6/30 Bob AMPS=426, +3=339, Is it ok to decrease food??

Status
Not open for further replies.
Lkldcatlady

Lkldcatlady

Member Since 2013
Good morning LL (late start!) -

Bob's P's are all good except his pee - he's still drinking a lot and peeing a lot. :sad:

Deb (Deb & Wink) showed me how many calories my cats should be eating. They are all overweight, especially Hector (he looks like an over-stuffed knockwurst). Turns out I have been feeding them almost 400 calories and they should be getting 250 (Bob s/b getting 375 so he's not too far off). Is it ok to decrease their food to feed them correct amount (especially Bob)?

The transition to wet food has only been 2 days but it's not going well. He tried to bury his food this morning after I mixed in one TBS of FF beef & chicken. ohmygod_smile . He's such a brat!!!

Hope everyone has a great Sunday! I'm going to try and finish cleaning since I was such a slacker yesterday....
 
Diabetics need as much food as they can get as the diabetes eats up the calories, and starts to consume some of the body mass (those more knowledgeable, please correct me if I'm wrong here). I wouldn't recommend decreasing Bob's food just yet until his #s start to improve, and you can decide to monitor his weight. He will be drinking a lot of water until again his #s start to come down. Once his #s improve, he'll drink less, but you still want to make sure that he's given plenty of water throughout the day as it'll help to keep the ketones in check (for example: I give Blackie 1 cup/day, but it is divided, and she's given teaspoons with her food... Kind of makes like a flavored water for her). You may want to add water to Bob's food to ensure that he's getting enough each day. When I first began, I wanted to make sure that Blackie was eating. When things started to settle down with her, I began looking into monitoring her weight, and adjusting her food amounts to maintain a certain weight. I weigh her on a daily basis, typically before her test and her shot each morning.

This is all trial and error, however, over time you will get there. Just keep up the excellent work, and you'll see improvements. Hang in there, and welcome!
 
Dara:

I would first take a look at the info on Dr. Lisa's site. She has wonderful info on feline obesity and how to get your cat on a diet. You don't want to radically drop the amount of food -- otherwise, Bob may decide to chew on your ankle! More seriously, you need to have a plan to safely reduce food intake. Cats can develop hepatic lipidosis ("fatty liver") if calories are dramatically reduced. Hepatic lipidosis can be life threatening so you want to approach weight reduction gradually.
 
thanks Angela and Sienne! I won't mess with Bob's food right now. I'm feeling stressed trying to get him to eat the canned food. He's being so difficult! It just figures the kitty who needs the canned food doesn't want it. The other two LOVE it! :roll:
 
I do and I don't agree with Angela. One of the issues is that if you feed a newly diagnosed diabetic as much as they want, you may end up with an even "fluffier" cat. The additional weight can make it more difficult to regulate BG levels. I suspect when Angela and I first started posting here, the conventional wisdom was to feed the cat as much as it will eat since the lack of insulin (due to diabetes) prevents glucose from getting into the cells where it's needed. As a result, the cat is hungry all the time but is losing weight.

You might want to take a look at this post on feeding a kitty as much as s/he wants.
 
Well, I will continue to feed him the 2/3 cup a day like I have been, which is only 25 calories more than what he needs as a diabetic. I actually don't notice him being overly hungry. He eats a good amount when first put his food out and then grazes and the food is usually gone within 2-3 hours of putting it out. I'm just so jealous that there are so many kitties out there who love canned food. I know the dry food is keeping bob's numbers up. I found a high-quality dry food called Orijen. It has 75% protein (really good sources - no garbage) and 25% veggies/fruit/other ( I know the cat doesn't need this) - no grains, no potatoes. However, the first ingredients on the Purina DM are poultry by-product meal, soy and corn (???????). The carb % is about the same as the DM. Do you think giving him "better" type of carb would be any better? Just until I can get him transitioned (if ever)?
 
WEll, it certainly can't be any worse than DM. Will Bob eat that? Have you tried any of the freeze dried raw foods? I know some here use Stella and Chewey's, but the wouldn't supply info for the list. Primal has good numbers too.
 
