Small victory!

[pmanderson0417]

I have been trying for well over a year to switch everyone in my household (4 cats) to an all wet-food diet. I had one lone holdout (kidney disease kitty who is no longer with us) that would just refuse to recognize the wet food as actual food; she'd pretend to cover the wet food, no matter what type I tried - and boy, have I tried MANY. Long story short, I picked up all of the Young Again Zero yesterday before leaving for work so they'd be good and hungry when I got home, put out Fancy Feast (classic pate) and Tiger's special vet-recommended Royal Canin food (which we will be going off of when I can start monitoring his BG at home this weekend) and they gobbled it up - no holdouts! Tiger picked at his RC food but I let him eat whatever he wanted of the FF since I needed to give him his Lantus. He was much happier with the FF. (On a side note, I was shocked after finding the most recent updated cat food chart that the RC Glycobalance canned was so much higher in carbs than the FF - why on earth would that be the recommended diet for a diabetic?!)

I put out a 2nd can of food around midnight when I got woken up and after that, no more middle of the night pestering me for food - well, except for Tiger. He thinks he's always hungry. I am hoping when his BG is regulated, he will be less of a pest for food in the middle of the night. I am going to try freezing some food in an ice cube tray and setting those out after dinner so they can thaw and be ready to eat in the middle of the night. (And let me sleep!)

Next challenge - attempting to monitor Mr. Tiger's BG at home. I am determined we are going to get this under control with remission being the goal, but I know there's no guarantee that will happen. I am trying very hard to educate myself and make sure I am doing everything I can to avoid diabetes for my other younger kitties while they are still young and healthy. The more I have read, the more it makes sense on how unnecessary of a disease this is. Unlike other diseases, unless it's genetic, it seems that it's completely avoidable with some education on the pet parent's part.

 

[FurBabiesMama]

Congratulations!

 

[Noah & me (GA)]

Unlike other diseases, unless it's genetic, it seems that it's completely avoidable with some education on the pet parent's part.

Our first sugar cat was a lean-mean fine specimen of a cat who always ate the right thing. Noah is his brother. It is avoidable but only in the sense that getting hit by an asteroid is avoidable. For every winner there is a loser.
That's me in "Behavioral issues/Feline Health" and my battle to change to wet food.

 

[pmanderson0417]

Our first sugar cat was a lean-mean fine specimen of a cat who always ate the right thing. Noah is his brother. It is avoidable but only in the sense that getting hit by an asteroid is avoidable. For every winner there is a loser.
That's me in "Behavioral issues/Feline Health" and my battle to change to wet food.

I guess that's a good point. I meant avoidable in the sense of not free-feeding junky high-carb food. Kind of like with us; we can do the right thing 100% of the time and stuff still happens.

Noah is very handsome, btw.

 

[Noah & me (GA)]

I always thought diabetes was directly connected to morbid obesity and 12 cans a day of Coke, end of story. "Nigel has diabetes" did not connect the dots for me. An indoor cat, vaccinations up to date and this is what happens? It was hard for me to grasp. I'm more frustrated now by pharmacists who really wonder what I'm doing with these syringes and then a voice will pop up "He's the guy with a cat". That doesn't help either.

 

[pmanderson0417]

I always thought diabetes was directly connected to morbid obesity and 12 cans a day of Coke, end of story. "Nigel has diabetes" did not connect the dots for me. An indoor cat, vaccinations up to date and this is what happens? It was hard for me to grasp. I'm more frustrated now by pharmacists who really wonder what I'm doing with these syringes and then a voice will pop up "He's the guy with a cat". That doesn't help either.

I can imagine it's been extremely frustrating especially if your kitty was completely healthy to begin with. :|

 

[Noah & me (GA)]

Ooops, forgot. Noah is handsome, he says thanks. He is the last of a family of six that all had cardiomyopathy which as far as I know has nothing to do with diabetes. It was a huge shock to find out six of your nine cats are not completely healthy. I'll spare you the details, it's pretty uncommon in cats.