Best raw meat for diabetics?

[Meowmeow and Quinton]

Meowmeow has been skinny since diagnosis 6 months ago. I can't seem to get him to put on any weight. He eats a commercial raw food diet by 3p naturals. I used to feed him Natural Instincts, but 3p's turkey bone-in price point is just SO much more attractive and they're just as good (mushier though).

I put a bit of coconut oil in his food by recommendation of his holistic vet, but he still doesn't gain anything.
His vet said that fatty meats aren't recommended for diabetic cats, is this true?
I feed him 150g of raw turkey bone-in. He's 10lbs right now but his heaviest ever was 14lbs

thanks in advance!

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi,
As far as I am aware, if your cat can tolerate some fat in the diet it is fine. It is when the cat has something like pancreatitis that you need to be careful with the amount of fat. It is carbohydrates that need to be low in a diabetic cat diet.
Maybe the reason Meowmeow is not putting on weight is because he is still having higher than normal blood sugar readings and when this happens, he can't use all the nutrients in the food. Diabetic cats who are unregulated often need more food than a normal cat. My cat was thin for months until her blood sugar readings improved, even though I fed her extra food. You may need to increase the amount of food you are giving him.
You may also need to adjust the dose of insulin you give him. I am not experienced enough to help you, but if you post over in the Lantus and Levemir forum, they are very experienced people who will be able to help you with adjusting his diet and insulin to get him regulated.
There are also very experienced people on this forum who will help you.
Good luck

 

[Elizabeth and Bertie]

Hi,
How many times a day are you feeding your kitty?
And do you know the calorie content of the current food?

Eliz

 

[BJM]

When you say he needs to gain weight, what is it you are seeing?
Is he weak?
Does he have difficulty standing and walking?
Can you see his ribs, or only feel them when you pet him?
Is his spine very boney?

 

[Tiger(GA) and Ruth]

How is his appetite? I'm wondering the same as Bron, without proper insulin regulation, the body is unable to transport glucose (a simple sugar obtained from digested food) into cells. Because glucose remains trapped in the bloodstream, the tissues of the body are deprived of the energy needed to function normally.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Hello, waving to you across the oil slick in the inlet. Your post caught my eye because of the raw food brand names. My two are getting Red Dog/Blue Kat raw food. They were the only locally produced raw food where the manufacturer has done the As-Fed analysis so that I could figure out the carb% for the food. I'm feeding chicken, turkey, venison and kangaroo. All those four have between 3-5% carbs. For many diabetic kitties, having a few carbs can be better than no carbs. Turkey is a relatively low fat meat, so is the venison and kangaroo, but that's not really so important. I'm feeling the lower calorie foods, so my Neko won't gain. She's getting around 125 grams a day and maintaining her fluffy 14.10 lbs. To her credit, her diabetes is caused by acromegaly which means excess growth hormone is produced.

I also agree with Bron and Ruth, without better regulation, your kitty will not be able to gain weight as the body cannot properly utilize the food. You want the majority of time to be spend under about 13.0 (234). If you look at the Lantus and Levemir forum, there is a wealth of information in the Sticky Notes, including descriptions of the Tight Regulation protocol or the Start Low Go Slow method. Both of those help you learn how to do dose adjustments yourself. I started out following my vet's guidelines, but a locum vet pointed me here and said to follow these guidelines. People here have lived diabetes 24x7, and some with multiple cats. There is a wealth of knowledge here.

 

[Meowmeow and Quinton]

Hi everyone, thanks so much for your feedback. To answer some of your questions, when he was diagnosed they weighed him at 10lbs. He gained around a pound after we changed him over to vet prescribed wet and dry food combo with his insulin, but he lost it all soon after for seemingly no reason. He hasn't gained anything since going on raw but his fur became smoother and shiner, and his poop became that of a raw fed cat.
When I started him on raw food I gave him 100g/day. Right now he eats 3x a day at 50g/meal, so 150/day. I'm in the process of taking out the middle meal because in a month I won't be able to feed him at that time. So in total he will have 150g/day at 75g/meal.
I started him at 100g/day because I cat-sat for someone once, and their two huge kitties (22-24lbs a piece!) were only getting 120g/day each. Apparently one of them even needed a diet! I felt like that was so little for them too.
I'm considering increasing his intake but I'm going to the holistic vet this wednesday for another checkup first.
In addition to insulin, his vet put him on some gymnema sylvestere herbal drops. Since starting the drops his average BG his decreased.

