Feeding issues

[Kmcgowan]

Tinkerbell was diagnosed early march with diabetes and a uti. She had ketones at the time. We started insulin quickly and after a month her vet considered her regulated. At the time of diagnosis I talked to the vet about her diet. She had been eating dry blue buffalo for years. The vet said diet wouldn't effect her diabetes however reading sites like this I began introducing wet food. We tried for 3 months, many flavors and brands with very little luck- she would eat maybe a couple tablespoons of wet food in a day and continued eating her dry. While her numbers dropped to the 150s consistently her symptoms did not improve. I started to try "better" dry foods. She did not like the grain free wellness; she liked the blue buffalo wilderness but her glucose spiked to 300s consistently so after a week on the wilderness, taking insulin , she was clearly getting worse. To my dismay the vet blames the spike on my changing her food but when I inquired about low carb diets she still insisted it would not help and advised that I feed her the blue buffàlo brand she was eating initially when diagnosed. After that visit I went to a natural pet food store where they recommended a low glycemic food called nutrisca. I haven't found much research available on it but she loves it. It has no potatoes, rice or starch. Does anyone have experience with dry nutrisca? Is it a bad idea to try this new food while giving insulin? I feel I need to experiment with diet since her insulin dosag isn't helping. The vet doesn't want to change her dose while her diet is changing despite her glucose being in the low 300s.

 

[Rachel]

Hi Tinkerbell and bean! Welcome to FDMB!

I've never tried the food you mentioned. What ingredients does it have? You may be able to get more info on carb content by contacting the makers.

Are you home testing? If so, I encourage you to try changing the food until you find one that works. We do advocate a we, low carb diet as that has helped tons of kitties go into remission. But ONLY if you are home testing to ensure that your kitty doesn't drop too low. Have you seen this doc: http://www.catinfo.org/docs/TipsForTran ... -14-11.pdf. It might help some.

What insulin are you giving? How much?

I know it's tough when your vet gives conflicting advice (I still struggle with it!) but remember that vets treat many different animals with lots of diseases. They can't necessarily keep up with the latest on one disease since they treat so much.

Ask any questions you have. We all want to pay it forward from when we first arrived and got help!

 

[Anitafrnhamer]

Sometimes the change from dry food to wet can be difficult. My cats had issues off and on about eating the wet food. In addition to transitioning, and trying different brands and flavors there are a couple of additional things you can try with the wet food to make it more appealing. Try mixing in a little hot tap water can help and that also helps with hydration. Sprinkle a little grated parmesan cheese on top (that was a favorite for my cats) you can always gradually withdraw the cheese when the transition is complete. Another product that I found helpful when the appetite needed a little boost is Forti Flora available through your vet. Both of mine cats were partial to the Forti Flora and one of them was a carb junkie. I found Forti Flora particularly useful as my diabetic cat also developed diarrhea and this product helped get that under control. You can also try mixing in a little baby food meat not much just a tad. If you choose that option make sure to get the meat only variety and check the ingredient label. You want to make sure the only ingredients are meat and meat broth--no garlic or onion as they are toxic. These are some of the tricks I used successfully when changing from wet to dry. Just experiment and see what works for your furbaby. Don't give up.

Anita and Squeaker

 

[Deb & Wink]

While the Nutrisca may be touted as "grain and potato free", it does have a high percentage of other vegetables such as peas.

You can get a rough idea of the carbohydrate content of a dry food by adding up the protein, fat, fiber, and moisture content and subtract from 100. Since the manufacturers website only gives this info for guaranteed analysis, it's not as accurate as the "as fed" values but does give you an idea of carb percent which is around 30%.

That is 3 times as high as we recommend based on various articles and personal experience with our own cats. You want to try for <10% carbs.

Perhaps you'd like to share the AAHA Diabetes Management Guidelines for Dogs and Catswith your vet. It was vet journal published back in 2010 and says to feed the "lowest carb food your cat will eat". There are also various vet journal published studies that show that lower carb content (14% vs 26%+ ) diets work better to control and regulate diabetes. Here are a few of those, with published vet journal references in the articles.
http://jfm.sagepub.com/content/8/2/73.full Your vet needs a subscription to read this.
http://endocrinevet.blogspot.com/2014/01/how-to-feed-cats-with-diabetes.html
http://endocrinevet.blogspot.com/2014/01/how-to-feed-cats-with-diabetes-part-2.html