deachemist08
Member Since 2012
Greetings FDMB!
A question to the group about my cat Dalton, but first some background.
My girlfriend and I adopted Dalton in July 2011 from a local humane society and have been in love with him ever since. They told us they believed his age was approximately 4 years old but upon inspection from a local experienced vet a few months later for a minor illness he stated that Dalton was likely more around the 8-10 year old range. Now that explains why he's such a docile little guy. The humane society also didn't know that Dalton had diabetes or the conditioned just flared up within a few months of him arriving with us. Regardless, we woke up one morning to a very sick kitty and after several days at the vet to replenish nutrients and fluids we were informed of his diabetic condition (>>300 mg/dL or so). Quite the avalanche of emotions of course finding out this diagnosis but with the help of this site and others we knew we would be able to do whatever was necessary to keep Dalton healthy. Luckily, we are both research scientists finishing up doctorate degrees so the idea of monitoring glucose levels and administering injections was not as daunting to us as it may be to others.
Fortunately, after switching him from a heavily science diet based feeding program (as was originally advised by the shelter) to one following the diabetic guidelines consisting entirely of fancy feast classic portions and occasional treats of locally produced dried lamb liver, we were able to slowly remove him from insulin (Prozinc) treatment while maintaining his levels in the 70-180 mg/dL range!
Of course we still keep a close eye on his behavior and regularly test his sugars, but he's been of insulin for months without a recurrence so far.
Now to my question (sorry for the long winded introduction, just so happy to be able to finally help him to feel better). We've recently tried to switch him over to a partially raw diet as documented by Dr. Pierson on her site (catinfo). He has no problem gobbling down the food (he never does) but the 4-6 oz daily allotment for him leaves him acting very aggressive in finding new food as if he feels hungry all the time. Of course, Dalton is always hungry and keeping his weight down has been our constant challenge since we adopted him. Despite the claims that 4-6 oz of this high quality homemade food should satiate his appetite, this just doesn't seem to be the case and we end up switching back to the fancy feast (9 - 12 oz per day) to help him be more calm.
Anyone have advice about very hungry cats after switching to a more natural homemade diet?
Thanks!
A question to the group about my cat Dalton, but first some background.
My girlfriend and I adopted Dalton in July 2011 from a local humane society and have been in love with him ever since. They told us they believed his age was approximately 4 years old but upon inspection from a local experienced vet a few months later for a minor illness he stated that Dalton was likely more around the 8-10 year old range. Now that explains why he's such a docile little guy. The humane society also didn't know that Dalton had diabetes or the conditioned just flared up within a few months of him arriving with us. Regardless, we woke up one morning to a very sick kitty and after several days at the vet to replenish nutrients and fluids we were informed of his diabetic condition (>>300 mg/dL or so). Quite the avalanche of emotions of course finding out this diagnosis but with the help of this site and others we knew we would be able to do whatever was necessary to keep Dalton healthy. Luckily, we are both research scientists finishing up doctorate degrees so the idea of monitoring glucose levels and administering injections was not as daunting to us as it may be to others.
Fortunately, after switching him from a heavily science diet based feeding program (as was originally advised by the shelter) to one following the diabetic guidelines consisting entirely of fancy feast classic portions and occasional treats of locally produced dried lamb liver, we were able to slowly remove him from insulin (Prozinc) treatment while maintaining his levels in the 70-180 mg/dL range!
Of course we still keep a close eye on his behavior and regularly test his sugars, but he's been of insulin for months without a recurrence so far. Now to my question (sorry for the long winded introduction, just so happy to be able to finally help him to feel better). We've recently tried to switch him over to a partially raw diet as documented by Dr. Pierson on her site (catinfo). He has no problem gobbling down the food (he never does) but the 4-6 oz daily allotment for him leaves him acting very aggressive in finding new food as if he feels hungry all the time. Of course, Dalton is always hungry and keeping his weight down has been our constant challenge since we adopted him. Despite the claims that 4-6 oz of this high quality homemade food should satiate his appetite, this just doesn't seem to be the case and we end up switching back to the fancy feast (9 - 12 oz per day) to help him be more calm.
Anyone have advice about very hungry cats after switching to a more natural homemade diet?
Thanks!
Getting him to play with a toy for any considerable amount of time is quite a challenge. 