As you guys know. Little has been all over the place and part of it I’m sure has to do with only being fed every 12 hours. I cannot leave out wet food for all the reasons I have posted throughout my time here. So my question is - can I leave out forever young or Dr elseys pure protein dry food ? That would work as I am sure after the first few days they will know it’s a constant and not be inclined to Hoover it all up like they would with wet food. You guys know better than me. I have the dr Elseys as I use it as treats. If you thing the forever young is better I will have to order. Thanks for all your advice and expertise!
I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of any dry food. It's just so bad for them, no matter how low the carbs are. That being said, from what I've read, Dr. Elsey's seems like the better option. YAZ has carbs, but they've been processed in a way that makes them undigestible. It makes me think of feeding a cat plastic - they can't digest it, and it certainly isn't good for them, no matter how well they market the product. In addition to that, cats have all kinds of intestinal issues on it. They may be just fine for one bag, and then start having liqui-poo on the next bag, so there is some kind of inconsistency in their product. Also, while some cats don't show the carb impact, others have seen the BG spike. It just seems like a kind of shady product with mixed results and weird, non-food-like side effects. Dr. Elsey's has carbs and has also had mixed results in terms of impact on BG. Some cats have increased BG on it, others seem okay. But at least it doesn't cause diarrhea. Another option might be trying raw food. Cats on raw food tend to have healthier eating habits. I don't know if that would work with your kitties and allow you to leave food out or not, but it would definitely be healthier than any kibble option. Now, all that being said, sometimes you've gotta do what you've gotta do. If you decide to try it, keep a very close eye on their weight, and on their hydration. Dehydration hits their kidneys hard, so you want to check their hydration daily to make sure they're doing okay.
Thank djamila. Didn’t know that about the YAZ. If I decide to do it it would be such a small amount left out that I don’t think weight would become an issue. Little was on mostly dry for all the time I have had her as she was just never interested in wet food and now that I add almost a whole can can of water to her wet food meals I am hoping dehydration wouldn’t be an issue as it never was in the past.i haven’t posted numbers in a while since pet sitter was here for last 4 cycles but when I got home I pushed her back up to 2U as the skinny 2 just wasn’t cutting it. Still unsure if I will try leaving some dry out but I am inclined to try it as an experiment to see what it does.my thinking behind this is she seemed to be doing pretty well on 2U except for one lime and one on the cusp so leaving out some dry would enable her to eat if that happened again. The wet food she gets shows ZERO CARBS on the food chart so hopefully the few carbs in the DR E food wouldn’t shoot her up too much. As always thank you for your infinite wisdom.
Djamila makes some very good points about dry food. There are dried raw foods out there (eg, Primal). Maybe you could try one of those "biscuits" crumbled up as an in between meal. I think Djamila has used it so she might have more to offer about it.
Oh. I did not realize that Raw could be purchased in a store. I will check into it thank you. You guys are great xoxo
You can usually buy frozen raw that needs thawing or freeze dried raw that generally needs water added before feeding. @Djamila ?
Yes, just avoid Stella and Chewy's. They won't share the values for their foods without being pushed hard for the them. No company should hold secrets about what we are feeding our cats. They've improved somewhat in the past few years, but their food was so high in carbs a few years ago, that it's what brought Sam out of remission. Improved or not, I hold a grudge. Primal and Vital Essentials are both great products if you want freeze dried. Vital Essentials sells these mini-nibs for cats that are as hard as kibble. I bought it and tried to rehydrate and it really couldn't even be rehydrated well. Raw or not, that level of dehydration ends up with the same damage to kidneys that kibble causes. However, they also sell mini-patties for dogs. The recipe is exactly the same as the recipe for cats, and I've confirmed with the company that the recipe is in fact identical. The mini patties are easy to crumble and rehydrate, so they are a much better product. Primal comes in chunks that are also easy to crumble and rehydrate. If you can't find these foods locally, they are all sold on Chewy. I definitely do NOT recommend feeding freeze-dried raw in its dry form. Hydration is so essential for our cats both as diabetics, and because CKD and urinary tract issues are so common with sugar cats. Their organs are already strugglin' to survive with elevated BG, the last thing they need is the extra work from food that doesn't have sufficient hydration. Sorry if I'm being repetitive here, but it's super important.
I just looked up the primal food and it’s much like the photo attached that she won’t touch but I’ll try again with another brand and flavor. Do you rehydrate if leaving out or leave out dried nuggets!? I bought the below to use as treats a while back. Was a no go repetitive is good since I seem to have a hard head lately. If I rehydrate my fear is it will get gobbled up like wet food. I wonder if I freeze a can of FF how long it will take to thaw before they can eat it? That might be this weeks experiment. Lol.
@Djamila Hi, I hope you don’t mind me jumping in with a question. I’m new here and my cat has chronic pancreatitis with either pre-diabetes or full blown transient diabetes. I’m trying to navigate feeding a diabetic friendly diet that is also moderate (or lower) in fat because of the pancreatitis. One vet did recommend dehydrated raw - specifically Northwest Naturals brand. Considering the moisture content is SO low I would absolutely rehydrate it, but I’m curious if doing that brings the moisture level up to make it equivalent to a canned diet, or if ultimately a canned diet is preferred? You seem to know a lot about the dehydrated raw so I thought I would ask your thoughts on this. Thanks so much!
Hi Ashley! You must live near me! I don't think Northwest Naturals is distributed to a very large region yet. I liked their ingredient list, and my cats seemed to like their food. You can add as much water as your kitty will tolerate. So it can certainly be as good as a canned food in terms of hydration. And quite often even better as far as ingredients and health benefits. I found the directions on most foods in this category still left the food too dry, so I've always added quite a bit more than directed (I don't remember the directions for NW Naturals, so you'll have to see if it seems like enough or if you need more). When I first started using dehydrated raw, I added water to make it the texture of a canned pate. Over time I've been able to increase the added water so it's more soupy now.
