Seeking diet suggestions for an unregulated diabetic cat

[Marvin]

Hi everyone,

At the moment, my diabetic cat eats Purina DM wet food (half can in the morning and half can at night) and 1/8 cup of DM dry food as treats (as recommended by our vet). He was diagnosed with diabetes in May and we are still struggling to regulate him. Some people have indicated that the DM isn't the best food for him and I have read that Fancy Feast is actually better. We used to feed him Fancy Feast but the vet tech told us we were basically feeding him KFC so I am hesitant to go back to it.

What is your advice on the best food (including treats) to give to our little guy, who by the way is ALWAYS hungry?

Thanks in advance!
Carolyn

 

[MelanieP and Ninja]

Hi Carolyn!! Here is a link to an outstanding article by veterinarian, and feline diabetes expert, Dr. Lisa Pierson. It explains everything you need to know about feeding a diabetic cat: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=felinediabetes

The basics are to feed an all wet diet consisting of no more than 10% carbohydrates and eliminate the dry food altogether. SOME Fancy Feast varieties qualify as less than 10% (the classic varieties) while others do not (the gravy varieties). There are many other brands to choose from, though Dr. Pierson does not recommend the "prescription" foods (she says they are expensive and of low quality - that they do not contain any magic ingredients to help with diabetes - and are often higher in carbohydrate than the recommended 10% or less.

When you switch to an all wet diet, your cat's BG numbers WILL drop, possibly dramatically, and may require a decrease to his his insulin immediately. Here is an excerpt from Dr. Pierson's article, though I would encourage you to read it in its entirety as well.

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"Many cats that are in a diabetic state no longer need any insulin when they are finally fed an appropriate low-carbohydrate diet. Others will always need some insulin but the amount necessary to maintain proper blood glucose levels is nearly always significantly reduced once the patient is on a low carbohydrate diet.

Please re-read the previous two paragraphs carefully. If you change your diabetic cat's diet to one with lower carbohydrates, he will, in all probability, IMMEDIATELY (not days or weeks later) require a reduction in his insulin dosage. He may also immediately go into 'remission' and not need any insulin at all. If this warning is ignored, you may very well end up with a cat in a hypoglycemic crisis (dangerously low blood sugar) which can result in death, or brain damage.

If you take only one point away from this page, it needs to be the understanding that if you stop pouring carbs into your cat by switching to a low-carb canned food diet (or even a dry food diet with lower carbs than you have been feeding), you MUST be aware of the probable immediate and significant impact on your cat's insulin needs."
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Related to your cat being hungry all the time, the experts can probably better speak to this (I am still relatively new), but I have seen many posts here recommending that you make food available to the cat throughout the day. Some people feed 4 times a day, while others just leave out food all the time. They say that diabetic cats tend to be hungrier than others. Again, though, the recommendation is that you feed them only low carb wet food and snacks throughout the day (no dry). Maybe with the elimination of the dry snacks and feeding more frequently, the BG numbers will even out more. Others, please weigh in.

Best of luck to you!!
Melanie

 

[hmjohnston]

Hello Carolyn!

The high carbs is the reason there is an inability to regulate. As Melanie said- they have too high of carbs- even the DM wet to do your cat any good. And they are basically liver. How often do you like to eat liver? Everyday for breakfast and lunch? How about dry candy for dinner? That is basically what you are feeding him right now. Vets have been programmed by "prescription" food people that if it costs more it must be more healthy for the cat. There is no research (in fact the opposite) for this, just the money that your vet gets when he sells it. You should be able to take back uneaten portions for a refund or credit.

Fancy feast classics are the best to feed, almost all stay under 10% and the majority actually stay under 5% until they get a handle on what carbs do to their cat. And the plus side it is not primarily liver and there are more choices .

Your boy will be hungry until the insulin starts working and he starts getting the nutrients he needs out of food. Most of us do small meals during the day and he will need to eat more because he is not getting the nutrients his body needs. Did he loose weight? That was the body basically taking the needed nutrients from the stored fat and muscle to survive. A cat with FD can literally starve to death while eating all the food it can find. So feed small meals. My Sneakers gets 10-13 oz per day, most regulated cats will eat between 4-10 oz depending on size and energy level.

If you fear leaving out wet food all day- add water to help it to last longer (you should be doing that anyway to increase moisture intake) or freeze it in an ice cube tray and leave it out to thaw.

Are you home-testing? When you take out the carbs from his diet his numbers should drop- maybe even by 100 pts or more and home testing is the only sure way to keep an eye on it. Relion meters from Wal-Mart (Micro and confirm) are cheap with the cheapest strips around. Others use Bayer or Accu-check. Stay away from the freestyle light meters with the butterfly on the strip and any meter with the word TRUE in the name as those are inaccurate and can lead to a very sick kitty.

And you might want to pick up some ketosticks at the pharmacy to check for ketones- DKA is a nasty and expensive piece of work that diabetics have to be on the look-out for.

Good luck on the sugar dance Carolyn.

Heather