Can someone just tell me....food question

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pamaloo

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Hi everyone! I am new to the feline diabetes thing. I am having a hard time sorting through all the information out there about food to feed a diabetic cat.

I know to feed wet, I know about low carb, high protien, etc.

But I just want someone to tell me the brand and type of food they are feeding their cat and why it's working for you.

My cat is currently on Purina DM, but I dont' want her on that forever. I have tried Wellness Chicken but she won't touch the stuff. I would perfer a wholistic brand, but am open to trying anything.

Just want to know the exact brand others are using and why.

Thanks so much!!

Pam
 
hi Pam

I have 3 cats - 1 Diabetic, 1 with hyperthyroidism and 1 normal.
For the 2 'ill' cats, I've tried a few of the premium brands - Wellness, Merrick, Evo - and they eat a little and then walk off.
I have to mix Trader Joe's Tuna in to get them to eat.

Initially, they wouldn't eat Fancy Feast but now I'm having success with the Beef, Chicken & Beef and the fish ones (thye all love fish!) - and I'm trying to work in the Chicken Feast.

There favourite is Friskies! I have cheap cats :lol:

Denise
 
Hi Pam,

Bob was given Hills m/d which he ate for about two days before refusing to eat it again. Turns out he was smarter than his vet :-)
From that day forward he has eaten every flavor of Fancy Feast classics, two cans per day. He also gets half a can of Friskees pates as a bedtime snack.
I picked those for several reasons.
Low carbs.
Cost.
I have a 2nd cat, non-diabetic, and needed to find food they would both eat, and because they like to swap bowls during meals, that would be okay for Bob no matter which bowl they used.

Bob was able to go otj on that diet, and has remained so.
They both have devoured every flavor, so I never saw any reason to look for other choices.
 
We feed the Fancy Feast classics, the local pet food store has it on sale usually once per month plus it's easy to find coupons so cost isn't too bad. My cats don't like Wellness canned, but for treats I sometimes give the Wellness pouch food, the grain free.

Depending on your price range you can buy canned food anywhere. Walmart Special Kitty, loaf variety, Friskies loaf varieties, the Fancy Feast classics or go to the more premium Wellness, EVO, Merricks. Look for grain free, no corn or wheat gluten. If you are switching your kitty to canned food you'd be fine with that. If you decide down the line that you want to keep blood sugars more tightly regulated, folks can point you to the low carb, high protein foods that they use.

It feels like there's a lot to learn, but you'll be surprised how quickly you'll understand things. Ask questions and also let folks know how your kitty is doing and if you're having any trouble switching food or learning to home test.
 
What brand to feed is your cat's preference (most important), what fits in your budget, and what you can find in the local stores.

I fed my diabetic mainly Nature's Variety Instinct and Innova EVO. I rotated in ProPlan (one variety), Weruva (one variety), SOrganic (this brand is no longer available), and GO Natural once a week or so. At the time, these brands, with the exception of ProPlan, were only sold in independent/non chain pet stores. I fed these brands because they were the only ones my cat would eat and came in cans larger than 3 oz. I tried numerous other brands of food but my cat turned his nose up.
 
Hey Pam! Just wanted to welcome you to the FDMB! I'm not going to be much help on the food, as I feed Wellness chicken and turkey. I am lucky in that Buster will eat dang near anything, although he hates bonita flakes and salmon jerky. I guess he's not a fishy guy. One thing I have learned to do is add a bit of water to the food. Buster had struvite crystals in the past so I want to be sure he stays hydrated. I actually haven't seen him at the water bowl in a long, long time now :-D

Good luck to you! Please keep asking questions as you need - we're here to help!
 
I've gone through all brands of food and today my girls eat:

Fancy Feast Classics - beef feast only
Stella & Chewy's freeze dried raw chicken dinner
homemade raw food (Maui only, sometimes)

They used to eat any poultry flavor of Fancy Feast and for some reason, decided they don't like it anymore. The Stella & Chewy's is a dried food product and while it is raw and considered low carb, the fact that they eat it dry still has the same issues as eating kibbles. Water can be added to this, but my girls won't eat it then. So, I just put it in a bowl and let them eat what they want, when they want and treat it like when they ate kibbles. It seems to work for my girls, but I also add one full can of water to Fancy Feast, so I know they are getting plenty of water and are not dehydrated as dry food can cause.

