How to feed 6 cats on $30 a month a diabetic Diet?

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Mizmelzy

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I currently have 6 cats. One I suspect has diabetes because she is over weight and is giving some signs of it. After testing I need to know how to feed 5 cats on a diabetic diet and one on regular dry food for $30 a month. I have one feral that will not touch wet food. So she'll have to stay on dry. I could probably go cheaper on the food for her but I wouldn't want to go completely cheap. My budget every month for cat food/care is $60. Usually I spend $30 on the dry food. I have one that has Hyperthyroid and he's on 1 can a day friskies (the rest of the day dry) and that is really all I can afford.

My problem would be if the one I suspect is diabetic is put on wet cat food, how I feed her wet and keep her away from the dry that needs to be out all day. I have $60 a month which covers cat food and cat litter. I really can't go any cheaper on cat litter than I am. Otherwise the whole house smells of cat REALLY bad.

Hoping some of you that have multiple cats can give me some advise. Thanks.


Mel
 
Hey Mel,

I know what you mean about feeding a large furry family, we currently have 11. Yes, you read that right 11 cats and one very large drooler. Also most of our cats are on the large size, not fat, well okay a couple of them need to lose a few pounds.lol But most are at their healthy weight but they are still between 15 - 19lbs.

Here we feed what everyone what our diabetic eats. In thise case it is Friskies pate flavors. Now with 11 it runs us close to $50 a week to feed them. But you can do it even cheaper if you have a Wal-mart handy. They have their house brand Special Kitty for around 75 cents for a 13 oz can, which works out to about 2 1/2 cans of the normal 5.5 oz friskies can. When we were using the larger cans I would only feed about 6 cans to feed our large tribe.

Depending on weight and activity level of your cats that might be one way to go.

Mel, Max & The Fur Gang
 
I've 11 cats too, with one diabetic, and have been using the Special Kitty Turkey pate (3-4% carb), which only comes in the 5.5 oz cans. I've also tried the 9-Lives Special Diet Turkey pate, and it caused vomiting in some of the cats. The Friskies Turkey and Giblets dinner pate is 7% carb and results in a higher insulin use, but everyone will eat it.

Having on hand some of the Fancy Feast pates lets me add them to the Special Kitty if there seems to be a lack of interest in eating from most of the cats. 1 3 oz can of Fancy Feast added to three 5.5 oz cans Special Kitty Turkey and Giblets seems to be enough to spark more interest in eating.

Having a couple Fancy Feast gravy cans will be helpful in the event of a hypoglycemic episode, as will having some Karo syrup.

An average sized cat will eat roughly 1 of those 5.5 oz cans per day.
Because I have a few larger cats, it works out to roughly 6 cans put out in the morning and 6 cans put out at night (12 cans per day).

I leave the canned food out. The only dry left in the house was from before the diabetes diagnosis. A few pellets are used as a reward for the diabetic cat after being tested. A small handful goes to another cat who lost significant weight after the switch to canned food and the vet ruled out common problems. She'll eat some canned, but not enought to maintain her weight.
 
You may already be getting inexpensive cat litter, but one alternative is Layer Crumbles, available in feed stores. It is actually corn based chicken feed and is the original version of what is marketed now as The World's Best Cat Litter which is one of the priciest! However, the chicken feed version is still inexpensive -- maybe $11 or 12 for a 50 lb bag. It clumps, doesn't let odors develop, and is biodegradable so if you have an outdoor area, you can just throw it out every few weeks (not the clumps and poops -- I still throw those away) and it will disappear to wildlife or dissolve in rain. I've been using this for 10 or more years and we have maybe 20 or so cats at a time around here as I take fosters for the SPCA.
 
My diabetic J.D. eats about 3/4 of a 5.5oz can of Sophisticat a day, and those cost .38 cents per can from PetSmart.
 
8 here - 7 of ours plus the foster feral. None are diabetic now with Yittle having crossed over, but we're feeding them the same diet we were before he died pretty much.

We buy about 1 large bag of Iams Multi-Cat with Chicken a month, which runs $25-$35 depending on store, sales etc. Twice a day we measure out a certain quantity (about 2 cups?) into a plastic bag and that has to last them for half the day. We dole it out in small increments at various intervals - we aim for enough food that they don't feel the need to try and eat each other in frequent enough doses that they don't scarf and barf it. Our general rule of thumb is - if the fat cats ask, we ignore them, if the skinny cats say they're hungry then they get fed. Or well, when we're going out we put some down. When Yittle was still with us we would feed them dry after he'd eaten his moist and watch them eat then pick it up when they were done to prevent him getting into it.

