Best Dry Food to Replace Purina DM until my Cat will eat Canned Food Again

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Onre

Onre

Member Since 2017
Hi my cat has suffered a major health crisis which include probabled DKA fatty liver (had terrible jaundice) and the last conclusion was mild pancreatitis. I thought we would lose her. However, after many $$ and persistence it looks like we are on the road to recovery. Onree is 12 yo this month and three weeks ago she was well filled out and getting into everything. She is a skinny 6.10 lbs now. I am syringe feeding, unfortunately, the emergency vet however well intentioned used Fancy Feast to tempt my cat to eat this would be my go to food to get a cat back on food I've dealt with very sick cats in the past. She is starting to crunch a little on Purina DM- I thought when I read the label that this was bad food, how can corn gluten be good for a diabetic? She will take a few licks of various canned foods but generally she's so put off of canned food from being syringe fed she mostly ignores it. I feel this will pass eventually, but in the meantime what is lowest carb dry food I can feed until she gets interested in canned food again?
 
When my diabetic cat was very ill with both pancreatitis and hepatic lipidosis, all he would eat willingly was dry food. DM is pretty crappy food so I fed him Nature's Variety Instinct chicken formula and it had no appreciable effect on his sugar, not that it would have mattered because he had to eat. It became my go-to whenever he didn't eat well. I lost him in December at the age of 19 and he'd been an insulin dependent diabetic for 11 years.

It's awful having to deal with multiple illnesses.

Best,
Deborah
 
Dr Elsey has come out with canned and dry food-
I have tried it with my non diabetic-my diabetic and my shop cats and all of them give a paws up!
I have emailed them for specifics but we get no food spikes when given to my diabetic.
AND guess what--they already responded just from late last night!
Here is what they said....

The carb amount in cleanprotein kibble is actually lower than DM and the protein is higher. I have displayed them below. The Salmon is not on the market yet we should have it within the next couple of weeks but the carb amount for the Salmon kibble is 9.06%. Thank you.


Canned:

Turkey-0.59%

Whitefish-1.15%

Beef-0.36%

Chicken-0.49%

Salmon-0.59%

Dry kibble:

Chicken-4.69%
 
If you are home testing, I personally would worry more that she is eating on her own post DKA. Even if it is higher carb dry food it's better than not eating. You can always adjust insulin up to cover this extra carb load, and this will also help gain weight, as that extra carb load will be converted to fat if the insulin dose is enough. If feeding any dry food, high or low carb, make sure she is getting enough fluids - cats need about 300ml oral fluids a day. Most canned diets supply about 50-75% of their fluid needs.

Iams makes a canned kitten food that is high in calories and may be easier to eat. There are also some Rx recovery foods that are easy to digest. It's possible that your cat is having nausea which is preventing him from eating his normal diet. I'd ask your vet if you can get an anti-nausea (NOT and appetite stimulant) to see if that helps.
 
I agree with the Nature's Variety Instinct Chicken - when Murphy gets pancreatitis I have the same issue
Evo changed their formula and is higher carb now - another food to consider in these circumstances is Wysong's Epigen90 (not regular Epigen - the Epigen90) I have to give Murphy about a tsp of this food every day to get him jump started to eat the wet Thanks Jayla - I just ordered the chicken and turkey pates from Dr. Elsey - can't wait for Murphy to try them!
 
Just for reference you can get a sample of the dry food by contacting
Dr Elsey online (email or call)
They responded very quickly to me.
 
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