Diabetes from Hills Z/D?

[Tanoposc]

Hello,

I need to put my cat on a hydrolyzed protein diet for a couple of months to see if he has food allergies. I saw a review for Hills Z/D indicating her cat became diabetic on it. She was feeding both dry and canned.

I've seen other comments that this might be a problem with the dry food. I would be using only the wet food.

Has anybody had a problem with diabetes starting after using the Z/D wet food only, with no steroids being administered that can confuse the matter?

I figured it must be the dry food only, until I looked at the ingredients on the wet food, where cornstarch is the third ingredient.

Thank you!

 

[Snickers and Chrissy]

Hello,

I need to put my cat on a hydrolyzed protein diet for a couple of months to see if he has food allergies. I saw a review for Hills Z/D indicating her cat became diabetic on it. She was feeding both dry and canned.

I've seen other comments that this might be a problem with the dry food. I would be using only the wet food.

Has anybody had a problem with diabetes starting after using the Z/D wet food only, with no steroids being administered that can confuse the matter?

I figured it must be the dry food only, until I looked at the ingredients on the wet food, where cornstarch is the third ingredient.

Thank you!

Hi, I used the z/d wet food a long time ago before Snickers developed diabetes, also because of a suspected food allergy. My vet was so sure it would help her stomach issues, and it didn't.

It turned out that Snickers did have a food allergy--to all forms of poultry. Anything with feathers including chicken, turkey, duck, quail, and egg. I put her on Instinct Rabbit, and her issues cleared up in roughly two weeks. This was after about three months of near constant diarrhea. None of the vet prescribed foods worked.

Even though the z/d is hydrolyzed, which I understand means that it should technically work even with allergies, it just did not work for Snickers. I just wanted to share that experience in case it may help.

However, I do not think the z/d is what gave Snickers diabetes. I actually think it was the steroids we tried after the z/d failed. Fyi, the steroids helped for about two weeks, and then failed as soon as we tried to decrease her dose. For us, literally the only thing that worked was eliminating all poultry

 

[Snickers and Chrissy]

Hello,

I need to put my cat on a hydrolyzed protein diet for a couple of months to see if he has food allergies. I saw a review for Hills Z/D indicating her cat became diabetic on it. She was feeding both dry and canned.

I've seen other comments that this might be a problem with the dry food. I would be using only the wet food.

Has anybody had a problem with diabetes starting after using the Z/D wet food only, with no steroids being administered that can confuse the matter?

I figured it must be the dry food only, until I looked at the ingredients on the wet food, where cornstarch is the third ingredient.

Thank you!

I should have added that while I don't think the z/d caused Snickers to get diabetes, I do think it may be higher in carbs and therefore not appropriate for a diabetic cat. Most people on this forum use Fancy Feast pates. I can't use them because of her poultry allergy, so I use a combination of Instinct, Tiki Cat, and Hound and Gatos.

 

[Tanoposc]

I should have added that while I don't think the z/d caused Snickers to get diabetes, I do think it may be higher in carbs and therefore not appropriate for a diabetic cat. Most people on this forum use Fancy Feast pates. I can't use them because of her poultry allergy, so I use a combination of Instinct, Tiki Cat, and Hound and Gatos.

Thank you for both of your replies. Since I posted, I decided to call Hills and ask them what the carbohydrate content was on a dry matter basis. A whopping 40% for wet food! Then I looked up how to calculate the dry matter percentage myself, and I came up with 49%! So it's a total no-go with that kind of carbohydrate number.

I am thinking of just skipping over this hydrolyzed diet trial and doing what you did, using rabbit. If it helps then maybe I start introducing an "old" protein to see if there's a relapse. I realize this is not really a diabetic topic at this point so I won't go on but I thought I would post for other people's benefit. The wet z/d has as many carbohydrates as, if not more than, the dry food.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Have you thought about trialing a raw or home cooked diet where you can control what goes in the food?
You would need to make sure you were feeding a nutritionally complete diet but we could help you with that as there are supplements you can add to do that.
You could then trial eliminating certain foods or try a novel protein

 

[CalicoCat13]

Our cat started eating Royal Canin renal dry and wet food in early summer. I noticed ketone smell on her breath every time she ate the dry food so had her tested and she had developed diabetes within a few months.
I think it has similar carb content to Hills. The Dr put her on Royal Canin glycobalance which also turned out to be detrimental.
Good idea about trying rabbit! Good luck!

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

I agree with Chrissy. Look at novel proteins like rabbit or venison. I would encourage you to make sure you read the labels, though. While the protein may say it's one thing, sometimes the manufacturers include other protein sources than just the one advertised on the label. I've been using ZiwiPeak venison for my cat with IBD. They also have a lamb and rabbit variety. The big plus with ZiwiPeak is that it does not contain carrageenan or any gums which can also be an issue for some cats.

 

[Snickers and Chrissy]

I agree with Chrissy. Look at novel proteins like rabbit or venison. I would encourage you to make sure you read the labels, though. While the protein may say it's one thing, sometimes the manufacturers include other protein sources than just the one advertised on the label. I've been using ZiwiPeak venison for my cat with IBD. They also have a lamb and rabbit variety. The big plus with ZiwiPeak is that it does not contain carrageenan or any gums which can also be an issue for some cats.

Absolutely! Foods labeled "beef pate" rarely contain just beef. Even cat food cans labeled as "salmon" or "tuna" usually have chicken or something else in them. You really have to read the labels. Beware of things that say "natural flavors" because they could contain protein flavors your cat may react to. Sometimes if you email the company they can tell you what the source of the natural flavoring is. But it gets tricky!