Hello from the UK

[Paolo’s family team]

Hello from the UK! Our car Paolo is nearly 16 and was diagnosed with diabetes last month. He was eating Canagan dry food which I used to think was a top quality food but now realise it’s kitty crack! I’ve looked at the recommended uk food list and unfortunately he and his brother ( from the same litter) don’t like Lilly’s kitchen. This significantly reduces their food choices. Does anyone out there live in the UK? Would you kindly share what’s ok to feed ? His levels are very high - I’ll try to upload his recent glucose curve done this week at the vets. I’ve bought a human glucose meter and the vetinary nurse was dubious about it until we asked her to teach us how to use it and the readings were only about 5 out which she said was nothing to worry about and seeemed ok about us using it - but she cautioned against daily testing due to potential distress (Paolos ear skin is quite thick)

 

[MrWorfMen's Mom]

Hello and welcome to FDMB. What a handsome little lad your Paolo is and so lucky to have a "family team".

Kudos for being proactive and deciding to home test. You may find that checking BG at home instead of in the vet's office may elicit somewhat lower BG results. Our kitties are notorious for getting stressed out at vet appts. and that can elevate their BG by up to 5.6 mmol. (100 US) and sometimes even more. If you test at home, you can do your own curves and save Paolo (and you) a lot of stress, save money and get more accurate readings.

On the food front, I'll tag a few members from the UK who may have other food options to suggest.
@Georgiana & Perlutz
@Diana&Tom
@Kate & Toby

This is a remarkable community with an incredible amount of experience not only with feline diabetes but pretty much anything feline so please come join us over on the Health forum and keep the questions coming.

Looking forward to getting to know you and Paolo and the rest of his family team.

 

[Diana&Tom]

Hi and welcome from a UKer! There is plenty of help here so hang around, read, ask questions, and you'll soon feel more confident!

Almost any wet food is hetter than dry so transitioning is a good thing - be aware though that lower-carb food can reduce the amount of insulin needed, so it's good to be testing bg at least before every shot to make sure Paolo isn't too low to warrant a dose.

Foods that some of us here feed include Natures Menu / Country Hunter, which come in various flavours and are usually well received by our picky eaters (!), also Applaws, and Sainsbury's Delicious (I think Tesco does an equivalent but I can't recall the exact name). There are others, including the standard big names such as Whiskas and Felix in jelly which are ok, easily available and cheaper than the above - just have lower meat/protein content. It's up to you and your budget.

I'd suggest trying some of these - make any food change gradually over a few days - and test when you can to gather data on how the lower carb intake is affecting bg.

Good luck! Let us know how you get on.

 

[Kate & Toby]

Hi Paulo and Family,

Welcome to the group. You will be so glad you stopped by so please stick around and let the experienced members help you.

I am in the UK, on the Sunny South Coast.

I feed Toby Sheba Fine Flakes, widely available and a variety of flavours. Basically anything in Jelly is usually low carb, I love Natures Menu, they do some tasty treats too which makes testing a more enjoyable experience. I also feed fresh home cooked food.

We have a spreadsheet (Google sheets) that we all use to track our data, and if you can get the spreadsheet set up the members here will be more able to help you as we are very data focussed, there is a yellow tab on the forum where you have the instructions but just shout if you get stuck and someone can help you set it up.

Keep asking questions, there are no silly ones and we will do all we can to help you and your lovely boy.

x