Transitioning from DM to fancy feast/sheeba

[Lianne]

Hi!

I was wondering if someone could help me transition Mr Higgins from DM wet and DM dry to fancy feast or Sheeba.

He currently get 1/2c wet and 1/c dry twice a day with insulin.

His numbers are still in the 20's.

He's on caninsulin 2.5 units twice a day. I do my own blood glucose monitoring.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

Just start adding a small amount of the new food into his diet and remove an equal amount of the old food....then gradually feed more and more of the Fancy Feast/Sheba until that's all he's eating. Usually no more than 25% change to start with

Make sure you're keeping a close eye on his blood glucose numbers as you transition. Removing the high carb foods should bring his numbers down ....we've seen them drop 200 points or more (11 points or more on your scale)

Weigh him once a week and adjust how much you're feeding based on that...If he needs to gain, feed more. If he needs to lose, feed a little less

How much does he weigh now?

 

[BJM]

The glucose level at the nadir, the lowest it gets post-shot, is how you evaluate the dose. You'll need to be checking the nadir period as you do this, to keep your cat safe. For Vetsulin/Caninsulin, that can be around +4 hours post shot.

I'd start by phasing out the dry DM and increasing the wet DM. Determine the amount of calories you've been feeding dry and replace the same number of calories with wet (not the same volume - dry is more concentrated calories!) by 20-25% per day or two, to avoid GI upsets and so you can monitor the glucose changes.

If you freeze some of the canned food to be eaten when thawed, it can be nibbled on later.

Once you've ditched the dry, you start phasing out the DM with your choice of over the counter low carb canned or raw food.

 

[Critter Mom]

Hi, Lianne.

I'd start by phasing out the dry DM and increasing the wet DM. [...] Once you've ditched the dry, you start phasing out the DM with your choice of over the counter low carb canned or raw food.

If it were my cat I would do exactly what BJ recommends above.

You will have enough to juggle with managing changing insulin needs as the dietary carb load reduces so a GI upset in the middle of the transition is something to avoid if at all possible. (I speak from bitter experience here: Saoirse had an adverse reaction to a spot-on treatment when I was starting the transition and it was a real white knuckle ride getting her through the next few days as a consequence.) You already know that Mr Higgins can eat the DM canned without any digestive issues. Phasing out the dry DM while still feeding the canned DM should minimise risk of GI upset and by the time that transition is complete you should have also been successful in safely adjusting Mr Higgins' insulin to match the lower carb intake. Thereafter it should hopefully be just a question of discovering which FF flavours Mr Higgins enjoys (and any tum upset which might occur would be much more easy to manage).


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