? Vital essentials mini nibs?

[MamaMug]

So I probably made a rookie mistake, but I was at pet people picking up a set of Doc&Pheobe feeders, mostly for our Civvie Keesmo who is easily bored and very hunter minded. I was looking mostly at freeze dried treats to fill them (Kees hates Dr Elseys) and the clerk recommended Vital Essentials mini nibs as being diabetic safe. She said a regular customer has sworn by the chicken formula as not causing spikes in his sugarcat. I picked up a bag on a whim and now I'm worried.

The GA had me a bit concerned initially, but the ingredient list didn't give me any immediate red flags. I've heard some anecdotes that tocopherols (preservatives) can cause a spike, but having orijen treat addicts in the house who have at times destroyed whole bags while we're away, I've yet to see a spike from them in that small of an amount. Is there anything else on the ingredient list that I'm overlooking? Is the goat milk a concern? Anyone have experience with the mini nibs?

Their website FAQ indicates that their food generally has around 1% carbs, but knowing how misleading food labeling can be, I'm wary. The last thing I want to do is knock Gato out of remission!

EDITED TO ADD: This would not be a replace to the wet foods we regularly feed, but as a supplement and treat activity while we are at work, sleeping, or otherwise away.

 

[MamaMug]

@Djamila I was creeping some old posts via the search function and noticed you might have some insight into this brand. I know dry is never ideal and our guys main meals would still be wet, but do you see any harm in a bit of this during the day and night to tide them over? We're running into dry heaving right before meals on a daily basis and I'm hesitant to go the timed feeder route due to how aggressive Gato gets with the stinky meat (i.e. wet food).

We did fill the mice up tonight with the VE and let them all get used to batting them around for treats.... or in Gatos case picking it up with his mouth and chucking it at the floor lol.
I plan to test Gatos BSL in about 30mins, which would be a +2 from when they ate a little of it.

 

[Djamila]

Neither of my cats would touch the nibs (I got a little sample from my local store). I tried to rehydrate them to see if they would like them better that way, but they are extremely hard and won't rehydrate (I'm not a fan of giving cats foods that will dehydrate them). I think if Gato likes them, I would write to the company (they are really responsive) and just confirm the carb level, and then keep the amount they get to a minimum. The fact that I really couldn't get them to soak up water kind of creeped me out.

I wonder if a food-cicle would help? Add some extra water to the wet food, and then freeze it into ice cubes. Then when you go to bed, you can leave out an ice cube or two. Since it thaws slowly, it helps prevent any one cat getting too possessive or aggressive. I've also put an ice pack in a shallow plastic container, covered with a towel, and then nestled the food dish on top of that. It takes even longer to thaw out that way which slows them down even more.