I haven't tried the Origen yet. He was starting to eat the evo but I wont be buying that anymore. My blood pressure is so high right now, I could just cry. Bob won't eat the dry with the wet mixed in and he tries to bury it when I put it on the side. I even tried the pricey salmon & tuna and he just licks the top. Ugh!!!! I'm so sad-he prob could have some good numbers if he would just be a normal cat!!!! :cry:
 
The guaranteed analysis on the Orijen website says 42% protein, 20% fat, 3% fiber, 10% moisture, 8% ash. That's probably going to make the carb percent higher than the DM.

That document that Sienne pointed you to on transitioning your cat from dry to wet food. I used almost all those tricks over a period of 3 weeks to get Wink to switch slowly. Then I took away the dry food completely. It took me a while to find a flavor of canned food that Wink liked.

Keep trying, persistence paid off for me. Hopefully, one of these tricks will work with Bob.
 
Lkldcatlady said:
Good morning LL (late start!) -

Bob's P's are all good except his pee - he's still drinking a lot and peeing a lot. :sad:

Deb (Deb & Wink) showed me how many calories my cats should be eating. They are all overweight, especially Hector (he looks like an over-stuffed knockwurst). Turns out I have been feeding them almost 400 calories and they should be getting 250 (Bob s/b getting 375 so he's not too far off). Is it ok to decrease their food to feed them correct amount (especially Bob)?

The transition to wet food has only been 2 days but it's not going well. He tried to bury his food this morning after I mixed in one TBS of FF beef & chicken. ohmygod_smile . He's such a brat!!!

Hope everyone has a great Sunday! I'm going to try and finish cleaning since I was such a slacker yesterday....
Click to expand...

Well, I am not sure why someone would be telling you to calculate the number of calories to feed a diabetic cat.... diabetic cats are not able to extract all that they need from the food you feed, so let him eat more. Calculations and what you may see on cat food containers relates to HEALTHY animals.

Let him eat the pate foods, FF and Friskies pates are just fine. If you find a couple flavers he likes, let him eat those!

My two cats got up to 30oz and 24oz before they were regulated, but once they got to their good dose range, they regulated themselves! They got down to around 10oz and maybe 5 or 6oz a day.

Do not withhold food from an unregulated diabetic.

Gayle
 
Blue/Gayle said:
My two cats got up to 30oz and 24oz before they were regulated, but once they got to their good dose range, they regulated themselves! They got down to around 10oz and maybe 5 or 6oz a day.
Click to expand...
Gayle's cats were diagnosed with acromegaly -- a pituitary tumor that intermittently produces high levels of growth hormone. Further, allowing a diabetic cat to eat as much as kitty wants, sets you up for further problems with diabetes management.

For many cats that are diagnosed with diabetes, one of the symptoms is weight loss. If this is the case, then letting the kitty eat in order to make up for the lost weight makes good sense. However, you noted that this is not the case with Bob and he is not needing to gain weight. In addition, obesity makes it harder for insulin to work properly. The following information on obesity and diabetes is from the Feline Health Center at Cornell University:
Diet
In addition to medication, an important step in treating diabetes is to alter your cat's diet. Obesity is a major factor in insulin sensitivity, so if your cat is overweight, you will need to help him lose weight gradually. Your veterinarian can tailor a safe weight-loss program, in which your cat loses weight gradually.
Click to expand...
 
If the calculation was taking into consideration that the cat is diabetic, fine.

When you get onto wet from dry, the cat will lose weight, but pushing it can lead to trouble for an unregulated cat..... not enough insulin, not enough food, getting sick, equals a good chance of your ending up in the ER with a very sick cat.

How many cats have an increased appetite when finally getting onto insulin? Quite a few, yes?

Get the cat regulated and on a good low carb wet diet first, and then do your worrying about losing some ounces. Keep it to one problem at a time. Get the diabetes in control first, and then focus on diet if you don't see a loss from switching to wet food.

And with reference to acromegaly, not ALL cats go for lots of extra food; some did not eat alot more and many did not change their intake, but they gained weight because of the condition.

Gayle
 
Well, Bob went to the vet today and he actually gained a little which the vet said is better than losing, but she doesn't want him to gain much more. He did lose weight initially so it probably won't hurt him too much. I'll just continue to feed what I'm feeding (1/3 c twice a day) until I can get Bob transitioned to a decent food....Once he's regulated, Ill worry about the other two.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top