Diabetes & allergies

Status
Not open for further replies.
J

Jewel and Kim

Member Since 2019
My 16-yr-old Jewelcat was diagnosed with diabetes in early December and while changing food discovered that she likely has a food allergy, maybe to chicken or fish. At recheck her diabetes had been averted but need to continue diet management. She used to eat dry food throughout the day and a small (3-oz) can of food overnight. Now she gets two 3-oz cans of Wellness Turkey & Duck but does not eat quite as much as she should. I want to find a dry food to leave out. Can anyone help? I tried Young Again Zero Mature and she had diarrhea then she stopped eating it.

Also she had been getting nose drops with steroids and the vet said those would not have caused her diabetes but they would make it more difficult to manage. Those were stopped. Do you think they could have caused the diabetes? Not to be skeptical of my vet or anything.
 
Jewel and Kim said:
My 16-yr-old Jewelcat was diagnosed with diabetes in early December and while changing food discovered that she likely has a food allergy, maybe to chicken or fish. At recheck her diabetes had been averted but need to continue diet management. She used to eat dry food throughout the day and a small (3-oz) can of food overnight. Now she gets two 3-oz cans of Wellness Turkey & Duck but does not eat quite as much as she should. I want to find a dry food to leave out. Can anyone help? I tried Young Again Zero Mature and she had diarrhea then she stopped eating it.

Also she had been getting nose drops with steroids and the vet said those would not have caused her diabetes but they would make it more difficult to manage. Those were stopped. Do you think they could have caused the diabetes? Not to be skeptical of my vet or anything.
Click to expand...
Once a cat is diabetic, they always are even though they might not be insulin dependent. It would be better to keep her on canned, low carb food. Many members here use auto feeders like the Pet Safe 5 (click on blue to the left).

I was told that steroidal eye drops could not cause diabetes but they did in my kitty. My supposition is these kitties are pre-diabetic for various reasons and any steroid use can potentially push them over the edge.
 
If you post over on Feline Health (The Main Forum) there are more people that look at posts there and you may get more ideas. (Just click on the blue highlighted text and it will take you right to that forum here.)

Sometimes, it may be something else besides the protein source in the food that causes an issue.

What were the symptoms of the suspected allergy?

What food were you feeding before the diabetes diagnosis?

What food were you feeding when you thought that it was causing the allergies?

If we compare the different foods, we may see ingredient differences between the Wellness Turkey and Duck you are feeding now and might be able to suggest something else for your cat to eat.

I've had to do an elimination diet with one of my cats to try to pin down what was causing her constant diarrhea. Turned out that rice was one of the triggers for her diarrhea, but any grains would also cause the constant diarrhea.

Unfortunately, the only other dry food that some members use is chicken based and you thought your cat may be allergic to chicken. Although, just because the food says 'chicken', it can contain lots of other protein and grain and carb sources. For instance, the Wellness Core Turkey and Duck that you are now feeding also contains pork, cranberries, flaxseed, alfalfa meal. But if your cat is not having the 'allergic' symptoms, than those ingredients may be ok for you kitty. By the way, that is a good food choice for a diabetic cat, with only 5% carbs per Dr. Lisa Pierson's cat food chart.

The 'allergy' symptoms could have been digestive upset from switching from a dry food to a wet food. That happens alot.
 
Thank you--I will try posting in the other place too. Allergy symptoms were chronic congestion for years; we thought she had had a virus when young that caused sinus damage and inflammation, thus the nose drops--never suspected a food allergy.

Before diabetes diagnosis, she was free feeding Royal Canin Gastrointestinal moderate-calorie dry food (never had GI problems but her sister did) with an evening 3-oz can of Newman's Own Turkey, or Turkey & Vegetables, or Chicken & Rice.

At diabetes diagnosis tried to switch her to Young Again Zero Mature and Hill's w/d canned. I thought the w/d canned made her congestion worse. Then Young Again said to feed her only the Zero dry food and when I stopped the canned food her congestion nearly vanished, and she acted brighter than she has in ages, but she got diarrhea, then she stopped eating the Zero dry.

Then I started feeding her Wellness Turkey & Duck canned and her congestion continued to be almost completely gone. Then one time I gave her Hill's w/d dry food and in a few hours she had a serial sneezing episode that she had not had in a while and that is what gave me the idea that she could have a food allergy that she has had for years.

My vet says to do what Young Again recommends for her food and Young Again says to try Zero Mature again by transitioning her with increasing amounts of powdered Zero Mature in her canned food. But I am afraid she does not like the Zero and she will stop eating the canned food and it is the only canned food I found that is good for her, and I am afraid she will have diarrhea again and though she is not vomiting and is acting brighter without the congestion, she seems a little frail.

I did get a bag of Young Again LID Zero Mature that I am afraid to give her. I also have some Wellness Core 95% Turkey canned but Young Again says there is too much fat in it in relation to protein so I am afraid to give that to her too. She continues to eat the Wellness Turkey & Duck canned but is getting only about half the calories she needs.
 
Last edited:
Diarrhea is pretty common anytime you change a cat's diet. Lots of people have tried the Young Again foods and the 2 main issues I've read about are the diarrhea and such stinky poops that they couldn't stay in the same room with litter box or cat.

