Feeding Dilemma

[davidscat]

I’m stumped on feeding and am becoming irritated at my kitty, Snowy. Pre-diabetes, Snowy mostly ate high-carb wet food and dry food intended for my other cat. The vet recommended Purina DM food (yes, I know it’s comparatively high-carb) but that is his food of almost last resort – sometimes he’ll eat it but frequently he won’t. I’ve bought enough uneaten cat food to stock a Pet Smart and washed enough bowls to stock a Pottery Barn in an attempt to find something he’ll consistently eat. Here’s a partial list of what I’ve tried.

- Blue Wilderness Wild Delights, Chicken & Salmon (chunks): sometimes eats a little, then he won’t touch it again, it dries out in the bowl.

- Blue Wilderness Wild Delights, Chicken (chunks): won’t touch it.

- Fancy Feast Classic, various pates: eats a little, then he won’t touch it again, it dries out in the bowl.

- Tiki Cat, can’t recall what varieties: won’t touch it.

What he will do is “steal” dry food from my other cat’s bowl. That cat, 17 years old, has been eating the same dry food for almost her whole life and I hate to change things now. My one attempt to change her to canned food ended up puked on the floor.

I can’t keep buying cat foods endlessly. Any advice?

 

[Corey & Kitty]

Hi David,

The feeding situation with our diabetic kitties can be frustrating. Just remember to be patient. I don't have many of my own strategies to help you but perhaps taking a look at this document can be helpful for you: https://catinfo.org/docs/TipsForTransitioning1-14-11.pdf

 

[Lando demando]

I’m stumped on feeding and am becoming irritated at my kitty, Snowy. Pre-diabetes, Snowy mostly ate high-carb wet food and dry food intended for my other cat. The vet recommended Purina DM food (yes, I know it’s comparatively high-carb) but that is his food of almost last resort – sometimes he’ll eat it but frequently he won’t. I’ve bought enough uneaten cat food to stock a Pet Smart and washed enough bowls to stock a Pottery Barn in an attempt to find something he’ll consistently eat. Here’s a partial list of what I’ve tried.

- Blue Wilderness Wild Delights, Chicken & Salmon (chunks): sometimes eats a little, then he won’t touch it again, it dries out in the bowl.

- Blue Wilderness Wild Delights, Chicken (chunks): won’t touch it.

- Fancy Feast Classic, various pates: eats a little, then he won’t touch it again, it dries out in the bowl.

- Tiki Cat, can’t recall what varieties: won’t touch it.

What he will do is “steal” dry food from my other cat’s bowl. That cat, 17 years old, has been eating the same dry food for almost her whole life and I hate to change things now. My one attempt to change her to canned food ended up puked on the floor.

I can’t keep buying cat foods endlessly. Any advice?

I went through the same thing with my guy. I HATED all the waste and felt bad for getting frustrated with him.
Frankly… i am still going through the struggle to some extent.

what worked for Lando:

Dr Elseys dry kibble for 75-80% of his daily calories
Cycling between FF pates, sheba pates, and barely low enough soulistic wet

using pure bites chicken pieces and churu snacks to coax him with the wet food.

I know most members would NOT recommend following Landos diet, but i thought it was worth mentioning.

It is very possible that the kibble could be keeping him from remission.

best of luck!!

oh one last thing worth mentioning… dr elseys is great and sent me 5 cans of their wet varieties to try!

 

[Sugar’s Mama]

No actual advice except for recommending yet another food in case you want to try it. My non-diabetic cat (Sugar’s sister) is soooooo much more fussy with food. We had them both on dry food only before diagnosis; the IAMS indoor, weight control formula. I tried a few higher-quality foods over the years with no luck getting her to switch. But… trying out Dr. Elsey’s cleanprotein Chicken formula dry food she instantly took to it. I even tried giving her the old food (still had a big bag left!) and she was not interested. I was shocked, but happy because it seems better for her. She used to puke occasionally but hasn’t since switching!

I know dry food is controversial, but my non diabetic cat has no interest in wet food and my Sugar cat mostly ignores it with a few nibbles overnight now that he loves his low carb wet Weruva PLAY pouches (have you tried these?) happily. So, I’m currently ok with keeping the free feed bowl available with the Dr. Elsey’s Chicken (the other varieties are higher carb from what I understand).

Also, with the wet food/Weruva, we stir in water with it. He won’t eat it unless it’s soupy. Something to try if you haven’t already.

 

[Sugar’s Mama]

I went through the same thing with my guy. I HATED all the waste and felt bad for getting frustrated with him.
Frankly… i am still going through the struggle to some extent.

what worked for Lando:

Dr Elseys dry kibble for 75-80% of his daily calories
Cycling between FF pates, sheba pates, and barely low enough soulistic wet

using pure bites chicken pieces and churu snacks to coax him with the wet food.

I know most members would NOT recommend following Landos diet, but i thought it was worth mentioning.

It is very possible that the kibble could be keeping him from remission.

best of luck!!

oh one last thing worth mentioning… dr elseys is great and sent me 5 cans of their wet varieties to try!

I promise we aren’t a Dr. Elsey’s commercial! Just answered at the same time!!

 

[Lando demando]

I promise we aren’t a Dr. Elsey’s commercial! Just answered at the same time!!

Haha i thought the same thing! Although their formula change threw Lando for a loop. Too bad there was the snag in production

 

[Sugar’s Mama]

I read about that, but we just started with it about a month ago so think we arrived after the change! I haven’t found it sold in a store yet and my local pet store says it’s not available from their vendors so we’ve been getting it via Amazon. Hopefully production ramps up because it does seem like a quality product so far.

 

[Lando demando]

I read about that, but we just started with it about a month ago so think we arrived after the change! I haven’t found it sold in a store yet and my local pet store says it’s not available from their vendors so we’ve been getting it via Amazon. Hopefully production ramps up because it does seem like a quality product so far.

I think youre in the clear. I buy it on chewy.com

sorry for the derail David

i hope there are some nuggets of advice you can use!

 

[Sugar’s Mama]

David - Also… being new to wet food, these cheap bowls definitely helped Sugar eat more efficiently versus the human plates/bowls we tried out in the beginning.

 

[davidscat]

Hi David,

The feeding situation with our diabetic kitties can be frustrating. Just remember to be patient. I don't have many of my own strategies to help you but perhaps taking a look at this document can be helpful for you: https://catinfo.org/docs/TipsForTransitioning1-14-11.pdf

Thank you for the link. It's going to take me a while to digest the reading, pun intended.