Is This Healthy?

[G3rtrud3]

We are trying to transition my Gertrude onto wet food before we start her on insulin. (I read that's the better thing to do since changing their food while on the medication isn't a very good idea. We only found out Gertrude has diabetes a few days ago.) So my mom and I went ahead and bought Fancy Feast Pate for her. Is that a good wet food choice? Gertrude currently weighs around 15 pounds, and I believe she needs to drop to around 10. Correct me if that sounds wrong/too much weight loss. We calculated it, and for Gertrude to stay the same weight, she would need 5 cans a day. We have another cat that we are trying to get on wet food, so we can't feed her 5 cans a day. Also, we need her to lose weight because of her condition. My mom wants to feed her 2 cans a day instead of 5. One can in the morning and one can at night. Is this healthy to drop her required amount of food by this much? Will Gertrude be starved/hungry all the time? Will she lose weight too fast and have further issues? (She is a black cat, and her breed is mixed, but we think she is mostly bombay) We both honestly don't even know how many calories she needs in a day so please help!

 

[Harley Baby & Michele]

Fancy Feast Pate is fine. Friskies Pate is also good and less expensive. If you have not already seen them, below are 2 excellent resources for food.

I looked up Fancy Feast Classic Pate Chicken: recommendation is 1 can for every 3# of body weight. So your math is correct for a 15# kitty.

The problem is your Kitty has probably been diabetic for a long time. Cats are actually starving because their bodies are not correctly utilizing the fuel from the food. That is frequently why diabetic cats lose weight. My Harley lost around 6-8# before correct diagnosis.

I understand your Kitty needs to lose some weight. Cats MUST lose weight very slowly, or they risk developing a serious medical issue. Forgive me, as I am very tired, but can't sleep, and the name of the issue has left my brain!

**My inclination is to forget about losing weight at this time. Focus on getting the diabetes regulated. I hope others can chime in on this??

https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

https://catinfo.org/feline-diabetes/

 

[Harley Baby & Michele]

BTW: It is not strictly ideal, but you can also use a dry kibble if Gertrude just will not eat the canned. I use Dr Elseys' Clean Protein Chicken Kibble. It is very low carb. It is expensive but lasts a long time. I think the 4 cats eat less as it may be more satisfying and nutritionally dense.

Harley is an incredibly fussy eater. I need to do whatever it takes to make him eat. For example, every morning I put down fresh canned food. Today, he refused to touch it. Then I put down chicken, refused again. Sat down to my breakfast and the thieving butt head grabbed my bacon, twice. Yeah, I let him eat it. It sure did smell good.

https://www.drelseys.com/learn-more/

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

I agree with what @Harley Baby & Michele has said. Do not let Gertrude loss weight too quickly or you will have other problems to contend with. 1 can of FF night and morning is not enough. Diabetic cats can be starving when they are first diagnosed. The friskies pate is cheaper I think if you are concerned with cost. But make sure he gets enough food. Change over now before the insulin starts.
Have you decided to home test the blood sugars?

 

[Larry and Kitties]

Regarding weight loss, you have to do it slowly. Starting be only feeding two FF cans a day is too fast

Implementing a Safe Weight Loss Program
Please pay close attention to the area around your cat’s backbone and the back of his head. Establish a baseline ‘feel’ for this top line area before you start his weight loss program. If these areas become excessively prominent, this is a sign of muscle mass loss which can be an indication of protein malnutrition.The key is to go slowly with a goal of no more than 1-2% weight loss per week.

The above is from the following also which provides additional info
https://catinfo.org/feline-obesity-an-epidemic-of-fat-cats/

 

[G3rtrud3]

I agree with what @Harley Baby & Michele has said. Do not let Gertrude loss weight too quickly or you will have other problems to contend with. 1 can of FF night and morning is not enough. Diabetic cats can be starving when they are first diagnosed. The friskies pate is cheaper I think if you are concerned with cost. But make sure he gets enough food. Change over now before the insulin starts.
Have you decided to home test the blood sugars?

Our vet recommended home testing so we be doing it. If we stretch the two cans out to three meals a day would that be better, or is two cans simply not enough food period?

 

[Bama Kitty Mom (GA)]

Lots of kitties eat 3 or 4 meals per day. Another low cost alternative canned food is Walmart's Special Kitty pates. I believe someone on the forums here feeds it but I can't remember who it is.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Our vet recommended home testing so we be doing it. If we stretch the two cans out to three meals a day would that be better, or is two cans simply not enough food period?

That's great you will be testing the blood sugars!
Two cans a day is simply not enough. And it isn't safe .....you could cause other problems which could be very unsafe for Gertrude. Cats must lose weight slowly to avoid problems. At this point your main focus needs to be on finding a suitable low carb food (which you have done...maybe look for a few different cans), giving her enough to eat (which you are trying to sort out now) and then starting on the insulin and testing the blood sugars (which are in the pipeline). So you are getting there!
My 11 lb cat ate 3 cans a day of FF when I was feeding her canned, so Gertrude would need probably 4 or 5. Can you buy some larger cans of suitable cat food so it is more economical. If she is hungry at this point, she needs the food, as a newly diagnosed diabetic cat cannot utilise all the nutrients in the food until the blood sugars are more under control. Once the blood sugars are more under control she won't be as hungry.
Keep up the good work....you are doing really well trying to get Gertrude sorted out!

 

[Sylvie]

you figure out how many calories your cat needs by using:
13.76 x ideal weight (i would go with 11, that is what most female cats are on average except for larged bone ones and small breeds like tortoise) + 70 = total calories needed.
your cat needs at least 221 calories a day, cans of FF pates are on average 90 calories so 2 cans is only 180. since no insulin and not regulated, you should feed her 3 cans of FF a day for now even though that comes out to 270 calories (if able to; one for breakfast - 1/2 can mid day - 1/2 can later in day - 1 can before you go to bed). frequent meals are best for diabetic cats are constantly hungry and hunger pains are no fun plus can stress cat out to and make BG higher!! after you start insulin if needed and her BG is getting lowered, you can start lowering calories if no weight loss is happening but, if i recall correctly 180 is the lowest you can go for your average size cat.

btw if you did the math by her current weight and minus recommended 20% calorie deduction for weight loss, it would still come out to the same calories needed.