Newly diagnosed - low car dry food

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deekay

Member Since 2012
Hello:

One of my cat was diagnosed a couple of days ago with diabetes. At first I thought he was losing weight because he was eating Hills W/D dry that was prescribed for one of my other cats although the cat it was prescribed for has not lost a pound after being on it for six months. He eats dry and wet food. What dry food are you all using that is low in carbs because I would like to start him on a low carb regimen before he starts insulin as well as take the obese cat off of W/D ? I have very little faith in my vet (Banfield) and am considering a new one
 
Welcome! You definitely don't want to feed any Hills cat food, as it is all very high in carbs and has low quality ingredients. Hills W/D dry caused my cat's diabetes as well, so I know how you feel!

There is no dry food that is good for a diabetic cat. There are a couple that are lower in carbs than most, but many diabetic cats are too sensitive to be able to handle them. Bandit can't even have a few pieces of the lower carb dry foods or his blood sugar will shoot up. There's more problems with dry food than just the carbs--it also causes kidney disease, urinary tract problems, and other illnesses, so it's best to just ditch the dry completely for both of your cats. A canned diet will also help with your other cat's weight loss. Check out this vet's web site for more information/explanations: http://catinfo.org/

We recommend that you feed any canned food that is low carb, and you have a lot of options in a lot of different price ranges. Here's a link to help you out: http://www.felinediabetes.com/diabetic-cat-diets.htm. You just need to find a food that his less than 10% carbs (preferably below 8%) that your cats like in your price range. Fancy Feast is popular here because it's a decent mid-range food that's easy to find and has many low carb flavors. Here's a link to them: http://www.felinediabetes.com/glutenfree.htm.
 
Welcome :smile:

You'll find very few people here who feed exclusively dry food. All dry foods contain starch or some sort (it's what holds the food in the kibble-shape) which keeps blood glucose levels too high. A few pieces of dry food is enough to send some diabetic cat's blood glucose levels really high.

The W/D dry food is probably one reason why your cat ended up diabetic in the first place. It's really high in carbs which a cat's body can't handle.

People here who have multiple cats which include a diabetic or two feed just canned. There may be a couple people who have to feed some dry food to a non-diabetic but they make sure that the diabetic cat can't get to the dry.

Since your cat is not on insulin at the moment, you can safely do a diet change. Please consider feeding your diabetic only low carb canned food. Canned food can help with weight loss as well because they are lower in calories than dry foods.

Here are the food charts and lists we use:

Binky's canned food charts
Pet Food Nutritional Values list
Hobo's Guide To Nutritional Values
Dr. Lynne's Wet Food list
List of low carb gluten free Fancy Feast

On Binky's charts, stick with foods that have a number 10 or less in the carbs colum. On the Pet Food Nutritional Values Chart and Hobo's Guide, look at the %kcal from carbs column and choose foods that have a number 10 or less.

Many people start with Fancy Feast since it's available nearly everywhere and inexpensive. There are many other brands of food you can feed.
 
Question on Fancy Feast--Do you think there's much of a difference between the premium foods than this brand? Is Fancy Feast simply the most affordable option but there are better ones, or is there little enough difference that my cat would do fine on that without paying more?
 
JenJee said:
Question on Fancy Feast--Do you think there's much of a difference between the premium foods than this brand? Is Fancy Feast simply the most affordable option but there are better ones, or is there little enough difference that my cat would do fine on that without paying more?
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I am sure there are differences, but you are fine with feeding Fancy Feast, Friskies, or even Special Kitty pates.
Unless your cat has health issues that need you to eliminate some ingredients, you can feed like most others.

Just go by the foods on Binky's list as a general guideline and select the ones you can afford that are a decent carb%.

So long as you get rid of ALL dry food, and stick to wet foods under 10% in carbs, you should be fine.
 
JenJee said:
Question on Fancy Feast--Do you think there's much of a difference between the premium foods than this brand? Is Fancy Feast simply the most affordable option but there are better ones, or is there little enough difference that my cat would do fine on that without paying more?
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If you check- Purina makes the Hills food you buy from your vet. They ALSO make FF, friskies, and 9-lives. It is actually better quality food in that LIVER is not the first and main ingredient. Would you like to eat liver for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks day in and day out? The other brands at least give you variety :lol: .
 
Sorry, I don't think I answered it :oops:

As for teh difference in FF compared to... Wellness or Blue Buffalo... it may be lower- but a ton more expensive.

I feed FF or Sophisticats which is PetSmart brand FF. Same ingredients in the same order, just have a different label.

Most people here decide on the healthiest that they can afford to feed. If they get a pay raise and want to up the choice they can. If there is a sale running they get the good cans to give as treats.
 
Thanks! Well the interesting thing is that right now he's on Merrick Before Grain at 1.50 for 5.5 oz. He eats around two cans a day, usually less. I see FF is around 16.00 for 24 cans at 3 oz each. I figured it out and switching to FF would only save around 15.00 a month since it's roughly 81.00 to feed Before Grain a month and 66.00 to feed FF.

I am surprised there's so little difference!
 
I know. Hobo's list has some ingredients listed- or you can take a magnifying glass to the store with you :lol: and compare ingredients. That's what i did with FF and SC.

I was spending $1.89/5.5oz can of Blue, FF is (now) $.75/3oz SC is around $.50/3oz . Big difference in them!
 
I feed Bandit Merricks (Cowboy Cookout, Surf & Turf, Grammy's Pot Pie), and it actually works out to be nearly the same price as Fancy Feast, sometimes cheaper with case discounts at my local feed store or coupons (1.10-1.29 a 5.5 oz can). Merricks Before Grain is a great food to feed a diabetic cat, and it's higher quality than Fancy Feast. Other premium foods like EVO and Wellness come in large 12-13oz cans that make it cheaper to feed than Fancy Feast. The one thing you want to watch out with the Merricks BG (and EVO and Wellness), is that they're all pretty high in fat. Many cats tolerate the higher fat fine, but some have stomach issues/weight control problems with it.

Purina makes the Hills food you buy from your vet.
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Actually, Purina has their own brand of prescription diet, but they do not make Hills foods. Hills is a separate company that makes prescription and science diet (and I would love to see them go out of business). There's not a single Hills cat food that's not junk.
 
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