? New member, old diabetic cat, in Australia: vets, food?

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Maree

Member Since 2020
Hello! Thanks for accepting me. I didn’t know this forum existed! I was googling for food alternatives...

My Snowflake, 14 years old, originally a stray/rescue cat around 9 months old when we got him.

He has been diabetic and on glargine/Lantus for a few years now, ~2 units twice daily. He also got a grim prognosis of cancer several months ago... but he’s still doing fine. So it’s unusually slow cancer or it was a misdiagnosis. Yikes at the cost of all these things...

He has no problem with ear tests and purrs through them... purrs through everything really... but he is the most expensive person to feed in our home. Snowflake is a big boy but not overweight, just a large ~7kg cat. He’s been eating Hill’s Prescription m/d for years... and he eats at least 2 cans per day, plus m/d biscuits.

I’m wondering if any of you could recommend some cheaper cat food for Snowflake?

Available in Australia would be handy! We tried raw kangaroo and other fresh meat a while back and it was a big, big fail. He didn’t like it. Is Fancy Feast a reasonable option for old, diabetic cats? Want to go easy on the kidneys, I guess. And he has had most of his teeth removed so it has to be soft.

(If anyone from Australia is in the Gold Coast region - northern NSW to be precise - a vet recommendation would be great. We just moved house as well and need to find a new one...)

Thanks,
Maree
 
Maree, I don't know how far you are from Brisbane but there is a very very good vet clinic at Mt Gravatt called The Cat Clinic. Two of the vets have specialised in feline diabetes and one of them,Rhett Marshall, has written many articles and is world renowned. I have spoken to him and he knows FD very well. The other vet is Marcus Gunew.
Here is the link to the clinic. You may want to ring them.They have 2other clinics as well which may be closer to you. Details are on the website.
http://www.thecatclinic.com.au/

There are lots of other food choices for you besides M/D which is expensive and really no better than most canned cat food.
The dry M/D is high is carbs, around 18% so if you are going to swap from that ( which I would do) you need to be aware that the blood glucose levels will probably drop and you may need to reduce the dose of insulin.
Here is a link to foods available in Australia. I fed Sheba a home made diet but I also used Weruva 'cats in the kitchen' cans.
Fancy Feast is higher in phosphorus so you may want to steer clear of them but there are many other choices.
When looking at the phosphorus levels try and use ones that are 250 or 200mg phosphorus/100kcals or less.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...an-cat-food-list-suitable-for-fd-cats.216897/

Another link about what is available in Australia
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/information-for-aussie-feline-diabetic-caregivers.217781/

Here is another useful link
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/

We would love it if you could set up a spreadsheet and put in some of your more recent numbers
Here is a link to it. If you have any trouble setting it up we can do it for you.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

If you could set up your signature which only takes 5 minutes and is easy, it will tell us about Snowflake and will stop us asking the same questions all the time. It appears at the bottom of all your posts in small writing. See mine below my posts.
You will find the signature under your user name ...then second down on the left and what to write in it is the end of the page about 'how you can help us help you' link.

You will find this a very friendly supportive community. Someone is usually online 24/7 and you can ask as many questions as you like.
 
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So Bron gave you several links to read.
That is your homework for the day.:bookworm: (Yes, even adults sometimes have to do homework assignments.)

We'll let you catch up on reading some of that material before we give you more information.

Do you have any questions for us?
 
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