Hello! My cat was diagnosed as diabetic last year and was put on Purina Dm, the wet canned food version. A few months later she went into remission and no longer had to be given insulin shots but the vet still wanted her on Purina DM. Throughout that whole time her and our other cat would sneak bites of each others food so she’d eat about half of her food and then half of his. He gets fed tiki cat, also the wet version. A while back he got sick and had to stay at the hospital for a while so we only had to feed our diabetic cat. We feed them separately now so they cannot eat each others food. We learned she actually hates purina dm and is now pretty much refusing to eat it, but only in the afternoons. My husband feeds them in the morning and he says she eats her food just fine. When I feed her in the evening she will eat the gravy and maybe a few bites of the meat chunks but that is it. She’ll walk away from the bowl and then I’ll put it in front of her and she will start eating again but she never eats all of it. We talked to our vet about it and they didn’t seem worried at all since she eats most of it and sometimes all of it. We also spoke to them about switching her to tiki cat since she will eat that no problem and they strongly advised against it. From my research tiki cat has little to no carbs and plenty of diabetic kitties eat it. Is my research incorrect? Why would the vet recommend against it? Also, has anybodys kitty become picky like this seemingly out of nowhere? She’s 13 so she’s an old girl, but she used to love to food time and now she barely touches her food without reminders and sometimes she completely refuses to eat any more than she’s already eaten.
Cat all of a sudden not eating Purina DM
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Hendrick Cuddleclaw
Member Since 2022
Hi and welcome to the group. Yes, it is extremely common for cats to suddenly grow tired of the Purina DM Pate or Savory Selects. Yes, you can feed other foods as long as they are low-carb there is nothing special or magical about the purina DM other than being low carb. In fact, options like Tiki Cat are made with much higher quality protein sources. The quality of the ingredients used for the DM food is questionable. You may also find other food varieties to be more affordable, those 24-packs of DM are pricey. Many members rotate through several varieties of food weekly as cats can and will get tired of the same thing all the time.
My boy Hendrick still eats the Purina DM but not daily. I use a can or two a week and that is split among several cats usually as an afternoon snack.
For the majority of his diet he eats Tiki varieties, Weruva varieties, some Dave's, a little Fancy Feast, and every night I make a batch of raw food using E-Z Complete powder. Also a little Stella and Chewy's freeze-dried now and then. Not too much as it is high in phosphorus.
Many folks here feed a lot of Fancy Feast pate but at 13 years old you might want to avoid most of their pate varieties as they are very very high in phosphorus. The Savory Salmon pate is the lowest at 267.
These lists of foods show the carb content and are very helpful:
https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf
My boy Hendrick still eats the Purina DM but not daily. I use a can or two a week and that is split among several cats usually as an afternoon snack.
For the majority of his diet he eats Tiki varieties, Weruva varieties, some Dave's, a little Fancy Feast, and every night I make a batch of raw food using E-Z Complete powder. Also a little Stella and Chewy's freeze-dried now and then. Not too much as it is high in phosphorus.
Many folks here feed a lot of Fancy Feast pate but at 13 years old you might want to avoid most of their pate varieties as they are very very high in phosphorus. The Savory Salmon pate is the lowest at 267.
These lists of foods show the carb content and are very helpful:
https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf
Diane Tyler's Mom GA
Member Since 2018
@ihav2cats
You can also try these
BFF play chicken Checkmate
Protein 31%
Carbs 5%
Phosphorus 133%
BFF play chicken & turkey topsy turvy
Protein 32%
Carbs 5.20%
Phosphorus 134%
BFF play chicken cherish
Protein 31%
Carbs 4.90%
Phosphorus 132%
BFF chicken & turkey tiptoe
Protein 31%
Carbs 5.10%
Phosphorus 133%
BFF chicken duck & turkey take a chance
Protein 32%
Carbs 5.20%
Phosphorus 152%
BFF play chicken & lamb laugh out loud
Protein 31%
Carbs 5%
Phosphorus 152%
BFF play chicken & duck destiny
Protein 32%
Carbs 5.10%
Phosphorus 163%
BFF play chicken & beef best buds
Protein 33%
Carbs 5.30%
Phosphorus 175%
Don't know if your kitty likes pate but here is the list of the BFF line.
