New diabetic cat in the UK- diet advice please.

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catgirl

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Hello
I’m new here, live in the UK and my 10 year old Bengal cat, Ziggi, has just been diagnose with Diabetes. I have fed him wet canned food all of his life but recently switched over predominantly to Royal Canin Digestive Comfort, as both the breeders of my recent two kittens fed this to their adult cats and I thought it would be a good idea to switch my two eldest to this diet as well so that all four were eating the same. Now, six months later I find that Ziggi has diabetes.
After reading up on this most of today I’ve come to the conclusion, (and also going with a very strong gut feeling), that this switch to dried food is the cause and I’ve decided to go back to Felix wet food for them all.
In Ziggi’s case I have decided to give ‘Felix As Good as it Looks’ Kitten food pouches, which is high in protein and has no cereal, and I will mix it with 50% raw meat (which he loves) and also add some Taurine and feed this twice a day.
I’ve talked to my vet about trying this to control it this way and he has agreed that I should try this for the next week to ten days and then he will test his blood again and see if there is any improvement. I’m quite aware that he may well have to go onto insulin but as this is new I want to try diet first.
I would appreciate your thoughts about this idea, especially as to whether you think this kitten food is good enough.
Thank you
 
Re: New diabetic cat - diet advice please.

Hi there

Yes, the food change is likely the culprit but I'm just guessing as I don't have the nutritional info infront of me. But you aren't alone, diet is the reason for many of our cats becoming diabetic...for mine it was 'dental' food which is cr*p by the way :)

I think your plan is sound but.....that said, it depends on the condition of your cat's pancreas, which we cannot determine. It may be that food change is sufficient but if it isn't, you will be wasting valuable treatment time. Plus if it isn't enough your cat could suffer some side effects like liver issues and ketones. If you do decide to wait (not an unreasonable choice) you need to watch clincial symptoms (lethargy, hair condition, peeing and water intake, appetite, etc) as well as test urine for ketones. If anything gets worse, immediately get some insulin into your cat, and preferably one of the longer lasting insulins.

Does this help? There are lots of FDMB members in the UK who can help

Jen
 
Re: New diabetic cat - diet advice please.

Thank you so much for such a quick reply Jen!
The reason I took him to the vets in the first place is because he was drinking lot, peeing a lot, not eating much and looking thin. The vet found a bit of a temperature and gave him an antibiotic shot. A few days later the picked up and is looking his old self with his appetite back. In the mean time the blood tests came back showing the early stages of Diabetes. Having no idea about this condition I decided to spend today on the internet finding out as much about it as possible and very alarmed to read so much about how bad for cats dried food is.
I hate to write this next sentence down as this was the first thing the vet discovered and I had been trying to come to terms with this news when the double whammy of Diabetes came up. The vet discovered a tumour in his abdomen area. Today he said that it would be best if he had a biopsy and this is something else we will talk about – but that is another separate issue and not the subject of this thread.
Ziggi is looking well and on our daily walk in the fields today he raced up the field towards me after he had been to the toilet. He is really back to his old self – except for the drinking of course.
I will let you know how the diet is progressing. Thank you again for your input!
 
Re: New diabetic cat - diet advice please.

Oh I am sorry about the tumour...indeed a double whammy! But you can post about that, even if in a separate thread, as we've got experience (collectively) with just about every feline health issue. Some tumours are totally treatable and some aren't but we're here to help with both the tumour and the diabetes.

Come on back as often as you need

Jen
 
Re: New diabetic cat - diet advice please.

I have only one suggestion for you .... I would change my subject line to read New diabetic cat in UK

That way, you will catch the eyes of others closer to you who will know more about availabilities for you.
 
BRILLIANT.... fantastic links with invaluable advice. Especially the way to work out carbs, which is something that has been bugging me as there is no info about this on any of the foods I'm been looking at. My choice of Felix 'Good as it Looks' KITTEN food (not the regular) shows a carb rate of 2.5 so I'm very happy with the choice I've made. I shall also check out the Butchers Choice.
(By the way - the Geosite link doesn't work as Yahoo stopped site hosting a while ago which is a shame as there are a few geosite links I found yesterday that went nowhere).
If you would like to see Ziggi and the rest of my cat family please have a look at my website and you will see how very special this lovely boy is!
http://www.bengalcat.me.uk
Thank you for the great links!
 
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