Adjusting all cats' diets to the diabetic one's

[Nowthree]

I suspect I have several questions here wrapped in one so I apologize in advance. I did an introduction post when my Gracie was first diagnosed with diabetes and that's helped a lot, but I'm having trouble working out a feeding regimen that works for all my cats.

Gracie is my diabetic cat. I found her as a stray on Thanksgiving and she's now on insulin and low-carb canned food. I also have two non-diabetic cats, Dracula and Poe (they're both black cats) who need to lose a little weight. Gracie needs to gain weight.

Gracie gets Wellness Core 95 canned food and some Tiki Cat canned food to make it more interesting. However, she LOVES kibble. She would cut a man for one single piece of kibble. I bought a small bag of Dr. Elsey's CleanProtein chicken dry food to give her basically as a treat.

Poe and Dracula currently get Wysong Epigen 90 dry food and Tiki Cat canned food. The Wysong isn't as low in carbs as the Dr. Elsey's but it's low enough that if Gracie gets some of it it won't hurt her. However, neither Drac nor Poe really likes it. They were on Nutro indoor kibble before with Fancy Feast canned food.

Poe doesn't much like kibble--I'm probably going to just switch him to a canned only/mostly diet. However, Dracula loves his kibble almost as much as Gracie. He eats a little canned food but sometimes isn't interested. This causes an issue because I can't feed him in the same room as Gracie because she'll ignore her food and eat his kibble, which distresses him (he's a big softie) and isn't good for her.

The vet wants Gracie fed only when she gets her insulin, with a small snack in the afternoon when I get home from work. We're still trying to get her stabilized. That means I can't leave Drac's kibble out for him to snack on all day unless I close him up in the bedroom so Gracie can't eat his food, and he doesn't like that either. Therefore, when I feed him, he bolts his food because he's really hungry so he sometimes immediately throws it back up. I work away from home during the week and no one's home to feed him while I'm gone.

I'm worried about Drac as much as Gracie at this point. Does anyone have any advice? I've tried sprinkling Fortiflora on the wet food and while all the cats love it, it doesn't help Drac eat any more of the wet food than before. I sometimes bake him an unseasoned chicken thigh and give him the meat but again, he just doesn't like it the way he likes dry food.

I do have a nice pet fountain that all the cats love, but I worry that Drac isn't getting enough moisture in his diet anyway.

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[Chris and Checkers]

Have you seen the link to transition to wet food.

https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/transitioning-your-cat-from-dry-to-wet-food.956/

Also a lot of vets seem to recommend feeding twice a day when they get insulin. It is not recommended here. Eating small meals throughout the day works better for diabetic kitties.

There are feeders that work with microchips so it only opens for a specific cat. So you can feed each kitty a different meal.

 

[Nowthree]

Thanks, I'll talk to my vet about Gracie's feeding schedule. I'm not happy about keeping her hungry most of the day--it's stressful for everyone involved, including me. I'll read the link you shared too!

 

[Katherine&Ruby]

I have one microchip feeder for each of my two cats from Sure Feed and they are a total godsend. Both of my cats were on a combination of dry and wet when Ruby was diagnosed with diabetes. I got the feeders that allowed me to prevent Ruby from getting at the dry food I was still feeding my civvie. Now both cats are on raw, but Ruby gets meds and supplements put into her food, so it's still important for me to have their meals separated. I also know exactly how much each cat is eating because I weigh out all portions before serving, so it's good for weight management as well. Both cats now have GI disorders so if I see that someone has not finished or touched their food, something is up.

@Susan Shropshire recently made a post about microchip feeders that you can read here: https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB...ne-else-needs-to-feed-cats-separately.256958/

 

[Lisa and Witn (GA)]

I also use microchip feeders to keep Cracker on his diet. Otherwise he would also eat the other cats food. I feed all of my cats the same food, Friskies pate. I recently took in Cracker and Indie's brother Simon and he has always been on dry. Fortunately he is in the spare bedroom and the other cats cannot get to his food. I am using freeze dried chicken and bonito flakes to get him to start eat canned food. It may take a while to get all of your cats on canned food, but it is worth the effort. Besides keeping Gracie from cheating by eating the other cats food, it also reduces the chances of any of the others from developing feline diabetes.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

You don’t need your vets permission to feed your kitties more often.
Only feeding at shot time is old thinking.
Diabetic cats do much better when they are given snacks during the first half of the cycles when the insulin is strongest. Feeding him when you get home from work is most likely a bit late in the cycle. I agree with looking into automatic feeders for the cats.
Do you have a spreadsheet set up?

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

The vet's thinking isn't necessarily "old school." Rather, it's based on using faster acting insulin (e.g., Vetsulin or Novolin) that require food to be given about 30 min. in advance of insulin so the numbers don't bottom out. Prozinc has a longer onset and duration so it's less of an issue to have food available throughout the cycle.

I think it's lots easier to feed all of your cats the same diet. A higher protein, low carb diet is good for your non-diabetic cats and may help with their weight loss. What you're feeding Gracie is a species appropriate diet. I made myself crazy trying to feed my two cats different food because the other cat's food was always "better." This link is to a very good site on feline nutrition that's written by a vet. There's also a good article on the site about transitioning cats to a canned food diet. There are some freeze dried raw foods that are low in carbs that may be worth trying with your kibble addicts.

It looks like you have your signature set up. Are you home testing? If so, this is a link to our post on helping us to help you that includes how to set up your spreadsheet. If you're not home testing, it is something you may want to consider. It's the best way to mare sure Gracie is in safe numbers.