YOU WANT CARBS UNDER 10% AND PHOSPHORUS IDEALLY LOW 200's OR LESS
You can also try these
BFF play chicken Checkmate
Protein 31%
Carbs 5%
Phosphorus 133%
BFF play chicken & turkey topsy turvy
Protein 32%
Carbs 5.20%
Phosphorus 134%
BFF play chicken cherish
Protein 31%
Carbs 4.90%
Phosphorus 132%
BFF chicken & turkey tiptoe
Protein 31%
Carbs 5.10%
Phosphorus 133%
BFF chicken duck & turkey take a chance
Protein 32%
Carbs 5.20%
Phosphorus 152%
BFF play chicken & lamb laugh out loud
Protein 31%
Carbs 5%
Phosphorus 152%
BFF play chicken & duck destiny
Protein 32%
Carbs 5.10%
Phosphorus 163%
BFF play chicken & beef best buds
Protein 33%
Carbs 5.30%
Phosphorus 175%
Don't know if your kitty likes pate but here is the list of the BFF line.
YOU WANT CARBS UNDER 10% AND PHOSPHORUS IDEALLY LOW 200's OR LESS
Kyle and Diane provided great information. Many cats do get tired of DM. To be honest, for what you're spending on what used to be called a "prescription" food, the quality is truly poor. DM is not a food specific to diabetes. If you look closely at the label, it is "dietetic" management, not diabetes management. There is nothing that requires a prescription that is in the food. It was a ploy by the pet food manufacturers and they lost a class action suit over misrepresenting their "prescription" foods.
That's my very long winded way of saying if your cat likes Tiki Cat, as long as it's low carb, it's a high quality food that is fine for any cat.
That's my very long winded way of saying if your cat likes Tiki Cat, as long as it's low carb, it's a high quality food that is fine for any cat.
I have a 14 1/2 year old female spayed kitty that was diagnosed with diabetes June 1. I started her immediately on Lantis injection with a pen. She seems to be drinking plenty and urinating plenty but not so much defalcating. She has become an extremely picky eater. I feed her every couple of hours because she only eats a little bit at a time And my vet said that right now it’s more important to get her to eat then to focus on low carbohydrates. So what I have been doing is mixing a fancy feast pate with fancy feast gravy. I have tried switching her to a couple other brands but every time I switch her she throws up or refuses to eat so I don’t dare switch her from fancy feast right now. When she was younger and healthy, she weighed a healthy 9 pounds. She started losing weight which was a sign that something was wrong. She is down to about 7 1/2 pounds which is pretty light. So I am desperately trying to keep that weight on her and if at all possible, put a little more weight on her. But as it is, I am barely holding her at 7 1/2 pounds since June 1. She sleeps a lot and doesn’t get a lot of exercise so it makes me wonder if she’s even getting enough nutrition because she’s not burning any calories to speak of. So my problem too is getting her to eat. I have found some Dr. Elsie’s clean protein dry cat food. It says high protein, 95% of protein is animal-based grain free. And she eats a little of that but not much. I have found some solutions on your website, but I don’t know if I have found them all so any information or suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you so much. Arlene
Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)
Member Since 2019
Hi Arlene, it would be best if you started a thread of your own to get more eyes on it. How often are you feeding her? Diabetic cats need more food since they can’t process the nutrients in food well so they eat and still will lose weight. It’s best to feed the 2 largest meals at shot times and an additional 3-4 snacks or smaller meals throughout the day. If she’s seems nauseated, she may need anti nausea meds. Unregulated diabetics cats do need to eat or they are at risk of developing other more serious issues so your vet is right about that. Have you tried freeze dried treats or baby food or even regular chicken to supplement the FF?
Also, the best way to get her regulated and feeling better is to home test. Lantus is a great insulin for cats but it can take some time to get them regulated. If you’re not home testing and just spot checking at the vet, it can take much longer and it may never happen. Here’s some info for you:
With a diabetic cat you need:
- A low carb wet diet that is 10% carbs or under. Most of us use around 4-7% carbs
- A suitable insulin such as Lantus or Prozinc which are long acting, more gentle insulins than the old insulins.
- We recommend hometesting the blood glucose with a human meter…it is not necessary to use a pet meter which is expensive to run and is no better. It will keep your kitty safe and you will know how the dose is working for your kitty. Only testing every so often will not tell you what is happening in between those times and an awful lot can happen in even a day.
- HELP US HELP YOU has information about the spreadsheet, signature and hypo box which you will need to be able to look after your beloved kitty properly
thank you this was very helpful!
Thank you!
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