New Member - Bobbythecat.

[Bobbythecat]

Hi everone! What a relief to find this forum! I live in Portugal (am British) and have just had our cat Bob diagnosed with diabetes. We have 5 cats including Bob's brother George. Unfortunately a neighbour decided he wanted Bobby and started feeding him, in spite of me asking him not to on multiple occasions. Goodness knows what Bob has been fed....but none of our other cats, including his brother, are diabetic. I will start reading the advice on the forum but my immediate concern is food! The vet is pushing Hills, both dry and wet, which he hates; we feed our cats tinned Miamjiam. Bob is in the first few days of insulin (caninsulin - I already realise this is a dog med and not good!) and wearing a Libralink monitor. Bob is thin. his readings are spiking beyond what Libralink can measure - over 500 and going down to 320. Vet says he can eat what he wants right now but not in the 30 mins prior to insulin. Any food advice would be gratefully received; would need to be available to buy through Zooplus as they operate in Portugal, so European made food. Thanks in advance!

 

[CORKY]

Welcome to FDMB
Do not waste your money on any “prescribed” food they are horrible for a diabetic cat, the foods your vet mentioned are over 20+ % carbs, and a diabetic cat needs to have a diet of wet can or raw food between 0-10% carbs, have a feeding schedule of about 3-4 small meals or snacks during the day plus the two main meals before shot, grazing is not an option you want to know Your cats’s true level before giving a shot food raises levels, If you are feeding kibbles (dry) the transition from dry food ( high carbs) to wet food ( low carb) needs to be a slow transition you do not want to upset Your cats’s stomach as well as testing during this transition is important since it can lower the glucose levels, it is very important to home test the glucose level you do not want to give insulin without testing, it can cause hypoglycemia, you do not need a pet meter you can use any human meter, testing prior to shot and about 2-3 times during the day, not only to create a pattern but to see how the insulin is working throughout the day, what insulin and dose where you prescribed? ProZinc and Lantus are the best insulina for cats they are a12-hour insulin gentle on the cats, the protocol for both is TEST-FEED-SHOOT, keep posting

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Hello and welcome. We do have a list of foods available in the UK and Europe here: UK Cat Food List. Some might be just UK specific, but we've had other members not too far from you. You are ideally looking for food under 10% carbs. It's the bright yellow column on the chart. Higher carb food is OK to keep around in case his blood sugars go low.

We have some Sticky Notes at the top of this forum Caninsulin / Vetsulin and N / NPH. that you might want to read. My kitty was started on Caninsulin as well.

Yet more reading, sorry! This post might be of help: New? How You Can Help Us Help You! It does get easier after the beginning, though it may feel like you are drinking information from a fire hose at first.