Recommendations/opinions about brands of canned food...

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Danielle Hrubiak

Danielle Hrubiak

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Hey guys...

So, my girl Abilene was diagnosed almost a year ago. When I switched her from the Blue Buffalo dry food to wet--I started her on the FF pate as that is what I noticed many people on here feed. It really seemed to spike her blood sugar extremely high each time she ate (she gets 4 meals throughout the day). So I switched her to Wellness canned Chicken formula and she's been on that for just about 10 months or so. It doesn't spike her BG at all! I love it, except for the fact that it is very calorie dense. She has exploded in weight. She is easily several pounds overweight currently. She only gets about 5.6 oz per day due to the high calorie count per ounce. She's constantly hungry, but I have to ration her portions because of the calories and her being overweight. So I feel like what she is getting portion wise isn't fullfilling her hunger.
So today I decided to check the local pet store for some other options of brands of food. I purchased Weruva, Natures Variety Instinct and Merrick Purrfect Bistro. They are all grain free and the Weruva is also starch and Carrageenan free, which is great! I did just notice as I was writing this that the Weruva does have Tuna in it though, which I think I have read is not great for them to eat on a regular basis.. so now I'm unsure about this brand?
I just got home and looked up the brands I got today on the food chart. It seems like the Weruva is much higher in protein and much lower in fat as compared to Wellness, as well as being much lower in calories per ounce of food.

Does anyone have any opinions on any of these brands or suggestions of brands that they have had great success with?!
I'm looking for something that is easy on her BG-like the Wellness is but that is more fullfilling (less calorie dense)...
 
Have you ever added water to her food...as much as she'd tolerate and still eat it? That can help "fill them up" without adding any calories and the extra water is good for their kidneys
 
Yes! Every single time! It's always very soupy--to the point I feel bad she's 'drinking' her food instead of 'eating' it...

I've had her to the vet for a recent blood panel to make sure she didn't have any underlying issues with thyroid or anything and everything was good. So I need to figure something out for her. That's why I thought if I got a less calorie dense food, she could eat more without gaining the weight?
 
I've got a "porker" too...I've added some exercise to her daily routine trying to get her to burn some calories...she's easily 6 pounds overweight

I can't give you any advice about the foods since we're fighting the same battle and I can't really afford some of those brands, but you're thinking right....that something less calorie dense should allow her to eat without getting as many calories
 
My boy gets FF classics and chunkies, Friskies pates, Weruva BFF, young Again Zero Carb (dry) and boiled skinless, boneless chicken. None seem to raise his BG.
 
For a long while I was giving her baked organic boneless skinless chicken breast. She loves it and loves it raw too! I stopped a bit ago as she seemed to just keep getting bigger and I didn't know how to adjust her wet food portion to reflect the calories she was consuming from the chicken. And I was noticing her insulin dosage wasn't lowering her BG like it was before--I don't 'think' it had to do with the chicken but wanted to find out so I stopped and just never went back to it yet.
Wellness is only the second wet food we tried after swiching from dry. I noticed it was great for her BG and it was rated a pretty good brand, so we just stuck with it. But I've had enough of her always acting hungry so I want to try different brands to find out if there's something better out there for her.

I feel like I've read many times to stay away from fish, or at least to limit it to once or twice a week. Why is this? Is it high phosphorus that fish products have that I'm assuming isn't good for them? What is the fish is just an additive to a chicken based food? Is that still bad? Most, if not all, of the Weruva products contain fish... So I was unsure what to think about that.

And what exactly is Ash? I heard the lower the better? Is ash the same as phosphorus?
 
Have you tried Nature's Variety Frozen Raw Bites? My cats all loved them. It's just a little pricey when you're feeding four cats so I had to find something else, but they all did great on it.
 
Danielle Hrubiak said:
Hey guys...

So, my girl Abilene was diagnosed almost a year ago. When I switched her from the Blue Buffalo dry food to wet--I started her on the FF pate as that is what I noticed many people on here feed. It really seemed to spike her blood sugar extremely high each time she ate (she gets 4 meals throughout the day). So I switched her to Wellness canned Chicken formula and she's been on that for just about 10 months or so. It doesn't spike her BG at all! I love it, except for the fact that it is very calorie dense. She has exploded in weight. She is easily several pounds overweight currently. She only gets about 5.6 oz per day due to the high calorie count per ounce. She's constantly hungry, but I have to ration her portions because of the calories and her being overweight. So I feel like what she is getting portion wise isn't fullfilling her hunger.
So today I decided to check the local pet store for some other options of brands of food. I purchased Weruva, Natures Variety Instinct and Merrick Purrfect Bistro. They are all grain free and the Weruva is also starch and Carrageenan free, which is great! I did just notice as I was writing this that the Weruva does have Tuna in it though, which I think I have read is not great for them to eat on a regular basis.. so now I'm unsure about this brand?
I just got home and looked up the brands I got today on the food chart. It seems like the Weruva is much higher in protein and much lower in fat as compared to Wellness, as well as being much lower in calories per ounce of food.

Does anyone have any opinions on any of these brands or suggestions of brands that they have had great success with?!
I'm looking for something that is easy on her BG-like the Wellness is but that is more fullfilling (less calorie dense)...
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I have all of the ones you mentioned except the Natures Variety brand as my pet store doesn't carry it. I like the Wellness pretty well for Shoes. He loves the Weruva Paw Lickin' Chicken! Lots of liquid in it too! I also use the FF Classic line and now am keeping some Friskie's brand 8-10% carb food around because my kitty sure likes to high dive sometimes! Am going to modify his food now to see if I can stop some of these steep dives.
 
Woodsywife said:
How often are you feeding?
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She eats at 645AM and receives her AM insulin. Then on weekdays when I work--she eats around 930/10, on weekends it's normally around 11/12. Then she gets dinner at 645PM and gets her PM insulin. And she'll get one more meal at 11/1130ish PM before bed. There have been times that I have had to leave right after AM meal so I just doubled the amount since I wouldn't be home for her midmorning meal and I didn't notice anything different with her BG before her dinner/PM insulin. So I do not believe her mini meals are affecting her in any way...at least not her BG.
 
Is it possible to take a little amount from each meal and making another meal? Maybe the meals need to be a little closer together.
 
Sorry to jump into this thread but I just wanted to ask if Merrick Purrfect Bistro Turkey Pate is okay and low carb? I saw these at the pet store the other day and I am just looking to add a few more options to the list in case my boy starts getting sick of the Fancy Feast or Weruva he is now on. I know the Merrick Before Grain 96 Turkey was fine but I wasn't sure about the Purrfect Bistro Turkey. Thanks!
 
Diabeticat said:
Sorry to jump into this thread but I just wanted to ask if Merrick Purrfect Bistro Turkey Pate is okay and low carb? I saw these at the pet store the other day and I am just looking to add a few more options to the list in case my boy starts getting sick of the Fancy Feast or Weruva he is now on. I know the Merrick Before Grain 96 Turkey was fine but I wasn't sure about the Purrfect Bistro Turkey. Thanks!
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I use it. It's under 5% carbs.
 
we rotate food all the time-and I mean every day:confused:
weruva mideast feast is a favorite around here- all the ff classics and the flaked ff are under 10% carbs as well
evenger makes a low carb option -tiki-natures variety / NV Pride/against the grain... rachel ray is low carb too-
catinfo.org has the stats-:cat:
 
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