NEW HERE

[Kyme]

I am new here

I have just found out that my four year old cat has diabeates, I am a little concorned as I am a rescue and have more than one cat and dog.
What food do I feed him and what about the rest? I am decidicated to helping him and being there for him, but how do I manage everyone else in this household.
Kyme

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

Welcome! Bless you for rescuing your feline and canine family.

Hearing that your kitty has diabetes is certainly scary at first and figuring out the treatment seems overwhelming. We'd be glad to help you figure out this sugar dance. We have a very successful protocol that has helped thousands of cats into regulation and often remission. We test our cats at home so we know how the insulin is working and whether it is safe to give the dose we are planning to give. We start them on a low dose of Lantus, Levemir or Prozinc insulin and go slowly with the doses, raising as the hometesting indicates. We feed a wet low carb diet.

Tell us more about your kitty. Name, age, how was he diagnosed, what insulin at what dose.

Do lots of reading on the site and ask questions. The FAQs are a great place to start: FAQs Let us know how we can help.

 

[Larry and Kitties]

I feed mine separately so I can monitor how much they eat (or do not eat).
And welcome.

 

[squeem3]

Here are the food charts and lists we use:

Binky's canned food charts
Pet Food Nutritional Values list
Hobo's Guide To Nutritional Values
Dr. Lynne's Wet Food list
List of low carb gluten free Fancy Feast

On Binky's charts, stick with foods that have a number 10 or less in the carbs colum. On the Pet Food Nutritional Values Chart and Hobo's Guide, look at the %kcal from carbs column and choose foods that have a number 10 or less.

Many people start with Fancy Feast since it's available nearly everywhere and inexpensive. There are many other brands of food you can feed: Wellness, Merrick, Nature's Variety, Special Kitty, Friskies, etc.

Limit seafood to once in awhile meals. Some cats get addicted to eating fish and will refuse to eat anything else.

Don't feed any gravy-based foods unless your cat is hypoglycemic. The high carb content will raise blood glucose levels and keep them up longer than simple sugar can (corn syrup, honey, etc).

Raw pet food, either from a recipie or a commerical brand, is another option.

Low carb treats: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=9172

People here with multiple cats just try to feed everyone low carb canned food. For those who do have to feed some dry food, they use a low carb dry food and try to feed the cats in separate rooms and make sure that the diabetic cat doesn't eat the dry. A few pieces of dry food can raise blood glucose levels pretty high in a diabetic.