food

[darcylynn]

Hello!
I am new to this and just learning! wonderful to find this!
I was wondering what the best food to use is? I have a diabetic that has been regulated on hard science diet for about 5/6 years, now his brother is diabetic and harder to regulate! I have limited the hard for both and they are getting soft food, science diet kitten twice a day! Also, do most people only feed their cats 2xs a day, or do you leave food out throughout the day?
Thank you!

 

[Suzanne&Grey]

Which Science Diet kibble? The prescription for diabetics? Are you testing their blood sugar at home? Any and all info you can provide will help others better help you.

Most here will tell you that hard kibble really isn't good for cats. I agree with them for various reasons. In any case, there are better dry and canned foods for diabetics. I feed my cats a homemade raw diet from www.catinfo.org. There are several options for you, but I agree with many that say to stay away from dry. The link I included is a great resource to start some reading as far as cats and nutrition, so even if raw isn't the way you want to go, read the site for good info about diabetes and urinary tract health.

Best of luck and good on you for seeking answers!

Suzanne

 

[shadycat]

Welcome! I am new and still learning too, but I feed my cats Fancy Feast Classics - be careful, a lot of other FF varieties, especially those with gravy, have higher carbs. It is fairly inexpensive, readily available, and low carb. Other foods I commonly see folks here feed are Friskies pate varieties, EVO (low carb but also high fat), and some Merrick's varieties (Cowboy Cookout comes to mind, and I think there are a few others). Raw or homemade food is good too, but I haven't gotten into that yet. Any foods without any wheat, corn, rice, potatoes, etc- anything carby. Unfortunately a lot of foods use grains as cheap filler. Even high protein dry foods are higher in carbs than preferred because there has to be some starch to hold it together. I have seen a big drop in Shady's BG since I stopped feeding Hills TD dry and FF with gravy and switching to FF Classics. I fed Wellness Core low carb dry food for a while, but I stopped that yesterday, and think I may see even more of a drop from removing dry food altogether from their diet.

I feed throughout the day as much as possible- a meal in the morning, one at lunchtime, one when I get home from work, and one later in the evening/before bed. Sometimes I am not home that often and put down extra food before I go to work. Some people here use timed feeders and put frozen food in it so by the time it opens up to be fed, it is thawed. Good idea but I haven't gotten that organized yet.

Have you seen Janet and Binky's food list? A lot of us here reference it, it has the composition of a lot of commonly available foods. Dry food list and canned food list

 

[squeem3]

Hello!
I am new to this and just learning! wonderful to find this!
I was wondering what the best food to use is? I have a diabetic that has been regulated on hard science diet for about 5/6 years, now his brother is diabetic and harder to regulate! I have limited the hard for both and they are getting soft food, science diet kitten twice a day! Also, do most people only feed their cats 2xs a day, or do you leave food out throughout the day?
Thank you!

The best food for diabetics in the opinion of many members of this board is low carb canned or raw food. There is no particular brand that is "best". Members here use the following food lists:

Binky's canned food charts
Pet Food Nutritional Values list
Dr. Lynne's Wet Food list
List of low carb gluten free Fancy Feast

On Binky's charts, stick with foods that have a number 10 or less in the carbs colum. On the Pet Food Nutritional Values Chart, look at the %kcal from carbs column and choose foods that have a number 10 or less.

Popular brands of low carb canned foods are Fancy Feast, Wellness, Merrick, Nature's Variety Instinct, Special Kitty, Friskies. Feed your cat whatever brand of food he like to eats and you can afford.

None of the Science Diet dry food are good for diabetics. They are very high in carbs (over 30%!) and full of poor quality ingredients. Other brands of dry foods are just as bad in terms of carbs. Dry food in general is not good for any cat. http://www.catinfo.org has more info about why.

Dry food is like potato chips and candy to diabetic cats. It keeps blood gluocse levels too high. The right diet is important for a diabetic cat, just like it is for Human diabetics.

I don't see the Science Diet kitten listed on either Binky chart. A quick look at the Science Diet product pages shows a lof of wheat flour and starches which means that the carb content is likely over the ideal amount a diabetic cat should have.

Most people free feed canned food. Diabetic cats, like Human diabetics, do best with small meals throughout the day. A timed feeder works great for this. Just fill the compartments with canned food and set the timer for when you want the cats to have access to food.

For your older diabetic, how do you know that the diabetes is regulated? Do you test blood glucose levels at home or do you rely on the vet to do occasional curves?

What insulin is both the cats getting and how much is the dose for both cats?

Removing all the dry food from the diet and feeding the cats a low carb canned food will greatly help with managing the diabetes. BUT changing the food from high carb to low carb has a big impact on blood glucose levels and insulin need. It is important to be testing your cat's blood glucose levels at home so you can catch any drops in blood glucose levels from the diet change and reduce the insulin dose to prevent a hypo.

 

[darcylynn]

OMG!! Thank you all for the input!!! I learned a lot! Im going to look into other foods! and yes i home test, just started! could not believe that my vet didnt tell me years ago to home test!! I really hope i can get my seymore as regulated as my Baby!! prayers everyday in my home!! cant believe how much I am learning from this forum!! i think i am going to try to get away from hard food!

 

[BJM]

CAUTION!!

Eliminating dry food from the diet may reduce the glucose levels 100 points, depending on how much was being eaten.

Always test the glucose before you feed and give insulin.

Please make the change gradually so you can observe the difference in the glucose tests and be safe in giving the insulin. We recommend new insulin users not shoot below 200, until they have sufficient data and a stable diet, so they can predict how low the cat may go. (We don't want the cat going lower than 50 at the lowest point.)

 

[darcylynn]

Thank you! I have been checking blood sugars very regularly. I plan on going off hard food to watch the blood sugars! yes, it makes me worried, it will be a slow process!! I am still leaving hard out during the day, just not as much as usual.