Homemade food??

Canned or homemade is healthier/better

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taylor reese

taylor reese

Member Since 2023
Hi everyone, I’m very new to this group & very new to finding out my favorite boy in the world Loner has diabetes. We’ve started to eat only twice a day. I am hoping to feed him the best possible food ever. Does anyone know if there is something I can cook or what the best is to buy? I’ve seen people do quail eggs, duck meat, a bunch of unique things. He is 13 years old
 
You don’t have to feed him just twice a day. That is very old fashioned advice that works for dogs who have a much lower metabolism than cats. Cats do much better having smaller meals throughout the day. It’s easier on their already compromised pancreas and it helps avoid sugar spikes. Also unregulated diabetic cats can’t process the nutrients in food well so they need to eat more since they’ll eat and will still lose weight. Please feed him as much as needed right now.
 
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A lot of folks feed Tiki, Weruva and Ziwipeak. With a diabetic cat you need
  • A low carb wet diet that is 10% carbs or under. Most of us use around 4-7% carbs
  • A suitable insulin such as Lantus or Prozinc which are long acting, more gentle insulins than the old insulins.
  • We recommend hometesting the blood glucose with a human meter…it is not necessary to use a pet meter which is expensive to run and is no better. It will keep your kitty safe and you will know how the dose is working for your kitty. Only testing every so often will not tell you what is happening in between those times and an awful lot can happen in even a day.
  • HELP US HELP YOUhas information about the spreadsheet, signature and hypo box which you will need to be able to look after your beloved kitty properly
Can you tell us what insulin your kitty has been prescribed and the dose please?

A word of warning though…don’t change the food you are feeding at the moment over to the low carb food until you are testing the blood glucose because a change over can drop the BGs by up to 100 points and we don’t want you to have a hypo on your hands.


We are happy to help you with setting up the spreadsheet, sorting out what food to buy, how to transition safely to a low carb diet, how to learn to home test and much more.
 
Hi thank you for getting back to me!
The vet prescribed Vetsulin & I see that isn’t the best option. I called this morning to talk to them about switching it to a different one. He’s only on 1 unit twice a day. I was having a really hard time only feeding Loner twice a day as he used to be a grazer with the dry food and get wet food about 3-4 times a day. So I’m happy to hear he can eat smaller meals through out the day. Should we still do two large meals in the morning in night? The vet said do 1/2 a large can.
He was my nanas cat who is now passed so he is the most special thing to me in the world. I need him to be okay. He’s lost quite a bit of weight from the diabetes, I’m assuming. I’m hoping that the insulin and diet change will help that as well. I’m going to buy a home testing kit today. I hate even having to administer insulin let alone prick him multiple times a day but I of course will do anything for him. I have 2 dog I cook chicken and a vegetable for so I didn’t know if I should cook my cat a meal too. I just want to do whatever is best.
 
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Omg, that face, what a cutie!!!

Yes, you can feed the 2 largest meals at shot time and then smaller meals or low carb snacks like freeze dried treats throughout the day. Bobo is on fancy feast and he eats about a can at shot times and about 1/2 can as smaller meals later for a total of 3 cans a day. With Vetsulin, it’s important that you make sure he has eaten at least 30 minutes before you give him the shot. That’s because as you’re learning it’s not the best insulin for cats and it hits hard and fast. It also wears off and doesn’t last the full 12 hours so you’re cat is not protected 24/7.

Most of us use Walmart’s ReliOn meter and you can order from them online or get it at your closest Walmart. Human meters are perfectly fine and the test strips are a lot more affordable. We have tips for testing so let us know when you’re ready to start. For now, I’d start getting him used to you holding or massaging his ears.

what’s his idea weight? A good rule of thumb to figure out his daily calorie intake is 20 times ideal weight so if he should be 10 pounds, he needs to be eating at least 200 calories more if he needs to gain weight back.
 
Welcome to FDMB!!

It you are interested in learning about feline nutrition, Lisa Pierson, DVM is a vet who has a wonderful website on the topic. She has sections on different medical conditions, including diabetes. She also is strongly in favor of a raw diet and has information on how to make your own cat food. She provides a recipe. The downside is that with her recipe, you have to purchase all of the supplements individually. There are companies that make pre-mixes. These are powders that you mix with water and add to the raw food. The pre-mix contains all of the supplements that are needed to make a nutritionally complete diet. Many people here use a pre-mix from FoodFurLife. You can buy ground meat at the grocery store or grind your own. Either way, while some vets are not fans of a raw diet, there are many vets who support using a raw diet given the lack of fillers or other less than desirable ingredients in commercial cat food.
 
Thanks Sienne, I was going to ask one of you guys about the cooked meal question.

FOOD CHART have a look on this chart for the wet foods and you want to feed him those that are under 10%. Most of us try to stay at 2-7%.

You will also need some higher carb foods for that hypo box..information in the help us help you link.

note about lancets, when you by them, look for the ones with smaller gauges like 26 or 28 as they make slightly larger punctures and are easier for beginners

This is an excellent site for diabetic cats…it has been around for more than 25 years and has very experienced people to help you.

Keep asking lots of questions!
 
