? New member- Question about kitty snacks

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Wendy Reese

Wendy Reese

Member Since 2023
Hi, my name is Wendy. I have an 18-year-old (will be 19 at the end of January) chocolate spotted Ocicat neuter named Kopi. He has been having some health issues for the last year (issues with an inflamed pancreas, IBD, and some begging kidney disease). Most recently he had a quick procedure to remove a tiny mast cell tumor near his spine, mid-back. After the surgery, he started urinating on the rug just outside of his litter pan. Thinking this was related to kidney or bladder issues, I immediately took Kopi to the vet. The vet tested his blood sugar/glucose and it was over 400. This was on a Friday. She advised me to put him on a canned food diet over the weekend and bring him back late Monday afternoon for a recheck. When we returned to the vet on Monday, his BG was within the normal range and was 178 (if I remember correctly... it was either 178 or 187). We decided, at that point, not to put him on insulin and to recheck within a month. The month has not yet elapsed.

Anyway, Kopi has never been a huge eater and is currently on Elura to help stimulate his appetite. He was doing pretty well and had regained the weight he initially lost after his kidney disease diagnosis. He was up to 11.5 pounds. He has lost about a pound now, which is ok, but I do not want him to lose any more weight if I can prevent that. I am currently feeding him twice a day and he is getting a can of the Fancy Feast Classic Pate Cod, Sole & Shrimp Feast, a can of the Fancy Feast Flakes Fish & Shrimp Feast, or a can of the Fancy Feast Classic Savory Salmon Feast. He has been eating ok but certainly not voraciously. I am not married to feeding him Fancy Feast, it was just what I was able to switch him to quickly.

Here are my questions:
1. Is there anything that anyone recommends for picky eaters? I know that all cats are different and it would be trial and error.
2. Is there anything I can feed him in between meals as sort of a kitty snack that would help keep him from losing weight?

I am very open to any and all suggestions as all of this is fairly new to me. I want to do everything possible that I can to keep Kopi as healthy and happy as possible.

I am attaching a picture of his sweet face. Well, I thought I was. I can't figure out how to do that. Thank you all in advance. I appreciate any guidance that you may offer.

Wendy & Kopi
 
Hi and he’s a cutie!

the attach function doesn’t work but you can copy the pic and paste it on the post.

the normal non-diabetic range is 50-120 on a human meter and I’m wondering if the 178 was on a pet meter. If not, he probably still needed a tiny bit of insulin. Has his bg been tested lately?

Bobo is a picky eater too so I hear ya! He also has IBD and CKD and the steroids for the IBD are what caused his diabetes so one thing for you to watch for if that’s needed later on.

I’m very happy your vet didn’t try to push prescription foods on you. There’s nothing special about them and most are too high carbs for diabetics cats or cats in remission. There’s nothing wrong with Fancy Feast, most of us feed our sugar kitties that and it’s the only brand Bobo will eat. I tried them all. If you want to try higher quality foods, you can look at Tiki, Weruva, Rawz and Ziwi Peak but always look at the carb content. You want to feed him foods that are 10% carbs or less. Most of us feed foods that are around 5-7%. You can do smaller amounts of the same food as a snack or try freeze dried treats. All protein freeze dried treats from brands like PureBites and VitalEssential are low carbs. Most lickable sticks also are low carb as well as baby food if you want to give that a try. The Gerber line that is protein only like turkey or ham or chicken is okay. You want to make sure they don’t have any seasonings like onions and garlic.
 
One more thing. You do not need to feed him twice a day only. That’s old fashioned and it works on dogs who have slower metabolism than cats. Cats do better with smaller meals and /or snacks throughout the day. It’s easier on their pancreas and helps avoid big sugar spikes. Bobo gets 3 cans of FF a day and I split up each can in half so that’s 6 feedings right there. I also give Bobo tons of extra treats at least 3-4 more times. I also levar him an overnight snack. It’s good for the IBD if they don’t go longer than 6-7 hours without food
 
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Welcome to FDMB!!

It sounds like there are a couple of challenges to Kopi's diet. For his diabetes, he needs low carb food. If he has been diagnosed with IBD, have you been feeding him novel proteins? These often include venison, rabbit, kangaroo -- basically any source of protein that has not been a major portion of his diet. As an example, my IBD kitty had been fed poultry (chicken or turkey) for most of his life until he developed IBD. He now eats pork, venison, and rabbit. ZiwiPeak makes a low carb venison and a rabbit and lamb combination. This is a link to a food chart that contains information about carbs and lists most of the canned foods that are available in the US. We consider low carb as under 10% although most members feed their cat a food that's in the neighborhood of 5%. You may also want to look for foods that are low in phosphorus. Those foods are better for his kidneys.

Many of us with IBD cats feed a raw diet. You can purchase a pre-mix that contains all of the additional supplements that you would need to make a raw diet nutritionally complete. Many of us use FoodFurLife for our pre-mix.

If you have not found this website on kidney disease, Tanya's website is a wonderful resource.

Getting back to your questions, is there anything that Kopi likes that you can sprinkle on his food as an enticement? As an example, my guy are big fans of Stella and Chewy's freeze dried rabbit morsels. I can crumble them on their food and it makes them quite happy. The same is true for freeze dried chicken treats or bonito flakes. I tend to prefer something that is powdery. If I were to put some cooked chicken on their food as a topper, I suspect they would find the chunks and ignore their food.

It may be less of an issue of what you can feed Kopi as snacks as finding something he likes that is higher in calories. If you use a higher calorie food and spread out his meals, he will be consuming more calories.
 
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