FF Roasted still O.K. for diabetics?

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HeidiandMax

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Hi!

I was wondering if FF Roasted Turkey or Chicken flavors are still O.K. for diabetic kitties. My cat, Max, has been doing extremely well on FF Elegant Medleys Turkey, as a matter of fact, we've been OTJ now for a few weeks and his bg's are within the 70-135 levels with just diet. What I don't like about the Elegant Medleys is the "garden greens" in the food. I need a food that is also low in fat as Max is fat sensitive (he's had issues with pancreatitis in the past). After looking carefully at Janet & Binky's chart, I noticed that FF Roasted Turkey (old list) is relatively low in carbs (10%) and low in fat. I'd prefer to also find something grain free and tried the Merrick Grammy's Pot Pie with no success. Max struggled to eat it and after two meals of it vomitted about 30 minutes after eating it. No problems when I gave him the FF again. I also thought I'd look into the Merrick Before Grain Turkey. Any advice?

Thanks!
 
While the roasteds seem to all be at 10%, that's still lower than the elegant medley flavors so you should be okay.
Carl
 
I would not give the Roasted--they contain wheat gluten and soy flour, two ingredients that are not good for cats, and especially not diabetic ones. You're right the the elegant medleys are not ideal either because they are bit higher in carbs. Here's a link to the low carb, grain free fancy feast flavors: http://felinediabetes.com/glutenfree.htm. Will Max not eat any of those flavors? Sometimes you have to try a few different ones to find something they like, and spice it up for them a little with some fortiflora or parmesan cheese in the beginning.

I feed Merricks, and it's a wonderful food with several low carb options. Here's an updated list with their nutritional values: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8Uu8g1u8Su9YTgxNGE1MDItM2MyMC00Y2Y3LWI4ODMtMzhkYTkxOGM4NThk/edit. Have you tried cowboy cookout or surf-n-turf? The before grain flavors are also all great for diabetics. The cowboy and surf have always been winners with all the cats I've taken care of--when my other cat was inappetant due to her stomach cancer, they were two of only foods she would eat on a regular basis.
 
The Pet Food Nutritional Values chart lists some of the higher end grain-free foods. Merrick Before Grain is listed there.

I think the FF Roasted chicken would be ok.
Poultry broth, chicken, liver, meat by-products, wheat gluten, soy flour, poultry by-products, soy protein concentrate, artificial and natural flavors, calcium phosphate, added color, potassium chloride, guar gum, taurine, locust bean gum, xanthan gum, carrageenan, salt, choline chloride, thiamine mononitrate, zinc sulfate, Vitamin E supplement, ferrous sulfate, niacin, copper sulfate, calcium pantothenate, Vitamin A supplement, manganese sulfate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, biotin, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, potassium iodide

Here's an old thread that has suggestions for low carb/medium fat foods for diabetic cats with pancreatitis: http://www.felinediabetes.com/phorum5/read.php?8,1259368
 
As usual, this site gives the best advice!

I have looked into the FF Classisc, however, they are much higher in fat than what I've been comfortable feeding Max. I can try them, but I'm afraid of a pancreatitis attack. I also looked into the Merrick flavors, but it is my understanding that cats should not eat a lot of fish and that beef can cause stomach upset with pancreatitis kitties (which is why I tried Grammy's Pot Pie + it's low in fat). As you can see, it has been really frustrating finding the right food for the diabetes and pancreatitis. My next attempt will be Merrick's Before Grain Turkey, which I found on the new (google docs) list.

Thanks!
 
HeidiandMax said:
As usual, this site gives the best advice!

I have looked into the FF Classisc, however, they are much higher in fat than what I've been comfortable feeding Max. I can try them, but I'm afraid of a pancreatitis attack. I also looked into the Merrick flavors, but it is my understanding that cats should not eat a lot of fish and that beef can cause stomach upset with pancreatitis kitties (which is why I tried Grammy's Pot Pie + it's low in fat). As you can see, it has been really frustrating finding the right food for the diabetes and pancreatitis. My next attempt will be Merrick's Before Grain Turkey, which I found on the new (google docs) list.

Thanks!
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I didn't realize pancreatitis was an issue (must have missed that in the post). If you need to make exceptions for that, it's completely understandable. I would try the merricks, first though--part of the reason why I switched to cowboy cookout for Bandit was because he doesnt' handle high fat foods well (they cause mild gastro-upset). He does wonderfully on the Merricks CC and S&T.

There is very little fish in the surf and turf (the low phosphorus content is an indication of that), and a few cats don't tolerate beef well, but most are fine. I've never heard of a connection between pancreatitis and beef intolerance, but I've never personally had a cat with pancreatitis so I haven't done a large amount of research on the subject. Everything I've seen has said it's fine to feed beef to cats with pancreatitis. Hopefully someone else can chime in on that. A food intolerance can cause some of the same symptoms as pancreatitis, so I wonder if someone got confused about that? I've heard that grains and sugars should be avoided for cats with pancreatitis, but never beef. You are sure Max has pancreatitis and not a food intolerance (you've had the pancreatitis confirmed by testing)? Bandit has always had gastro problems and he handles beef just fine, but it's like mild IBD that he gets with fatty foods, not pancreatitis.

BTW, has anyone mentioned that the fat/protein values are reversed for the Merrick's BG turkey on the newer pet food chart? It's 34% protein and 65% fat, which is much higher than most of the Fancy Feast.
 
Bummer! I knew it was too good to be true! It makes the turkey flavor more in line with the other flavors when you reverse them. Is that the only one?
 
HeidiandMax said:
Bummer! I knew it was too good to be true! It makes the turkey flavor more in line with the other flavors when you reverse them. Is that the only one?
Click to expand...


Yup. I went through and confirmed all the values were still in range earlier this year.

If max doesn't have a known beef intolerance, you might want to try the merrick's flavors and see how he handles them. They're the lowest fat, lowest carb I've ever seen in a canned food.
 
I have a few cans of the Cowboy Cookout at home I can try. He doesn't have a beef intolerance that I know of. He just had a severe attack after eating the Purina DM which has a lot of liver in it as well as fat. I'm a little nervous about inflaming the pancreatitis since Max's vet will be leaving our clinic tomorrow to open her own practice in July. The other vets are O.K., just more "old school". I think I'll also try the FF Roasted Turkey since we've done well on the FF Elegant Medleys. I know it's not the perfect choice, but the BGs have been low without insulin on the FF.

BTW...we do have confirmed pancreatitis from a blood test, but there could be other issues (like IBD or food sensitivies) that cause the pancreatitis. I probably could get the GI scoping, but it costs a minimum of $1800 here (I just had one done on my other cat 3 months ago). :o
 
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