New member 02/05/2022 - Eileen

[Triton's mom]

My 10 year old cat, Triton, was recently diagnosed with diabetes. It's been a rough month. He was started on Vetsulin and his glucose curve did not improve. He was then started on ProZinc and has a glucose curve scheduled on Tuesday. After reading about cat food I think I'm going to ask my vet if Triton can be put on canned only. He is currently on Purina Veterinary Diet dry food 1/4 cup twice daily and canned 1/8th can twice daily. He get 1-1/2 units of insulin twice daily. No at home glucose checks. I'm in the process of checking out canned cat food with low carbs to see what my vet thinks of that idea.

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

Hi Eileen my name is Kyle, I am new to all this as well, learning a lot. I highly recommend you switch to a low-carb all canned or raw food diet, it might even help his body need less insulin! Welcome to the group, the people here are amazing and can help you so so much.

I would be completely lost without them.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Welcome to FDMB!

I'd suggest taking a look at this website on feline nutrition that's authored by a vet, Lisa Pierson, DVM. In all likelihood, the dry food you're giving your cat is quite high in carbohydrates. If food is high in carbs, it pretty much defeats the purpose of insulin or you need to give a whopping dose to counter the effect of the carbs. In addition, most of the dry food that is available is not a species appropriate diet. Cats are obligate carnivores -- they can't process carbohydrates.

I'd also encourage you to consider home testing. It is the only way to keep your kitty safe. We have lots of information on how to home test. It's particularly important to be home testing if you're going to be transitioning your cat to a low carb, canned food diet.

 

[jaspkaur]

Welcome Eileen! All of this will seem very new and overwhelming. Duff just started his diabetic journey at the beginning of the year. It’s scary, lonely, and frustrating at times but you’re in a good place for support and advice!

I’d also encourage you to evaluate kitty’s diet and monitor at home. If you think about it, that’s what doctors encourage human diabetics to do! It’ll be valuable information that’ll give you piece of mind and good data points for your vet. Plus it’ll keep your kitty safe.

 

[Triton's mom]

Thank you everyone for the encouraging words. I did read the feline nutrition. I checked out some of the Fancy Feast pate cat foods and others as well. I just wish it listed the carbs percentage. This is all overwhelming. I plan on talking to Triton's vet this week about non-prescription foods and at home monitoring.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

There's a food chart on the Feline Nutrition site. The link is on the navigation menu on the right side of the page. The chart lists the carb count on all of the foods listed.