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[Guscat]

I am new to group. I have a 17 yo cat recently diagnosed with diabetes. Other than excessive drinking and pee-ing he still is the same boy. I have opted not to treat him with insulin and let things play out. I am interested in changing his diet. He used to free feed with dry food. I did get him md dry food from vet. Been giving him half cup daily.
I also give him can of wet food daily. He likes Sheba. I would like to find store bought dry food and am open to suggestions

 

[BJM]

Welcome to FDMB, the best place you never wanted to be.

There are 4 things you'll need to manage your kitty's diabetes:
- You - without your commitment, the following won't work.
- Home blood glucose monitoring with an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart Relion Confirm or Target Up and Up (the pet ones will break your budget!). This saves you the cost of going to the vet for curves and done regularly, removes the need for a fructosamine test.
- Low carb over the counter canned or raw diet, such as many Friskies pates. See Cat Info for more info. If already on insulin, you must be home testing before changing the diet. Food changes should be gradual to avoid GI upsets - 20-25% different food each day until switched. There are 2 low carb, dry, over the counter foods in the US - Evo Cat and Kitten dry found at pet specialty stores and Young Again 0 Carb found online.
- A long-lasting insulin such as ProZinc, Lantus, BCP PZI, or Levemir. No insulin lasts 24 hours in the cat, so giving it every 12 hours is optimal for control.

 

[Sharon14]

Welcome. I'm new here too. A change in diet can help your cat, but he may still need some insulin. Start by feeding a low carb canned food such as Fancy Feast or Friskies- the pate types only-the ones with gravy have too many carbs. Also the dry food from the vet has too many carbs, If you have to feed dry use either Evo or Young Again Zero Carb. If you learn to home test your cat you may find that the food change will be enough, but if not you may need to get him on some insulin. Your vet and the people here can help with that determination. Good luck and keep us posted

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

The M/d dry food from the vet is still too high in carbohydrates, no matter what the vet says. You would be better giving him canned wet food which is lower on carbs. Fancy feast classic canned food is low in Carbs.
There is no store bought dry food which is low in carbs except I think it is called EVO....but I know nothing about that. I see Sharon has mentioned it in above post.....
Dry food has very little moisture in it ....about 7% compared with 70% with canned food. Cats need lots of moisture.

I would also reconsider giving insulin to your cat. It is really not hard to do at all and will make a huge difference to your cat. Without insulin his body cannot utilise the food properly and he will eventually starve.
All the best

 

[Tucker&Me]

Hello.
I am new here a few months myself! I have learned SO MUCH here.
I have TWO diabetic kitties in the house. One is on insulin and wet Fancy Feast, low carb. I rely on this forum for all my dosage changes, and food advice. I have been extremely lucky to get this kitty into safe glucose numbers by all the experienced help I've been given here.
My other cat is currently being regulated in WONDERFUL and SAFE numbers by:
1) Feeding only Fancy Feast, low carb ( I took her off Hills m/d PRESCRIPTION Dry! It had her TOO HIGH and headed back on insulin again!!)
2) I home test her everyday to make sure her levels are remaining within normal limits.
This cat went hypo ( levels TOO LOW) during dry to wet food transition! She fell off a stool!
I immediately home tested her ( and checked for any injury..none) and her level had fallen below normal!! Just by food alone!
You must be home testing to know this!! One moment she was perfectly fine..the next..she was on the floor.
I had to put our hypo protocol into action, and even now, have to steer her with higher carb food OCCASIONALLY.

Every cat is different. I choose to home test because it is vital information that I must have to keep my family SAFE.
If it ever indicates that my kitty who is off insulin needs insulin again..then she will be getting insulin.

We have plenty of educational tools here, videos etc. A good start for you, like BJM said..right here

http://www.catinfo.org