Human Treats? Ok or dangerous

Quick update before my question… My 33g lancets were not working. I tried soooo many times. I would get blood, but not enough for the meter to read. So I was unsuccessful. Again! There was blood… But it was all mine.

My insulin syringes were also wrong because they weren’t able to measure the low-dose I’m going to be starting my insulin at. Anyway, I just got all new lancets and syringes from a Walgreens over an hour away. I’m posting this outside of the store. Because I’m not looking forward to the drive home …especially now that it’s rush-hour.

I’m hopeful that I will finally be able to get some readings and give his insulin for the first time tonight. PLEASE wish me luck. I need it!

Ok now for my question:

So my newly diagnosed diabetic cat, Red, has never liked cat treats. Mittens, my other cat, cannot get enough of them.

Now that I know Red’s diagnosis… I was wondering if I’m still allowed to give him his favorite snacks every once in a while? Don’t yell… it’s people food :/

He loves cheese, fat-free skim milk, and pasta of all kinds. Now I know at least two of those are probably big carb No-Nos. But just to give you an idea…
I give him like 2 of my cooked rotini noodles in tomato sauce or Mac and cheese, pesto, whatever the sauce may be. It’s only 1-3 penne/Rotini size cooked noodles that I break into tiny pieces. It’s not like I’m giving him his own bowl. For milk I never let him drink more than an 1/8 cup and it’s skim/fat free. Like once or twice a month. Cheese is always a very small amount too but that one prob isn’t anything to worry about. Right?

I have also cut parts of pizza for him in the past as well. Again a little piece of a small piece. We aren’t talking a large amount of anything. He doesn’t lick the bowls or plates. Nothing like that.

What can I say? He likes everything I do. LOL carbs and cheese. I could live off that alone.

Now this is nothing like how bad I was with my dogs (no longer with me). Every time I ate a little, I always gave them a little. We often shared meals. Not good. I know. But I got lucky and they both lived very long happy lives. I recently had to put down my yellow lab (age 16). I’m guilty of doing whatever to make my animals happy… Even if it’s not what’s best for them. I’m weak.

My dogs never had anything like diabetes. So I don’t know how serious doing some thing like this is or what the rules are. I’m hoping I don’t have to go from zero to poking him several times a day and taking blood, giving insulin shots AND denying him his favorite occasional snacks all at once.

Thoughts? Please try not to yell.

Obviously it can’t be ideal feeding my cat people food. But it makes him so happy and I don’t do it every day. More like once a week. I’ve already completely switched his food from a moderately high carb wet to a minimal/very low carb diet. I have stopped feeding dry food all together. He doesn’t seem thrilled about that… but he’s not too upset.

I am constantly filling his bowl with the new wet food. Obsessively so. Like every time he gets up I think he’s hungry and rush to feed.
I guess I might have the wrong idea but I just assumed that every time a diabetic cat was hungry he should be eating. Yes? No? Thoughts?

 

In addition to the carb risk, garlic and onions can be extremely dangerous to cats and are common ingredients in many pasta sauces (including pesto).

A small piece of cheese as a treat should be fine if it doesn't upset his stomach/bowels.

 

I agree that I would not feed Red those foods. Not only are they loaded with carbs, they are just not very good for cats in general, as T mentioned. As long as he's not lactose intolerant, small amounts of dairy should be fine.

What kind of treats have you tried? Freeze dried? Licky sticks? Does he like chicken? Lots of people give their cats pieces of plain cooked chicken for treats.

33 gauge lancets are usually too small of a gauge when you're first starting out. Most people start with 26 or 28, which will poke a bigger hole.

 

I switched and purchased a 28g last night.

I tried chicken last night. He ate a piece but walked away after one. He’s so weird.

Anyway. can you please tell me what low carb treats are ok to feed? I want to try some new cat treats but I can’t find information on carbs for some reason. It’s left out of the percentages on every website I check. so I don’t know where to start

 

Treats are super annoying to find the nutritional info for, so you mostly just have to judge by the ingredients. Most of the typical crunchy treats are high in carbs.

Probably the most popular kind of treat around here is freeze dried. Two of the main brands are Purebites (my cat is personally a huge fan of the salmon) and Orijen, but any freeze dried is fine! If he likes crunchier treats, Vital Essentials makes some freeze dried that are crunchy. Lots of people also use Churu which is a liquid treat in a squeeze tube. Tiki cat makes a similar kind called Tiki Cat stix.