Raw diet means no more peeing? Hungry all the time?

[S&Boo]

Cat: Boo
Age: ~10 years
Background of the issue:
Boo was recently diagnosed with diabetes. I've been making efforts to learn about the condition and make adjustments that will benefit him. For instance, I switched from a 'prescription' kibble to raw, human-grade meat. I lowered his insulin level with the change of diet.
Literally overnight he's stopped being lethargic all the time. His belly isn't bloated all the time (I have no way to check, but he feels about as heavy as he was before I started this diet. So I'm assuming his change in size has something to do with the bloating of an organ). He's more active and willing to play than he's been in a long time. I learned which times to read his blood sugar, and his numbers look great!
The Issue:
But...he's not peeing much at all. I know peeing a lot is a symptom of diabetes. And that they should pee less when their numbers look better. But peeing only a tiny bit once a day? And he's having some difficulty with the poops (They're kind of soupy and he seems to be straining harder. He's not meowing in pain.). And he's insatiably hungry all the time. I literally can't stand up in my house without him begging for food, even when there's nothing.
Questions:
Are all of these things normal? Are there any herbs or anything I can give him in small quantities to help with passing the poop? Is the constant, persistent hunger normal? I'm worried that his diet is missing fiber or fat (but with diabetes, he shouldn't have fat or carbs...).
Any thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Are you feeding manufactured raw product or making your own with a premix? If so, which one? Are you including bones or egg shell calcium? Too many bones can cause constipation. A little pumpkin, plain uncooked no sugar or spices can help the poop. There is a good site for constipation.

My kitties on raw peed mostly one to two times a day when eating raw. I also added water to their raw to make sure they had enough.

Carbs are an issue with diabetes, fat is not an issue. They do need some fat. How much raw are you feeding?

Are you testing his blood sugar at home every day? Unregulated cats will be hungry until their blood sugar is in a better range. Which insulin are you giving and what is his dose?

 

[S&Boo]

I'm mixing on my own with advice from various raw feeding sites. So far it's mostly just chicken meat, liver, and gizzards. Occasionally I give him an egg yolk. Other aspects were advised to be added, but I haven't had the time to implement them quite yet. I haven't added any bones or egg shells. I'm not sure he'd eat shells. But I'm looking into what kinds of bones are suitable for a cat to eat.

If I may ask, how did you administer water in their food? I'm not grinding up the meat at all (he used to hunt outside and distinctly prefers large hunks of meat to chew up), so I'm not sure how I'd give him more water...

So Boo can have some fat? I'm feeding 100% raw. Although, now that I know he can have fat, I'll have to add some of that in. The sites I've been on have advised to feed him ~2-3% of his body weight for a total day. I picked 2.5% as a starting point. He's 11 lb. So he gets 4.4 oz per day. So 2.2 oz per meal.

I test him at home at least twice a day. His blood sugar can be a little over the place, but he hasn't gone under 100 or exceeded 300 since the beginning of this diet. I'm not sure how 'regulated' this is.

Boo is on lantus for insulin. He needed 4 units per meal on the kibble just to function (i.e. 8 units total per day). I dropped him down to 2 units when I switched over (i.e. 4 units total per day). Now that it's been a few days on this diet, my gut has been telling me to drop him to 1 unit. (I can't do half steps with his insulin as it's a pen and I don't have the funds to switch to another administration technique.)

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Next time you are buying pen needles, buy the syringes instead. That way you can give smaller doses. We typically increase or decrease by 0.25 units at a time. Cats are sensitive to small changes. You can get 1/2 unit marked syringes that help with this task. As for testing, try getting some tests mid cycle if you aren't doing so aleady. We figure out how to dose Lantus based on how low the dose takes kitty, and that's usually somewhere mid cycle.

One thing that's essential for cats that you are missing is taurine. There is some in chicken heart, or you can buy taurine supplement. Eggshell (ground into powder) or bone (chicken necks or wing tips) will provide calcium. Bone will also provide phosphorus. You want the smaller, non weight bearing bones. My cat food was ground, which is how I added water. Maybe try grinding part of the food. That part can also take any supplements like taurine. Dr. Pierson's website Catinfo, has a good page on a making your own cat food, including supplements that should be added to food you make yourself.

