Opinions on homemade diets for diabetic cats

HannahS

HannahS

New Member
Hello! This is my first post and everyone has been recommending this forum so i’m really hoping for some advice on this topic.

My cat was diagnosed with diabetes a bit over a year ago. We have, first of all been to many vets and really haven’t found one that hasn’t been dismissive to us about some topic regarding my cats health. I am very willing to do anything for him, and when a prescription diet and high dose of lantus still keeps him at high glucose levels, what am I to think besides changing something?

The point is, my vet is very dismissive of a homemade diet after I did research and even wanted a nutritionists help (these websites require vet approval of course) I just have a hard time believing that a grocery store food like friskies can be better for my cats health when a prescription food isn’t even doing much + that’s not even mentioning the price! I understand the concerns, however if the recipe is approved by the standards we have for commercial food and by a nutritionist, then what exactly is the issue? wouldn’t it be, in fact, better? from my knowledge friskies isn’t even okay for healthy, non diabetic cats! it just is confusing for me and I feel lost. I am willing to cook, measure, add supplements, scale, whatever is needed but my vet won’t even give me the chance.

I know that’s long but any advice is really appreciated even if it’s constructive criticism! I just need help. Thank you.
 
Well, you don't need the vet's permission to feed YOUR cat what YOU want :) Just go ahead and feel what you feel is best and just agree to disagree with the vet about food.

There are good recipes online to follow. The one at Catinfo.org is popular and suitable for diabetics. Some people here just use raw meat of their choice and add in a pre-mix supplement like TC Feline or EZComplete to make a complete balanced diet. A few do cook the meat first but if your cat will eat raw, less work for you to do :)

Commercially available raw and (subscription) cooked foods are also option but some brands can be heavy on the useless fillers like veggies. I feed a freeze dried raw food in a novel protein.
 
A lot of the prescription diets are way too high in carbs for a diabetic cat. Which particular brand/type are you feeding? Side note, vets get less than a day's worth of nutrition training in school and in some places it's done by the sales rep for the food company. Take a look at the ingredients list of the "prescription" foods, you'll find it's nothing special. If you switch, make sure you are home testing his blood sugars before you change his food, as it can make a drastic difference in the amount of insulin needed.

I was one of those people that combined raw meat with a meal completer. I used TC Feline and EZ Complete. But I also bought commercially available (mostly raw) for variety. I also fed the non diabetic cat the same. He did much better on the raw. I had adopted him at age 7, quite overweight. He lost weight at a good rate and it really helped his idiopathic cystitis. The diabetic cat seemed to be fuller on slightly less food, which was a good thing.

What dose of Lantus is your kitty on? and what is his name?
 
Thanks so much for your reply! I really appreciate the information and his name is Andy, he’s eight and he’s on four units of lantus. I do at home monitoring of his glucose so will definitely keep that in mind!!
 
HannahS said:
Hills science diet w/d wet food it’s the meats mixed with liver flavor
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That's 25% carbs, well above the maximum 10% carbs we suggest for diabetics. We consider anything over 15% to be high carb. I'm glad you are thinking of changing his diet. Please switch very slowly. The reason he's probably on 4 units is because of the high carb food. His dose needs could come down quickly. It's also not a great food, with ingredients like wheat flour, corn starch, powdered cellulose (ie. paper).

Related to w/d, I used to volunteer and work part time at our local shelter. We had a bunch of fatties that we put in a room together to try to get them to lose weight. They got w/d wet and dry and all gained weight. :banghead: The one I later adopted gained a couple pounds, and slimmed down nicely once he was on low carb wet food at my place.

Pass on some scritches from me to Andy.
 
Like Wendy, I fed my diabetic cat and my non-diabetic cat a raw food diet along with other high quality canned and freeze dried raw foods. I would buy organic ground pork at the supermarket and use EZComplete to make the raw food nutritionally complete.

Your vet is likely unaware that the pet food manufacturers lost a class action lawsuit for calling many of their foods "prescription." There is nothing in any of the so-called diabetic diets that requires a prescription. In fact, most of the "diabetic diets" -- especially the dry foods -- are very high in carbohydrates. It's not unlike an MD telling a diabetic that cookies and pasta are fine and will have no effect on their blood glucose readings. Vets get very little training on nutrition and the food labels do not contain information on the percent of carbs. As a result, they rely on the pet food sales people to "educate" them about the food they are promoting. Many of the pet food companies now call their food "dietetic" not diabetic. I'd ask your vet what the carb content is of the food he's recommending. (I'll bet he doesn't know!)
 
