EddieBear
Member Since 2026
Hello Everyone! We just joined the forum and I am curious about something. Ed was diagnosed last Thursday (I accidently stated two weeks ago in another thread, time has been lost on me since the diagnosis). We absolutely believe his diabetes is food related.
Some background: I've done a lot of research on cat diets over the decades because I believe like humans, a good diet is super important to their health. I've always had all of our cats on a high-protein, low/no carb wet food diet. Then November 14th, 2025 happened. We lost our sweet ginger boy to a brain tumor. After he died, Gabby, one of our girls, was diagnosed with crystal issues. Against my better judgement and feeling terrible after the loss of Julius, I decided to allow the cats to free-feed prescription dry food hoping this would work better in Gabby's favor as she needs to be able to eat more throughout the day to stay hydrated and that S/O food does a great job in getting them to drink. The vet said it would be good for the other cats as well so free-eating it was. My biggest mistake - listening to the vet regarding their diet. I knew better but let my guard down anyway because I was so sad about losing Julius, it was nice to be able to just 'be lazy'. I miss him terribly. Depression from his loss got the better of my judgement.
We started dry prescription Royal Canin Urinary S/O then switched to the Gastro with S/O index on our vets recommendation. Everyone was eating a normal non-excessive amount, all was seemingly going well. About 6 weeks in, we started to notice the changes in Ed. Subtle at first - he stopped playing, lost weight and his coat got rough looking. Then the excessive drinking started. We took him to the vet last week when he started hopping in the bathtub to get water while we showered. That's when he got his diabetes diagnosis.
He was started on insulin and he was doing better. My husband and I absolutely suspected the food was responsible for the diabetes. I won't get into what I've found regarding Royal Canin prescription S/O diets and diabetes, I'll just say that this is most likely a case of correlation equaling causation. After his diagnosis, I immediately weened the cats back to the all protein wet food diet, feeding twice daily while kicking myself for ever allowing them to eat dry food loaded with carbs in the first place.
This past Tuesday, Ed crashed, the hypoglycemia hit him hard. We had just received his blood glucose meter that evening so we quickly learned how to use it and started taking readings. His first reading during the crash was 45, then 15 mins later it was 42! We did the honey on the gums twice, got excellent advice from members of this forum and went from there until he was stable. We called the vet the next morning and was told to skip his next insulin dose, do more readings, etc. I suspect that he was in reversal and the insulin he got before dinner the prior evening, before we were able to test his blood glucose, wasn't necessary which is what led to the crash.
We stopped the insulin as directed by the vet and he hasn't had any yesterday or today thus skipping four doses. We've been doing fasting testing before he eats and he went from a 183 on the 12th to 110 prior to dinner tonight, 3/13. We are so happy to see this normal blood-glucose reading. He's been doing great except the blow-out super stinky poos he's having while his digestive system recovers. I do have him on probiotics for that. He's eating like normal, drinking normal and he has gained weight, a few ounces at a time. It seems as though we've reversed his diabetes.
I've done some research and found that this is absolutely possible and can even happen this quickly. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, do you mind sharing your experience? I want to make sure we're not missing anything. Thank you for your time, I really appreciate it! Everyone I've chatted with has been so incredibly helpful and amazing. This is a great site, that's for sure!
Some background: I've done a lot of research on cat diets over the decades because I believe like humans, a good diet is super important to their health. I've always had all of our cats on a high-protein, low/no carb wet food diet. Then November 14th, 2025 happened. We lost our sweet ginger boy to a brain tumor. After he died, Gabby, one of our girls, was diagnosed with crystal issues. Against my better judgement and feeling terrible after the loss of Julius, I decided to allow the cats to free-feed prescription dry food hoping this would work better in Gabby's favor as she needs to be able to eat more throughout the day to stay hydrated and that S/O food does a great job in getting them to drink. The vet said it would be good for the other cats as well so free-eating it was. My biggest mistake - listening to the vet regarding their diet. I knew better but let my guard down anyway because I was so sad about losing Julius, it was nice to be able to just 'be lazy'. I miss him terribly. Depression from his loss got the better of my judgement.
We started dry prescription Royal Canin Urinary S/O then switched to the Gastro with S/O index on our vets recommendation. Everyone was eating a normal non-excessive amount, all was seemingly going well. About 6 weeks in, we started to notice the changes in Ed. Subtle at first - he stopped playing, lost weight and his coat got rough looking. Then the excessive drinking started. We took him to the vet last week when he started hopping in the bathtub to get water while we showered. That's when he got his diabetes diagnosis.
He was started on insulin and he was doing better. My husband and I absolutely suspected the food was responsible for the diabetes. I won't get into what I've found regarding Royal Canin prescription S/O diets and diabetes, I'll just say that this is most likely a case of correlation equaling causation. After his diagnosis, I immediately weened the cats back to the all protein wet food diet, feeding twice daily while kicking myself for ever allowing them to eat dry food loaded with carbs in the first place.
This past Tuesday, Ed crashed, the hypoglycemia hit him hard. We had just received his blood glucose meter that evening so we quickly learned how to use it and started taking readings. His first reading during the crash was 45, then 15 mins later it was 42! We did the honey on the gums twice, got excellent advice from members of this forum and went from there until he was stable. We called the vet the next morning and was told to skip his next insulin dose, do more readings, etc. I suspect that he was in reversal and the insulin he got before dinner the prior evening, before we were able to test his blood glucose, wasn't necessary which is what led to the crash.
We stopped the insulin as directed by the vet and he hasn't had any yesterday or today thus skipping four doses. We've been doing fasting testing before he eats and he went from a 183 on the 12th to 110 prior to dinner tonight, 3/13. We are so happy to see this normal blood-glucose reading. He's been doing great except the blow-out super stinky poos he's having while his digestive system recovers. I do have him on probiotics for that. He's eating like normal, drinking normal and he has gained weight, a few ounces at a time. It seems as though we've reversed his diabetes.
I've done some research and found that this is absolutely possible and can even happen this quickly. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, do you mind sharing your experience? I want to make sure we're not missing anything. Thank you for your time, I really appreciate it! Everyone I've chatted with has been so incredibly helpful and amazing. This is a great site, that's for sure!
that is the best news!!!