In addition we go through 4 cans of Friskies a day - 2 cans of poultry or beef flavors for breakfast, and 2 cans of seafood flavors at night with tuna served only once a week, generally on Fridays. Since the dry food doesn't have seafood in it this keeps their seafood consumption to roughly 1/4th their diet. Generally speaking I don't buy Friskies unless its 40c a can or less on sale at which point we stock up. Our local Petsmart almost always has it for between 40-44c (which I'll do if I have to). We also buy coupons for it whenever possible.

I also keep a case or two of Fancy Feast on hand for our elderly cat, any cat who's feeling out of sorts that day, and special days and holidays. Like today - which is Valentine's day and our civvie Phoenix's 16th birthday (at least, if not more). Poor thing, she's getting a vet visit for her birthday to deal with her recent deafness - but she'll get FF seafood for dinner so she'll forgive us.

I estimate it takes us about $75-80 to feed the 8 of them - with FF and cat treats not being included in that total.
 
I have 8 cats. If you are feeding your cats Friskies, the best price I have found in my area is Walmart. It is 70 cents a can for the large cans. I can feed 4 cats a meal from one can. You can also feed them Walmarts Special Kitty food which is a few cents cheaper for the large cans. I have found that it is more economical to feed from the large cans than the smaller ones.
 
You cannot really leave dry food out unless you put the dry cat food cat in a seperate room to eat.
Since dry cat food cats graze all day, thats not usually a good option.

The best bet is to put them all on wet food.
Special Kitty and 9 lives seem to be the lowest costing.
 
I have tried the generic form of all types of cat food on Smokie, and he will only eat friskies or better brands. The generic stuff he will sniff and walk away. Not sure about faith, I'd have to try her on wet cat food. But I still have the issue of my hyper t cat who is not regulated yet, needing food out all day. Right now I'm home during the day and only work 2.5 hours a day. I am currently trying to find another job so I can afford vet care for them. If I get another job. I wouldn't be home to be there to bring the food down when my hyper t boy would want to eat. Right now it's crucial that he keep his weight. I have 4 cats who have allergies to food. So they have to be on the specific brand of dry cat food.

I have one cat that will NOT eat wet canned cat food. I've tried. No matter what I got her she would not eat it. It would sit out all day untouched. So one of my cats will have to be on dry. So if I can feed 4 cats on one can of friskies, I'd need 1.5 cans a day feeding them 2x a day. That would be $.70x2 a day. It would be about $40 a month to feed 5 cats. Then I'd have to get the cheaper dry cat food for the cat who will not eat wet. So lets say her food is about $10 or so for a small bag that may last her 2 weeks or so. That's another $20 a month. So already even with wet food and dry. I'm looking at $60 just on food. That's my entire budget and I have nothing for cat litter. I have 8 cat litter boxes for 6 cats. The vet recommends that I have 2 extra littler boxes over one for each cat. So I go through probably 80lbs of cat litter in a month.

I don't think I can put them all on wet. They don't make a low carb dry food? I have no more than $60 a month. That has to cover food and cat litter both. Someone suggested asking friskies for a coupon for free cat food. However, I'd need like hundreds and hundreds of people to all ask for a coupon for a free can of cat food so I could stock up so I wouldn't have to buy cat food for at least 6 months. And I'd have to get a lot more people to do that for the next 6 months.

I just don't think I have the money to feed them wet. I'm doing all I can do just providing dry for them. Without another job, I just don't think I can do it. I have no idea what I'm going to do. :(

Mel
 
I know some here that have a dry only eating cat feed Evo Cat and Kitten formula, which is only about 7% carbs, but I did some quick checking online for it and it looks like you are still looking at about $45 for a 15.5 lb bag.

As far as free feeding goes, we do feed our furry horde canned as free feeding. I usually put down fresh for them about 4 times a day. When I am home to feed I just set out fresh, if we are going to be away I freeze it in ice cube trays and put out the frozen with a little fresh wrapped around it. This gives them some to eat right away and more later as it defrosts. Others have used timed feeders to do the same thing.

What I can tell you with my non-diabetics, is that my vet bills have become almost nothing. My kids with food allergies had them clear up and go away. (They turned out to be allergic to dry). And while my vet knows I have a diabetic cat, he has never physically seen him. When I adopted Max, he was already neutered, and up to date on his shots. So since the only thing wrong with him was that he was diabetic, there has been no reason to physically take him to the vets. I do my own curves at home, I test his BGs at home, and at the end of the month simply email the spreadsheet to my vet. So at least for us it works out cheaper in the long run to feed the whole gang basic Friskies, ditch the dry and not see the vet except once a year for rabies shots and annual physicals. Yeah we pay a hefty price in cat food, but we aren't paying a lot at the vet's anymore.

