Help with info please

[Rollo]

Hello,
My cat Rollo was recently diagnosed with diabetes. His glucose level was 507 at the vet on Wednesday. My veterinarian recommended Bexacat instead of insulin because his bloodwork showed he is a good candidate and he is not currently in ketoacidosis.

Unfortunately, the medication was very expensive locally, so I had to order it online. It should arrive Wednesday, which means we are waiting about 5–6 days before he can start treatment.

In the meantime, the vet advised me to stop all kibble and switch him to pate-style wet food with a little water added, which I have done. The problem is that Rollo doesn’t seem to like the texture of the pate, and I have been sitting with him and hand-feeding to make sure he eats something.

I’m feeling a bit anxious about the waiting period before the medication arrives and wanted to ask if anyone has experienced something similar. Any advice on encouraging him to eat or getting through the waiting period safely would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Welcome to FDMB!

Your vet is on the right track given that many of the pate style foods are low in carbohydrates. It's the low in carb factor that's important. It doesn't matter if the food is shreds, chunks, or pate -- it needs to be low carb. We consider less than 10% to be low carb although most of the members here feed their cat a diet that's roughly 5% carbs. Just to make feline diabetes management even more challenging, the carb content isn't on the cans. This is a chart that lists out the nutritional information for most of the canned foods available in the US. Tiki Cat is one variety that is in shreds. If there is a pet food store in your area I'd suggest buying a few different varieties to see what your cat likes. Other members may have some additional suggestions regarding food consistency.

A raw diet -- either commercially prepared or home made -- is also a possibility.

I would also suggest two additional items. Learn how to home test while waiting for the Bexacat. Home testing will tell you if what you're doing is working. Also, since you're waiting, please pick up a package of Ketostix. They are available at any pharmacy. (It doesn't need to be that specific brand -- these are urine strips that test for ketones.) As you noted, the absence of ketones is required for using Bexacat. Since you're holding off waiting for your supply, there's always the possibility that ketones could develop. Knowing they are not an issue is crucial.

We have information on using the newer drugs. This is the link to our post.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

A slow approach to food transition may be better on his tummy. This post might help:

• Transitioning your cat from dry to wet food

 

[Binky & Orla]

Hello,
My cat Rollo was recently diagnosed with diabetes. His glucose level was 507 at the vet on Wednesday. My veterinarian recommended Bexacat instead of insulin because his bloodwork showed he is a good candidate and he is not currently in ketoacidosis.

Unfortunately, the medication was very expensive locally, so I had to order it online. It should arrive Wednesday, which means we are waiting about 5–6 days before he can start treatment.

In the meantime, the vet advised me to stop all kibble and switch him to pate-style wet food with a little water added, which I have done. The problem is that Rollo doesn’t seem to like the texture of the pate, and I have been sitting with him and hand-feeding to make sure he eats something.

I’m feeling a bit anxious about the waiting period before the medication arrives and wanted to ask if anyone has experienced something similar. Any advice on encouraging him to eat or getting through the waiting period safely would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Did your vet recommend pate texture specifically or just wet food? There are different types of wet food that also have low carb content and high moisture content, like shreds in gravy, minced, chunks, etc. You might want to let him try different textures of wet food and different flavours like seafood, red meat, poultry, etc. if its in your budget. My cat has very strong preferences with both texture and flavour, and before I realized this I got worried about her losing her appetite, but in reality there are just certain foods she will not touch