Message from an old member ...

[Albert's Mum]

I'm not sure if anyone on here will remember me and my beloved cat Albert who sadly crossed the rainbow bridge in 2007. It was such a scary time when he was diagnosed with DM, I went in to complete panic, he and I had such a bond. Everyone on here was so amazing, and for the next two years helped me day and sometimes night, to get through, hypos, curves, horrible numbers which went up and down like a roller coaster. I even gave up my job to work from home and after two years he started to need less and less insulin. Sadly in the end he was taken very quickly with a tumour and I was devastated BUT if anything good can be said about FD, it did make our bond even closer.

I can't remember my old login name and details so apologies for any confusion. Anyway, to get to the point! Up until the end of last year I worked as a receptionist in a small animal hospital and gave out details of this board many times! Just before I left, I listened to a web seminar about FD which was put on by the pet food company Royal Canin in the UK but with invited independent vets and experts. I'm not a fan of dry food at all so I was interested in what the experts would say and I thought I could pass this on to you all. The expert was Grant Petrie (based in London) who offers a Diabetes Referral and Advisory Service, he can be reached via email vets@londonvetclinic.co.uk A couple of things he said:
* Burmese are most likely to get DM with a frequency of 1 in 50. Compared to generally 1 in 200 cats.
* Male neutered cats weighing more than 5kg are also at higher risk.
* Weigh your cat regularly (he said VERY IMPORTANT) - as an early indicator of problems. He said, get a bowl with a towel in, put on your scales and set to zero, then put cat in and quickly get your reading!!!
* He said DIABETIC REMISSION IN CATS IS HIGHLY POSSIBLE. (Not often so in dogs). Diet and physical activity is important to remission and can prevent DM. Obese cats are 3-5 times more at risk of DM than that of a lean cat. Normalise their weight. Calorie count versus physical activity. Aim for a 1-2% reduction in weight weekly.
* Considering it was a food company hosting the webinar and primarily dry food, I was really glad he was asked the question - wet or dry food? He admitted his first preference is wet food for cats, it is easier to satisfy their hunger whilst achieving a high protein/low carb diet. He then took it further to say we need to mirror what cats eat in the wild because they aren't overweight and to feed twice a day.
* He was asked what to give a thin diabetic cat and said 50% wet and 50% dry (high protein low carb) and the 'ideal' is split feeding through the day.
* Nutrition doesn't have the same effect on dogs with DM as cats.
* He mentioned The Bennett Study which can be found here http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16275041
* this is the email address for the Feline Diabetes Remission Clinic at the Royal Veterinary College fdrc@rvc.ac.uk
I'm sure lots of this won't be 'news' to most people but I thought Grant Petrie may be a helpful contact and I just wanted to share that with you. www.londonvetclinic.co.uk (do a search on the site for diabetes) his email again is vets@londonvetclinic.co.uk and put FAO Grant Petrie.
Hugs to everyone and cuddle your little puss cats, it's the best medicine for both of you xx

 

[BJM]

Thanks!

 

[KPassa]

Thanks for sharing! I know there are a few UK members here who have applied for the RVC trial and this might be of particular interest to them, as well.

 

[KPassa]

By week 16, significantly more of the cats fed the LC-LF food (68%, 22/31), compared to the cats fed the MC-HF food (41%, 13/32), had reverted to a non-insulin-dependent state (P = 0.03). Cats in both groups were successfully taken off of insulin regardless of age, sex, type of insulin administered or duration of clinical disease before entering the study.

I also wanted to add that the Bennett Study is a great resource to have because I've seen too often on other sites where vets mention there's "no proof that low carb does anything to lower BGs" (usually in the comments section on pro-low carb food articles). Too bad it doesn't mention what those cats had been fed before the canned food (i.e. the remission rate might also be from switching from dry food to canned food for the study).