Confused & Lost in a World of Cat Food - Help!

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Katie & Mego (GA)

Katie & Mego (GA)

Member Since 2013
Ok everyone here's the scoop:

Mego was switched to Friskies pates over a week ago and he was Dx last Friday. Of course the vet wants me to go on the Purina DM prescription diet saying there have been great results on this diet & Lantus with cats going into remission. But almost EVERYONE here says I don't need to do that and that some OTC canned wet foods are fine. His PMBG was up to 443 yesterday and I noticed an increase in his drinking/urination yesterday. Before that, I had seen a marked improvement of symptoms on the food. The only thing that was different yesterday is I gave him some of the dry Purina DM (sample from vet) as treats during BG testing times. I'm wondering if this made his BG go up in the afternoon since it's higher in carbs (I've seen people here say not to even give them prescription dry food). Keep in mind he hasn't had is first shot yet. I cancelled his appt for this morning because I don't want to take him in and put him through that stress resulting in even higher BG#s. I have my training appt later today and most likely he will get his first shot tomorrow. So I guess my question is, how do I tell the vet I may not want to take her recommendation. So far she is fine with doing the home testing and thinks it's a good idea considering his demeanor at the vet. I have looked at the cat food charts with P/F/C info. If I figured correctly, the Purina DM canned has about 3% of its calories coming from Carbs which is lower than the Friskies. I am concerned that a lot of the low carb foods are high in fat. Do I look for something with the highest protein and lowest carbs and not worry about the fat content? What did you tell your vet when you didn't want to be on the prescription food? What canned foods have you had success with and what's the most cost effective way to get it? Mego doesn't seem to be a picky eater so I don't think flavors will matter. Please help - I'm so lost and I don't know what to tell the vet and I'll need to get him more food in the near future. :-|
 
Real easy...I tried the sample and he absolutely refuses to eat it. FWIW I have 14 cats (2 are diabetic) after the novelty wore off on the prescription stuff not even my semi-ferals would touch it and they will eat just about anything that doesn't try to eat them first. And my Maxwell have been OTJ now for over 2 years on Friskies Pate only diet. Also Friskies Pates are around 8% carbs and Dry DM is 13% which is still too high for a diabetic.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang
 
My vet has been lukewarm on my choice of food. I've sent her links to http://www.catinfo.org which has a lot of great information about feline nutrition, I've sent he links to the AAHA guidelines for treatment of Diabetes in cats. She's not really pushing HARD for me to buy the prescription food, but she's not really happy with my Friskies and Fancy Feast, either. In the end, I am the one feeding my cat, not her. I just keep feeding Chester what I want to feed him. We have agreed to disagree. If you are REALLY uncomfortable telling your vet no, get some of the prescription stuff, then go back and tell them that your cat won't eat it.

He's eating mostly Friskies pate and Fancy Feast Classic pate. And he's fine with that. Any low carb food is better than high-carb food. Yes, they can be a little higher in fat...so maybe don't feed them quite as much. Chester had lost weight, so at the moment we're not too worried about his diet. He gets about two cans of Friskies a day.
I do also feed (free-choice) Young Again Zero Carb dry food. I understand that wet food is better for all cats for a number of reasons, but at this point in time, my family of seven is not cooperating. And I know that, even if I feed him all the canned food he needs, that Chester will get into the dry. So I feed everyone else a dry food that won't be TOO bad for Chester.

There are probably "better" foods out there than Friskies or Fancy feast pates, but those two are reasonably priced, and well within the carb profile we're looking for. Some of the Friskies also come in the larger cans, so you can get quantity even cheaper. Petsmart and Walmart have their own "house brand" of Friskies and FF (but of course, Chester doesn't like those!) Plenty of cats do quite well on these foods. There's no need to pay for anything more expensive unless you actually want to.
 
Per Dr Pierson of Cat Info, you can replace about 20% of the canned food with plain meat or poultry if you need or want to get the fat content down without spiking the carbohydrates.

There is also a food list at that site, identifying the % calories from protein, fat, and carbohydrates. This is a different calculation than going by the percentages on the can, which don't adjust for the % water. Also, the calories per gram estimated for cats and dogs are 3.5 per gram for protein and carbohydrate, and 8.5 per gram of fat. (This is different than in humans).
 
Yes- the dry would effect BG's. Sneakers got into dry and it raised her levels by almost 200 pts. No more unsupervised visits outdoors for her :lol: !

As for the food I've heard it put this way-

Feed as good as you can afford to feed. If your situation changes so that you can feed better, then do it when you can.

Prescription food is more expensive and has the same ingredients as OTS food so you are really paying for commission on the food you buy at the vet for something that only comes in 1 flavor. DM is pretty much the same as FF- both made by Purina.

As for the fat content- is Mego currently overweight? While most FD cats have lost weight b/f dx some have been caught before the body starts to eat the stored muscle and fat. While Mego will eat more at the beginning (and this is the best time to feed the 'cheaper' stuff as they will eat anything and everything until their body starts to get the nutrients it needs from food) FF and Friskies is great to get- they still have the necessary nutrients for a cat. And he should start to gain back the necessary muscle mass lost without becoming overweight.