Wendy&Neko said:
That's 25% carbs, well above the maximum 10% carbs we suggest for diabetics. We consider anything over 15% to be high carb. I'm glad you are thinking of changing his diet. Please switch very slowly. The reason he's probably on 4 units is because of the high carb food. His dose needs could come down quickly. It's also not a great food, with ingredients like wheat flour, corn starch, powdered cellulose (ie. paper).

Related to w/d, I used to volunteer and work part time at our local shelter. We had a bunch of fatties that we put in a room together to try to get them to lose weight. They got w/d wet and dry and all gained weight. :banghead: The one I later adopted gained a couple pounds, and slimmed down nicely once he was on low carb wet food at my place.

Pass on some scritches from me to Andy.
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Wendy&Neko said:
That's 25% carbs, well above the maximum 10% carbs we suggest for diabetics. We consider anything over 15% to be high carb. I'm glad you are thinking of changing his diet. Please switch very slowly. The reason he's probably on 4 units is because of the high carb food. His dose needs could come down quickly. It's also not a great food, with ingredients like wheat flour, corn starch, powdered cellulose (ie. paper).

Related to w/d, I used to volunteer and work part time at our local shelter. We had a bunch of fatties that we put in a room together to try to get them to lose weight. They got w/d wet and dry and all gained weight. :banghead: The one I later adopted gained a couple pounds, and slimmed down nicely once he was on low carb wet food at my place.

Pass on some scritches from me to Andy.
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Thank you so much, you guys have been a massive help! i’ve been using all the advice and his glucose readings are lowering slower and slower as we speak. I’m hoping this can work to get him into remission <3 it’s been such a journey but he adores his new diet as we’ve been switching over slowly. I did want to ask, if i have things like yolk, eggshell powder, and organic organs and such in the food already, then will the EZcomplete still work, or would that be too many supplements? I’ll research more about that on my own as well.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
Like Wendy, I fed my diabetic cat and my non-diabetic cat a raw food diet along with other high quality canned and freeze dried raw foods. I would buy organic ground pork at the supermarket and use EZComplete to make the raw food nutritionally complete.

Your vet is likely unaware that the pet food manufacturers lost a class action lawsuit for calling many of their foods "prescription." There is nothing in any of the so-called diabetic diets that requires a prescription. In fact, most of the "diabetic diets" -- especially the dry foods -- are very high in carbohydrates. It's not unlike an MD telling a diabetic that cookies and pasta are fine and will have no effect on their blood glucose readings. Vets get very little training on nutrition and the food labels do not contain information on the percent of carbs. As a result, they rely on the pet food sales people to "educate" them about the food they are promoting. Many of the pet food companies now call their food "dietetic" not diabetic. I'd ask your vet what the carb content is of the food he's recommending. (I'll bet he doesn't know!)
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I totally agree! She actually will recommend me to check out forums like this one for advice on food as she admitted to not having much knowledge or say on nutrition. Maybe I should’ve asked for a in house nutritionist’s opinion instead, but I don’t even think they have one..
 
EZComplete and other pre-mixes has all the vitamins and minerals a cat needs so adding extra egg yolk, etc to the food would be over supplementing and may cause issues like constipation or too much of something that throws the body off. The occasional organ as a treat is fine.
 
squeem3 said:
EZComplete and other pre-mixes has all the vitamins and minerals a cat needs so adding extra egg yolk, etc to the food would be over supplementing and may cause issues like constipation or too much of something that throws the body off. The occasional organ as a treat is fine.
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Okay yes this was my first instinct as well! Thanks for confirming that :) Right now his mix contains ingredients of chicken organs and half cooked egg + the eggshell powder and taurine. (besides the main chicken or turkey meat and broth of course) Maybe just having the protein and the EZcomplete would be simpler and full proof?
 
HannahS said:
Okay yes this was my first instinct as well! Thanks for confirming that :) Right now his mix contains ingredients of chicken organs and half cooked egg + the eggshell powder and taurine. (besides the main chicken or turkey meat and broth of course) Maybe just having the protein and the EZcomplete would be simpler and full proof?
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figuring out what other supplements to buy since he should have the proper amount, but now i’m thinking it’s probably less complicated to get the full mix😅
 
HannahS said:
I did want to ask, if i have things like yolk, eggshell powder, and organic organs and such in the food already, then will the EZcomplete still work, or would that be too many supplements?
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Why don't you email the folks at FoodFurLife and ask? They also sell an egg yolk powder product, which I used to give in addition to EZComplete. It might be a matter of quantity added.
 
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