Need Best Priced Catfood for Diabetic Cat

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justadreamer1021

Member Since 2012
We just had our cat Frodo be diagnosed with diabetes. We are not sure what and how much to feed him. We have 18 cats (spayed/ neutered/ shots) so we have to watch expenses. Can anyone tell me the best route to go? He normally ate dry but it sounds like canned is better. I have never dealt with a diabetic animal and with having so many could use all the advice you can offer. We have given him a room of his own until we think he is stabalized. He gets insulin twice a day at exactly 6 am and 6 pm. He is male and 9 years old, long hair, black and white. Forgive me if I am reposting something that has already been posted before, but I am limited on computer time. If anyone would like to email direct my email is debbiebrian@embarqmail.com
Thank you
 
all your cats would do well to be on a wet lo carb canned. this will save future medical bills that would cost a lot more than the food the most cost effective would be walmarts special kitty in the large cans. then friskies, nine lives and fancy feast and it goes on up. here is a list from janet and binky of low carb canned.
there is an old and a new chart to check
hope this helps
 
Here is Binky's canned food charts: http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html

Here is the Pet Food Nutritional Values chart.

On both, just look at the column for carbs and choose the ones that have a number 10 or less. Some inexpensive brands to feed are Special Kitty (from Wal Mart), Fancy Feast, and Friskies.

For a large multi-cat household, a brand that is available in larger sized cans (like 5 oz or 13 oz) are more cost effective. Wellness and Innova EVO are two brands, among others, that are available in the larger sized cans as well as the 3 oz cans. Some pet stores will let you buy a case of food to save money over buying individual cans.

What insulin is your cat is on? What is the insulin dose?
 
I have a large cat household as well, and expect I have financed construction of a wing at the vet's office - or at least pay someone's salary! Although I'd love to feed everyone Fancy Feast, it's not an option. I've had to change the feeding routine from continuous grazing in multiple locations to scheduled (or somewhat scheduled) feedings in fewer places. Grayson, my sugarcat, gets fed in the kitchen or dining room with another cat that's been on Royal Canin Urinary ($$$) for several months. Paulo has now been changed to Fancy Feast Classics as well, at a significant savings, and he seems to be doing just as well.

After they've eaten, and the other food is picked up, the dogs vacuum up any remaining kibble (otherwise Grayson woudl seek it out!), everyone mingles, and life is pretty normal. It took some of the others a little while to catch on, but now they know when there's food, they should eat!

It's not the most ideal, but it works and fits into my budget. An arrangement like this may not be perfect for you, but might be an option to consider.

Hope this helps.

Lu-Ann
 
Pretty furry family here as well, 13 cats of my own, 1 foster momma kitty and her 2 kittens that are just starting to get solid food as well as one 87lb drooler. Everyone here except the drooler eats just plain old Friskies Pate style canned, unfortunately they have deemed that they don't like the flavors that come in the large cans :roll:

So I was able to strike a deal with one of our local farm stores (Tractor Supply) if I buy 5 cases at a time I get a 20% discount. Which not only helps with the costs, it also makes it really handy for me to be able to run in grab the shrink wrapped case and get on with the weekend...lol. They also carry 40lb boxes of scoopable Tidy Cat so I hand them add 3 boxes of that to my weekly order so it qualifies for the discount as well.

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang
 
Thanks for all the replies. Frodo is on generic humulin n vial u-100inj. He gets 3 (ml) units, twice a day. He is really filling his litter box with urine and drinking alot. Any suggestions on litter brands?
Is it better to set specific feeding times?

Thanks.
Debbie
 
If you have cats with urinary problems you should definately put them all on wet canned food!
My cat had couple of urinary tract infections and almost an entire year of idiopathic cystitis and all this time I was feeding her Royal Canin Urinary S/O which didn't help at all. When I gave her Hill's s/d (canned food), the problems were solved, but at that time I had no idea wet food could prevent many problems so I put her on very expensive Royal canin VetDiet Neuteured senior (or something like that) again, it was dry food, and again she started to have urinary problems, then dandruff, then diabetes. It was so obvious she wasn't a big drinker but I just didn't understand that if she got well hydrated I could have avoided many diseases!
I really encourage you to switch all of your cats to wet food! Especially for the ones with urinary and diabetes problems!

Citation from http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm:
The water content of the commercial foods commonly fed to cats varies from 8% in dry foods to over 75% in canned foods; thus the amount of drinking water required is affected substantially by the water content of the food. When fed canned food (80% moisture) with access to drinking water, cats obtain over 90% of their total water intake from the diet, whereas on dry food, 96% of the total water intake is obtained by drinking. The total free water intake (from food and drinking water) decreases when cats are fed dry food only, so that the water to dry matter intake ratio when fed on commercial dry foods varies from 2.0 to 2.8: 1 whereas on canned foods it varies from 3. 0 to 5.7: 1. Thus for any given dry matter intake cats have a higher water turnover on canned than on dry foods. (National Research Council [National Academy of Science] Nutrient Requirements of Cats).