I don't think Mego will get overweight on canned- most cats don't as it is what humans call "Foods of nutritional value", unlike dry which is pumped full of air and coated with flori flora to get pets to eat it. Reading catinfo.org you find out that cats will fall into the proper weight range with canned and have a lot less problems.

After he slows down and levels off- somewhere around regulation, if you want to switch to a better canned food and can then go ahead.
 
I feed Gobbles and the civvies food on the food charts that is 7% or less. Sometimes a 8 or 9% can on rare occasions. I buy Friskies, FF, 9-Lives, mostly. No dry. Also, maybe 1-3x a week: steak/chicken/venison/pork
 
Dont give dry treats!!!!! They would definately spike his BG. If you want a low carb treat try here - many of us feed freeze dried chicken which most love.

http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=9172

I couldnt be bothered getting into a fight with my vet so I just told him that my cats didnt like the DM (they did like the dry but didnt like the wet) and that I was going to feed them something they did like, that I could afford. I used to feed the Wellness grain free but we switched to fancy feast classic pates cos it was cheaper and they liked the lower carb flavours.
 
Hi guys,
Thanks for the advice here and on other posts. Without being too bitter about it, my appointment at the vet for the training session was more like going to the McDonalds drive-thru! I did get to practice on their diabetic house cat which was nice, but as for asking questions - I felt VERY rushed. And just to sing your praises, I will probably get them answered here by those who do this every day. I have been so exhausted going through all of this in the last week and when it came time to checking out at the vet, they already had EVERYTHING put together for me in a kit. I told them I wanted to ask questions first, which I inquired about the Lantus pen and if I could get it there. They said they don't use it or carry it and they didn't think any of their other clients used it either. So that didn't work. If I hadn't been so tired, I probably would have gone to get my own stuff. So to be honest, I pretty much threw everything out the window that I've learned here. But I will say, it was nice to learn the syringe/needle way, the kit was very inexpensive, I got a sharps container and 100 syringes and 333mls (1/3 of a 10ml vile) of Lantus. So I will use it up, get comfortable doing this and then I will feel more comfortable ordering my own supplies and treatment. I will say, I'm glad I didn't take him to the vet today and spend 80 dollars just to get him the shot and for them to do a BG on him. Since I can do that myself, there was no need. And today I was only charged for the supplies. So yeah, I didn't do what everyone told me to do, but I did what I was comfortable with at the moment and that's ok in my book. On his diagnosis paperwork, they did say they wanted to do a curve in 10 days. I will definitely tell them I will be doing this at home and there's NO WAY I will put Mego through 8 hours of blood taking hell at the vets office. Not only that, but I would think since he gets so freaked out, that the results wouldn't really be true results.

So just to let you all know, Mego's Rx is 1 unit of Lantus twice daily. I just did his PMPS about an hour ago and it was 359. He was then fed and I gave him his first shot :mrgreen: while he was eating dinner. All went well and I wasn't nervous at all and he did just fine. Since I've moved into the actual treatment phase, I think it will be time to switch over to the Lantus MB. I have a lot of questions, especially about dosing intervals with my crazy work schedule. I'm sure I'll see you over there. Can someone briefly tell me what the difference between TR and RR is so I know which board to join? I swear to God there is a special place in heaven, or where ever, for all of you angels here. :-D
 
No harm done! You got shown how to test and got some supplies to start off.

Now that you have shot, try and get a before bed test to see how he is trending.

Info on the protocols
Tight Regulation Protocol – get him regulated fast - more aggressive method. http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1581
SLGS – Start Low go Slow – slow and steady towards regulation.http://binkyspage.tripod.com/SLGS.html

No matter which protocol you decide on, I would advise you post on tight regulation board since its more active with more eyes on it. Before you do that though, set up your profile and mark the protocol choice in your signature if you are going relaxed.

Wendy
 
Sharps container is good- do they take it back when it is full and dispose of it for free?

Otherwise ADW has a snipper that snips the needle off and you just toss the syringe in the trash. It can hold a LOT of needles. I plan on getting one with my next order.

Do you know how they decantered the lantus into your vial? Just keep an eye out for floaties and remember you don't roll or shake it and keep it under the meat drawer in the fridge.

To get more lantus you will need to go to a human pharmacy with your prescription- and specify the pens to the vet. If they are not wanting to write a prescription you need to find out why. Average cost for a 10ml vial is around $150 and the pens around $270. How much did they charge you for a 1/3 of the bottle? You might be able to find a pharmacy that will sell pens individually, too, and there are coupons that you can use to offset the prices.

And as for the vet visit being not what you thought it should be... sometimes the vets are too busy to answer our questions- mainly b/c they have so few owners that want to take control of this- sometimes b/c the vets says it will be hard, sometimes b/c they cannot do much beyond giving the insulin as they are unable to do testing, and sometimes b/c the owner doesn't look up fd to find out about it thinking the vet knows all the answers.

Most, if not all, of the questions this board can answer. Good luck on this new venture!
 
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