Did diet change put your cat in remission?

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Moe Moe

Moe Moe

Member Since 2017
Hi there!

I'm new to the group, my cat just got diagnosed one week ago. I'm currently transitioning her food to the Purina DM wet food. My vet said to switch her diet and then recheck her BG levels in a month to see if we need to start insulin.

I was wondering if anyone has any positive stories of their cats going into remission with just the diet change alone. I'm really hoping this works for her.
 
Welcome Spieg (kitty or human?)! There have been a handful of kitties who were able to be diet controlled. Which DM wet food are you using? Savoury selects or pates? What was her BG reading at diagnosis? You really don't need an entire month to see effects of a diet change and if diet doesn't work, you'll want to start insulin therapy (if she ends up needing it) sooner than later. :cat:
 
Moe is my cats name : )

The fructosamine level was 555 : (

I'm using the DM pate food -which she really likes so far. I've been mixing it with her old food for the past couple days to transition so she isn't completely on the new food yet. I've been keeping a log of her daily water intake and it has been going down. The first couple days her water intake was 3/4 cup or 1 cup and now its 1/2 cup per day. Urine output seems similar as before though.
 
Did they take an actual BG reading? Fructosamine is an average BG over a time. Based on a recent thread, could mean her BG is averaging 330+, while normal on a pet meter is 68 - 150. Pate is better than Savoury selects, I believe it's around 5-6% carbs. If the diet doesn't end up doing the trick, you won't have to keep her on expensive DM pate. You can use Friskies pate (non-indoor formulas) or Fancy Feast pate (Classics). Majority of them are low carb. We aim to feed foods under 10% carbs. HERE is the food chart a lot of us use in the states, if you're somewhere else just say so :).

Going to leave you with some instructions to get setup here :).
Signature, mostly about Moe: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/editing-your-signature-profile-and-preferences.130340/
If you plan to home test, we strongly encourage it here as it's the best tool in our FD (feline diabetes) kitty tool belt! We use Google sheets to track and share BG numbers. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
And if you start insulin, read about this before hand. Better to be prepared: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-treat-hypos-they-can-kill-print-this-out.15887/

Apologies if I've overwhelmed you, it's not my intention :bighug:. It's a lot of information to take in but Feline diabetes is a manageable condition. Many members are on fixed incomes or pay cheque to pay cheque. We can offer our money saving tips too! This is a support group for Moe and YOU :cat:. Ask any questions :smuggrin:
 
They did take a BG reading but I'm not sure what it was. My cat gets super stressed at the vet and they had to give her a shot to relax her so the vet said the BG level would be scewed because of those two things.

I appreciate the help! It really is overwhelming but having a forum to ask questions is really nice.
 
Moe Moe said:
My cat gets super stressed at the vet and they had to give her a shot to relax her so the vet said the BG level would be scewed because of those two things.
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Oh then we'll just ignore the Vet BG reading then too, poor thing :bighug:. If you start home testing, you'll get a better idea of her BG at home where she is likely less stressed. Even if she stresses a little when you are starting, probably won't be as upset as at the Vet :cat:
 
Moe Moe said:
They did take a BG reading but I'm not sure what it was. My cat gets super stressed at the vet and they had to give her a shot to relax her so the vet said the BG level would be scewed because of those two things.

I appreciate the help! It really is overwhelming but having a forum to ask questions is really nice.
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Welcome aboard! I'm still new to this site as well. Wish I had started diet change and this forum along with taking level checks at home instantly after diagnosis on 6-1-17 with Fang. Live and learn. We have vet visit hopefully today to verify his numbers but his levels are showing ok numbers with no insulin this past almost week. Makes me wonder if diet (went from kibble to ff classic instantly) could have been enough right away. Best of luck to you guys
 
My Yum went into remission with a diet change last December. She had about 5 days of insulin but I think it was the diet change that did it. Of course I was ignorant and I thought that was the end of it. I stopped worrying about it and I gave her a lot of the DM Savory Select which is 10% carbs, kind of high. She fell out of remission after 2 months and she remains out of remission. Even if your cat goes into remission with the diet change, you need to educate yourself on diabetes and be very careful with her food.
 
