How to feed a diabetic cat and a non-diabetic cat?

[Winni]

My Simba was diagnosed April of this yr. Has not has a ProZinc injection since 6/29/11. Took him off of dry food, plus Simba has some infections in his mouth which he had 9 teeth pulled out. He is doing so well now.

My problem is my other cat. Shadow who weighs about 21pd will latterly eat himself to death. I work full-time. I'm gone from 6:30am til 6:30pm. When I found out Simba was diabetic I started feeding them both this way:

I would wake up for work at 4am, I would feed them a fresh 1/2 a can of wet food. I would take the other half out of the freezer and leave it out just before leaving the house at 6:30am "NO DRY FOOD AT ALL". Both kitties would have their other half, but I was freakin out beacuse I would not know who ate what, plus I think they were both starving by the time I would get home at 6:30pm sometimes later due to traffic. So I stopped doing that.

Next - I decided to still feed them 1/2 a can at 6:30am/6:30pm, but I would leave a big bowl of dry Core food during the day while I'm at work, but Simba's levels went up quit a bit and I noticed Shadow gaining weight, which I'm trying to have him lose some weight.

Now - Monday-Friday - I now feed them: 1/2 a can at 6:30am before work. Leave just 1/3 cup of dry core food while I'm at work. When I get home at 6:30pm I take away the dry food and feed them the other 1/2 of wet, and another 1/2 just before I go to bed at 10pm. Total is 1 1/2 can M-F with a very small amount of dry.

Now -Weekends - I take away as much of the dry food away as possible. I feed them 1/2 can 4am, 9am, 2pm, 6pm and 10pm - A total of 2 1/2 cans for both on weekends. Do you think this is a lot ? -

It's so frustrating feeding them both.

 

[Dyana]

What size cans are you feeding? The 3oz ones or the 5.5oz ones?

I freeze Fancy Feast in these Rubbermaid 1/2 Cup Containers
I put one can of Fancy Feast in each one with about 1/3 can of extra water added, and then freeze a bunch of them for work days.

I feed 1/4 can of FF to each cat at 6:00am (shot time). I feed another 1/4 can of FF at +1 right before I leave for work.
I leave out 2 frozen cans of FF in saucers. I place one by my cat's beds, and one next to their feeding area. I also have a two compartment timed feeder that I set to open one side at +5 and one side at +7.
I get home from work right at PM shot time. Usually, but not always, there is some food left in the various bowls.
At PM shot time, they get 1/4 can each of FF. At about +2, they get another 1/4 can of FF each. Sometime in the middle of the night (around +6 or +7) when I get up to do the mid-cycle test (since I'm not around during the daytime cycle to get it), I give them another 1/4 can of FF each.

My diabetic is a big male that is about 14 pounds and my non diabetic is a petite female that is about 10 pounds.

 

[Amanda]

Why not invest in a timed feeder? You can leave frozen portions of wet in each slot...enough for several snacks throughout the day (mine is 6 or 7 slots?). I wouldn't feed a diabetic cat dry food at all...really increases your chances of him needing insulin again.

 

[BJM]

Wet food is less calorie dense, without adding carbs. I had 2 civvies lose roughly 2 pounds in 4 months when I switched everyone over to canned food.

And 1/2 of a 6 oz can isn't enough food for the 21 pound cat; 1/2 of a 13 oz can probably would be (Cat Info page on Obesity).

Has a vet ruled out medical conditions causing the weight problem?

 

[Carl & Polly & Bob (GA)]

I'm going to assume you are feeding them using 5.5oz cans?

It depends on brands and flavors, but a can of say Friskees pates contains between 150-200 calories per can. At the most, a can and a half would be 300 calories. If each of them is sharing nicely, and getting half the food, then at most, each would be getting 150 calories a day if you are using 1.5 cans a day during the week. Plus whatever calories are in the dry.

On weekends, they would each get another 100 calories from the extra can you use on the weekends.

How much does Simba weigh?
How much should, in your opinion, Shadow weigh? (assuming you think 21lbs is way too much?)

Off the top of my head, if you are using regular sized 5.5 oz cans, you aren't feeding them enough right now, but I'll be more specific once you verify I'm right about the can size, and let me know what flavors and brands you are using.

Carl

 

[Winni]

Hi everyone. Thank you all for the info. No I'm not feeding them a 5oz can. I'm feeding both my boys 1/2 a 3oz can of Classic FF.

The vet ran labs on Shadow and he's pretty healthy. NO thryroid issues. He just simply loves to eat. I thought about one of those automatic feeders, but Shadow is a strong cat and he would tear the feeder apart to get to the wet food. I looked online on these feeders and saw cat's tearing these feeders apart to get the wet food & they would succeed; therefore this would be my Shadow.

I thought having a diabetic cat was going to be difficult, but I find trying to feed two cat's is more of a chalange. My Simba who's diabetic went from 16.7 down to 14 pounds. Shadow is 21 pounds.The vet would like to see Shadow at 17, but I can't seem to get Fat Boy (Fat Boy is his nick-name) to budge on his weigh.