I also make homemade raw food and only Maui will eat it, but not all the time. It's time consuming to make and I hate wasting it, so I haven't made any in a while. When I do, it's usually chicken and sometimes turkey.

I may buy the nature's variety again and see if I can interest them.
 
After trying a TON of foods with Bandit (Friskies, Fancy Feast Classics, Wellness Turkey & Chicken Flavors, EVO, Nature variety's Instinct, etc.), the food we have finally settled on for being the best diet for Bandit is Merrick's--I feed the flavors Cowboy Cookout, Surf and Turf, and Grammy's Pot Pie (and occasionally Turducken). I feed those flavors because the have the best Protein/Fat/Carb ratio, but if you decide to feed a different flavor make sure you're checking the carb content.

The reason why Bandit does the best on these foods is because they use high quality meat, are very high in protein, low in fat, with appropriate carb levels for a diabetic. They are also all low-glycemic foods (some foods, like Friskies, can have reasonable carb levels but have a higher glycemic index because they contain rice or other high glycemic ingredients--this can have a negative impact some (but not all) diabetics). Bandit had GI issues with some of the foods that have a high fat content (like EVO). He also used to be obese, so I've struggled with maintaining him at a healthy weight because of that. Obese cats have slower metabolisms, and they need a lot of protein to help reset their metabolisms. I had trouble maintaining Bandit at a healthy weight with the other foods--but the high protein content and lower fat of the Merrick's has helped him enormously. It even changed his muscle tone--he used to have a very soft body and now he's solid muscle.

I've also found the Merricks to also be very palatable to my cats. It was one of the only things my other cat would continue to eat in the final stages of her stomach cancer, when she got incredibly picky with food. Not every cat likes it, but several of my friends have had good success with their picky cats liking at least one of the flavors.

It can be price if you get it at a chain store like PetCo, but if you enter your zip code into the store finder you'll likely find an independently owned pet/farm supply store near you that sells it, and they usually have much cheaper prices and offer case discounts or specials. I'm actually paying less to feed the better quality Merricks than I was when he was eating Fancy Feast. Currently, Amazon has been doing a continous promotion on Merricks 5.5 oz cans where you get $5 off the cost of a case at checkout, so it's cheaper to order the food that way, too ($1.20 per can)--if you have tried it out and know your cat will eat it. Normally, prices on Amazon are about the same as PetCo ($1.40 per can).
 
My diabetic must have been one of the few oddballs who didn't like the reuglar Merrick canned :roll: He did like Merrick's Before Grain which at the time was only a supplemental food. I tried Wellness but my diabetic made a face after one sniff and refused to go near it again. He had the same response with Avoderm and the gloppy bright pink odd smelling chicken :shock:

I didn't see anyone mention this but seafood should be limited to once in awhile meals/treats. Some cats get addicted to eating seafood and will refuse to eat anything else. Some types of fish may contain mercury.

A lot of the high end grain-free premium brands are sold only at independent pet stores. Most pet food company web sites have a store locator search that you can use to find a local store. Print out Dr. Lisa's food chart (and other other charts if you wish, like Binky's charts and Hobo's Nutritional Values chart) and bring it with you to the store so you can be sure to get only the low carb foods.
 
See both my cats LOVE Wellness and Merricks. Right now they are getting Wellness Turkey/Chicken, Merricks Cowboy Cookout, and Evo 95% Chicken/Turkey. All higher priced premium foods I know, but I have two couch potatoes that share one can a day so it only comes out to less than $3 a day to feed both of them good food.

If you want to feed Merricks one thing I have learned is to SHAKE THE CANS BEFORE YOU BUY THEM! If it is sloshy/watery sounding don't buy it!!! I bought 12 cans a while back and they must have had a big manufacturing error... the food was extremely watery soup. I was so disappointed, paying a premium for nothing but a can full of watery nasty messy goop. Of course the cats didn't mind though. Fortunately they have excellent customer service, seemed legitimately concerned over my complaints and they sent me coupons for 3 free cans (not quite the 12 I paid for, but it was a nice gesture anyways) and a hand signed letter from the quality control specialist or whatever. So now I know to shake the cans first. :lol:

When I'm feeling cheap or low on money they get either Special Kitty Select (Walmart's FF equivalent - cheaper), Whiskas recloseable trays, or big cans of generic brand food from places like Superstore, Canadian Tire, Extra Foods (Canadian stores though).
 
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