? Ideal carb percentage long term

[WilbursPerson]

Hi all-
I am seeking some long term dietary advice. My question builds somewhat on a prior thread of mine about dry food but now I am seeking advice for ideal long term carb percentage for our diabetic cat Wilbur.

All our MeowSpaces have arrived and all cats are using. Our obese civvie is done with kibble and on to all wet food. Wilbur our diabetic cat is on Tiki Cat puka puka (0% carbohydrate), putting on weight, clearly is feeling better, and is off insulin entirely. He gets some kibble at 13% carbs as a treat.

I have searched the vet literature and recommendations. I’m struggling to find an answer to what should his long term carbohydrate intake be. Is keeping him on 0% safe? Our vet recommends glycobalance which seems relatively high in carbs and is not allergen free for allergy cat civvie.

what is a good/safe long term percent of carbohydrates to feed him?

thanks!!

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Keeping a cat on a quality food that's low in carbs, like the Tiki Cat is fine. It's nutritionally complete so Wilbur is getting all of the vitamins and supplements he needs.

Not all cats do equally well on very low carb food. So, you will need to let Wilber's blood glucose level guide you. Below 10% is low carb. Most people here feed closer to 5% but that's most likely due to which foods their cat likes. I fed my diabetic cat 4- 5% carb food for 6.5 years and she did fine.

For the very long term, you may want to be attentive to phosphorus levels. If it looks like Wilbur is developing kidney problems, sticking to low phosphorus levels in food will help.

 

[WilbursPerson]

Keeping a cat on a quality food that's low in carbs, like the Tiki Cat is fine. It's nutritionally complete so Wilbur is getting all of the vitamins and supplements he needs.

The Tiki cat is 0% carb so is that still ok? With the MeowSpace boxes we can be a bit looser with allergens but are still trying to minimize cross contamination.

If 0% is healthy/ok for him, then we’ll stick with it. He seems to really like it.

thanks!!!

 

[Deb & Wink]

It's certainly easier to have all the cats on the same food. Foods that are good for the overweight cat with allergies as well as diabetic Wilbur.

The Tiki cat is a nice quality with plenty of protein. Looks good enough for a human to eat. At least that is what I tell myself every time I open a can of the Tiki Cat Puka Puka Luau (succulent chicken) for my cat to snack on.

You may want to portion control, so diabetic cat Wilbur does not gain too much weight and need insulin again.

Sometimes in Later stages of CKD, the protein content has to be lowered. But protein should not be lowered in the early stages of CKD (chronic kidney disease), since muscle wasting can result.

As far as an ideal carb percentage for Wilbur goes. ECID Every Cat is Different.

 

[WilbursPerson]

Thank you for the response! Feeding him 0% carbs makes me anxious from a human macronutrient perspective but everything thing I can find suggests the Tiki Puka Puka is complete nutritionally for a cat.

Agree - we are aiming to have everyone on the same food but it may not be possible:
Wilbur (diabetic) - content with Puka Puka
Turkey (obese cat) - hates pate and shredded foods, prefers kibble but has been very happy with morsels. Unfortunately each wet food in morsel form (that I can find and is relatively low in carbs) has at least two potential allergens in it, so we picked the one that was only borderline (as opposed to borderline positive or frankly positive)
Clark (allergy cat) - would eat anything we put in front of her.
Caesar (no health problems) - can and probably would eat everything.

I think we are going to be stuck with 2 primary forms of food: Puka Puka for everyone except for Turkey who likes Blue Healthy gourmet morsels (which unfortunately has dried egg and sweet potatoes)

 

[Deb & Wink]

Maybe over time,Turkey will come to love other textures of food.
You could try mixing little bits of the other shredded and pate type foods into her morsels. Little bits at a time, until you have more pate/shreds and less morsels.

I remember Jamie and Jupiter doing that with her cat. It was one step forward, 1/2 a step back, one step forward, 1 step back, 1 step forward, 1/2 a step back with the food transition.