Making the switch to wet food

[Danica20]

Hello,
I plan on switching my Pinky off dry cat food onto wet. I've read that starting off you should do about 20% wet/ 80% dry. How long should I wait to do a higher percentage a wet food? A week? Or should I gradually to a higher percentage everyday? Basically how slow should I go? What has everyone's experience been with the switch?

 

[Geneva]

Danica - I switched 8 of my 9 cats to wet food only overnight. :lol: So far, no problems. I know that goes against the common advice given for such situations, so newcomers, please don't listen to me.

 

[KPassa]

Usually, it's suggested to adjust daily so that after about a week they're fully transitioned. If you go too fast, you run the risk of stomach upset (i.e. vomiting and/or diarrhea). I also switched one of my guys overnight and he (Henry) was mostly fine. Just had really stinky poo for a couple of weeks. :lol:

 

[Danica20]

Thanks for everyone's help. Today I just did 20/80 mix and I can't believe how much it has helped Pinky's numbers! :mrgreen: I feel the most hopeful for the first time since Pinky's diagnosis. I plan on taking it slow and have her fully transitioned in a week.

 

[Geneva]

Today I just did 20/80 mix and I can't believe how much it has helped Pinky's numbers! :mrgreen:

Yay for Pinky!

 

[Deb & Wink]

Keep a close eye on Pinky's BG numbers! As you decrease the amount of high carb dry and feed more wet, you will need to reduce the dose. Cats have been known to drop 100 points or more with the food switch. We don't want to see Pinky with a hypoglycemia episode.

 

[Danica20]

Keep a close eye on Pinky's BG numbers! As you decrease the amount of high carb dry and feed more wet, you will need to reduce the dose. Cats have been known to drop 100 points or more with the food switch. We don't want to see Pinky with a hypoglycemia episode.

I've been keeping a close eye on her bg numbers, she's been very high, over 500 on just dry food. With the 80/20 mix she's averaging in the low 400s. Should I go slower with the food switch? Or if I keep an eye on her numbers and gradually lower her insulin, will the original plan of having her switched in a week be fine? She's on 2 units of insulin now. Should I drop it to 1 or 1/2 units? The last thing I want is to see Pinky go into hypo.

 

[KPassa]

If you're really nervous, you can drop her down to 1u for the next week or so as you transition the food.

 

[BJM]

It looks like for 20% food change, you got as much as a 100 mg/dL drop.
If that progression continued (and it won't be exact!), the full switch might take it down to completely off insulin.
Maybe do another 20% and see if it goes down to 300s. When/if you get into the 200s, I'd start reducing the insulin; you don't want the glucose to go below 50 mg/dL at nadir, which is around +3 to +4 hours after the shot of Novolin.

 

[Danica20]

It looks like for 20% food change, you got as much as a 100 mg/dL drop.
If that progression continued (and it won't be exact!), the full switch might take it down to completely off insulin.
Maybe do another 20% and see if it goes down to 300s. When/if you get into the 200s, I'd start reducing the insulin; you don't want the glucose to go below 50 mg/dL at nadir, which is around +3 to +4 hours after the shot of Novolin.

Thanks I think this is a good plan. Her am test before insulin was 385. This is the first time her numbers have been decreasing since she was diagnosed. It's great but a little scary at the same time. I knew her numbers would drop with a start of her food switch but wow, I didn't think they'd go down so quick!

If she does make it to the 200s (fingers crossed) should I drop down to 1 unit or 1 1/2 units?

 

[Los Gatos]

What I did was to make him eat his wet in order to get to the kibble. 90% of the time he figures that out and cooperates.

 

[BJM]

Dose adjustments are made mostly based upon the nadir.

Every time the nadir (around +3 to +4 hours after the shot) gets below 50 he earns a 0.25 unit reduction.

If you can't test at the nadir and the pre-shot has dropped low enough that you're concerned, you might knock off 0.5 units, but it is better to make the decision using test data.

By the way - with Humulin/Novolin, you want to feed, wait about 30 minutes, and then shoot because of how fast and hard that insulin hits. This gets the food on board and matches it up a bit better with the insulin onset.