? Cat in remission - Low carb dry food still a no-no?

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nfcatlady44

nfcatlady44

Member Since 2016
My Mr. Black has been in remission for a few days now, and while I'm still giving him the FF Classic canned food and some freeze-dried treats to keep his numbers in normal range, he still relishes the dry food I give him once in a while (not much at all - no more than 4 or 5 kibbles of the Purina DM dry I bought at the vet's). His numbers so far have stayed normal. I've been reading that some people give their diabetics Origen dry, which I may want to try. Is it okay to give my kitty these crunchy treats once in a while and not jeopardize his normal numbers in time? I'm talking about only 4 to 5 pieces a day just to pacify him. Also, another point, if he's strictly on canned food, I will worry that his teeth won't get the tartar control that dry kibbles have helped with in the past. Please advise.
 
Dry kibble and treats do nothing for the teeth....that's a myth that's been going around for many years and just continues to go around

Here are some articles on it

http://www.littlebigcat.com/health/does-dry-food-clean-the-teeth/

http://feline-nutrition.org/answers/answers-what-dry-food-does-to-your-cats-teeth

Personally, I wouldn't ever feed dry to my cats again, especially not my diabetic.....it's not worth the risk. Once a diabetic, always a diabetic and even a small increase in carbs can overstress the pancreas and send them right back into being actively diabetic and back on insulin
 
If it helps, I had my Peanut totally diet controlled within about a month and a half after his diagnosis and he was in remission. I felt that I could give him a few pieces a day of the dry diabetic prescription cat food that I had and everything would be fine but it wasn't. I also didn't know that I had to keep testing him after remission. Six months go by and I notice that he's not acting right so I decide to pull out his meter and test him just to see and his numbers were in the 400's. I cried and I was pissed at myself for neglecting his condition. Just because a cat goes into remission doesn't mean that he / she will stay in remission. I would advise that you put that dry food right into the trash can where it belongs. If you want to care for your cat's teeth get some dental wipes or a kitty toothbrush and toothpaste. There is no replacement for actually cleaning the teeth unless you choose to feed raw food which won't decay in the mouth like other foods.

I'm sorry I just can't stress enough just how not okay it is to continue to feed the dry food, even a few pieces. Get some bonito flakes, order them on Amazon. Freeze dried treats in small amounts because of the risk of dehydration. Other than that, pieces of cooked chicken or turkey is good.
 
Sieden said:
If it helps, I had my Peanut totally diet controlled within about a month and a half after his diagnosis and he was in remission. I felt that I could give him a few pieces a day of the dry diabetic prescription cat food that I had and everything would be fine but it wasn't. I also didn't know that I had to keep testing him after remission. Six months go by and I notice that he's not acting right so I decide to pull out his meter and test him just to see and his numbers were in the 400's. I cried and I was pissed at myself for neglecting his condition. Just because a cat goes into remission doesn't mean that he / she will stay in remission. I would advise that you put that dry food right into the trash can where it belongs. If you want to care for your cat's teeth get some dental wipes or a kitty toothbrush and toothpaste. There is no replacement for actually cleaning the teeth unless you choose to feed raw food which won't decay in the mouth like other foods.

I'm sorry I just can't stress enough just how not okay it is to continue to feed the dry food, even a few pieces. Get some bonito flakes, order them on Amazon. Freeze dried treats in small amounts because of the risk of dehydration. Other than that, pieces of cooked chicken or turkey is good.
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When you say he "wasn't acting right," what were his symptoms - back to peeing a lot or ??
 
Hearty congratulations on Mr Black going into remission! :cat:

If you want to give Mr Black a treat then why not try freeze-dried protein treats?

In addition to not being good for diabetes, dry food is not good for the kidneys either and diabetics are more vulnerable to CKD.

Wishing Mr Black a long and happy time at the Falls. :)


Mogs
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from what I've read, it seems that dry food isn't good for any cat at all, nevermind one with prior sugar issues.

i'd count my lucky stars if mr b went into remission and i'd never tempt fate by giving him dry. I understand the temptation to give your cat just a few. i'm not sure its worth the risk, and there are other options. perhaps try the origen freeze dried treats instead? my cat loves those, and he gets them after we BG test. also, ziwipeak has air-dried cat food which I haven't tried but looks excellent. might be another option.
 
nfcatlady44 said:
When you say he "wasn't acting right," what were his symptoms - back to peeing a lot or ??
Click to expand...