 

[S&Boo]

Thank you so much for the advice! I'll look for syringes as soon as I can! And heart meat. I think my local grocer stocks that.

 

[Yong & Maury GA]

I just left you the same link for Dr. Pierson's site on your Introduction post

 

[Sieden]

I'm mixing on my own with advice from various raw feeding sites. So far it's mostly just chicken meat, liver, and gizzards. Occasionally I give him an egg yolk. Other aspects were advised to be added, but I haven't had the time to implement them quite yet. I haven't added any bones or egg shells. I'm not sure he'd eat shells. But I'm looking into what kinds of bones are suitable for a cat to eat.

If I may ask, how did you administer water in their food? I'm not grinding up the meat at all (he used to hunt outside and distinctly prefers large hunks of meat to chew up), so I'm not sure how I'd give him more water...

So Boo can have some fat? I'm feeding 100% raw. Although, now that I know he can have fat, I'll have to add some of that in. The sites I've been on have advised to feed him ~2-3% of his body weight for a total day. I picked 2.5% as a starting point. He's 11 lb. So he gets 4.4 oz per day. So 2.2 oz per meal.

I test him at home at least twice a day. His blood sugar can be a little over the place, but he hasn't gone under 100 or exceeded 300 since the beginning of this diet. I'm not sure how 'regulated' this is.

Boo is on lantus for insulin. He needed 4 units per meal on the kibble just to function (i.e. 8 units total per day). I dropped him down to 2 units when I switched over (i.e. 4 units total per day). Now that it's been a few days on this diet, my gut has been telling me to drop him to 1 unit. (I can't do half steps with his insulin as it's a pen and I don't have the funds to switch to another administration technique.)

ummm no, you can't do it that way. I know that making the food seems hard when you think of all of the supplements but they are VITAL to your cat's health and by leaving them out you can make your cat sick. At the very least he needs Taurine, and some sort of bone meal since you aren't giving him any bones. Not to knock you for your efforts but I think that you went all in before you had enough information. I personally feed my cats raw food too so I'm on your side here. You can fix this up with just a few simple tricks.

First order a premix for raw cat food but just know that going that route is expensive. Or you can order some bone meal, morton lite salt, Taurine powder, dry vitamin E 400 U, vitamin B complex, Fish oil pills, and psyllium husk powder (all of this will last you a very long time before you have to buy it again).
When making your food, if you have a blender take the blades off of the bottom of the blender container and then fill a 12 to 16 oz mason jar halfway with liver, all of the supplements and some water, then put the blades into the mason jar and fasten it down with the tightening ring. Sit the mason jar onto the blender and blend this up until you get a nice smooth texture. It will be watery and that's where you're water content will come from, so if you're not blending his meat then just have a bowl with chunks and then some of this poured on top of it THEN top it off with a chicken wing. Chicken wings come in 3 sections, the wing tip, the middle and the end. Really only the middle and end is enough for a meal. So get a pack and separate them into sections and toss one into his meal and see how much of it he will eat. You can also cut one of the sections in half and give just the half of a section. Remember to leave the skin on, they need the fat, you might try doing half with fat on and the other half without the fat to see which he prefers at first though. Just don't be afraid of him eating those bones, they are perfectly fine as long as they are NOT cooked. They can also eat chicken necks. I get those and cut them into sections, my cat loves them.

The reason I told you about the mason jar trick is because it really works without having to make a mess in your large blender jar and sometimes a blender just won't cut it unless you have a vitamix and I don't know about you but I'm not putting raw meat in my vitamix lol.

