's also the German Amazon, or UK depending on your taxes.
Any kind of canned food is way better than dry food. Cats are notorious to not drink as much as they should. And fluids is helping the kidneys and dry food is very very...like dry.
 
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