Anyone successful controling BG with Kibble?

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shelly1212

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After many cans of wet food & a variety of flavors (from the approved list found here) my sugar baby Boo still wants kibble... which also happens to be all my other cat will eat...

My hopes were to have them both on the same food... I did transition them from Science Diet to Wellness Core mixed with Natures Variety Instinct in Rabbit which I hope is ok? They both appear to approve of the flavor! I'll also be speaking with the vet to change her insulin from Humulin N to something else. Any suggestions? Her BG isn't being controlled at all... I'm trying not to get discouraged but her numbers are always over 300 when I test her and i'm scared about her health. I've tried mixing it, crushing & sprinkling the kibble over wet and have had no luck.

I have a wonderful & helpful son but my pets are my babies too!

Shelly
 
Have you seen Dr. Lisa's tips for transition cats to canned food? http://catinfo.org/docs/Tips for Transitioning PDF 1-14-11.pdf The key is to have patience :smile: Some stubborn cats will refuse to eat canned food for months before they decide that canned food is ok after all.

Try crushed up treats (freeze dried meat treats work well), powdered cheese, tuna juice (the kind in water, not oil), even FortiFlora (get it from the vet or online place like PetFoodDirect.com) on top of the canned.

And try a variety of canned food brands. Some cats are happy with the inexpensive stuff, others only have taste buds for the pricey premium brands.

I believe member Linda and Mandy were able to go OTJ on nothing but Purina D/M dry.

Any of the Nature's Variety Instinct dry formulas are pretty low in carbs. So that's ok to feed for now. Wellness CORE is another ok dry food to feed.

If you can get your cats to eat a least some canned food, it's better than nothing :smile: The canned food will help lower bgs a bit, as will a better insulin than Humulin N.

My two cents :smile:
 
The reason why we suggest the low carb dry foods as temporary solution while you're transitioning is because it is nearly impossible to regulate a cat even on lower carb dry food. Dry food has to use some sort of starch as a binder, and even if it's a low carb starch like a potato, it still has a high glycemic index.

Please don't give up trying to get them over to wet food. Sometimes it just takes patience and trying different kinds of food until you get to one they like. Fortiflora also works very well.
 
Have you tired Fancy Feast Classics? The chicken, beef and turkey classics were all my cats would eat in the begining. Now they'll pretty much except any wet with a day or two of transition.
 
Two of my diabetic cats eat only dry and are well controlled. One with Lantus the other with Levemir. Doing it will N would be more difficult if even possible.
 
Larry, it's interesting that one cat is on Lantus & the other on Levemir... Is it trial & error? I'm wanting to switch insulin and wondered which one I should request from my vet? What is your opinion on them?

Shelly
 
my non diabetic DID NOT like wet food at all when we switched over...eventually when she got hungry she ate it...maybe try wellness or EVO
in my honest opinion i would never go back to dry ever, because being on wet could get you off the insulin completely and i would rather have that!
 
My Maggie went OTJ with dry - she wouldn't eat anything wet, including any people food. She even left the room when we ate. Wellness CORE and Evo are two of the lower carb dry foods. It's not ideal, but I really understand the "I'd rather starve than eat that goop" problem.
 
I started Tonis on Lantus since my others were suing it. However, I got up to 5 units with little improvement in BGs and even some HI BG readings. Therefore, I decided to try Levemir. Levemir really did not work any better. However, Tonis is now doing great on 7.5 units of Levimer.
 
Please understand that it is *not* just about carb content.

Feeding water-depleted diets (ALL dry foods regadless of carb content) puts every cat at an increased risk for life threatening and painful urinary tract problems.

Please take a very good look at Opie's pictures on my Urinary Tract Health page to see the suffering that dry food often causes.

Several of my veterinary colleagues - including one of the most well respected feline medicine consultants on VIN - have commented that they never (or at least rarely) see blocked cats if they are fed a water-rich diet....ie...canned food not dry.

Dry food wreaks havoc on the urinary tract of many cats and is far from an optimal source of food for obligate carnivores which have a low thirst drive and do not make up the deficit at the water bowl.

There are many other reasons why dry food is not the healthiest diet for a cat. See below.
 
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