Tips needed on how to deal with diabetes and multi cats

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barbp

barbp

Member Since 2014
Should not complain-after all I have only the one diabetic cat and she is SO EASY to poke and stick. But I have too many cats. Fortunately most are separated throughout the house but with the advent of spring and warmer weather, there will be issues.

There are 3 cats currently interacting with Berkeley in the main house. And 2 are utter food consumers. If I let Berkeley out of the cage but forget to close it, they will swipe what ever food she had left. If I leave her in the cage, and I am around, she cries at me.

Before I let her out of cage I have to make sure all the other cats' food is picked up and the bags of dry are closed. I also have cats in the cellar that have free fed dry and canned so need to make sure door to cellar is closed and can not be opened by Berkeley from kitchen or from cellar by the escapees!

And with summer, the cellar cats and house cats usually go out onto the screened deck (with their free feed food!) 24/7 access to deck.

So Berkeley is going to create a change,

None of this is unsolvable of course and I should not be whining. It just takes greater concentration and care on my part-sort of like making sure the door to the grain bin for the horse is always kept closed and latched well.
 
Hello! I agree that switching all to the same food is best. It is healthier all round and friskies is a cheap, healthy option. I had 4 total when my girl was diagnosed and moved them all from dry to friskies since it was cheap in bigger cans than fancy feast. I see a change in all 3 of my civvies. Weight loss (they were all overweight), more energy, shinier coats etc. I thought they would all gobble the food but they didnt. Usually they all eat some when it's put down and then come back for more throughout the day.

Adding water to canned food can help keep it fresh for free feeding. I leave it out for 12 hours with no problems.
 
I'm feeding 15 cats Friskies Turkey and Giblet pate. Mine are OK with eating some initially, then nibbling the rest until the next feeding.
 
Switched all mine to low carb wet food too when Bertie was diagnosed.
All had eaten dry food previously. (One kitty was a dry food addict was quite hard to transition, but we got there in the end.)
The condition of all of them improved a lot. And being able to feed one type of food made things SO much simpler. :smile:
 
I have 7 cats. I feed them twice a day and most days there is not anything left in the bowls for the grazers. Just make sure Bertie eats enough to give insulin.

Also if you have not already done so, switch all of them to canned food. No more dry food. You will have a few complain at first, but they will adjust to it. :mrgreen:

One other option if you can do it, is to put one of the cat doors that require a special collar to open it on a door for a room that you can close off. Start feeding Bertie in that room and put the collar on her. That way, if you need to leave the food down for her, she can come and go when she wants, but the other cats cannot get to her food. If you can't add it to a door, maybe you can rig up a different door for her cage that has the same type of pet door.
 
I feed my separately so I can ensure that they eat enough. No grazing since some of mine would just stuff themselves. Also, my dog would love it to.
 
Sorry if this isn't the place to ask a question. This morning I was informed my cat has diabetes. I don't have alot of specifics yet. I have been reading that he should be on wet food. The problem is that he has been on CD for many years, due to having crystals. Has anyone else encountered this situation? What food would be recommended due to him having both these issues?
Thanks,
Steve
 
Steve R. said:
Sorry if this isn't the place to ask a question. This morning I was informed my cat has diabetes. I don't have alot of specifics yet. I have been reading that he should be on wet food. The problem is that he has been on CD for many years, due to having crystals. Has anyone else encountered this situation? What food would be recommended due to him having both these issues?
Thanks,
Steve
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Hi Steve, and welcome to FDMB!

I don't think many folks will see your post here, so would you like to start a new thread?
If you go the main forum page here viewforum.php?f=28 you'll see - close to the top left hand corner of the page a little 'New Topic' tab written in red (it's immediately below 'FELINE HEALTH' written in blue, and above the 'Announcements' section).
If you click on the 'New Topic' tab a page will open where you can write your message. If you don't want to re-type what you've already written you can 'copy and paste' it into the message box.

Eliz
 
Currently I'm feeding 17 (4 are diabetic) everyone eats exactly what the diabetics do just plain old fashioned Friskies pate style canned food. Yes its high priced on food but I save on litter and most importantly on vet bills and one of my diabetics has been off insulin for almost 4 years and another is looking like he's ready to try it.

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
wow Mel,
You are a wonder. Do you feed everyone separately? And how many cans would they get? Most of the FF cans are under 100 calories so I assume each cat would need at least 2 1/2 cans?

I am beginning to think I am going to have feed meals instead of buffet style. Fortunately, the two oldies, one is upstairs as a singleton (he eats about 3 cans of FF beef classic a day) and the other oldie is in the front room. She eats about 1/2 can of FF or the equivalent of Friskies that I see her eat while I am cleaning the room but none of her fellow roomies are gluttons and there is always food left and she is not ribby. I guess the others could stand to lose a few ounces and maybe depending on me instead of grazing will force them to be friendlier.
 
Amount of food depends on the ideal weight of the cat. But as long as they aren't gaining or losing you are fine. I would recommend you always weigh each cat every couple of weeks.. It's a good way to judge if there are any issues too.

How much to feed? Required calories per day = [13.6 X ideal weight in lbs] + 70
 
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