New Member - Is dry Dr Ensley’s ok for a diabetic cat?

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Stephanie Luedke

Member Since 2020
Hi everyone. Unfortunately after 3 months of scarfing down his fancy feast in minutes, my little guy has become very picky. I’ve tried toppers, sprinkling freeze dried treats on his food and the fortiflora probiotic but nothing really works. I’m contemplating changing his food at this point. I’ve seen a lot of people mention Dr Elsey’s dry food and was curious about it since he loved us dry food in the past. I know the chicken flavor has about 5-6% carbs which is relatively low for dry food. I also know one of the issues with dry food is them not getting enough moisture but he’s never had an issue with dry food in the past. Please let me know your thoughts on that brand and more specifically the dry food. Or are there ANY dry brands that are ok?
 
Welcome to FDMB the best place to help you help your kitty.
I think FF chanced their ingredients My cat isnt liking it much either. Thats all shes ever had. I am not a fan of any dry food so others can give their opinions. Most dry food is PACKED with carbs.

Whats your kitties name? Have you created a spreadsheet? I know you havent asked for any help with dosing or insulin type.
Theres a Health forum on the main page You might like to peruse it. Also the tech forum to explain how to set up a spreadsheet .

Hold on for more replies and again WELCOME!
jeanne
 
The Dr. Elsey's is low enough in carbs but you should really keep trying to get him to eat the canned. Here's a post by Dr. Lisa about why you shouldn't concentrate on carb percentage only.

That being said, if you are going to try it, it's on sale at Chewy.com right now. Also, if you join Rakuten, you'll get $30 just for joining and 3% cash back on your Chewy purchases.

Rakuten gives you cash back at lots of online stores. I joined over a year ago and have gotten a check every 3 months from doing my normal online shopping!
 
Hi. The only other thing to be aware of with Dr Elseys (at least the chicken flavor) is the amount of calories in the food. It is high in calories, so depending on your cat and their body condition score, it may or may not be the best choice. Even with low carbs, if the cat gets too many calories & there is not enough activity to use those calories, weight and increased adipose tissue becomes or continues to be a problem. Too often, a cats body condition score (i.e. is the cat overweight and by how much? Underweight?) as well as the calories in the foods are not taken into consideration. You can have a high protein low carb food and still cause or continue a weight problem if not paying attention to calories fed per day for a particular cat.
 
I feed my diabetic cat Dr. Elsey's and have for almost 2 years now after an unsuccessful attempt to transition him to wet food only. I buy it from Chewy.com on the automatic shipment option and add it enough other items to get free shipping. Bama will eat about 1 3 oz. can split between morning and evening main meal but I have to add the dry food to get him to finish the meal. He also gets a couple mini meals at roughly 3 to 4 hours after his main meals which is about a tablespoon of dry food. I do add water to his wet food to make it nice and soupy and dump his dry food into the wet and add a bit more water. He laps it right up. So, if you can get yours to adjust to added water, staying hydrated should be covered. Also, Bama loves for me to hold his water bowl up to his mouth so he can drink standing up. I heat about a cup of water at meal time and add up to 2 oz. to his meal then freshened his water bowl with the remainder.
 
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