Canned Food Dilema - Are his numbers good enough

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Harley's Mom

Harley's Mom

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I have a bit of a dilema and I thought I would ask for suggestions.
Harley has been changed to all canned and seems to be regulated with just the change to canned food, but I have found that the food he likes is generally canned foods w/gravy. He will eat fancy feast, sophistocat, 9 lives, Special Kitty etc but he wants the food with sliced or diced goodies and gravy.
With the pate' type foods that are lower in carbs he will nibble on it when he is very hungry but never cleans the bowl. I know he isn't getting enough food that way but if I want to be cold hearted he could survive this way.
I have 4 cats including Harley and they have all lost a little weight since the food change which isn't a bad thing so far but I don't want them to lose a lot more.

My dilema is this:

If I force the lower carb food his numbers range from 60ish to 90ish and I have to listen to bawling from some of the other cats who also don't like or eat the food.

If I allow the gravy type foods his numbers range from 80 ish to 120ish. If I feed this they eat what I feed them and seem to be content.

Is it worth keeping him hungry for the little difference in the numbers or can I just be happy if he stays below say 140 and not worry about it?
 
i have a question and it may be totally unapplicable :)

do you use bowls or plates for feeding? i ask because i have three 5 year olds that will eat any type of food.....depending on what it is served in . yep. that's what i said. sounds ridiculous eh?

if i feed them sliced/diced/shredded in bowls or plates, they eat every last drop.

if i feed pate style in a bowl, they don't eat it all. but if i serve it on a flatter surface like a plate, they eat it all. what i've gathered is they smoosh the pate one down into the bowl and then can't get anymore of it out 'cause if i grab a spoon and scoop it all back to the middle, they will go right back to eating it again, until it's too smooshed to be picked up.

just a thought
 
Can you add extra water to the pate food to make a sort of gravy? Or, if you boil chicken to use for treats, save the cooking water to use for "gravy". Another thought is to crush up some freeze dried meat treats (or used the powder at the bottom of the container) and mix with water to make a yummy tasting gravy.

If your cat likes the texture of slices, maybe try mixing in some plain cooked chicken with the canned.
 
They eat out of very large bowls that will fit 2 cats at a time. I have tried mixing it with the food they like and they pick out some of what they like then leave the rest. If I mix it to well they leave it. I have also tried warm water and cold water making it into soup. I have also tried adding Parmesan cheese but they don't care.
When very hungry they will eat enough to survive but they waste more than they eat.
 
Not all foods with gravy are high carb. Merricks canned has quite a bit of sauce and is still low in carbs. Recommended flavors are Cowboy Cookout, Grammy's Pot Pie, Thanksgiving Day Dinner, and Turducken (carbs range from 5% - 12%). Wellness Pouches are also low carb. They are listed on Janet & Binky's chart as Healthy Indulgence. Turkey & Duck is 9% carbs. Not all of the flavors are listed, but Wellness is one of the more co-operative companies. I think most of the pouches that say grain-free on the label are fairly low carb.
 
Unfortunately they HATE Merricks and I wanted them to like that! My dogs all eat Merricks and love it but even my porch cat won't eat the canned food. I have not tried the wellness pouches.

But...

Are the numbers 80 to 120 to high to live with?
 
Since Max has been diet-controlled, his #s have ranged from 82-105 and my vet's happy with that. When I asked the vet for a when-to-shoot number if the remission ends, he said 250. I'm not an expert here, but it sounds to me like you're in a good happy range.
 
Kira, just an FYI but 250 is pretty high...everyone has a different cutoff but if I saw consistent 150s I'd consider insulin, especially now that we have better insulin options than when Squeak went off of insulin...
 
Jen & Squeak said:
Kira, just an FYI but 250 is pretty high...everyone has a different cutoff but if I saw consistent 150s I'd consider insulin, especially now that we have better insulin options than when Squeak went off of insulin...
Click to expand...

I agree with you, and if I start seeing 175+ I'm getting out the needles. I didn't use the insulin long enough to know for sure what my too-low-to-shoot number is, but the last time I shot a 150 it got scary :)
 
Harley hasn't hit 150 for a month and that was on his way down when we changed him to canned food.
So from what I see here it looks like he is doing well enough even on the gravy type foods. I will just try to
work in some lower carb foods as well and watch his numbers.

Thanks for the responses.
 
I'd feed them what they'll eat. 90-120 are non-diabetic numbers, and if you were still shooting you probably wouldn't give insulin with those numbers. But I'd keep testing on a regular basis, just in case it starts to creep up.
 
My two guys are really tired of FF, (after 4 1/2 years and 3 or 4 flavors, who can blame them. They also love (cant get enough of it) Tuna Flakes.

When they started walking away from their bowls, I'd sprinkle some Tuna Flakes on top, and the food always disappers.
 
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