Low carb dry food

Status
Not open for further replies.
Susan Shropshire

Susan Shropshire

Member Since 2021
Leo in addition to being diabetic also has food allergies. It is really hard to find a wet food that doesn’t have ingredients he’s allergic to, and that he will eat.
He was eating Tiki cat born in Carnivore dry food that meets his allergy needs, and is 10% carbs. His numbers have still been high so we have tried to switch to a wet food diet to see if it would make a difference. I haven’t seen a huge difference in his numbers since switching over.

Does anyone else use a food that’s close to that carb percentage?
 
there are low carb options in dry food - Dr. Elsey's Cleanprotein (chicken flavour is < 5% carbs) and Wysong Epigen 90 (around 5% carbs). They are expensive but of better quality that other dry food (including prescription food).
 
Could you fill us in on what your cat is allergic to? Diana left out Young Again Zero Carb which is also about 5% carb.

It may also be that you've not yet found a dose that brings Leo's numbers down. It would also be helpful if you could get a test every night before you go to bed. You have no way of knowing if numbers are running lower at night.
 
Diane Tyler's Mom said:
there are low carb options in dry food - Dr. Elsey's Cleanprotein (chicken flavour is < 5% carbs) and Wysong Epigen 90 (around 5% carbs). They are expensive but of better quality that other dry food (including prescription food).
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info! Unfortunately I checked into Dr. Elsey's and they have a pork protein isolate and he is allergic to Beef, Pork and all fish except Salmon. The Wysong has a meat protein isolate so that would be a gamble too. Could be chicken but could also be beef and/or pork.
That is what is so hard with him. It's hard to find a food that works for everything. The TIki Cat has been the closest.

These were the # averages comparisons before the wet food switch and after:

BS Dry Food 383 vs 314 Wet Food Diet
+2 371 vs 383 WF
+4 383 vs 281 WF
+6 329 vs 365 WF
+8 352 vs 306 WF
PS 356 vs 326 WF


So I didn't see a huge difference. Not enough to chance his mouth being aggravated because that could start an entire new issue to deal with. I may try transitioning him back to the dry food.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
Could you fill us in on what your cat is allergic to? Diana left out Young Again Zero Carb which is also about 5% carb.

It may also be that you've not yet found a dose that brings Leo's numbers down. It would also be helpful if you could get a test every night before you go to bed. You have no way of knowing if numbers are running lower at night.
Click to expand...
He is allergic to Beef, Pork and all fish except Salmon.

I was hoping changing from the 10% carbs to .5% would help bring the #s down but it hasn't made much of a difference. It will definitely be a higher dose to bring them down. Just need to keep adjusting till I get there.

I am working to get more #s at night. I am still getting used to tracking them since my previous vet really discouraged it. He said there were too many factors that would lead into the numbers and that clinical signs were the best way to check....ugh!

I have gotten #s over the last 2 nights. It seems it runs around the same but still need to test more to see the averages. What I have gotten the lowest was 240. He definitely needs a dose change. I did 4.5 units this morning and have gotten a +2 & +4 reading and it's around the same. I know it takes time to adjust so I'll check it over the next 3 days. I plan to do the 4.5 units again tonight and test at +6 and +8. It also seems that his #s initially go up when I do a dose change. I read something about a panicky liver so I wonder if that's it. They always seem to increase the first day or so.
 
I do wonder if there's a history of holding Leo's doses for too long. The biggest value of home testing is you KNOW how the insulin is affecting your cat's numbers (vs. clinical signs). (Doesn't your vet think that the reason people test their BG regularly is so they don't dose by intuition or observation? Cats are great at hiding their discomfort -- you might never know if your cat was in very low numbers based solely on clinical signs.) One of the problems with a cat sitting in high numbers is that glucose toxicity can develop. Basically, that means that your cat's system has gotten used to the higher ranges and it treats those high numbers as the new "normal." It can take a lot of perseverance to get the numbers down. Just keep chipping away at it.

FWIW, I don't know that I'd suggest increasing the dose by 1.0u especially since you're not getting PM tests. Unless a cat has a high dose condition, we usually don't increase by more than 0.5u.

Do you know if Leo could tolerate green lip mussels? They are the source of Omega-6 in ZiwiPeak foods. They have venison, rabbit and lamb, and lamb varieties. Koha is a relatively new brand and they have limited ingredient varieties that would be OK with Leo's allergies. It looks like most are under 10% carb.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
I do wonder if there's a history of holding Leo's doses for too long. The biggest value of home testing is you KNOW how the insulin is affecting your cat's numbers (vs. clinical signs). (Doesn't your vet think that the reason people test their BG regularly is so they don't dose by intuition or observation? Cats are great at hiding their discomfort -- you might never know if your cat was in very low numbers based solely on clinical signs.) One of the problems with a cat sitting in high numbers is that glucose toxicity can develop. Basically, that means that your cat's system has gotten used to the higher ranges and it treats those high numbers as the new "normal." It can take a lot of perseverance to get the numbers down. Just keep chipping away at it.

FWIW, I don't know that I'd suggest increasing the dose by 1.0u especially since you're not getting PM tests. Unless a cat has a high dose condition, we usually don't increase by more than 0.5u.

Do you know if Leo could tolerate green lip mussels? They are the source of Omega-6 in ZiwiPeak foods. They have venison, rabbit and lamb, and lamb varieties. Koha is a relatively new brand and they have limited ingredient varieties that would be OK with Leo's allergies. It looks like most are under 10% carb.
Click to expand...
Yeah I haven’t been happy with the 2 vets we have had. They don’t seem to take it seriously.
He has been on 4 units. I increased .5 units this morning so he is now at 4.5. I plan on keeping it there and doing nightly #s for 3-5 days.
With the higher #s. If I continue to increase the dose over time when It finally gets regulated could it come back down in dose amounts?
 
It should. Look at some of the other caregiver's spreadsheets -- especially those who have cats that are on OTJ trials. (They are more easily identified on the Lantus board or if you look in signatures, people will indicate if their cat is OTJ.)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top