new here with newly diagnosed diabetic furbaby...

[Neeka]

Hi everyone, as I mentioned above, I am new to this page & forum & need some guidance primarily with food change. I have a multi-cat household (4) & Bailei, my oldest at 7 1/2 yoa was just diagnosed as diabetic. I am a previous vet tech so I have quiet a bit of medical background, but having a diabetic in the house is a new ballgame for me. He is currently on insulin (ProZinc) with a sliding dose based on BG. I test him every 12 hours & feed/dose accordingly. For example, last night he was 364, I fed him (canned food (9lives tuna/egg) & fresh boiled chicken breast) & gave him 2 units. This morning, he was 97, so I fed him (same thing) & did not give any insulin. We're doing his curve this weekend to try pin down his nadir, but in the meantime, I am testing every 12hours. My main question is diet, considering I have 3 other adults cats living in a communal home. Bailei will continue to be on a predominantly wet diet (canned food morning & night) but I need a suitable dry to leave out for everyone else that will not sabotage his numbers. The others also get canned food at night, but they are all used to eating dry food. I have done a lot of research, I DO NOT want to use the DM or WD RX diets the vet has recommended, but have narrowed it down to these 2 food brands: Wysong Epigen 90 (guaranteed analysis 63p-16f-3fi-10m) & Orijen Cat & Kitten (40p-20f-3fi-10m). They are similar in price & both are very low carb diets. To me, the Orijen appears to have better main ingredients (more meat sources), but I wanted to get opinions from the board as to which would be "better" considering my household. Thank you in advance!!

 

[majandra]

Welcome!

A bit off topic, but are you able to test more often than 12 hours? From what I have read on here, with him being that low at amps, he could have dropped even lower during the night. Someone with personal experience can give good advice on that.

I have heard a lot of good things in my town about Orijen, though not in a diabetic context. The other brand is unavailable where I am.

 

[Neeka]

Welcome!

A bit off topic, but are you able to test more often than 12 hours? From what I have read on here, with him being that low at amps, he could have dropped even lower during the night. Someone with personal experience can give good advice on that.

I have heard a lot of good things in my town about Orijen, though not in a diabetic context. The other brand is unavailable where I am.

No, during the week bc I'm at work. I'm doing his curve this weekend so I'll be testing every 2 hours but for right now I'm testing around 6:30am/pm

 

[Idjit's mom]

Welcome Neeka and Bailei. I'm glad you found this board to help with questions about Bailei's treatment. I suggest you read the stickies at the top of the page (yellow tags) in the Prozinc insulin support forum so that you get a better idea of the protocols used here with this insulin. Here is a link to that forum: PROZINC
Regarding your questions about diet and what kind of food other members might recommend, it would be best to post those questions in the Main Health forum. More eyes and you will get more responses. If you like, you can just copy and paste your message here into a new thread there on that forum, here is a link: MAIN
I'm glad to meet you and I hope we can help.

 

[Neeka]

Welcome Neeka and Bailei. I'm glad you found this board to help with questions about Bailei's treatment. I suggest you read the stickies at the top of the page (yellow tags) in the Prozinc insulin support forum so that you get a better idea of the protocols used here with this insulin. Here is a link to that forum: PROZINC
Regarding your questions about diet and what kind of food other members might recommend, it would be best to post those questions in the Main Health forum. More eyes and you will get more responses. If you like, you can just copy and paste your message here into a new thread there on that forum, here is a link: MAIN
I'm glad to meet you and I hope we can help.

Yes, I have read the ProZinc sticky & it was very helpful. This site has already helped me so much, much more than my vet even. Being a previous tech, I do a lot of research on my own anyway, this site is phenomenal. I will copy my previous thread to the main page in hopes to get more recommendations on the food questions as you mentioned. Thank you!

 

[Neeka]

how can I bump this to the top so people will see it? I have not had many responses & need advice on the food

 

[Idjit's mom]

Sorry you didn't get many responses. I see that you started a new thread and got some info. I only know about Dr. Elsey's and Young Again. Some members have reported that the Young Again caused some very runny stools though and had to discontinue use.

 

[Neeka]

Yeah I haven't gotten many responses at all I was hoping to get some input on the Epigen90 in particular since my vet just keeps pushing the RX diet

 

[Veronica & Babu-chiri]

Yeah I haven't gotten many responses at all I was hoping to get some input on the Epigen90 in particular since my vet just keeps pushing the RX diet

I don't have any experience with any of this brands since they are not available where I live, but remember what ever brand you choose the important thing is that it has to be low carb, most (if not all) of the RX diets are high carb so you must be careful

 

[Idjit's mom]

Well, not as many members use dry food, so you may not get many responses about it. Most of us have our kitties on a wet canned food or raw food diets. I do read that those that do use dry food like the Dr. Elsey's dry. You may want to log onto the website and request a sample so that you can see how it works for your babies. YA will send a sample too. But those both are pretty expensive. I understand you not wanting to use the Rx food, from what I have read that's not a good choice.
Another suggestion..change the title of your thread to specify that you are looking for info on Epigen 90 and Orijen Cat & Kitten, that might get more response from people who actually know something about them. Here's hoping

 

[Neeka]

thank you!!

 

[MrWorfMen's Mom]

The Orijen Cat & Kitten has 19% carbohydrates so while it's low carb for dry food, it is not low enough for our diabetic kitties. The Wysong Epigen 90 is under 10% although I am not sure of the exact carb %.

 

[Neeka]

Thank you so much for the input. I was leaning towards the Wysong anyway, but it's so hard to get accurate numbers regarding carbs for dry. What "looks" like great ingredients doesn't translate to low carbs most of the time so it makes choosing the right thing SO difficult. Esp with my vet still pushing the RX diets

 

[Neeka]

The Orijen Cat & Kitten has 19% carbohydrates so while it's low carb for dry food, it is not low enough for our diabetic kitties. The Wysong Epigen 90 is under 10% although I am not sure of the exact carb %.

Do you happen to know what the carb % is for Natures Variety Ultimate Protein is? just curious bc they claim to have 95% protein from real chicken with NO meal or grains

 

[MrWorfMen's Mom]

Nature's Instinct Ultimate Protein is 14% so still a little high but better than the Orijen. My kitty was a kibble addict for the longest time and I fed her the Ultimate Protein. One thing to note with it though is that the second ingredient is tapioca and while I saw no increase in BG when I changed to the Ultimate Protein, some kitties may be more sensitive to it.