Lower carb food = weight loss and increased BGs, Higher carb food = better BGs?

[Shadowboy]

Hi
Have any of you experienced this? Shadow needed to lose a little weight (per the vet) and always seemed hungry as I decreased the volume of his food - he was on EVO at the time. So I switched him to Weruva. This is lower carb so he was able to get a bigger volume and I thought he might feel more satisified with that (didn't work)

On the Weruva he started losing a LOT of weight, and kept losing even though I was up to 2- 3oz cans twice a day. Also, he's BGs were higher and we were up to 1.5 units of insulin at one point.

I decided to switch him back to EVO and he has started gaining weight back and his BGs are coming down. He's down to .75 units insulin and I think headed to another decrease tonight.

Any thoughts as to why he would require more insulin when getting less carbs?

 

[Erica & Carter]

Just speaking from experience, I had Carter on Weruva BFF and Tiki Cat for the first few weeks of diagnosis, which most flavours are somewhere between 0-3% carbs. I switched him over to FF classics which are around 5% carbs, and his numbers have decreased dramatically (see SS) even though FF has higher carbs than the BFF/Tiki Cat. I read a thread on here somewhere about how some cats do better with a little more carbs to even them out.

 

[Critter Mom]

Saoirse is another cat that has better BG levels if she eats food with around 4% kcal from carbs. Unfortunately the only food she'll eat consistently for me is 1.6%.


Mogs
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[Chris & China (GA)]

Some cats actually do better getting higher carbs....Very low carb isn't the best thing for each cat

Looks like Shadow is one that needs a few carbs in his diet!

 

[Elizabeth and Bertie]

Yes, it certainly does happen that some cats have higher BG's on a very low carb diet.
This is one of a number of reasons why the advice to feed foods with 'less than 10% calories from carbs' is only the beginning of the story...

Other factors that can raise BG include; the variability of a given food from batch to batch; food intolerances; and the type of carb in the food. ('All carbs are not created equal.'). Some carbs may cause BG spikes in a cat where other carbs may not. And once the BG has spiked, the insulin has to 'work harder' to bring that spike down.

Many cats seem to do well with foods that have between 4% to 6% calories from carbs. But when working out what foods work best for our cats it really is a matter of trying foods and seeing what happens... Those of us who hometest are very lucky in that we can actually see the effects of different foods and adjust the diet accordingly.

See this link to a discussion, 'Low Carb vs Lower Carb':
Feeding Lowest/Zero Carb vs Lower Carb Foods

Eliz

 

[Julia & Bandit (GA)]

Because carbs do vary a bit between batches of food, I wouldn't stress about the carb counts in canned foods as long as they are all less than 10 percent. Some cats have trouble with the 9-10% range, depending on the ingredients, but generally as long as the canned food is under 10%, it's all going to pretty much be the same in terms of how it affects BG. (Lower carb dry is different, but that's another conversation that's been had many, many times in other threads).

The problem could have also been that he wasn't getting enough food when he was on the Weruva. I'm not sure what flavor(s) Weruva you were feeding, but most of it is much lower calorie than other canned foods. Unless your cat is very small, 2 3 oz cans a day doesn't seem like enough food if you're feeding most kinds of Weruva. Bandit's ideal weight is 11.5 lbs and he has a pretty slow metabolism at this point in his life, and he eats less than my 9 lb cat does to maintain his weight. He maintains a good weight with 1 -5.5. oz can of Wellness a day, but I have to feed him about 8-10 oz a day of most Weruva flavors to maintain the same weight. Weruva is great for weight loss in cats, and for maintaining a healthy weight for cats prone to obesity, but it's not so great for cats that need to gain weight. EVO and Wellness, on the other hand, are high in calories great foods for weight gain.

 

[Shadowboy]

Thanks! It will be interesting to see how things go now that he's back on the EVO. He seems to be "happier" when he's a little heavier. Even our vet has said, when he's 1/2-1lb over his "ideal" he seems healthier and happier.