He was acting very sad and depressed. He would just lay around doing NOTHING. Then after being so good for so long he started peeing outside the litter box, right next to it... on the carpet! That's back when I was stupid enough to put the boxes on carpet but never again. I put them in a tiled, faux wood or linoleum type of area. Being carpet free is now a must for me when considering a new place of living. Sorry for ranting but he won't pee on the tile, so strange. Anyway, I had professional cleaners come out and take care of the carpet. Then I covered that area with plastic, the entire little area, the carpets and halfway up the wall. I wanted to make sure that he couldn't smell anything and try to do it again but I failed, he did pee on top of that plastic. I wiped it up and did such a good job but the next day I would find a puddle of pee again. I was seriously at my witts end. I should have seen this as signs but I didn't. I thought that he was being defiant. Plus the little area was actually a sun room where they could look out of the window and see birds and other cats. I thought that maybe it was seriously trying to mark his territory but I was wrong.

Once I realized that it was the diabetes again, I quickly got him back on insulin and back into a normal range. I think I spent another 4 months in that apartment before moving to one with faux wood flooring. But by then he was really well controlled with a low dose. He did try to pee on the plastic one more time during the beginning of his treatment but that behavior stopped pretty quickly. I got him controlled and he stopped peeing outside of the box.

I have to say that I think it's different for each cat and parent because your cats are going to have a different personality than mine so what is a red flag for me might be totally different for you.

The increased urine output and catching them actually using the water bowl to drink and drink and drink, well that's a sign.
 
Elizabeth and Bertie said:
:woot::woot::woot:!!!

Oh, Wow, Nancy, what brilliant news! And you've hardly been here long enough to take your coat off, sit down, and have a cup of tea... :smuggrin:

We generally consider that a cat is in remission if they've held normal numbers for 14 days.
Will be cheering Mr. Black on from the sidelines.
Go, Mr. Black, Go! :D

Eliz
Click to expand...
When you say held numbers for 14 days, do you mean without any insulin? I might need a little explanation which will be good for moving forward with Peanut. Thanks
 
You can also buy him some crickets for a snack. It's a great way to exercise him. I haven't done it yet but I keep meaning to. I will definitely take a video of it. I plan on letting just 1 out at a time and doing it in the bathtub (no water of course). I'm just scared of bugs so it's a hard one for me to do but I'll do it soon.
 
Thank you for all the congrats and continued well wishes. Mr. Black has had some wonderful help from this forum, and I'm so thankful! He's still going strong and I've eliminated all dry "junk food." I've also discovered I can pour a bit of water with the freeze-dried treats which gets him more excited about eating them.
 
Sieden said:
He was acting very sad and depressed. He would just lay around doing NOTHING. Then after being so good for so long he started peeing outside the litter box, right next to it... on the carpet! That's back when I was stupid enough to put the boxes on carpet but never again. I put them in a tiled, faux wood or linoleum type of area. Being carpet free is now a must for me when considering a new place of living. Sorry for ranting but he won't pee on the tile, so strange. Anyway, I had professional cleaners come out and take care of the carpet. Then I covered that area with plastic, the entire little area, the carpets and halfway up the wall. I wanted to make sure that he couldn't smell anything and try to do it again but I failed, he did pee on top of that plastic. I wiped it up and did such a good job but the next day I would find a puddle of pee again. I was seriously at my witts end. I should have seen this as signs but I didn't. I thought that he was being defiant. Plus the little area was actually a sun room where they could look out of the window and see birds and other cats. I thought that maybe it was seriously trying to mark his territory but I was wrong.

Once I realized that it was the diabetes again, I quickly got him back on insulin and back into a normal range. I think I spent another 4 months in that apartment before moving to one with faux wood flooring. But by then he was really well controlled with a low dose. He did try to pee on the plastic one more time during the beginning of his treatment but that behavior stopped pretty quickly. I got him controlled and he stopped peeing outside of the box.

I have to say that I think it's different for each cat and parent because your cats are going to have a different personality than mine so what is a red flag for me might be totally different for you.

The increased urine output and catching them actually using the water bowl to drink and drink and drink, well that's a sign.
Click to expand...

Cats don't know about being "defiant" or anything else we humans mistakenly read into some of their actions. They're just being cats, without purposely doing anything against us. I'm glad your sugar boy is back to normal again. Sorry you had so much trouble with the peeing messes. It was that way around here too so I can relate. When Mr. Black was at his worst, he was drinking/peeing like crazy! I finally took him in to be checked by the vet, and I sure wished I had much sooner, believe me. His number was 605! Now that's he's doing so much better and OTJ, I don't see him drink. I've even wondered if he's getting dehydrated now! He's eating plenty of the canned food though, which is full of moisture.
 
oh ok, thanks for clearing that up. Peanut isn't even close to there right now but maybe one day. Congrats on your kitty. Just don't forget to test every now and then to be sure that his numbers stay low.
 
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