Hunger question

[arozeboom]

Before Ruby was diagnosed, she was fed 1/3 c of Purina One Vibrant Maturity, twice a day. I absolutely hate it that I didn't know how bad that stuff was. Sometimes she would eat her full serving right away but for the most part she was a grazer. It wasn't uncommon for her to not finish it over the course of a day.

Anyway, we've now switched to all canned Fancy Feast. She wasn't too keen on it at first but now she loves the stuff. But...it seems like she's hungrier than she was before. Is this from the lower amount of carbs? She's a big girl, 14 lbs, and does need to lose some weight. I think we were lucky in finding the diabetes before she started dropping weight just because she was sick. The vet said to give her 1 can, twice a day. She doesn't gobble it all up at once, but I think over a 24 hour period, she would probably eat closer to 2.5 cans, if I let her. I don't want to overfeed her but I also don't want to leave her hungry. At this point, is it ok to kind of let her eat what she wants (within reason, of course) and we can address the weightloss issue once she's more regulated?

Her eyes are brighter and she's more interested in playing than she's been in years, so I have high hopes for my girl.

 

[Blue]

Before Ruby was diagnosed, she was fed 1/3 c of Purina One Vibrant Maturity, twice a day. I absolutely hate it that I didn't know how bad that stuff was. Sometimes she would eat her full serving right away but for the most part she was a grazer. It wasn't uncommon for her to not finish it over the course of a day.

Anyway, we've now switched to all canned Fancy Feast. She wasn't too keen on it at first but now she loves the stuff. But...it seems like she's hungrier than she was before. Is this from the lower amount of carbs? She's a big girl, 14 lbs, and does need to lose some weight. I think we were lucky in finding the diabetes before she started dropping weight just because she was sick. The vet said to give her 1 can, twice a day. She doesn't gobble it all up at once, but I think over a 24 hour period, she would probably eat closer to 2.5 cans, if I let her. I don't want to overfeed her but I also don't want to leave her hungry. At this point, is it ok to kind of let her eat what she wants (within reason, of course) and we can address the weightloss issue once she's more regulated?

Her eyes are brighter and she's more interested in playing than she's been in years, so I have high hopes for my girl.

Before Ruby is regulated, she will likely feel the need to eat more as her body is not able to extract what is needed to function. As she get to the dose where she is regulated you will see the hunger lessen.
My two cats were eating around 30oz and 24oz a day, but are down to maybe 10-12oz and 8-10oz.

What you can try to do is to add water to the food to stretch it out and fill her up. The water is good for her and it will slow her down from eating alot. You can spread out the food, don't feed just twice a day. Maybe feed the same amount of food but break it into 5 or 6 smaller meals, with the bigger ones at shot times.

I would not worry about not knowing that dry food was bad; I think most people did not know.

 

[MommaOfMuse]

Right now if she is still unregulated let her eat all she wants since she isn't using the food correctly yet and not getting the full benefit of that food. You can also add water to it to help her feel more full on less. I use about 1/2 can of water per can of food to make it kind of the consistency of applesauce for my bunch.

But I know in the beginning Maxwell tried to eat me out of house and home. He would put away 3-4 (5.5oz) cans of Friskies a day, as his blood sugar started to come down into the normal range and he regained his weight. (He was seriously underweight when I adopted him) he natural backed off on the food demands and now maintains his weight a lean 17lbs on a can and a half.

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang

 

[arozeboom]

The worst part about the Purina One dry food is that we started it on the recommendation of one of the girls at the vet's office. We had been feeding Ruby Purina OM for 2 years and she wasn't losing any weight (I like to joke that Ruby is short for Rubenesque). She wasn't too keen on it so we asked one of the girls if she could recommend something else and she said Purina One.

 

[SabrinaFaire]

The worst part about the Purina One dry food is that we started it on the recommendation of one of the girls at the vet's office. We had been feeding Ruby Purina OM for 2 years and she wasn't losing any weight (I like to joke that Ruby is short for Rubenesque). She wasn't too keen on it so we asked one of the girls if she could recommend something else and she said Purina One.

It sucks, I know. Hobbs came to me only eating canned, wasn't interested in dry. Then my ex-BF got a dog who ate dry of course and then Hobbs changed his mind and wouldn't touch canned. So for years he was on only dry with a can for holidays and stuff until very recently I started giving him a can in the evenings but still in addition to the dry.

BTW Hobbs has the same problem but he's slightly more regulated now, sometimes I wonder if he's a boredom eater like his mama.