Another cost saving and albeit not a lot is that Friskies cans recycle, they are pure aluminum, so we save them and turn them in at the end of the week or every other week and that gets us about $4 to $8 back on the recycling. Also K-Mart has a rewards card that gives you a few cents back after so many points. Can't tell you how well that is working just yet as we just started buying there. So it is kind of a trade off for us, we can either spend a small fortune with the vets or we can spend a lesser fortune at the pet food store and stay out of the vet's office.

Mel, Max & The Fur Gang.
 
Mel I believe there is one brand of kibble that comes in under 10 carbs. let me find out the name.
but if momma of muse can do 11 kitties on 50 i think you can do 6 on 30 huh?
or does she do 11 and a drooler (dog) of 50?
anyway...we have ways of working thru every kind of issue here. we are uber-cat people!
 
I want to second what Mel(mommaofmuse) said about allergies. turns out most cats are actually alergic to all the grain and stuff in most dry brands and their allergies clear up with the wet diet! Also many less things such as uti's etc. as often cats on dry food don't get enough fluid in their diets.
 
Runs us about $50 on the cats alone but that is per week not per month. And I have a couple of very picky kitties that will only eat either friskies or fancy feast. The 75 lb drooler adds about another $10 per week. But that is also trying to bulk up a couple, feed a pregnant momma kitty, and keep Mr. Picky (the drooler) happy. We also only have 5 litter boxes but I clean them 3 times a day. We have more boxes but they are in the basement and with the cold weather the basement is shut off to the cats atm. So right now we are making do with the upstairs ones and just cleaning them more often.

I have found Tidy Cat scoopable for $14 for 40 lbs so when we find the deals we stock up, yeah it gets you funny looks in the checkout counter, but "normal" is highly over-rated.

Mel, Max & The Fur Gang
 
If finances are that tight, and if the diabetic is on insulin, then you may just have to tweak the insulin to adjust for a dry food diet. You can separate the possible diabetic out from the rest when you have time and feed her some canned food to try and lower her carb intake as much as possible.
 
Hey Mel, Kit is in the Mail.
If you do get those #'s we DON'T want to see, let me know as I think I can score some syringes and insulin.
But I think we need some sort of ok from your vet. Maybe a script or something.
 
There was the call of the wild that I was getting which was grain free. But I had to change it because I think it had a beet ingredient that Smokie is allergic to. There are other more expensive grain free out there. But right now Smokie needs to be on one can of wet food a day so that he won't throw up. I'm hoping this will change once we get his T4 numbers in the normal and regulated. Then I can start putting him back on Dry and focus on Faith giving her the wet canned cat food instead. Smokie goes into the vet tomorrow to test his T4 numbers. So I'm praying he's normal on the dose that he's on right now.


As for stockpiling when there is a sale. I can't do. Even if it is a good price. All I make is $320 or less depending on if school is out for vacation etc. All that goes to bills 7 cat food. There is nothing left over. I sell stuff on the internet to help cover medication costs for Smokie. I don't have a home phone, just a basic cell phone. I would cancel those except then I'd have a $175 early termination fee on each phone, and we have a little under half a year left on the contracts. That and work needs to get a hold of me somehow. I'm already on the lowest internet we can find. Right now I could reduce the amount of cat litter boxes but when we had 6 of them, Faith would pee frequently outside the litter box. Right now I could clean more frequently, but I really do need another job. Because I have 3 cats who are seniors right now , two who will be seniors in about 2 years, and one that will be a senior in 4 years. So they are all closely becoming seniors, and as they age, they will have more medical needs.

We have a freecycle program here where I live through Freecycle.org. I may post asking for cat litter/wet cat food. I have called the humane society where they help people out in hardship with cat food etc. However I have too many cats so they can't help me.

I'm really really trying to stay positive, but it's hard. I think it's harder for me because I do have a generalized anxiety disorder along with depression. I've been off the meds for about 2 years now because my fiancée and I were going to try to start having kids. But since I have smoke with his Thyroid and now Faith it's been put on hold. But don't want to start taking the medication again and have to wait 2 years before trying. So I'm trying to do this without medication at all. It is starting to prove difficult. Last night I had to take 1mg of Xanax just to be able to sleep. Otherwise I'd be up all night worrying and crying.

Thanks for all the help. I do appreciate it.
 
