Hello all I just joined this group because I’m concerned and confused. My male cat Sammy was just diagnosed with diabetes. I’m heartbroken.He was diagnosed a year ago with crystals in his urine so I gave him Hills dry cat food and wet food (which took care of it long time ago) and now he has diabetes and I’ve been reading and wondering if that food is what caused his diabetes because of the high carbs. My vet suggested Hills M/D now but I’ve read some bad things about it. She also said I could give him Purina pro plan DM or royal canin. I’m here to ask your help and if any of you have or had a cat that had both Crystal issues and now diabetes. I have to get something that will work for him now with his diabetes. I’m hoping some of you have some good stories for me and what has worked for you for food especially if you used Purina pro plan DM or even Hills MD I guess as much as I don’t want to give him that now, but I will listen to any of you and I will appreciate any help you can give me because my stomach‘s in knots and I just love my kitty and want to have him for many more years if possible. I wanted to add he is not an overweight cat at all in fact he’s on the thin side which I know is unusual for a diabetic cat, and I’m also worried that the food will make him lose more weight which he can’t. Thank you all so much!
Need help with my make cat and food.
- Thread starter Jh1220
- Start date
squeem3
Member Since 2009
Prescription food isn't need at all for either diabetes or urinary issues, dry or canned. Those foods have no ingredient that are beneficial to either condition. Some reading:
Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition – Common Sense. Healthy Cats.
Cat Urinary Tract Diseases: Cystitis, Urethral Obstruction, Urinary Tract Infection
Feline Diabetes- treatment and prevention in cats
A low carb canned food only diet is best for both the diabetes and urinary issues. No dry food at all. A high moisture diet, which canned food is, helps keep the urinary tract healthy. It's ok to disagree with the vet about food
A high carb dry food only diet is often the cause of diabetes. Don't beat yourself up over feeding dry food in the past.
There are lots of brands of low carb canned food that you can feed your cat: Fancy Feast Classic / Gourmet, Friskies, Blue Buffalo, Weruva, etc. If you're outside the US, there are good brands available in other countries. The food charts are here: Links to FOOD CHARTS Any food with less than 10% carbs is best for a diabetic.
Has your cat started insulin yet? If not, you can easily do a diet change now. Sometimes that's enough to put the cat into remission. Other times it lowers the blood glucose levels down a bit and a brief period of insulin is needed before the cat goes into remission.
Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition – Common Sense. Healthy Cats.
Cat Urinary Tract Diseases: Cystitis, Urethral Obstruction, Urinary Tract Infection
Feline Diabetes- treatment and prevention in cats
A low carb canned food only diet is best for both the diabetes and urinary issues. No dry food at all. A high moisture diet, which canned food is, helps keep the urinary tract healthy. It's ok to disagree with the vet about food
A high carb dry food only diet is often the cause of diabetes. Don't beat yourself up over feeding dry food in the past.
There are lots of brands of low carb canned food that you can feed your cat: Fancy Feast Classic / Gourmet, Friskies, Blue Buffalo, Weruva, etc. If you're outside the US, there are good brands available in other countries. The food charts are here: Links to FOOD CHARTS Any food with less than 10% carbs is best for a diabetic.
Has your cat started insulin yet? If not, you can easily do a diet change now. Sometimes that's enough to put the cat into remission. Other times it lowers the blood glucose levels down a bit and a brief period of insulin is needed before the cat goes into remission.
The information that Squeem3 posted is pretty much exactly what I would have said. She provided links to a great website on feline nutrition. There's more and more publicity about avoiding a dry food diet for cats. Most dry food is high in carbohydrates and has almost no moisture. You would never think to feed a human diabetic a diet of cookies, potatoes, and grains and that's generally what's in kibble (along with a lot of other unsavory ingredients). Cats are obligate carnivores and can't metabolize carbs. They need a high quality protein diet. This is especially the case for diabetic cats. So, picking a food that is low in carbs is essential for managing your cat's diabetes.
Cats also have a limited thirst drive. Adding water even to a canned food diet is good for their kidneys and can help to offset the development of crystals.
Cats also have a limited thirst drive. Adding water even to a canned food diet is good for their kidneys and can help to offset the development of crystals.
One week after Neko got her diabetes diagnosis, her partner in crime got his cystitis diagnosis, and the vet promptly put him on Royal Canin C/D. Neko was a food maniac, always pushing him out of his bowl to get at his horribly high carb food. I asked his vet what both cats could eat for both conditions. I didn't want to be food police every day. She suggested raw food, so that's what I switched to. Later on I read the catinfo website linked above, and found that it could also be canned and low carb was key. It also helped if it was lower in phosphorus. I also added plenty of water to help flush out crystals and water was good for Neko too. Note that some of the foods referenced above (Fancy Feast) are rather higher in phosphorus.
Side bonus of switching the crystals kitty to raw/all low carb was he slowly lost some of the excess weight he had when I adopted him.
Side bonus of switching the crystals kitty to raw/all low carb was he slowly lost some of the excess weight he had when I adopted him.