When I say he needs to gain weight I mean I can feel all his bones and he's not pleasant to cuddle. His spine is boney and you can feel his ribs. He's all black and has mid length fur, if his fur were shorter then I think i'd be able to see his ribs too. He has energy, doesn't have any issue standing, jumping, running. But I can see his weaker than before.. but I think that's because he's so much thinner and has probably lost muscle as well as fat. He's not an active boy and he doesn't like to chase things. He's an indoor cat too. The exercise he gets is running for mealtimes and being play-attacked all day by the younger cat. He has more than enough spunk in him to put the little one in his place though!

Here's the website of 3P Naturals nutritional breakdown. I'm not exactly sure how to read this or what it means, so if someone has the time to explain the jist of it, or tell me the best one in comparison that would be awesome!
http://www.3pnaturals.com/pet-nutrition/nutritional-information
he eats the bone-in turkey with organ.
The brand also sells raw dog food, so that's why I'm confused as to why dog and cat nutritional information isn't separate.

His blood glucose levels have gone down since being diagnosed and he's better compared to when he was first diagnosed, yet he hasn't gained weight. In this case, shouldn't the lower BG and weight correlate at least a little? I know his body can't use all of the nutrients in his food because the glucose is trapped in his bloodstream, but if I feed him more, would that mean he'd be able to use more? or would that mean there's just more glucose trapped in his blood = higher BG? This is why I'm hesitant to increase his food.

Thanks in advance again!

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

I think the reason he's not gaining weight is because his BG isn't under control yet.

If you hold the dose longer than it should be held, you increase the chances of glucose toxicity....where it takes even higher and higher doses to get the numbers down

If you'll read the information on the Lantus/Levemir Tight Regulation Protocol you'll see that we adjust the dose every 3 days if it's not getting them where we want it (between 50-120)

TR gives your cat the best chance at remission, but it requires that you test before every shot and at least once during each cycle.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Here's the website of 3P Naturals nutritional breakdown. I'm not exactly sure how to read this or what it means, so if someone has the time to explain the jist of it, or tell me the best one in comparison that would be awesome!
http://www.3pnaturals.com/pet-nutrition/nutritional-information
he eats the bone-in turkey with organ.
The brand also sells raw dog food, so that's why I'm confused as to why dog and cat nutritional information isn't separate.

The 3P Naturals website only gives you the guaranteed analysis breakdown which is not what we use to calculate the carb % of the food. I'd also ask them if they have different nutritional information for their cat and dog food. They should be different formulations because dogs need more veggies/carbs than cats. It could be they are only giving you the dog formula results because that's what they sell most.

For more information on cat nutrition, pop on over to www.catinfo.org.

 

[Meowmeow and Quinton]

Gosh, I read all the sticky notes on the LL forum and it looks like I'm just a big mess. I've learned so much since Meowmeow was diagnosed and yet I'm no where near to where he could have been if I was more informed. No more rolling the Lantus vial from now on! And no more see sawing back and forth to get the correct dose before removing the syringe from the vial! I can't believe my old vet told me these things when there's such a strong opinion against doing them.

@Chris & China I'm going away in May for 1 month, so my catsitter will be following my instruction. I really want to start the TR protocol now but I don't think it'll be helpful to start and then stop for a month, just to restart again. I just hope waiting out until June isn't too long to keep him at 1u.

@Wendy&Neko 3P Naturals just got back to me after 3 days of waiting for their reply email. You're right, the listed nutritional information is for their dog products. Apparently the cat food analysis will come out in a month or two. I guess I'll find out more about his food when that info becomes available.