Pate/Smooth Wet Food Help

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Jenn P.

Jenn P.

Member Since 2016
Hello!

In October 2016, we adopted our cat, Esme, knowing that she was diabetic. The shelter told us they expected she would spend the rest of her life there, and we couldn't let that happen. Her diabetes is likely a biproduct of abuse (we think she was fed a lot at time intermittently, so she would starve and then eat as much as possible), and she has some other problems as well, including that if she gets hungry sometimes she gets anxious before meals and tries to eat plastic and other non-food items. She also has really bad teeth and will only eat very soft pate style food. This past weekend, we had to take her to the emergency vet after a severe low blood sugar episode. We've changed insulin types, drastically lowered her dose, and are putting her onto a new wet food. Although our vet had approved our wet food, this vet wants us to use one that has ideally 0-2% carbs and over 60% protein. He recommended several brands including Against the Grain, Tiki, and BFF (Weruva), among others. All of them seem to have chunks of meat, and I don't think Esme will be able to chew them. With her previous wet food, she would only lick all of the gravy or broth off of the chunks and leave the rest behind. Do you have any suggestions for a pate-style completely soft wet food that works for diabetic cats? Please let me know, thanks!
 
Hi,
Many of us here give Fancy Feast Classic which is pate-style. Comes in a few flavours as well.
 
Pate foods are kind of the best for diabetic kitties! You're lucky to have one that only wants pate, my boy is super finicky :rolleyes:. HERE is the food chart many of us use if you are in the U.S.. I don't see a location in your profile so if you're not U.S. we have other charts :). As Waheeda stated, many feed Fancy Feast Classics (pate) or Friskies pate (no indoor formula though with the green lid).

Can you setup your Signature with some more information about your Esme? :cat: Are you home testing, also?
 
I fees fancy feast classic. You could always use a single serve blender to pate chunk owe food.

If you would like to learn to home test to prevent future hypos and find the ideal dose we can help with that.
 
Hi, I do home test! But our vet has suggested we get a new type of meter which will arrive today. This was Esme's first low blood sugar episode. With regular curves alongside our vet, we had gotten up to 5 units 2x a day and all her curves were between 230 and 98 throughout the day when we tested. She had been on this dose since April 2017 with no problems until this past weekend. The emergency vet thought that the insulin dose was now much too high as she is responding to insulin much more than she used to. He wanted us to change food and insulin types, so we are doing that. She is starting Lantus insulin now. We had been using Humilin, which I know has caused problems for many cats, but it was provided for free, for life, by the shelter where we adopted her and because all her curves showed that it was working well for her, the vet had said it was ok for now. Luckily though the shelter has agreed to start providing us with the Lantus instead!

As far as Fancy Feast- our vet specified only "Fancy Feast Purely Naturals" which all seem to have chunks. I looked at the Fancy Feast Classic on the chart, and they seem to have a higher fat percentage than the other ones the vet recommended. Same with the Friskies. All the ones he recommended were at least 60% protein, which is hard to find in a pate, because the pate's tend to be much higher in fat. I tried Tiki Velvet Mousse Chicken and Egg this morning and she seemed to like that ok, so hopefully that will work once she gets more used to it. It's not on the food chart, but all the other Tiki foods are great and online it says this particular flavor has zero carbs, so it should work, right? The vet had said anything from the Tiki brand was fine, but the velvet mousse types seem to be new and aren't on the chart.
 
Unfortunately, the pate's do seem to be higher in fat so if you're wanting to keep it at a certain percentage, the Food Chart has a sortable filter option on the top left of the first page. You can enter the value you are looking for and sort it that way :)

ETA: Dr. Pierson has posted these "guidelines"
"protein minimum of 40, fat maximum of 50, carb max of 10, and for cats with kidney issues....phos less than 300."
 
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Do you have a plan to get her teeth checked and a dental done in the future? It's very expensive but can make a huge difference in her response to insulin. Bad teeth can make regulation harder.

Kudos to you for taking in a diabetic kitty who needs a good home! :)
 
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