You may be able to find some help with medical expenses that would free up some money for the food you need:

Diabetic Cats in Need is a small project of Maureen's Our Lady of Mercy's Catnip Cottage that helps diabetic cats and their people. I don't know if Maureen can help you, but it can't hurt to ask. Here is a link: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=29535

The Supply Closet (viewforum.php?f=15) on this site has diabetes supplies posted from other members. Keep an eye on it - you might find some help with insulin or other supplies.

I believe there is another organization that helps people with their pets medical expenses. I hope someone else can post the link.
 
If you qualify for help from a food bank, they often have pet food as well.

You may want to discuss your situation with local grocery and pet store managers to see whether they could provide a discount. Or perhaps they could hold scratch and dent products that they sell at a discount for you.
 
I wouldn't qualify for food from a food bank because my fiancée makes too much money. I have checked into other place to help with vet bills, but they only offer a one time grant. They won't grant money more than once. Still trying to find one that will pay for the i131 treatment for my Hyper T cat. That would make a world of difference here. Then I'd have to contend with one cat only who is ill.


Mel
 
Can't your fiancee help you out a little with the costs of your kitties food?
I assume he lives there too if the food bank wont qualify you because of his salary.
Talk to your fiancee about how upset you are about this and how you are feeling.

Try to stay calm and take one day at a time.
 
Mizmelzy said:
I have one feral that will not touch wet food.
Click to expand...

I have not read this thread to see the responses but have you seen my Tips for Transitioning at catinfo.org? I have dealt with many stubborn dry-fed addicts and have never failed to get any cat transitioned to a better diet of canned food.

the dry that needs to be out all day.
Click to expand...

Why do you assume that dry needs to be "out all day"? Dry food can be meal-fed just like canned food. And...in fact...that is my Number One step on my Tips for Transitioning section.

Do not leave dry food out all day for any cat....or else you will never get them switched to a healthier diet.

Keep in mind that a proper diet is more than just about carbs. Please see Opie's pictures on the Urinary Tract Health page linked below to see a cat that really suffered from coming close to rupturing his bladder due to being blocked from eating a dry (water-depleted) diet.

Again, there is no reason to leave a bowl of dry food out. Meal feed it so you have control and so your cat will actually get HUNGRY...then you can follow my Tips for Transitioning to get your entire household on canned food which will not only be healthier for all of your cats but will remove one of your headaches.

(I know that if all of my cats were not on the same diet I would go crazy. I am not 'into' monitoring who eats what and trying to keep cats away from something they should not eat.)
 
Thanks for the help and the links. I will look into them.

Unfortunately I will be having a talk with my fiancée because right now, all the cat food and cat expenses are on me, and I don't make enough. He likes animals, but not an animal person. When they start to cost a lot of money, and complicate things he does get a little upset. He tries his best to understand. He feels bills and building a savings account for if he looses his job more important. His reasoning is if we don't have money in the savings account if he looses his job then us and the cats will be homeless. So its in the best interest of everyone. I do kind of see his point. Right now our budget is tight but I'm going to ask him to help pitch in. During the winter months when it snows he does get overtime. So there is an excess of money some times. But in the summer, he doesn't get as much. He has a budget for everything and we have every single cent of our budget planned out. No wiggle room in the summer. It may be better when his brother and his brother's daughter move out. Because then we can tweak the grocery budget and eat ramen noodles some nights and cheaply to then afford the cat food. I know that the past two summers when I didn't work (because I work in a school. When the kids aren't at school, I don't get paid). He was paying for the dry cat food and cat litter. So I do appreciate that. But now when money is getting tighter..it's more all on me to provide for the cats. He feels that trying to get all the bills paid is more important than the cats. But I plan on having a talk with him. I know people who I've mentioned this too in the past all have said I need to leave him and find someone else. Firstly we do work well together and I have changed him some. He never wanted any animals and would never let his ex wife have any. But with me, I've gotten him accommodated to being with 6 cats. And he does enjoy being around them. I love my fiancée. And if I did just up and leave. I'd be homeless and so would all my cats. I don't make enough to live on my own. I have no family or friends who can help me. I'm an only child, both parents died of cancer. Grandmother passed away in 2006. So I feel that would be a very drastic move. But I love him and he is trying to be understanding. I am trying to find another job. Any job. I may have to be on pain medication to be able to work during the day, but I'm trying to do what I have to do to make sure that they are provided for. In the meantime though he needs to help me out. He's willing to work budget with me so we can afford to change their food. But until his brother moves out, we really can't do anything.

But I will check out the links and stuff. I appreciate all the help! :YMHUG:
 
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