? 8/4 Tigger AMPS 371 . . . question about carbs

[Moms2Tigger&Blu]

So, thanks to CKD, we have officially transitioned Tigger off of FF and Blue Buffalo Wilderness. He will now be eating Weruva, specifically the new pate Press Your Lunch and Jeopurrdy Licious Slide n Serve, as well as Chicken Frick a Zee as topping/treat. (We're still working on Whole Earth Farms Duck Pate).

My first question is, do those 6 carbs matter? I know "low carb" is like 0-8% or something but this is 2x the amount of carbs in FF. In the past 3 days he has not come down past 250 (that we caught). It doesn't help that in the middle of the week-long transition he had a dose-reducing low . . . so I really can't see what is going on with this 0.50 dose.

Second, 56 calories? I can't afford to feed him 5 small cans a day! He is approx 11.5lbs and despite an "averge healthy weight" being 10 pounds, Tigger has a big frame. I would like to maintain his weight, not have him lose any. According to the calculators he should be eating like 250-300 cal/day!

Here are the stats from the website for Press Your Lunch: 44% protein, 50% fat, 6% carbs, 175 mg Phos/100kcal, and calories - 56 per 3 oz/103 per 5.5oz. Jeopurrdy Licious: 34% protein, 61 %fat, 4% carbs, 187 mg phos/100kcal, and calories - 88 per 2.8oz/172 per 5.5oz.

 

[Figaro's Liz]

Do CKD/IBS kitties need more calories? Figaro needs ~245 /day to maintain 13 lbs. I weigh him each morning as part of our daily routine to make sure he's not gaining or losing much. ECID with calories needed, so I trust his weight to calibrate the amount of food he gets. Some calculators overestimate in my experience...the manufacturer recommended feeding guidelines definitely tend to be higher than they should!

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

@Figaro's Liz - CKD cats do not need more calories.

Low carb is below 10%. I would givevTigger a couple of days to adjust to a diet change. Some cat's numbers go up with a change in diet and then come back down. It looks like he's bouncing so I'd want to see what his numbers look like once the bounce clears. If the difference in carbs is keeping his numbers up, then you adjust the insulin. It's certainly possible that Tigger's very carb sensitive but let's see where he's at once he's had a chance to get used to the change and the bounce clears.

The general formula that is on Dr. Lisa's page for approximating calories per day is:

Required calories per day = [13.6 X optimal lean body weight in pounds] + 70​

Based on the above, that's about 225 calories. It's still a quite a few cans of food, though. Had you given any thought to a raw food diet? It would be good with his IBD. I'm guessing that the Weruva isn't novel proteins and you really need novel protein for managing the IBD.

 

[Moms2Tigger&Blu]

If the difference in carbs is keeping his numbers up, then you adjust the insulin. It's certainly possible that Tigger's very carb sensitive but let's see where he's at once he's had a chance to get used to the change and the bounce clears.

The general formula that is on Dr. Lisa's page for approximating calories per day is:

Required calories per day = [13.6 X optimal lean body weight in pounds] + 70​

Based on the above, that's about 225 calories. It's still a quite a few cans of food, though. Had you given any thought to a raw food diet? It would be good with his IBD. I'm guessing that the Weruva isn't novel proteins and you really need novel protein for managing the IBD.

We’re picking our battles. He is strictly a poultry cat. Used to be just chicken but he’s come around to turkey and duck. HATES beef, fish, or anything new lol. As for the carbs I have long wondered if he reacts to them quicker and stronger than normal. I’ve learned (the hard way) he barely needs one tsp of gravy to come back from a low! Sometimes I just do a spray of whip cream and his reg LC food (unless he doesn’t stay up, which rarely happens).

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

I had both of my cats on a poultry only diet. FWIW, it turns out, poultry is a common allergen. Gizmo developed IBD about 2 yrs ago and I pulled him off of all poultry and started him on a raw diet. It's helped enormously. He'll also eat ZiwiPeak that has novel proteins.