Feeding questions

[Jackie79]

Hello.

I'm new to this and had a few questions. My vet put my cat on M/D dry but I see a lot of information that dry food is not good for diabetic cats. I have an older cat who is on fancy feast classic wet food. Is it ok to feed my diabetic a bit of both? How much should I feed him? He is a little less than nine pounds and should be around 12 pounds.

He has diabetic neuropathy in his hind legs pretty bad so I ordered some zobaline for him. Any advice would be much appreciated! Thank you.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

Are you giving insulin yet?

The Fancy Feast Classics are fine for diabetics.....they are less than 10% carbs and that's what we want.....the dry food needs to go...except for a couple of brands that are expensive and are either online or hard to find, the dry foods are all very high in carbs.....and there are good reasons other than carbs for not feeding any dry. It dehydrates the body because it requires water to digest which is pulled out of the tissues. A cat's kidney's are it's weakest organs, and a diabetic's are even more fragile, so the more water you can get into them (and keep in them) the healthier they tend to be.

BUT, if you're giving insulin, you want to make sure you're home testing and then gradually reduce the carbs or you might end up in a hypoglycemic crisis.

Lots of other great information on food on Dr. Lisa's website, Feeding your Cat, Know the basics of Feline Nutrition.....there's also a chart there that has the carb percentage of most brands of cat foods

 

[jayla-n-Drevon]

Hi and Welcome!
Many people have used zoabline with great success!
Your in good hands here with Chris I just wanted to welcome you

 

[Yong & Maury GA]

Welcome Jackie and Lenin!
Chris has you covered for food question so I will wait to see if your Lenin is on insulin yet. Just wanted to note about Zobaline for diabetic neuropathy. While it's a great product, it's more supportive for neuropathy recovery. By itself it probably won't do much. The best thing for neuropathy is getting BG under control, not necessarily well regulated, just control. I had to take this route with my boy; diabetic neuropathy in hind legs and front paws. Going into month 7 I can't really see any signs of neuropathy anymore

 

[Jackie79]

They have not put him on insulin yet. We're going to see what diet and exercise do for his blood sugar levels. He does love getting to go outside on walks everyday. We'll see what happens.

I have a 16 year old cat named Johnny who is on three different medications for his thyroid and kidney issues. Unfortunately, money does start to become an issue with all these pet meds.

Thank you for your responses, I appreciate the advise.