09/15 Hardey BG 130; +1 115; +2 120; +6 98

[houghtam]

Good morning LL! I know there are kitties out there in much worse shape than my Hardey and that I am probably being paranoid, but thought I should post his BG this morning since he has never had a 130 since I started testing 2 months ago. nailbite_smile

I hadn't done a morning test in awhile since I have to get up so early and he is usually just content to just nap after breakfast. Most of my tests are in the afternoon (and since he's OTJ I only test every few days). I had noticed his afternoon BG were in the low 100's and I hadn't seen any below 100 in awhile. I thought, just to be sure, I'll try an AM one and ... 130!!!!

I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing different. He is still on the appetite stimulant - Cyproheptadine (which is doing wonders - he's eating about 2 - 3 cans of Friskies a day and gaining his strength back). I started the slipperty elm bark (1/2 capsule in water/food twice a day) yesterday. There is no sugar on the ingredient list for the SEB - I checked it again to make sure.

The only other thing that has changed is that he will only eat Friskies Tasty Treasure pates with cheese. He was eating the FF ones, but refuses them now. The Friskies are new ones (they have gravy and sauce ones too that are on the food list, but not the pates). I figured a pate is a pate, right? I checked the ingredient list and there doesn't seem to be anything in it that would be different. For example, the turkey/chicken pate with cheese has: water, meat by products, liver, turkey, chicken, chicken by-products, fish, cheese, rice, artificial/natural flavors, guar gum, corn starch, calcium phosphate, soybean oil, potasium chorlate, salt, dried whey, magnesium sulfate, sodium triophosophate, chlorine chloride, carrageenan, taurine, thiamine mononitrate, vitamin E, zinc sulfate, menadione sodium bisulfate complex, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, b12, biotin, folic acid, vitamin d3, potassium iodide.

The only thing that is different from FF cheese is the rice, could that be it? I hope not because right now, it's the only thing he'll eat. I looked at Friskies Mariner's Catch (pate) and it has rice in it, and is on the food list with lower carbs (6 from wet and 8 from dry), so I don't think it would be.

I'm going to test him again in an hour. I tested him right after eating his morning meal.

Any suggestions? Should I try a different food? Alot of you use the Wellness grain free wet, I noticed it seems less in carbs, do finiky cats seem to like it? Should I switch? Figures since I just bought about 20 cans of the Friskies....

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Re: 09/15 Hardey BG 130 ??

My best guess is that it's the food. The cornstarch, in addition to the rice, is adding to the carb load. Dr. Lisa's food chart lists these varieties and they are very HC (i.e., 20%). I'd be thinking about returning those cans to wherever you bought them.

FWIW, I don't use Wellness Core. I feed regular Wellness in either chicken or turkey flavor. Both are grain free. If cost is an issue, the 15oz cans cost about the same as Fancy Feast per ounce. They are reasonably economical if you're feeding more than one cat. Although, if he's eating 2 - 3 of the 5oz Friskies cans, the Wellness may be a good option. Since they also make the 3oz cans, it might be worth giving it a try. The poultry flavors are 4% carb.

 

[houghtam]

Re: 09/15 Hardey BG 130 ??

Thanks Sienne. The ones on Dr. Lisa's list are the gravy options, not the pate, so I thought maybe they would be okay. You're right though, the rice and corn starch could be too much. He's eaten the regulary Friskies pate flavors before and hasn't had a problem. I thought the ingredients were close enough that it would be okay. UGH!

I'll take a run to the store and get some wellness today. Are your cats picky? He's been getting worse and worse about what he likes. I'm hoping the slippery elm bark will help with nausea and he won't stick his nose up at things he liked the day before. I'm running out of flavors! He used to be a cat that would eat anything and now I have to force feed him sometimes.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Re: 09/15 Hardey BG 130 +1 115 ??

It may be that the pate is OK. You would need to call the manufacturer to get the "as fed" values. The guaranteed analysis numbers really don't give you an accurate calculation for the carbs. Maybe you can hold on to what you bought until you know for sure what the %-carbs is. FWIW, some cats will have a bump up in their BG numbers with any change in diet. It can take a couple of days for their system to adjust. It's possible that Hardey is one of those cats especially since you're seeing his numbers drop back into normal range by +1.

 

[houghtam]

Re: 09/15 Hardey BG 130 +1 115 ??

Ok. Thanks. He seems to be acting fine. I just gave him his morning does of slippery elm bark in a bit of beef baby food (no other ingredients). I'll check his BG again in 20 minutes.

I'll call Friskies tomorrow. In the meantime, now that he has had his "bark", maybe I'll try a flavor of FF to see if he'll eat it (hopefully he isn't nauseous anymore and will like it).

UPDATE - wouldn't touch the FF; so I put more of the Friskies cheese pate down at +4.5; he gobbled it up. Just tested at +6 and he's down to 98. Go figure.