I actually just left Walmart and bought the ReliOn meter. I need to watch some YouTube videos because I’m so nervous to do that. Any tips or help on that would be great. I also I’m hearing many different answers as far as how often to do the testing.
I am very curious about the raw diet for Loner. Of course, his Vet is recommending against that. But I’m learning my Vet really doesn’t seem to know much about feline Diabetes which is so discouraging but this group has given me a lot of hope.
Loner is currently 10 pounds but one year ago (before he was diagnosed with diabetes he was 12-14 pounds)
 
taylor reese said:
I actually just left Walmart and bought the ReliOn meter. I need to watch some YouTube videos because I’m so nervous to do that. Any tips or help on that would be great. I also I’m hearing many different answers as far as how often to do the testing.
I am very curious about the raw diet for Loner. Of course, his Vet is recommending against that. But I’m learning my Vet really doesn’t seem to know much about feline Diabetes which is so discouraging but this group has given me a lot of hope.
Loner is currently 10 pounds but one year ago (before he was diagnosed with diabetes he was 12-14 pounds)
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Hi there and welcome to the FDMB. Yes, ditch the vetsulin and get Lantus for your kitty! Lantus and the advice from the gurus here at this site did wonders for my boy and he is now in diabetic remission.

My 10-year-old boy Hendrick was diagnosed last January and I began my journey thinking that the home testing was flat out impossible. And yet, eventually, I got the hang of it --- if I can do it, so can you.

I eventually started making homemade food once a day for the evening meal. I use the pre-mix powder from Food Fur Life, as linked above, and mix it with raw meat (pork loin, chicken breast, chicken thighs, and turkey thighs).

They ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT SO MUCH OMG

I take a lot of pride in making their evening meal by hand and it warms my heart how much they love it.


For home testing, one of the key tips I got was to use a tiny smidge of vaseline, and another was to make sure the ear is nice and warm. We bought a USB-C rechargeable handwarmer from Bezos and it worked great. Other people take an old sock, fill it with rice, and nuke it up in the microwave.


Also, pick a testing spot and always do the home testing there. Give freeze-dried treats whether you have a successful test or a fail. Eventually kitty learns that test time is treat time! Hendrick got to the point where he would go to the "Pokey Spot" as we called and sit there looking at me hopefully! Actually wanting me to test him so he could get a treat. Cats are creatures of habit and so you can condition most cats fairly well with some effort.
 
Always warm up the ear. I used an old sock filed with rice that I nuke for about 30 seconds then hold it against his ear till it’s warm to the touch. Alway use an additional light source so you can see what you’re doing and sim for the sweet spot @Hendrick Cuddleclaw don't you have a video doing it? Oh it’s in his signature!
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Hendrick Cuddleclaw said:
Hi there and welcome to the FDMB. Yes, ditch the vetsulin and get Lantus for your kitty! Lantus and the advice from the gurus here at this site did wonders for my boy and he is now in diabetic remission.

My 10-year-old boy Hendrick was diagnosed last January and I began my journey thinking that the home testing was flat out impossible. And yet, eventually, I got the hang of it --- if I can do it, so can you.

I eventually started making homemade food once a day for the evening meal. I use the pre-mix powder from Food Fur Life, as linked above, and mix it with raw meat (pork loin, chicken breast, chicken thighs, and turkey thighs).

They ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT SO MUCH OMG

I take a lot of pride in making their evening meal by hand and it warms my heart how much they love it.


For home testing, one of the key tips I got was to use a tiny smidge of vaseline, and another was to make sure the ear is nice and warm. We bought a USB-C rechargeable handwarmer from Bezos and it worked great. Other people take an old sock, fill it with rice, and nuke it up in the microwave.


Also, pick a testing spot and always do the home testing there. Give freeze-dried treats whether you have a successful test or a fail. Eventually kitty learns that test time is treat time! Hendrick got to the point where he would go to the "Pokey Spot" as we called and sit there looking at me hopefully! Actually wanting me to test him so he could get a treat. Cats are creatures of habit and so you can condition most cats fairly well with some effort.
Click to expand...
Everyone and every cat is different so you’ll have to figure out what works best and is less stressful to you both. I got the pick a spot advice too but my cats get stressed out anytime I pick them up and move them somewhere. It also stresses me so I started testing them wherever they were at and it worked great. I’m fact, a few times Minnie would be napping and not even realize I was testing her and not wake up till it was time for the treat. I just wanted their routine to not be interrupted or disrupted. I’ve always let them do whatever they want and I wanted to keep it that way :cat:
 
Always aim for the sweet spot warm the ears up first, you can put rice in a sock and put it in the microwave, test it on the inside of your wrist to be sure it's not to hot, like you would test a babies bottle. You can fill a pill bottle with warm water and roll it on the ears also.Just keep rubbing the ears with your fingers to warm them up
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6. As the ears get used to bleeding and grow more capilares, it gets easier to get the amount of blood you need on the first try. If he won’t stand still, you can get the blood onto a clean finger nail and test from there.
When you do get some blood you can try milking the ear.
Get you finger and gently push up toward the blood , more will appear
You will put the cotton round behind his ear in case you poke your finger, after you are done testing you will fold the cotton round over his ear to stop the bleeding , press gently for about 10 or 20 seconds until it stops
Get 26 or 28 gauge lancets
A lot of us use the lancets to test freehand not the lancing device
I find it better to see where I'm aiming
Look at the lancet under a light and you will see one side is curved upward, that's the side you want to poke with
 
I see in your signature you said he
gets Cosequin because he has really bad joints as well as a bad spine -
Poor baby, have you ever asked your vet about adequan or solensia injections if the cosequin isn't helping
 
Taylor reese, post: 3074006, member: 37999"]I tried the rice sock and it worked great! Thank you so much for your help. Fortunately the cosequin has worked well over the past year. I haven’t heard of the adequacy or solensia but I’ll keep those in mind if anything changes[/QUOTE]
I'm glad the cosequin has been helping
Both aqequan and solensia are both for
arthritis Solensia is the most recent one that came out
 
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