Diet moisture content is related to the observation that cats fed dry food drink more than six times more water than cats fed canned food but that much of this water contributes to fecal moisture so that urine volume is lower and urine specific gravity higher in cats fed dry food. The urine concentration of all solutes, including potentially calculogenic crystalloids, depends on urine volume.

Cats increase voluntary water intake when fed dry food but not in sufficient amounts to fully compensate for the lower moisture content of the food. In a recent study, cats consuming a diet containing 10% moisture with free access to drinking water had an average daily urine volume of 63 milliliters (ml). This volume increased to 112 ml/day when fed a canned diet with a moisture content of 75%. Urine specific gravity was also higher in cats that were fed the low-moisture food. Decreased urine volume may be an important risk factor for the development of urolithiasis in cats. Diets that cause a decrease in total fluid turnover can result in decreased urine volume and increased urine concentration, both of which may contribute to urinary tract disease in cats. Several studies have shown that dry cat foods contribute to decreased fluid intake and urine volume.
Click to expand...
And for more info on feline nutrition :
http://dels-old.nas.edu/dels/rpt_briefs ... _final.pdf
http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm

Since I live in Europe I cant really share references for cheap low carb canned food. But if even here in Switzerland (where everything is way more expensive then in the States) if even I, can find food for 1$/day, I'm sure you can find cheaper food, and maybe even better quality for a portion of that price!
 
While we're on the subject, which Friskies canned foods are best for diabetic cats? Casey's on Fancy Feast Classic now, but I'd like to add a little variety to the menu...plus I'm going through a LOT of those little 3 oz. cans!!

Thanks!
 
ohiogal said:
While we're on the subject, which Friskies canned foods are best for diabetic cats? Casey's on Fancy Feast Classic now, but I'd like to add a little variety to the menu...plus I'm going through a LOT of those little 3 oz. cans!!
Click to expand...

Yeah, those 3 oz cans end up being way more costly than bigger sized cans because you go through so much @-)

Have you seen the list of Friskies on Binky's "new" food chart? http://binkyspage.tripod.com/CanFoodNew.html Whatever variety is under 10% carbs is good. There are some in gravy/sauce that are under 10% carbs but I wouldn't feed those just to be on the safe side.
 
Do you guys have 30oz or even bigger formats in the States? I mean low carb canned food that becomes affordable because of the huge size of cans?
Justadreamer here has 18 cats! 3oz cans for 18 cats would be hard to manage and probably way too expensive!
 
Frodo our diabetic kitty died the day before my birthday. He was such a sweet cat. He wouldn't eat very well so we took him to the vet. We had been syringe feeding him. Our regular vet was out on medical leave. Another vet in the practice treated him, but Frodo got so scared. They had to give him oxygen because the vet turned him over on his back which caused him to almost pass out. The guy decided to give him an enema. Poor kitty - he started throwing up during. Stuff was coming out both ends. Frodo had a documented heart condition. After the enema the vet used a tool called V.O.M. on him. Manipulation tool used for chiropractic medicine. The vets reasoning was he was going to try to "wake Frodo's body up and maybe it would make him want to eat." The whole thing threw Frodo into a heart attack or stroke and he died right then.
Now you want to believe that vets know what they are doing, but my husband and I question this. I cried so long and hard. I feel guilty because I trusted the vet. Frodo was about 11 or 12. A few months previously the other vet removed 6 of his teeth. She said they were bad and needed to come out. He wasn't eating the best before, but was eating on his own. You just don't know what to think. I feel like we contributed to his death. I know he had diabetes but ................

Does the treatment our cat got sound normal or unreasonable????
 
Actually none of what you described sounds normal for a cat not eating on its own. Normally in my experience if a cat isn't eating on his own and syringe feeding and meds to spark the appetite aren't working they put in a feeding tube. I think I would be contacting my state's Veterinary Board and ask them to look into this clinics treatment practices.

Just my 2 cents.

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
Frodo died

Frodo had cardio myopathy (spelled wrong) so they said that's why they didn't use the feeding tube. We have had other cats we have had to syringe feed. Usually they started eating on their own after some time. I really question the V.O.M. tool. It is a hand held gun of sorts that they shoot off and it puts pressure on the spine, etc... It sounds like a electric stapler or something to that affect. We live in Ohio (rural area). Good vets are rare and most push the same treatment. The vet that treated Frodo said he was "reaching" but that he wanted to try this - that he thought it might help. There was another vet there but she works for the first. She didn't say much, but I got the impression that she would have done things differently. I can't understand why he would do an enema and then this VOM after Frodo had almost passed out, had oxygen, plus was throwing up. The look on his face - it was horrible and I knew he was dying. I just want other opinions as to what they think of all of this. We have gone to this practice for 10+ yrs. The ladt vet that is partnered with the male vet has always done good by us but this makes me question whether to start looking for another....

Any other input would be greatly appreciated
 
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