FangTastic said:
Welcome aboard! I'm still new to this site as well. Wish I had started diet change and this forum along with taking level checks at home instantly after diagnosis on 6-1-17 with Fang. Live and learn. We have vet visit hopefully today to verify his numbers but his levels are showing ok numbers with no insulin this past almost week. Makes me wonder if diet (went from kibble to ff classic instantly) could have been enough right away. Best of luck to you guys
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FangTastic said:
Welcome aboard! I'm still new to this site as well. Wish I had started diet change and this forum along with taking level checks at home instantly after diagnosis on 6-1-17 with Fang. Live and learn. We have vet visit hopefully today to verify his numbers but his levels are showing ok numbers with no insulin this past almost week. Makes me wonder if diet (went from kibble to ff classic instantly) could have been enough right away. Best of luck to you guys
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That's great to hear about your cats numbers, wish you the best!
 
MJW said:
My Yum went into remission with a diet change last December. She had about 5 days of insulin but I think it was the diet change that did it. Of course I was ignorant and I thought that was the end of it. I stopped worrying about it and I gave her a lot of the DM Savory Select which is 10% carbs, kind of high. She fell out of remission after 2 months and she remains out of remission. Even if your cat goes into remission with the diet change, you need to educate yourself on diabetes and be very careful with her food.
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Thanks for the advice :)
 
>> went from kibble to ff classic

Kind of a game changer for us. Was on insulin twice a day for about 45 days till I smartened to find this board. Then we tried FF classics and quit giving insulin after a hypoglycemic episode which took place only once so far, first and last ever when transitioning him onto a FF.

Nov 16 (vet, diagnosis, hospitalization) fast forward to now - he's a happy 11yo boy having a healthy bit of an appetite, 2 cans a day guy! Playful and curious, seems like the diabetes have gone away.
 
We had remission from diet change quite quickly, within a month, when we changed thurman's food to friskies pate. However, fast forward to 9 month later and he suddenly seems constipated and I'm reading that could be diabetes related. Since I'm out of strips for his monitor, I guess we are back to the vet!
 
I'm pretty sure the diet change put my cat into remission after three weeks on insulin and no dry food. He was diagnosed with diabetes while he was eating mostly dry food. I stopped the dry food and at first his BG was still pretty high but after two weeks on insulin and eating wet food only his numbers started to decrease dramatically to the point of rarely needing an injection. By the end of the third week he was in remission although when he goes for a vet visit they are a little higher than normal. The commercial dry food also put an awful lot of weight on him and he is now a very svelte trim handsome boy! He plays more and is now able to chase and actually catch lizards. He's able to clean himself after a litter box visit which is so much better than me chasing him around the house with toilet paper because he was too big to bend around to do it himself! I am a crusader now for taking cats off dry food with the exception of Young Again food.
 
RhiannonR said:
We had remission from diet change quite quickly, within a month, when we changed thurman's food to friskies pate. However, fast forward to 9 month later and he suddenly seems constipated and I'm reading that could be diabetes related. Since I'm out of strips for his monitor, I guess we are back to the vet!
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Best of luck with the levels Thurman
 
Bandit has been diabetic for eight years, only about 2 of which he needed insulin. His diet of low carb canned food is definitely responsible for his remission...even a few pieces of the "lower" carb dry food sends his blood sugar soaring. With the right diet, insulin, and home testing, the vast majority of cats go into remission, but unfortunately very few vets get all three pieces right.
 
Yes! Once I switched Snickers to an all canned diet, her BG dropped about 100 points. After about six months of BCP PZI and the continued low-carb diet, she went into remission for about three years. Then she did start to need shots again, but she's still doing great!
 
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