Help please

[Catslave4]

My cat Princess was diagnosed with Diabetes this morning. They are optimistic that we can control it with diet and she will go into remission but we are preparing for her to be on Insulin if needed. The big problem is that we have 3 other cats, one of which will most likely also need special good for his skin allergies. For now Princess is on a wet food only diet. How do i feed 4 cats possibly 3 different foods?

Switching them all to wet food can be one of the options but they are also grazers who are used to having food out all day. How do i do this without inciting a cat riot in my house?

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Hello and welcome. Can you tell me what food Princess will be eating, and what the others will eat? I had two cats with different conditions, but I found a common low carb food they both could eat. Which made life much easier. For grazers, you can add water to the wet food making it a bit soupier and it'll help prevent a crust from forming on the food. Or you can freeze some portions with a bit of water, and they'll thaw out and be available during the day. Or get autofeeders that open at certain times and have a spot for a gel pack to keep it cool. The Petsafe 5 is a popular model here. You can also get models that respond to chips on kitty collars, so you can have a different feeder for each cat. Or if you've got cats of different sized, you can make doors in feeding spots that the fat ones can't fit into.

 

[Catslave4]

Hello and welcome. Can you tell me what food Princess will be eating, and what the others will eat? I had two cats with different conditions, but I found a common low carb food they both could eat. Which made life much easier. For grazers, you can add water to the wet food making it a bit soupier and it'll help prevent a crust from forming on the food. Or you can freeze some portions with a bit of water, and they'll thaw out and be available during the day. Or get autofeeders that open at certain times and have a spot for a gel pack to keep it cool. The Petsafe 5 is a popular model here. You can also get models that respond to chips on kitty collars, so you can have a different feeder for each cat. Or if you've got cats of different sized, you can make doors in feeding spots that the fat ones can't fit into.

Thank you. I am glad I found this place!

The vet gave me a list of different foods and for now she will be on 9 lives wet food 6oz can twice a day but if she doesn't finish it it's fine. The others will be on Purina cat food one for sensitive skin and stomach. i am not sure if our other cat who has the skin and stomach sensitives will have to be on his own special food too soon. He's already doing much better on it since we started switching over slowly.

Thanks for the suggestions. We have 4 very stubborn cats. They have been known to steal each other's food as well as push each other out of the way to get more. Princess is especially stubborn and has food aggression stemming from abuse and starvation in her first year old life.

 

[Little Bit’s Mom]

I have four cats as well and completely understand what you’re going through. It might take some trial and error, but I’m sure you’ll get it sorted out to keep everyone healthy.

 

[JanetNJ]

I let all six graze on wet food all day.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Does the cat with sensitivities have allergies to particular proteins?

Can you tell me specifically which flavours of the food they are getting? We often use this food list and look for foods under 10% carbs for diabetics. Some of the 9-Lives are under 10% and some are way too high in carbs to feed a diabetic. Also, which Purina food are you feeding? Just trying to see if there is a common protein/food they all can eat.

 

[Catslave4]

Does the cat with sensitivities have allergies to particular proteins?

Can you tell me specifically which flavours of the food they are getting? We often use this food list and look for foods under 10% carbs for diabetics. Some of the 9-Lives are under 10% and some are way too high in carbs to feed a diabetic. Also, which Purina food are you feeding? Just trying to see if there is a common protein/food they all can eat.

The other cats are now on Purina One Sensitive Skin and Stomach dry food and it is working wonders for Crush (the sensitive cat. The other two don't care, they'll eat anything)

Today i bought Friskies Prime Filets Chicken and Tuna Dinner in Gravy and Prime Filets Turkey Dinner in Gravy. I thought it was 9 lives but I just looked at it again and it's Friskies. They were the only ones available in our local store but i do plan on going to get more at Walmart this weekend. Judging by tonight they will all have to be on a wet food diet if they keep this up. I am not happy with this as Crush's hair is finally growing back and he is in a better mood the last few weeks since we changed to Purina One.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Those Friskies Prime Filets are all too high in carbs, we'd consider them medium carb. You want to get the Classic Pate flavours for the diabetic. The Purina One dry food seems to have turkey as it's main ingredient (though it's also got corn, rice, wheat, cellulose/sawdust), so maybe he's got a food allergy to other meats. Turkey might be one to try him on. Fish and chicken are common allergens.

 

[Catslave4]

Those Friskies Prime Filets are all too high in carbs, we'd consider them medium carb. You want to get the Classic Pate flavours for the diabetic. The Purina One dry food seems to have turkey as it's main ingredient (though it's also got corn, rice, wheat, cellulose/sawdust), so maybe he's got a food allergy to other meats. Turkey might be one to try him on. Fish and chicken are common allergens.

The Friskies Pate foods weren't on the list. He's doing great on the Purina One but I'm more worried about Princess right now. She's already a high maintenance very needy and anxious cat and now she's Diabetic. We are very lucky we found it early but it took us 2 years to get her to even try a new food after many trials and errors. Now she has to switch again and we're dragging the other cats into unknown territory.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Many people here have had to switch all their cats to low carb wet or raw food when they learned their cat was diabetic. Since that is closer to what cats naturally eat, the switch is usually good for all of them. If you haven't found it already, you might want to take a look at this site on feline nutrition.