Food question

[Milo's mommy]

Hi all,

My cat Milo was diagnosed with diabetes 1o years ago (he is 16 years old). He has been completely diet controlled since that time. He eats 3 different varieties of fancy feast - he gets 1 can in the morning and 1 in the evening. He has had some issues of late with diarrhea and at times goes outside the litter box. I had blood work run and everything came back normal. The clean up after him isn't fun, but I haven't really considered changing his diet since it has worked so well for him all of these years. Although, I would certainly consider it, if it would help.

The issue I am facing is that we are going away for about a week and all of my usual cat sitters are unavailable. He (and his sister) are normally fed twice a day and I am not sure that the person I have to watch him can come twice a day. I was wondering if there are any dry foods that I could give him temporarily and the person could come once a day to give a can of the fancy feast.

I have seen several of the new grain free foods in stores and didn't know if any were considered safe. For example, Rachel Ray's Nutrish or Purina Beyond. All of the food charts that I have found are a few years old at least. Any advice/insight would be helpful. Thanks!!

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

"Grain Free" doesn't mean "low carb"....it's just the latest buzz word the pet food companies are using to convince us humans that it's somehow good for them

There's only 2 dry foods that are considered low carb (but they're still not really good for diabetics since they add to dehydration which is hard on kidneys)

Young Again Zero Carb is only available online and Evo Cat and Kitten is supposed to be lower carb...and it's usually only available at "specialty" pet food stores and online....and they're both pretty darn expensive!!

As for the diarrhea, you might try only feeding one flavor of food at a time and see if you can figure out if it's one particular ingredient that might be causing it or if you're going to have to find another type of food entirely

 

[Sharon14]

Chris is right. Last night my cat got into my civies grain free food and his BG was in the 500's this AM! Have you tried probiotics for the diarrhea? Many here use Fortiflora, but there are others, just make sure there's no sugar.

 

[Milo's mommy]

Okay, thank you. I wasn't sure about the grain free ones. I haven't had to research anything for quite awhile since he's done so well for the last 10 years!

 

[BJM]

Another option to help with diarrhea is a tiny bit of fiber - it helps soak up the excessive moisture and provides some form to the feces. Only use a tiny bit until you see what it does - maybe 1/8 teaspoon of psyllium, or plain canned pumpkin (not pie filling).

 

[Milo's mommy]

Another option to help with diarrhea is a tiny bit of fiber - it helps soak up the excessive moisture and provides some form to the feces. Only use a tiny bit until you see what it does - maybe 1/8 teaspoon of psyllium, or plain canned pumpkin (not pie filling).

Okay - thanks for the suggestion! I have plain canned pumpkin, so I will give that a try.