How much food is too much?

[Jennifer and Katie]

So, Katie has been eating both wet and dry food, until I took the dry food away the other day, due to the fact that she found our civvi cat's dry food and was scarfing that. So, I have noticed that being on the wet food only has made her BG drop, yay! Anyway, I have been putting out 1/2 can of wet food in the morning and at night, after each test. She was maybe only eating about 1/2 of that amount. However, in the last day/ day and a half, she has started eating more. Yesterday, she consumed two cans almost by herself, leaving our other cat hardly anything! I don't understand the increased appetite. Is it just because I took away the dry food? Or do I need to be worrying about something else?

 

[Hillary & Maui (GA)]

what ounces are the cans you are using. when you take the dry away, the consumption may increase because the wet food has more protein than filler junk, so she needs more food to sustain herself.

and 1/2 can may not be enough for 1 cat - and again ounces come into play -- 1/2 a 3 ounce can, 5 ounce or 13 ounce can?

 

[BJM]

Until you have her on a stable dose of insulin for a good week or so, free feed the canned. Wet food will be OK for about 12 hours in a cool location, then you want to change it out.

Why? Because unless the the diabetes is being controlled, the body can't actually use the glucose it gets from food, so she's starving.

Also, try to be consistent in what you feed until you get the insulin dose figured out - when you experiment with foods, your dosing needs may vary too, due to differing protein, fat, and carbohydrate values.

I looked at your spreadsheet - the numbers may be fluctuating to high values because you are using too much insulin or because you are changing foods. Check in the PZI forum and ask them.

Due to the high values she's had, get some ketone testing strips (ex ketodiastix)) and get testing her urine - if she's making ketones, she's in major trouble, if she's spilling glucose, she isn't controlled yet. there is a lag of a few hours in urine showing ketones or glucose when they are present in the body, due to the time needed to filter that out of the blood. There are meters which can detect ketones too, though the strips are more expensive for those meters.

 

[Jennifer and Katie]

The problem is, Katie is picky. She doesn't seem to like the same flavor too many times in a row. Which is why I'm feeding her three different flavors, all from the Merrick brand.

 

[Hillary & Maui (GA)]

it's fine to give variety - what you want to check is the carb content of each flavor as they may vary greatly and be part of what BJM describes.

check janet & binky's food chart to see where your foods are in the list.

 

[Jennifer and Katie]

I checked Binky's food list when I went out to get the wet food for Katie. All three flavors are on there as low-carb wet food.

 

[BJM]

Even a 1 % change in calories from carbohydrates may make a difference, depending on the cat's sensitivity.

Rotate through each of the flavors as consistently as you can; I'd put the higher carb at nightime feeding as overnight is when many cats go a bit lowere. Review FDMB site for other suggestions on inappetance, such as parmesan cheese or Forti Flora sprinkled over food.

 

[Hillary & Maui (GA)]

Yes, it's low carb, but what are the percents of carb. As BJ said, the difference in carb amount may affect your cat, if it's carb sensitive.

What I did when I took care of a board member's cat, was use a sharpie and label each can of food by the carb percent. I used foods from 1 - 5% and was able to manipulate the BG's by the percent of food I served. This cat was super carb sensitive, so the difference between a 1 % and 5% carb food was quite noticeable and dramatic.