 

[Sieden]

I just left you the same link for Dr. Pierson's site on your Introduction post

Oh thank you, thank you, I was going to do that after I got a chance to eat. Her site is wonderful and it's what got me into making my own when I actually do it. It's a lot of fun and I feel that my cat really like it. Dr. Pierson really breaks it down so that you can understand everything and why we need each and every ingredient and how much. You see her stress over and over again "real bone" because cats in the wild live on real bone, not bone meal, not gelatin, not pea protein, not pumpkin, no wheat, no grains, no flour, no corn, etc. etc. etc. They need the real deal. Just tonight when I went down to make dinner, Peanut was fussing for something to eat so I took a chicken neck piece that I cut up into 2 inch sections and I put a little 2 inch piece on a plate for him and he instantly went to town and left nothing behind

 

[S&Boo]

Thank you guys so much! Last night I made up some new meals for Boo that was better suited to his needs. He had his first meal this morning. He's not nearly as ravenous as he's been in the past few days. He's not a fan of eggshell like I thought he'd be (I thought I cut it up so fine. It's practically a paste of shell and a little egg white.), but he was a fan of the skin and raw bone pieces I gave him. I found some hearts in the gizzards I've been feeding him, so he maybe got a little heart before this? Point is: his diet is more balanced, and there's a visual difference in demeanor.

 

[Justgin]

Cat: Boo
Age: ~10 years
. And he's insatiably hungry all the time. I literally can't stand up in my house without him begging for food, even when there's nothing.
Questions:
Are all of these things normal? Are there any herbs or anything I can give him in small quantities to help with passing the poop? Is the constant, persistent hunger normal? I'm worried that his diet is missing fiber or fat (but with diabetes, he shouldn't have fat or carbs...).
Any thoughts? Suggestions?

Dr. Pierson says to aim for high protein/moderate fat/low carb, so your kitty really does need fat! Fat helps with satiety! See her newest list of percentages on her sticky note link. I'm also having the problem of hungry kitties. I have 5, and right now only Oreo is diabetic. Since they eat communally and I wouldn't be able to feed separately, they are all on low carb now, no dry at all. But they are so hungry! By my calculations they should only be getting about 9 3 ounce cans per day or about 27.5 ounces. Yet they beg all the time! I'm wondering if I should either add pumpkin or psyllium husk powder (both ok'd by their vet in small amounts) to their food. I thought canned food was complete with all the fiber they needed also, but I suppose not.

Oreo also has developed scabs on his back and body and legs. His vet doesnt' think it's related to the Lantus. I sure hope not. He had these scabs years ago and only prednisone shots worked for about a month. Then when Nat started having seizures, I took them off all grain, but still fed them half wet half dry. But that's when Oreo's scabs healed! And they didn't come back either, not until now after he started Lantus. I was also feeding them a new protein - Salmon - which they loved. The vet said to stop the salmon, which I did. I also stopped their Bonita flakes treat and Purebites treats which was also something new I was feeding them. So far he hasn't gotten worse, but not better either. The vet said to expect 8 to 12 weeks for the offensive protein - if that's what it is - to leave his system entirely. I hope it works!

Any brands out there that have fiber in them?

 

[Marlena]

You really need to follow a recipe for making raw food for your cat. The calcium bit is very important. You can buy a calcium supplement or you can make your own egg shell powder - it is easy and it is really good addition to cat's food as it is bioavailable and has very little phosphorus which sometimes must be restricted.
This is how I make it:
I collect clean egg shells (we eat a lot of organic fresh eggs) and when I have a substantial amount I put them in not very hot oven for 7 minutes. When cooled I put them in my blender (big glass jug), crush them with a wooden baton, put the blender lid on and blend on full power until I get very fine powder. I transfer the powder to a storage jar and use about 1 level teaspoon per pound of meat. Before I put it in the meat, I sometimes mix the powder with a small amount of apple cider vinegar to make it more absorbable (acid would make calcium better absorbed) but it is not really that necessary, might be more important for human consumption.
I hope it helps.

 

[Marlena]

And another thing: you mentioned that Boo has some problems with peeing and pooping. I can't see a reason why changing a diet would make him go and do only a little wee - something is not right here. You said that he is straining and that doesn't necessary mean that it happens when he does a poo, he might be straining trying to wee but it may look like it is to do with poo. I think you should consider taking him to the vets to check for urinary problems.