? Advice on feeding non-diabetic cats - intro

My family had two diabetic cats in the past, they grew up in different households that merged and just happened to both become diabetic, and they were under the care of two different vets. When one died as a result of an insulin OD, (had a mouth infection he'd just been to vet for, vet did not advise stopping insulin until it was under control - it was awful) so I found this board and website, and learned about testing and diet and etc, and got the other cat back to decent control and happiness for a fairly short time before her kidneys failed and she too succumbed. Both of those kitties were age 14-15 or so. That was 15 years ago. This is a helpful site and I thank you all and recommend the site and board to anyone with diabetic kitties.

So, I learned that a dry only diet is bad for even non-diabetic cats. Current 8yo male cat gets 1/2 can of fancy feast per day plus dry. Initially fed him a very low carb high protein dry, but it gave him crystals in his urine and urinary tract infections, causing him to urinate inappropriately which was very tough to get under control. Since then, he gets a "urinary tract health" dry food in addition to his canned. He has gotten quite fat in the past couple of years and eats it kind of compulsively. We have added another 8 year old male cat to the household this week (they have not met yet, he's contained in another space temporarily.) He is larger in frame but very thin. Since we are going to be feeding two cats now we need to get a healthy routine for each of them. One needs to gain a little weight and the other to lose weight so I know it should make sense to have mealtimes and for nobody to get to free feed as the only cat had (Up on a table to be away from dogs.)

I do think that a wet food/ dry food combo will be necessary. Do you all recommend any lower carb food that has a decent balance for non-diabetics but will not be anything hard to find and expensive, and won't give them UTIs? Is there a general amount you feed for cats that are between 10-15 lbs? The shelter where the second (large frame and skinny) cat came from said they were feeding 1/4 cup dry Hills twice daily, that doesn't seem enough to me!

 

Hello and welcome back.

Why do you think dry food is required? What dry food was he eating before hand? Hills is really high carb and not suitable for diabetics. Cat by nature don't eat dry food and aren't great at drinking, so wet or raw food is much better for them. For a cat with crystals, low carb and preferably lower phosphorus food wet or raw food with water added will help. I had a non diabetic cat have urinary issues one week after Neko was diagnosed with diabetes, so my vet recommended raw for both. If you haven't seen it already, there's a really good website by a vet specializing in feline nutrition called Catinfo. She has a special section on feeding for urinary issues.

I'm going to remove the GA on the subject line of your post. We reserve that for when cats have Gone Ahead, or become Guardian Angels, and it tends to worry us to see it.

 

Oh I'm so sorry - excuse me, I didn't realize that was what GA meant, that was a big mistake! (I think I thought it was general advice or something!) The low carb dry food I was feeding that the present cat did poorly on was wellness core. He eats his 1/2 can of fancy feast per day very quickly and it seems like he needs something else just to have put up high so the dogs don't eat it. It was just meant to be a supplement that he could graze on but as I mentioned he eats too much of it. I am for sure going to scale it back and limit it, but with another cat in the household that also ate dry in his previous life I don't think I'm going to be able to get both off of dry anytime soon, so I was looking for options? Oh and both of these cats drink plenty of water! But Maybe the best idea is to limit and phase out the dry if possible. Will have to try to work that out while the new cat gets integrated into the household. I am looking at the site you recommended now. Thank you!

 

For the experts here--is there any reason a non-diabetic cat SHOULDN'T eat the same way that a diabetic cat does?

 

@Kiwi - Wellness Core dry is not particularly low carb food. They contain peas and potatoes which are carbs. I have heard Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein dry is low carb, but never used it. We have had a couple people notice their cats blood sugar went up on it.

A diet that is good for diabetics is good for most cats. In the wild, they eat low carb raw food (birds, mice). Some cats may have special medical conditions that mean they need slightly different diets.

 

Thank you - Points taken and Looking over the page you sent. The food I had him on did not have potatoes but was really bad for him anyway causing UTIs and crystals in his urine!

 

I use two pet feeders that only open for the one cat based on that cat's microchip. That way one cat can't open/eat the other cat's food.

The feeders are not cheap
https://www.chewy.com/surefeed-micr...5ni08nGiSM4YBTdadRuS-NN2CvXO8gFIaAuBvEALw_wcB
The also make a model with a built-in scale and connects to your phone. I have one of each
https://www.chewy.com/sure-petcare-surefeed-feeder-connect/dp/228600