Thoughts on food for a newbie?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Jennifer & Splunk

Jennifer & Splunk

Member Since 2017
Hi everyone! I just posted my introduction in the introduction forum (go figure!) so I won't repeat it all here. Basically, my cat Splunk was diagnosed with diabetes a couple of weeks ago, and I've been trying to figure out food and insulin and everything else since.

We live in a multi-cat household, so feeding, especially, has become a bit of a challenge. I have two cats (one with IBS and one with renal failure) who cannot eat Splunk's high-protein food.

Splunk, unfortunately, is (a) quite picky, and (b) LOVES dry food. When this all started, I wanted to make the transition from free-feeding dry food to feeding very small amounts of dry food slowly. To begin with, I switched out his usual Wellness dry food for the DM dry the vet suggested (yes, I know now that all dry food is evil, and I've always known that the vet foods are... let's say, less than gloriously healthy). Anyway, Splunk took to this food immediately, and ate it with gusto. So much gusto, in fact, that his sugars went up (they had been around 17, then went up to over 20). So... I've taken away the DM dry food (also, it was making my cat with IBS sick).

Now I give him occasional handfuls of his old dry food (I'm slowly making these smaller and will phase them out entirely soon), and the rest of the time, he eats wet food. But he doesn't love it, and I'm always worried he's not getting enough. He hated the DM wet, but he likes the Hills MD (yes, I know it's not ideal either, but I'm running out of things he will eat!). So he gets that, but he tires of it quickly, so he also gets various varieties of BFF, which is high in protein, and Fancy Feast pate, because he'll usually eat some of that reliably. I've tried Weruva (hates it), Wellness Core (meh), that Tiki brand (hates it)... I'm kind of at a loss as to what to try next.

So... does anyone have any suggestions as to how to manage a picky diabetic cat in a multi-cat household? Or even just manage a picky diabetic cat, period? I'm considering making food for him myself, but am not sure how to go about that (though I imagine there are links about that around here somewhere).

Thanks for any thoughts, and all the best,

Jennifer
 
Have you thought about a raw food diet. My vet recommended one for Smoky to help his Inflammatory Bowel Disease or IBD. You can buy them already frozen and then just thaw out a small amount at a time. You would have to throw out any of the food that is not eaten right away.
 
I'm currently doing a raw food diet. Harry was not happy about it at first, and what I ended up doing was giving him a portion of dry food and a portion of wet food on the same plate. He'd only eat the dry food and ignored the wet food for several days, but then one day I guess he just tried it and realised it was awesome. Since then, he's loved it, and been much happier on it.
 
Go with all wet.... It's better for your ckd cat. What stage is he in? Low protien for early stages is not good as it leads to muscle waste. You do want lower phosphorus though. There are several low phosphorus low carb foods such as bff.

If you want to incorporate a little dry, Youngagainpetfood.com young again zero mature is 1% carb, and less than 1% phosphorus. If you ask they will send a free sample.
 
Hi and welcome! Actually, I am not making my own food rather I go to a local butcher and get antibiotic free and steroid free raw chicken and turkey. I add the Foodfurlife EZ Complete supplements to each serving that I give him. I started them on raw last year in Oct. At first Bubba didn't want to eat it so I gave mostly can food and added one TBSP of raw and he ate it and the next day I added more raw than can and in a few days he was eating all raw. I also have a multicat household and I feed my civvie cat the same as I give to Bubba. It makes it easier but I understand your dilemma ;it does make it difficult to have kitties with different dietary needs. I don't know a whole lot about CKD but I have seen where peeps here add a phosphorus binder to the food for CKD kitties.

The reason I get the meats at a butcher is because most grocery stores add AB and or steroids and things like rosemary oil ( to the poultry) and these things aren't good for them. If you don't have a local butcher there are places on line that will ship frozen raw to you and one of them is Darwins. I used them in the beginning of our raw journey but they were very expensive and it was cheaper for me to get from the butcher and add the EZcomplete supplements to it.

Before I switched to raw I was feeding both cats FF Classic and Wellness and Natures Variety Instinct.

I too also give some dry Young again as Janet mentioned in her post. I did not give while we were following Tight Regulation as it is a requirement to be feeding only wet food on TR but dry is allowed on Start Low Go Slow ( SLGS) Now I give both kitties about 1 -2 tbsp. of YA a day because it is convenient leaving it in the auto feeder when I am not home or in the 2 AM feeding when I just don't want to handle raw food in the middle of the night. But, wet is the best for all our kitties so I really keep the YA to a minimum.
 
Ashley&David|Harry&Noelle said:
I'm currently doing a raw food diet. Harry was not happy about it at first, and what I ended up doing was giving him a portion of dry food and a portion of wet food on the same plate. He'd only eat the dry food and ignored the wet food for several days, but then one day I guess he just tried it and realised it was awesome. Since then, he's loved it, and been much happier on it.
Click to expand...
Duh, I should have read your signature first before replying.:oops: I am thinking about switching smoky to a raw food diet because of his IBD. Is it a pricey diet to feed, I'm spending a small fortune on canned cat food.
 
Lisa and Smoky said:
Is it a pricey diet to feed, I'm spending a small fortune on canned cat food.
Click to expand...

The food I get is about $100 a month for two cats, but it varies on how much your cats eat and if they'll all be eating it (which I recommend if you can afford it) or just one. I'm feeding a 15lb Maine Coon mix and a kitten who seems to have just stopped growing so I go through it a little faster than you might. It's actually what put Harry in remission the first time around as well, and he's seemed a lot happier on it.
 
I have 1 cat with IBD and spend about $100 to $150 a month on just him. It would be cheaper to feed him raw food.
The amount I spend is not even on high quality canned food, it's Fancy Feast. Smoky has a number of food allergies, ( see my signature), and it's very hard to find food he can have and will actually eat.
 
Oh my gosh, you are all so amazing -- thank you so much. I haven't had a chance to check back in before now, and I can't believe how helpful you've all been!

I'll be honest, I tried raw food years ago, and had a bad experience with it, so I'm very leery about trying it again.

I will definitely look up Young Again -- thanks for that tip. And thanks for the link to making my own cat food -- I've been investigating this seriously, as it can't possibly be more expensive than buying all this canned food.

Thanks again, everyone -- I really appreciate all your input!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top