refusing new food

[shania]

new member im sorry if i sound dumb sometimes in this post, my cat rudy just came back from the vet a week after being told he had elevated levels of glucose in his blood, around 500, this time after coming back it was around 261, because of this my vet wanted to start a new diet before going on insulin to see how much it affects his body. this is the first day of his diet change and it’s very stressful for both of us, my mother has been freefeeding him and he mainly ate Pure Balanced Pro dry food and the some times he would eat wet food it was Friskies prime filets, we got back from the vet earlier today and got told to give him new food and on scheduled times of the day, problem rudy is the most picky cat you can imagine i read a lot of posts talking about fancy feast pate with its low carb content and he is not a fan, he has barely eaten ANYTHING today the only thing he has eaten was the few kibbles of his old food i sprinkled on top to at least entice him a little into eating but no avail how do i go about this?? i feel like a horrible pet owner and i just want him to get better and he can’t get better without eating

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi and welcome to the forum to you both.
It is really important that your kitty eats. Cats can’t go without food as other problems start to happen.
What is the new diet the vet wants you to use?
If it is a prescription food, they are mostly too high carb.
Have a look at the foods on the chart I am linking below and look for canned foods that are 10% carbohydrate or under.
FOOD CHART

Did the vet mention if your kitty had ketones at diagnosis?
It is OK to trial a low carb food before starting insulin as long as there were no ketones at diagnosis.
Even so, I would recommend you go out and buy a bottle of Ketostix from Walmart or a pharmacy and test the urine for ketones. It is a simple test.
If there are any ketones in the urine then insulin must be started straight away.
A diabetic cat that is not getting insulin and is not eating is going to be prone to ketones, so you need to get your kitty to start eating asap.

As far as when you can feed your kitty…you can feed him anytime at all at the moment. Once the insulin starts you need to feed before the insulin and then you can give a few snacks during all the cycles.
If he’s not eating anything and you can’t get any food until tomorrow, then give him his old food that he will eat until you can get some of the cans I have linked.
Don’t let him go without food.

Also let us know what insulin your vet is wanting to start him on and the dose please. Some insulin are not at all suitable for cats but vets keep prescribing them.
Keep posting and let us know how it is going, we can help you do the swap over.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Lots of people don't feed Fancy Feast. It is suggested because it is easily available and fairly cheap. You just want to find a food, preferably wet or raw, that is under 10% carbs. Have you tried the Friskies Pate with him? If he absolutely needs crunch in his diet, then there are a couple low carb options, though dry is not the best solution. Some tips here might help: Transitioning your cat from dry to wet food

But as Bron said, a cat has to eat, the food transition can be done gradually.