So do you think I'm not feeding them enough wet food ? - 1/2 a can of 3oz every 4-5 hours. Last meal at 10pm - Nothing during evening time until about 4am. But this is weekends. I can't leave frozen wet food M-F while I'm at work beacuse I freak out that I think Shadow is eating it all, and my poor diabetic Simba gets nothing.. Shadow will find food no matter where it is. I'm really struggling with the feeding. Here's a pic of Simba & Shadow, my boys. Shadow is the gray one.

 

[Winni]

Here's a better pic of them both. You can see how big Shadow is. Simba just looks big because he's closer. And you would think Shadow would be the diabetic kitty and not Simba.

 

[BJM]

Here's a question for your vet - is it possible that Shadow has a form of obsessive compulsive behavior that might respond to a medication? Might be worth a shot to try it. And ask what else may cause hyperphagia - the extreme eating behavior

Other than that, keeping the 2 in separate rooms, or crating Shadow with his own food may be the only way to keep the feeding controlled.

 

[Carl & Polly & Bob (GA)]

There's a simplified formula to figure out how many calories a kitty should get in order to be at an "ideal" weight. This assumes a normal level of activity.

20 calories per pound of ideal body weight per day.

So, if the vet would like Shadow to be at 17 lbs for instance, he should get 340 calories per day.
Simba, at 14, or let's say 15 pounds would need 300 calories a day.

A 3oz can of FF classics can range from 85 to just under 100 calories per can.

So....together the kitties would need 640 or so calories per day. That would be between 6 and 7 3oz cans of FF classics per day. Pretty much Simba would get 3 and Shadow would get 4.

Now that's a non-precise cals per day method, but it's in the ball park. I was able to manipulate Bob's weight to keep him right around 14 lbs by giving him between 250 and 300 cals a day depending on whether he needed to gain or lose a couple ounces. What I did was use a marker to write the calorie count on the lid of the cans, and then stacked the cans in "daily" stacks. If it wasn't quite exact, I'd toss the occasional spoonful of Friskees from Mullet's cans into Bob's bowl to make up the difference. By no means an exact science, but it worked well for my two.
No matter how much I feed them though, they always insist they are starving!

Carl

 

[doombuggy]

My FD Cedric has been using the Cat Mate C20 autofeeder since probably May? I took his dry food away in may, so it probably started late May early June.
He gets about 6 oz of canned food a day, wellness. The OZ is an estimate, since I rescued the neighborhood stray (named Dallas) on 9/1 and started buying the 12.5 oz cans of wellness. I use a cookie scoop to measure their food. the scoops are 1 1/2 tablespoons & cedric gets about 8 a day, Dallas 10. they get fed when I get up for work, usually at 6am (well, 3 am today since I had to be there at 5am). Cedric gets his 2nd small meal at about 3-4 hours (usually between 10 & 11am during the week when I get up at 6am), then again between 3 &4. the feeder has an ice pack, but I put a cold portion w/ice cube for meal #2 and a frozen portion with cube for meal #3. He then gets fed at 8pm. Today he'll get a little extra since it is a long day for me, having gotten up at 3am today.

Since Dallas has come to live with us, I have had to watch out, as Dallas, having been a stray for probably most of his life, has the "eat everything you see" mentality. He's getting better, but its still a work in progress. I feed Dallas upstairs in my bathroom while I get ready for work. Dallas inhales his food, while Cedric is a picker. I go downstairs and take up Cedric's food until I am ready to leave for work (or he wants it again). during the day, Dallas is shut up in my br/ba so he won't eat Cedric's food. My br is 19x15, plus a walkin closet about 7". the Ba is a large master, seperate shower/tub, dual sinks and seperate room for toliet & cat box, which I am always stepping over! He apparently doesn't mind the room, and is usually on his perch at the window when i get home.

I would love to leave them together during the day, but won't chance Dallas eating Cedric's food. I bought a feeder for him as well, but it's too soon to use. It sits on the floor with no battery - I am not sure he quite understand what it is (he doesn't pay much attention to it when i put Cedric's down with food, but that may be because he knows his bowl of cold and frozen is on the counter...). I came home sick one day and the frozen food was gone in the 3 hours I was gone. He gets fed again when I get home -and at 8pm with Cedric.

 

[Blue]

The 5 section timed feeder is the way to go.

Petsafe 5-meal Auto Feeder

Don't worry about the cat getting into it; you can always get clamps to keep the top down, and allow the inner tray to turn.

I have two civvies that can jump much higher than the two porky diabetics, so the dry food for the civvies is up on the top of a bookshelf with no way for the diabetics to reach.

To get your cat accustomed to the feeder, put in the batteries and set the timer to turn the tray at times you normally feed and put the cat's food dish right beside the feeder just before it turns .... the cat will get used to the whir of the turn and its meaning of food time. you could also put a treat in the feeder so that the feeder sound means good stuff.

You will find that your cat's appetite levels with regular small feedings every 3hrs or so, and you will also see better, more level curves. If you find your cat is very hungry in the morns, you can use the feeder to turn to a mid nitetime mini meal.