Newly diagnosed and no way to control food.

[SpookyLuv]

My cat, Spooky, has just been diagnosed with diabetes. My husband and I live with his parents who have six other cats and they keep several food bowls full at all times. I have no choice in the matter. I haven't even spoken to the vet yet, I should be receiving a call very soon. I've been reading up on feline diabetes and I know that it's important for the cat to exercise; however Spooky will not play with a toy and when he does, he just chews on it until it breaks. How can I get a normally very sedentary cat to start playing and exercising more? I am freaking out about this, trying to educate myself, and Spooky's daddy is just wanting to ignore the problem. The vet told my mother-in-law to give Spooky two units of insulin twice a day until he goes back to the vet in a week. His blood glucose was 440 yesterday and I have given him one shot today. Could someone put my mind at ease?

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

You are in a difficult position. Is there any way Spooky could live in your room? Would he be miserable? Diet is very important for a diabetic kitty. Here is a website by a vet:www.catinfo.org. Wonder if you in laws could be persuaded to feed wet low carb to all the kitties in the hope none of them become diabetic?

You can certainly give the shots. Pick a calm place in your room. And we would urge you to learn to test at home. Not only is it less expensive than going to the vet, it will keep your Smokey safe. Here are some links and info on home testing.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

We'd be glad to help you learn how.

Will it help to know we were all overwhelmed and terrified when we got the diagnosis? The more we learned and experienced, the more confident we became.

 

[Mogmom and Goofus]

Sue's right, we were all a mess when we got the diagnosis. But it really will get easier. You won't fix the problem over night because he didn't become diabetic overnight. It's kind of a marathon, but there many people in here who'll be more than happy to help.

It'll be A huge help if you add this info to your signature: where are you located, type of insulin and dosage, type of food, meter being used.

 

[BJM]

Welcome to FDMB.
You work around what you have. If that means the cat will be on insulin, then you work with that. You might be able to encourage a shift to some lower carb food than what is being fed by sharing the information from Cat Info.
In the US, there are only a few lower carb dry foods:
- Young Again 0 Carb, internet only
- Evo Cat and Kitten dry, found at specialty pet stores or online
- Stella and Chewey's freeze dried raw, meant to be rehydrated, found at specialty pet stores or online

You can use this online calculator to estimate the nutrition factors needed calculate percent of calories from carbohydrates.

 

[Marje and Gracie]

That calculator will not give you the % calories from carbs, protein, or fat. It is inaccurate. You have to have the as-fed or dry matter basis numbers from the manufacturer and then there is a formula for calculating % calories from carbs, protein, fat. You cannot used guaranteed analysis.

From Janet and Binky (Food Table FAQ) our very first tables on % calories from carbs:

Q. How do you calculate the numbers on the table?
A. The numbers on the table are expressed as "percent of calories" (protein, fat, carbohydrate) or "amount per 100 calories" (fiber, phosphorus), based on as-fed information provided by the manufacturer. For pet foods, I follow the usual assumption that protein and carbohydrate each contain 3.5 calories per gram, and fat contains 8.5 calories per gram. You can use this Excel spreadsheet to see how the calculations are done, or read the longer explanation:1.) Obtain "as fed" or "dry weight" values of protein, fat, carbohydrate, fiber, and phosphorus from manufacturer. Cross check: if you also have values for water and ash, the values of protein, fat, carbohydrate, fiber, ash, and water should add up to 100%. None of them should be negative.

2.) Calculate the amount of protein, etc, in 100 grams of food by dropping the percent sign. (Example: if a food is 9.5% protein, 100 grams of that food will contain 9.5 grams of protein.)

3.) Calculate total calories by multiplying protein by 3.5, fat by 8.5, and carbohydrate by 3.5, and summing the results.

4.) Calculate percent of calories from protein by dividing 3.5*protein by total calories. Calculate percent of calories from fat by dividing 8.5*fat by total calories. Calculate percent of calories from carbohydrate by dividing 3.5*carbohydrate by total calories. Cross-check: these numbers should add up to 100%, except for rounding error.

5.) Calculate grams of fiber per 100 calories by dividing fiber by total calories and multiplying by 100.

6.) Calculate mg of phosphorus per 100 calories by dividing phosphorus by total calories and multiplying by 100,000. (The extra 1000 is to change the units of phosphorus from grams to milligrams.)
Q. Can I get the carbohydrate content from the numbers on the label?A. Not in the United States of America. First of all, it's not listed on the label. Second, you can't calculate it from the label because manufacturers aren't required to put average values of protein, fat, etc. on the label. They are only required to put "guaranteed" minimum and maximum values on the label. Sometimes these values are close to what's actually in the food, and sometimes they are quite different. But in any event they are, by design, inaccurate.

If you live in a country which has consumer-friendly laws on what should be on pet food labels, carbohydrate content may be listed, or you may be able to calculate it by adding the values of protein, fat, water, fiber, and ash, and subtracting that sum from 100% to get "as fed" carbohydrate. But in the USA, you're likely to get grossly inaccurate values following this method.