Introducing New Cat (non diabetic) to Diabetic Cat/Care

[Jess Ryans]

Hi guys! So as of recently, my mom and myself have decided to adopt another cat. He's about 5 months old and is in proper health. We'll be introducing him into our household with our 7 year old diabetic cat, jocelyn. I have some questions as far as how to go about feeding/regulating food for both, since jocelyn is obviously on a diabetic cat food diet and the other one won't be? As well as, monitoring litter box use; i feel like we should purchase a seperate box for the new cat, but should i worry about them not going in their designated litter boxes? Please, any info would be helpful!

 

[Tom & Thomas (GA)]

Assuming that no other health issues are in play and that Jocelyn is eating a healthy diet low in carbohydrates, her food should be good for the new cat as well. All three of my cats eat the same food, even though only one is diabetic. You may need to regulate how much and how often Jocelyn eats, but you should be able to serve the same food to both cats.

I don't think there is any medical need for the diabetic cat to have a separate litter box. But the household will probably be a happier place if they each have their own.

Other more experienced people may chime in here with better information.

 

[flyingduster]

It’s often advised to have one more litter box than you do cats, but I’ve never kept indoor cats so not sure. Another litter box is probably a wise move for a new kitty though!

What food is your sugar kitty on? There isn’t any real need for a prescribed diabetic food at all, just a regular low carb wet food off the shelf is great, and it’s great for regular non diabetic kitties too!

 

[Tracey&Jones (GA)]

All the cats were on the same food as Jones, except the CKD kitty. She had her own food. I have separate feeders for everyone in which no one can get into the others.

The rule of thumb on the litter boxes is 1 for each cat and then 1 more if you can. I never worried about who went where as there is a M.O to the poops and pees. They tend to pick "their" box and stay with it. If all else fails, do what I did....get a motion camera to review footage if you need to. I could monitor for Jones if I needed to.

 

[Lisa and Witn (GA)]

I agree that it would be better to have both cats on the same diet if possible. By having him on a low carb diet, you reduce the chance of him developing diabetes later on.

 

[Jess Ryans]

It’s often advised to have one more litter box than you do cats, but I’ve never kept indoor cats so not sure. Another litter box is probably a wise move for a new kitty though!

What food is your sugar kitty on? There isn’t any real need for a prescribed diabetic food at all, just a regular low carb wet food off the shelf is great, and it’s great for regular non diabetic kitties too!

we had been giving her royal canine diabetic cat food, but since joining this group and talking to my boss (im an animal care tech at a shelter), i'm working on switching her over to the fancy feast classic wet food. gave her a can tonight and she loved it.

 

[Tom & Thomas (GA)]

That's great!

If you don't know the site, Dr Lisa Pierson's catinfo.org has a lot of great information about nutrition, including specific to diabetic cats. She also has some good guidelines, that I've been trying to follow, for managing litter boxes.

 

[Gracie85]

The kitten can eat the same kind of diet as the adult cat. However, kittens need a lot more calories to keep up with the energy level and growing that they have to do. So you need to figure out a way to give the kitten more without ending up with a fat adult cat. We are feeding our new 8 month old kitten FF wet food, but she has a bowl of low-carb dry food available at all times as well, that the adult cats cannot get to (managing this is tricky, yes, but if they do get to it, it's still a safe kind for them). Maggie, the kitten, eats as much FF as the adult cats even tho she weighs half as much, plus a significant amount of dry (we let her free feed so she gets whatever she wants/needs), and is still skinny as anything. Kittens definitely burn off a lot more food.

 

[Jess Ryans]

The kitten can eat the same kind of diet as the adult cat. However, kittens need a lot more calories to keep up with the energy level and growing that they have to do. So you need to figure out a way to give the kitten more without ending up with a fat adult cat. We are feeding our new 8 month old kitten FF wet food, but she has a bowl of low-carb dry food available at all times as well, that the adult cats cannot get to (managing this is tricky, yes, but if they do get to it, it's still a safe kind for them). Maggie, the kitten, eats as much FF as the adult cats even tho she weighs half as much, plus a significant amount of dry (we let her free feed so she gets whatever she wants/needs), and is still skinny as anything. Kittens definitely burn off a lot more food.

We will definitely be looking into that as well. May i ask what brand/kind of low carb dry food you feed your kitten?

 

[Gracie85]

What we have is Tiki Cat Fish Luau, which is not quite low enough to be a regular low carb dry food, but it's lower than many and so won't be the worst thing in the world if the diabetic cat gets to it (he's not on insulin, diet has controlled him, at least for now). When first trying to transition the diabetic cat to lower carb and working on getting him to eat wet food, this was the best option we could find locally (small town here, not a lot of choices). Big cats just suddenly took to wet food one day, so we had two big bags of the Tiki cat hanging around, so that's what kitten is getting as her freely available food, in addition to the 2+ cans of FF a day. Maggie, the 8 month old kitten, weighs less than 6 pounds (was under 5 when we got her last month) but eats as much FF as our 10 and 12 pound cats, PLUS then a significant amount of the dry, tho it varies from day to day as to just how much. Kittens need A LOT more calories than adults.

 

[Gracie85]

If your new kitten is significantly smaller than your adult cat, you could do what we did, long ago, when we had tiny kittens and a very big fat cat. We got a cheap, dollar-store laundry basket, and a tray that it fit (as if the tray was its lid). Turned the basket upside down on the tray, and taped them together. Cut a kitten-sized hole in the basket. Since Fat Callie was a very big cat to begin with, and then fat as well (we adopted her that way, over 18 pounds!) she couldn't fit through the kitten hole. Kept the kitten food bowls inside the basket, so that their high-calorie kitten dry food was always available to them. As they grew, we enlarged the hole just enough for them, while still keeping Fat Callie out. Callie did learn to reach through the holes of the basket to snag the food bowl and drag it to the hole, and then stick just her head in to eat. So we had to tape the food bowls down in the back of the basket as well, so they wouldn't move.
This trick worked until the kittens were full grown and we could let them all share the same food. During those months we put Fat Callie on a diet/diet food, and got her down to 14 pounds, where she stayed the rest of her life; she had gotten fat because the lady who adopted her before us was just grossly overfeeding her treats and kitty junk food.