Treats and Feeding

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KittyMom777

KittyMom777

Member Since 2014
Reposting here as I didn't get a response on the main board.

KittyMom777 said:
Hi,
I'd like some advice on feeding. Silver currently gets 1/2 a tin of Fancy Feast Classic along with 1/4 cup of Purina DM dry morning and evening. I have heard on here that even Purina DM dry isn't so good. So how do I get him off it and him not be hungry all the time? His ravenous appetite is under control somewhat, but whenever I have tried cutting back/removing the dry, his hunger returns with a vengeance.

Also, regarding treats - I need to find a low carb, high protein treat that I can give him when I am doing the tests. I don't have time to cook for him like some of you do. What types of treats are low carb? It is hard to see on the packaging.

Thirdly - I have a second cat - Sasha, who is not diabetic but huge! She has gone from a wee kitty to 17lb in the last 6 months. I feed her the same as Silver but with just a teaspoon of the same DM dry food sprinkled over the FF. I think part of her weight gain is that Silver is no longer able to chase her round the house playing games like they used to as his back legs are bad.

So - how on earth do I get her weight down without starving her?
How do I find a low carb treat?
How much wet should I feed Silver to keep him from being hungry while cutting back/eliminating the dry? I don't plan to buy a new bag of dry when this bag is done and its about half full.

Juliet
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Hi Juliet,

In terms of food, you want to slowly reduce the DM dry while increasing the amount of FF wet you are giving Silver. There are lots of people on this board who have experience with making that transition easy. If it turns out that Silver (or Sasha) is a dry food addict, people have had success with Young Again Zero Carb (which actually has 5% carbs). It's quite expensive, but you don't end up feeding too much of it. The company will send you a free sample so that you can try it before making a purchase.

Many cats do well with smaller meals given over the course of a day. If you are out of the house for long amounts of time, a timed feeder would be helpful. Another option is to freeze portions of the meal and the cats will eat them as they thaw. For example, before bed I give my cat .25 can of FF with a .5 can frozen portion. She eats the fresh portion right away and nibbles the frozen part over the night. In terms of quantity, eventually Silver will likely be eating between 2-3 cans of Fancy Feast per day, depending on size and appetite. This would also be an appropriate diet for Sasha.

For treats, I give Maddy Whole Life Chicken. It's just freeze-dried chicken. The company also makes freeze-dried Turkey treats. Another option is Pure Bites. I've been able to find the Whole Life and Pure Bite treats at my local Petco, but I know they are not available everywhere.
 
Are these treats available in Canada?

I daren't leave food out as I really want to monitor both their eating habits. Sasha is fat do I don't want her esting Silver's food.

I actually cut out Silver's dry tonight. He hasn't complained so far!
 
If you've gone to all wet, it'd be a good idea to monitor him much more closely over the next 24 hours or so to make sure that his numbers don't go too low on his current dose of insulin.
 
According to the manufacturer's website, Whole Life Pet Treats are distributed via Pet Science in the Toronto area. And PureBites should be available at Global Pet Stores in Toronto. Your best bet would be to contact your locate pet store and see if they carry them.
 
I will second what Aine recommended. When I switched my cat to only wet good, her levels went down significantly. Based on your chart, it looks like you gave 1 unit this evening. If you can, a +3 reading would help you get a sense of how much the insulin is going to impact him tonight.
 
I just switched tonight. I'm monitoring tonight too. His numbers are very high so I'm not too concerned he''ll drop to dangerous levels.
 
That's great. Numbers can drop quite a lot. Frequent testing during the transition will help you catch any unexpectedly low numbers.
 
Critter Mom said:
That's great. Numbers can drop quite a lot. Frequent testing during the transition will help you catch any unexpectedly low numbers.
Click to expand...

Well I can't test during the day as I'm at work but I got great advice from Mel to drop down to one unit am and pm. Going to test again in about ten mins.
 
The dose reduction will help with the food change. Great that you can get a few extra tests tonight. :thumbup
 
Personally I feed my kids every 4 hours during the day, but then again I'm home to cater to their wishes..lol

But most cats do better and especially diabetic ones with smaller frequent meals rather than a couple large ones. For most normal weight cats (between 6-10 lbs ideal weight) they are going to need about 2 cans of Fancy Feast per day per cat.

As far a low carb commercial store bought treats I got a whole list for you. Low carb treat's list some other easy ones are human water packed tuna, or sardines. little slivers of low fat cream cheese. or even those nice already cooked popcorn shrimps. Just about anything that is pure meat or protein. One trick to get more bang for your buck on the freeze dried jerky style treats is to see if the same company makes the same treats but for dogs. If they do buy the ones for dogs and cut them into smaller pieces for cats. Its the same difference in price as if you buy whole mushrooms and slice them yourself or buy them already sliced. You are paying to have an employee of the company cut them up for you.

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
Treats in Canada.... I got this one. Petsmart and Target are good places to grab some Pure Bites Chicken bits.. this is freeze dried chicken, 100% pure protein. Make sure you buy the ones packaged for Dogs. You pay less per ounce for the same darn thing that they package for cats.

Temptations and other hard treats are high carb and extremely high salt... otherwise known as Kitty Crack.
 
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