Feeding with non diabetic cat

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Ryan and Shifu

Member Since 2022
Hello everyone, one of my cats was recently given the diabetic diagnosis. Apparently we caught it fairly early (The tip off was drinking a lot of water and his hind legs not quite working as well). I've just gone through the orientation with our vet on how to inject insulin, amount as well as feeding, but I was hoping for some help.

The thing is, we have a second cat who's healthy - she's a bit older and doesn't really eat a whole lot. She grazes on dry kibble throughout the day, and when we give her half of a portion of Whiskas perfect portions, she eats like half of that... so 1/4 of one of those containers.

I guess my question is does anyone else have a non-diabetic cat and do you have any tips? Since I'll be feeding Shifu a portion of wet food twice a day with his shot, maybe I should just give the other wet food at the same time and hope she realizes this is it for the day and just starts eating more? Would an auto-feeder giving out a LITTLE bit of dry food a day be ok?

Thanks in advance.
 
I have two kitties, and when my Ruby was diagnosed and I had to put her on a strict wet food diet, I got these microchip feeders that were spendy but a total godsend: https://www.surepetcare.com/en-us/pet-feeder/microchip-pet-feeder . I would put dry food for my civvie in one feeder and wet in the one for Ruby. I transitioned them both to wet eventually and then raw homemade food, but I still use the feeders because I can tell exactly how much each cat is eating everyday. If I had open bowls, Ruby would eat everything and my civvie Olive has needed to gain weight so this worked out really well for us.
 
When my Neko was diagnosed with diabetes, both she and my other cat went on the low carb wet food. then a raw diet. If you leave out wet food for grazing, add a bit of water so it doesn't get crusty.

It is OK to feed a diabetic more than twice a day. Which type of insulin will you be giving?
 
Insulin Lantis, apparently.

I don't mind feeding them more than twice, my problem is there may not be anyone at home. I like the feeder Katherine posted, but unfortunately, the non-diabetic cat is a very small, blind female and Shifu tends to bully her - steals her food. If she went to the feeder, he'd just come by and chase her off and eat the food. When they get their meals, we feed them in separate rooms.
 
Lantus is a good insulin for cats.

You could get two feeders, one programmed for each cat.
 
The microchip feeders only open for the cat whose chip is recognized by the feeder. If you're cat's not chipped, I think they send a token you can put on a collar. If Shifu tries to push her out of her bowl, the feeder will close. Your diabetic cat won't be able to get into the non-diabetic cat's food.
 
If possible the best option is to feed them both a low carb canned/raw food diet. This will help keep the diabetic cat from cheating and reduces the chance the other cat from developing diabetes. I have 7 cats and they all eat Friskies pate. The most recent one I adopted had eaten only dry for years. It took a few weeks to get him converted and he is also only eating canned food.

The microchip feeders work great to keep other cats from eating the grazers food. I have two of them and love them
 
The sensor on the feeder is programmed to a specific chip on the cat. When that cat leaves, the door closes, so there is no chance one cat will eat the other's food. This has been an important game changer for my house, as before Ruby would bully my Olive and steal all of her food. Now there is a lot less stress at meal time as there is no more competition.

Changing both cats to wet food is ideal. Cats have low thirst drive as it is, and older cats especially need more moisture because their kidneys don't work as well, and male cats in particular can suffer from urinary crystals. The best way for them to get water, no matter how many water bowls and fountains you have around the house, is through their food. Please read this, it will change your mind about dry food forever (at least it did for me): https://catinfo.org/
 
We found these plexiglass boxes called Meowspace - https://meowspace.biz/

The doors are microchip access only and all of our cats learned quickly how to use them. The company owners are amazing!!!

We first bought them 2 years ago - diabetic cat, very obese cat, food allergy cat, no health issues cat. They have been game changers. We since have had one cat die and adopted a new family member: the kitten learned how to use the Meowspace in under a day.

My father bought them as well - 1 overweight and 1 underweight cat. He could not get the cats trained (user error on his part for not following the training instructions at the outset). The Meowspace owners were wonderfully patient helping him start fresh and his cats are now seasoned Meowspace pros!!
 
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That box might only let the right cat in, but my other cats would prevent it from getting out! The youngest has decided it's fun to stalk and pounce on anyone coming out of the litterbox, and the practice has spread. As a result, our cats now leave the litterbox by an explosive jump and run, spraying litter everywhere, to get past the waiting troublemakers. Yesterday, I heard the big, old cat in the litterbox, saw the youngest crouching just behind the laundryroom doorway (litterbox in laundry room), saw another one five feet behind him, crouching behind the box-full-of-holes they play in, and the last one crouching five feet behind her, around the corner of the kitchen cabinets--a chain of crouching cats all waiting to ambush the first one when he came out of the litterbox.
 
Gracie85 said:
That box might only let the right cat in, but my other cats would prevent it from getting out! The youngest has decided it's fun to stalk and pounce on anyone coming out of the litterbox, and the practice has spread. As a result, our cats now leave the litterbox by an explosive jump and run, spraying litter everywhere, to get past the waiting troublemakers. Yesterday, I heard the big, old cat in the litterbox, saw the youngest crouching just behind the laundryroom doorway (litterbox in laundry room), saw another one five feet behind him, crouching behind the box-full-of-holes they play in, and the last one crouching five feet behind her, around the corner of the kitchen cabinets--a chain of crouching cats all waiting to ambush the first one when he came out of the litterbox.
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This made me laugh out loud! :joyful: Sounds like you need Meowspace for your litterboxes as well!
 
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