OTJ- how high is ok?

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shadycat

shadycat

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Hi everyone, haven't been very active lately because Shady's diabetes was thankfully pretty short lived. I am trying to work a little dry food and higher carb canned food back into his diet. I know this is not ideal, but he lost weight while undergoing cancer treatment and during his bout with diabetes, and while he is not to the point of being underweight, his oncologist said she would like to see him gain at least a half pound back. I have tried pretty much every type of low carb food out there, and there is none that Shady or my civvie Ella really seem to like. Some are better than others, but it ranges from absolutely won't eat, to at best eating about 2/3 of what is offered (which is a small amount anyway, I usually feed two large cans or four small cans between the two of them a day, which is way lower than the recommended serving size on the can, and then they are eating maybe half of that). I originally tried changing his diet a few weeks ago, but I was about to go on vacation for 2 wks and when I saw his BG rise, didn't want him to get too high while I was gone and couldn't test, so we went back to low carb and his BG dropped, but my cat sitter said neither of them ate well and Shady even seemed somewhat weak until he gave him some dry food (which I said was ok in case of emergency).

So since I have been home (a week) I have been giving them a limited amount of Wellness Core dry, and the old foods they used to eat and like so much- Fancy Feast elegant medleys and Hills TD dry. Not free feeding, just a small amount of dry (maybe 1/4 cup each), and usually just one small can a day (a quarter of their daily food, or sometimes 2 cans- half of their daily canned) is the higher carb FF. Shady's BG has gone up from 70-80 to about 120-130. Note that these numbers are on the Alpha-Trak. So how high until I should be concerned? It makes me slightly uncomfortable to see him in the 130 range, but I really want him to eat and gain a little weight back, and for them to enjoy their food again. I'm thinking he is ok unless he consistently gets over 150? Obviously I don't want to mess around with this and let his BG get high again, but I hate seeing him thin, and feeling like I am making them eat food they hate. :( Also, not sure it matters, but just to give the full background, my vet thinks his diabetes was induced by having stress elevated BG for so long during cancer treatment, and after being treated with insulin and diet was able to go into remission.

Thanks!
Sheri
 
I'm not too sure on an Alphatrak how high is too high but would suspect anything over 150 would call for putting him back on insulin.

I have one guy here that has been OTJ for almost two years and he normally stays within to high 60s and low 70s...But one thing to remember when a diabetic cat goes OTJ is that they are still diabetic, they are just currently receiving insulin. They are diet controlled, so anything that messes with that diet can cause you to lose that diet controlled status. While carbs can cause weight gain I think personally if Maxwell my diet controlled diabetic needed to gain weight I would start looking for a low carb food that was higher in calories but not higher in carbs. I think there are a few of the pricier canned low carb foods on Binky's list that are fairly high in calories but still below the 10% carbs for a diabetic.

Just my 2 cents, hopefully others can weigh in with other suggestions on how to keep Shady both OTJ and gain a some weight back.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang.
 
have you tried EVO or wellness canned food?
if you want to stay OTJ the dry food and higher carb food will most likely put him possibly back on insulin again

i know the EVO has a bit more calories....
both mine were on the EVO and right after patches went OTJ he gained some weight from that brand, since now i only have molly she eats canned wellness, i get the 13 oz cans because they last alot longer

good luck!
 
If you're looking for higher calorie/fat content, try experimenting with various oils (and perhaps cheese and/or egg) added to the food. Some cats really enjoy olive oil, and extra-virgin coconut oil is an excellent health supplement if you cat happens to like it.
 
AT is about 30 points higher than the human glucometer so at 130 Shady's at what most of us would know as 100 and still within the normal range. Medi-Cal is what you want to try for LC wieght gain. It's on the expensive side but probably not as expensive as treating diabetes again.
 
Thanks everyone, I will keep trying with the low carb. Shady was at 99 tonight on the Alpha Trak, after having a bit of dry food and part of a FF elegant medleys earlier this evening, so that is a good sign. I don't ever plan on going back to his old diet of free feeding dry food and having only gravy type varieties of canned food, but so far he seems to be ok on limited amounts of it. Will just keep testing and staying mostly low carb. My town only has Petco, no Petsmart, so that limits it somewhat. Off the top of my head, we have done Wellness (but not EVO), Merrick, Blue Wilderness, and the FF classics, with hit or miss results. It isn't even consistent, one day he seems to like a new food, the next day he won't eat it at all. He is just a finicky eater. :/ Next time I am where there is a PetSmart I will look for the EVO, I know it is high fat, and the Medi-Cal. Thanks for the suggestions.
 
Hi Shari!

My Sebastian went OTJ when I put him on Wellness Grain Free wet food. Now I am finding that his sugar is getting low so I'm trying out different things to keep him a little more normal.

Wellness has been known to cause urine crystallization in boy cats. Because of this, I also feed him Evoa 95% every so often. He gets the Evo after 3 large cans of Wellness Grain Free. He is not as fond of the Evo (doesn't inhale it like he will the Wellness) but I just don't want him on a totally Wellness diet. I have not noticed significant sugar readings when he's on Evo.

Maybe this helps?
 
SabsMama said:
Wellness has been known to cause urine crystallization in boy cats.
Click to expand...

Can you show us where you read this? Both my boys are on Wellness and this is the first I have heard this in the past year that they have been eating this food? confused_cat
 
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