Serving portions

[Sweet Tango]

Hi. My cat was diagnosed a week ago. (He is NOT getting an insulin yet). At that time he weighed 14 pounds which is actually normal weight for him. Glucose was 439. As per Vet, I changed him to a wet food only diet first with no insulin, to see how much BG would drop and in just one one week, it dropped to 311 (without any insulin). Vet said 1/2 can of DM wet food twice daily and then two small cans of other wet food twice. I am not feeding him DM because I have heard carbs are too high. Since I’m not giving him DM, I’m trying to figure out portions of FF/Merrick per day. Any ideas? Also could it be that he doesn’t even have Duabetes??

 

[FurBabiesMama]

Hi. Did the vet do a urine test and/or a fructosamine test? Those are usually done when diabetes is diagnosed. Both 439 and 311 are high glucose levels though, so it does sound like diabetes.

You want to base how much food you give on calories. There are a few different formulas; a common one is 20 calories per pound of body weight. So, you could use that as a guide. The volume of food can vary since different foods have different calorie content.

Catinfo.org is a great site for learning about feline nutrition. The vet who created it also created a cat food list/database that is very helpful when picking foods to feed. There is a link to it in my signature. She recommends "start with protein minimum of 40, fat maximum of 50, carb max of 10, and for cats with kidney issues....phos less than 300.". Most of us find that carbs need to be lower than 10%. I would say it is best to shoot for under 5%, if you can.

 

[Sweet Tango]

Yes. Urinalysis did show a lot of sugar (no keystones though). Thanks for that info!!

 

[Lisa and Witn (GA)]

Does he have any other issues such as infection or needs a dental? If so these can also raise glucose levels. The diet change can significantly lower glucose levels. So can treating infections and having a dental. Before your vet does decide to start insulin, he needs to be tested again. If you learn to home test you will be able to see how well the diet change is working to lower his glucose levels.

 

[JanetNJ]

He's probably need about 2.5 cans of ff at that weight but possibly more because uncontrolled diabetics often need more food because their bodies can not properly utilize the nutrients.

 

[Sweet Tango]

Thanks Janet!! That’s about what I’ve been feeding him. I also do give him some tuna and I switch off with Merrick Bistro and I may start giving him weruva or Tiki just for some variety. Only high protein/low carbs. Luckily, he’s a pretty good eater and likes wet food.

 

[Gracie85]

At fourteen pounds, he'd need 280 calories per day using the 20cal per pound method. Based on his activity level and how his body is working (such as the diabetes and any other issues that might be going on) you might need to increase that, check his weight at least weekly to see how he's doing. IF you read on the cans, or look them up (Chewy.com is great for listing the nutritional info) it will tell you how many calories per can, so you can decide how much food to give him.

We have a 12-1/2 pound cat who is hyperthyroid but well controlled on medication, and was looking borderline diabetic but well controlled by diet (FF classic pate rules!), and he's eating almost 4 cans of FF a day and just maintaining his weight. His bloodwork (rechecked recently) says everything is fine, recent checkup the vet said he looks great. His activity level is not high, but he just needs a lot of food with all he's got going on internally.