I don't see any problem with trying the Wellness Core 95% Turkey. Looking at the ingredients label, there are even fewer ingredients than in the Wellness Core Turkey & Duck you are feeding now.

At this point, it's more important to get your cat to eat more so she isn't so 'frail' than to worry about the protein to fat ratio. Fat is important in a cats diet too.

A couple of things to try to get your cat to eat more. 1. Add some water to the food to make it like a thick stew. I use about a teaspoon for each 1/4 can of the 5.5 ounce cans. 2. Playtime for 5-10 minutes, to get the appetite stimulated before you feed. Getting a cats natural instincts to help stimulate appetite. (Stalk, hunt, kill, eat instincts come into action) 3. Ask your vet about an appetite stimulant. I had to do that with my cat to get him to eat more. He was losing weight much too quickly and needed to eat more.

For the diarrhea, try adding some plain pumpkin (start with 1 teaspoon to start and up to 1 tablespoon if needed). The extra fiber with the plain pumpkin can both firm up diarrhea and help with constipation.

p.s. The Hill's W/d dry or wet is way too high in carbs for a diabetic cat. My cat was on that and once I got him off the w/d he got much better BG readings and we had to keep dropping the insulin dose.
 
The Feline Health and Welcome forum have been merged, you are now in the right place.

Chicken and fish are common food allergies for cats. It's hard to find low carb dry foods. You could dry air dried food, like Ziwipeak, who have lamb and venison options.
 
Thank you for your messages. At diabetes diagnosis when we were trying to get her to eat, she had an adverse reaction to the appetite stimulant mirtazapine so am avoiding that. She is 16 and accustomed to a routine of dry food out all the time and a 3-oz can of wet overnight. To keep her eating, it seems like it would be easier if I can continue that. Because she stopped eating enough and looked weak last weekend, I put her regular dry food (Royal Canin gastrointestinal moderate calorie) out Sunday (carbwise it actually looked better than the W/D dry!) and she ate that right away. But her congestion came back.

When the vet reopened yesterday, I got Purina DM dry and wet and gave her the dry yesterday, which she is eating. Have not given her the DM wet. She ate a little bit of her canned Wellness Turkey & Duck overnight. So she is eating enough, but her congestion is back. Maybe it was from the Royal Canin, or maybe it is from the dry food, both the Royal Canin and the Purina DM.

Her congestion is still not as bad as it was before the diet change, but she looks like she has a headache and I would like her to feel better like she did before, it was so nice to see her back to herself after years of the congestion. The congestion was better when she was on the Zero dry mature and the Wellness canned Turkey & Duck but she had diarrhea and stinky stools from the Zero dry and then stopped eating the Zero dry. Also better when just on the Wellness canned Turkey & Duck, but did not eat enough.

I am thinking of continuing the Purina DM dry with the Wellness Turkey & Duck until the weekend and if her congestion persists maybe try the LID Zero Mature. Her diarrhea and stinky poops came from the Zero Mature and I have not tried their LID yet. Does the LID cause the diarrhea too?

Thanks for the pumpkin suggestion. I will pick up a can.

Should I focus on her diabetes diet management or her congestion? She had been getting steroid-containing nose drops for her congestion and those were stopped with her diabetes diagnosis. Is it possible that the elimination of the steroids will take care of the diabetes so I could focus on her food allergy instead?
 
Nice plan to try and test out some of the congestion issues Jewel is having.

Not sure if the Young Again LID causes diarrhea or stinky poo. Haven't read any posts where someone is using that particular type of the Young Again food.

Yes, nasal steroids can raise BG (blood glucose) levels. Ideally, you will find a food she will eat that does not cause the nasal congestion and is good for the diabetes.

With diabetes, it's important that your cat eats enough, gets enough insulin and does not have any sort of infection. Combination of these 3 factors can lead to a breakdown of fat reserves which produces ketones which can lead to ketoacidosis (DKA). DKA is not something you can treat at home and is very expensive with multiple day overnight stays at the vet to resolve.

At this point, I think getting Jewel to eat enough is more important than the type of food she is eating. Have you tried leaving out more than the 3 oz can of food overnight? To see if kitty Jewel will eat more at night, when cats are usually more active.
 
Overnight she consistently eats less than the 3-oz can, even if she has no dry food out. When given canned food twice a day, she will eat a little more, but still not enough--she only eats a bite or two when fed mid-day. As if she likes only a certain amount of wet food and no more

I am thinking of getting Ziwipeak canned chicken to try since it is so limited in ingredients, maybe that would identify if chicken is an allergen? And also the canned venison as a protein she has not tried yet? I looked at the air dried Ziwi peak but from the reviews on Chewy am unsure about that.
 
You might try sprinkling some Fortiflora on the canned food. Many cats like the taste and will eat more food. Worth a try to get Jewel to eat more. Available from your vet, chewy.com has it, amazon has it. You only need a little bit. Has probiotics in it that can help with diarrhea, but of that is not an issue, you don't need to use as much and could sprinkle just a little on top of the wet food.

Picky eaters and possible food allergies/sensitivities are difficult. Hope you find a solution soon.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top