DARYL&CHICO post-vet question re: food

[DarylS]

Hi All,
For those that have been following & helping us with Chico's relatively new diagnosis I wanted to report back after his first visit to the new vet. First of all, what a difference! New vet seems informed, believes in the importance of nutrition and receptive to the research I've been doing. She talked about many things I've read (cats are carnivores, etc) and she likes to start with Lantus which I was leaning towards anyway. I explained Chico does better with more frequent smaller meals than just twice a day. She wanted to switch him from Purina WET DM or Fancy Feast to Evo dry, grain free high protien, low carb. Now dry would make our life easier, but after all I've read it scares me a little. Of course I will watch his BG for any change--better or worse. She recommended we see if he tolerates the diet change, and if he does do a curve after one week and then start him on the insulin once he's switched foods. After a day and a half he seems to be tolerating the Evo. No vomiting or diarrhea yet anyway. I searched Evo on the Forum, but got tons of individual use hits. If Evo dry has been discussed more theoritically vs. wet please refer me to the spot. Otherwise I'd appreciate some input. Again, I was impressed by this vet's pretty enlightened outlook in general. She's running some other tests to rule-out pancreatitis or UTI. Thanks all!

 

[Julia & Bandit (GA)]

There are two problems with feeding the evo dry, and I would keep your original diet (although, you could ditch the Purina DM Wet for a commerical food of the same quality--it's pretty much the same as Special Kitty, 9 Lives, or Friskies).

First, even though the dry food is lower in carbs, many cats need under 7 or 8% carbs to maintain normal blood sugar. Bandit is completely diet controlled on his canned food, but if I were to feed him EVO dry he would need insulin again because it raises his blood sugar about 50-100 points. This is because all dry food, even the lower carb stuff, has to use something as a binder to keep the food together. This means it still has a high starch content, and diabetic cats that are carb sensitive (and many are) cannot tolerate it.

Secondly, a cat needs moisture in its diet in order to maintain Urinary and Renal health. Diabetes isn't the only culprit of dry diets--Urinary Tract disease and Kidney Disease are common problems with the lack of moisture associated with dry diets. You may say, well, my cat drinks a lot of water so I should be ok. Cats never drink enough water to compensate for what they're not getting in their food, no matter how much you see them drink. And usually if they are drinking a lot it means there is something wrong. Bandit will drink like a fish if his blood sugar is high, but when it's normal he drinks nothing--I don't think his water dish has been touched since he went back into remission.

This is a great web site that explains feline nutrition: http://catinfo.org/

What about feeding the canned diet is difficult? I work two jobs and go to grad school, and Bandit eats four times a day. If I'm not going to be home, or if I want to go to bed early, I have an auto feeder that I put a frozen portion of his food in to release later. Some people also just add some water and leave the food out like dry food, or just leave a frozen piece out.