Hello!
I'm having a hard time finding a dry food I can give my diabetic (currently in remission) kitty. He was diagnosed in Dec. '21. He has been in remission since late January thanks for Vetsulin and a change in dry food. He was free fed with Meow Mix dry food, which probably made him a diabetic in the first place. After he was diagnosed, I added Fancy Feast Pate wet food (2.5-3 cans daily) and changed his dry food to Young Again Zero Mature Health. It has NO carbs and is very high in protein. I do check my kitty's sugar from time to time and it's usually in the low to high 80's. Sometimes it's in the low 100's.
Anyway, I brought him to his vet for his six month checkup last week and revisited his diet with the vet. After the visit, she sent me an email, saying she looked further into my kitty's dry food and has some concerns. She informed me, which I was not aware of, that high protein diets have the propensity to cause and/or exacerbate kidney disease, especially in geriatric cats, which my kitty is. She said I can still give him the Young Again dry food but highly encouraged he get blood work every six month, which I of course, am willing to do. She also gave me the name of two dry foods to look into if I decide to switch his dry food. One is Purina ProPlan DM, which has 18% carbs and the other is Hill's MD that has 15% carbs. Both dry foods are higher than 10% of carbs. I know it is recommended for diabetic cats that they have no more than 10% carbohydrates as their maintenance diet. The vet said the carbohydrate contents listed are both higher than the 10% recommendation, but they are considered "maximum" values, meaning that the diet may contain less than that percentage. Unfortunately, this is how values are reported in veterinary diets. So, given that fact, they are still the 'lowest' carbohydrate-containing diets. Because they are still both high in protein we still recommend monitoring kidney values regardless of whichever diet you choose.
So, I'm a bit confused. Those two other dry foods are still high in protein AND higher in carbs. Hill’s DM has 52.6% protein and Young Again Zero has 54% protein. Not a huge difference. My question is let’s say I choose Hills MD (15% carbs), is that going to make his sugar spike since he’s on a zero carb diet right now?
I emailed my vet back on Friday expressing my concerns but she has not gotten back to me yet. I'm just very confused and frustrated. I want to give my kitty a well balanced diet but it doesn't seem like it's possible. I want to be able to give him a dry food that won't damage his kidney's or take him out of remission.
Does anyone on here have any good recommendations for a low carb and not a crazy high protein dry food?
Thank you so much in advance for your time!
I'm having a hard time finding a dry food I can give my diabetic (currently in remission) kitty. He was diagnosed in Dec. '21. He has been in remission since late January thanks for Vetsulin and a change in dry food. He was free fed with Meow Mix dry food, which probably made him a diabetic in the first place. After he was diagnosed, I added Fancy Feast Pate wet food (2.5-3 cans daily) and changed his dry food to Young Again Zero Mature Health. It has NO carbs and is very high in protein. I do check my kitty's sugar from time to time and it's usually in the low to high 80's. Sometimes it's in the low 100's.
Anyway, I brought him to his vet for his six month checkup last week and revisited his diet with the vet. After the visit, she sent me an email, saying she looked further into my kitty's dry food and has some concerns. She informed me, which I was not aware of, that high protein diets have the propensity to cause and/or exacerbate kidney disease, especially in geriatric cats, which my kitty is. She said I can still give him the Young Again dry food but highly encouraged he get blood work every six month, which I of course, am willing to do. She also gave me the name of two dry foods to look into if I decide to switch his dry food. One is Purina ProPlan DM, which has 18% carbs and the other is Hill's MD that has 15% carbs. Both dry foods are higher than 10% of carbs. I know it is recommended for diabetic cats that they have no more than 10% carbohydrates as their maintenance diet. The vet said the carbohydrate contents listed are both higher than the 10% recommendation, but they are considered "maximum" values, meaning that the diet may contain less than that percentage. Unfortunately, this is how values are reported in veterinary diets. So, given that fact, they are still the 'lowest' carbohydrate-containing diets. Because they are still both high in protein we still recommend monitoring kidney values regardless of whichever diet you choose.
So, I'm a bit confused. Those two other dry foods are still high in protein AND higher in carbs. Hill’s DM has 52.6% protein and Young Again Zero has 54% protein. Not a huge difference. My question is let’s say I choose Hills MD (15% carbs), is that going to make his sugar spike since he’s on a zero carb diet right now?
I emailed my vet back on Friday expressing my concerns but she has not gotten back to me yet. I'm just very confused and frustrated. I want to give my kitty a well balanced diet but it doesn't seem like it's possible. I want to be able to give him a dry food that won't damage his kidney's or take him out of remission.
Does anyone on here have any good recommendations for a low carb and not a crazy high protein dry food?
Thank you so much in advance for your time!
