Well Looks Who's Eating Wet Food!

[Jackie & Ms. Soleil]

Evening all!

So I'm really proud of Soleil's status. We went from extreme highs and a couple of extreme lows, to actually starting to level out. She hasn't been given her insulin for almost a full day because she's been under 250. I'll be testing again in our PMPS window to confirm that she won't need an evening shot. I've found that only giving her .5U when necessary doesn't take her too low when she's in an extreme high, so that's what we've been using when she needs a dose.

Today I also attempted to give her only wet food options while I was at work. When she woke me up earlier this morning at 3 a.m. wanting to be let out of her room, I gave her four pieces of dry kibble. It brought her numbers back up a little, but since I've been at work and she hasn't had any dry food, she's dropped back into the low / mid-100's. She seems excited that I'm proud of her because of the positive change in her numbers. I don't think it was ever necessarily the fact that she didn't like wet food. She's just a private eater. So I'd see her sniff the food and turn it away and get discouraged. Turns out she eats it on her own time when she feels like it.

Soleil has also started going back to doing things that I didn't notice she stopped doing because I was so focused on what I could do to help her get better. She's getting on the bed again with ease, she's playing with her catnip toys, she's grooming, she's moving a lot quicker when I call her to her room for testing; which is all so amazing considering she was acting "normal" but now she's really getting back to normal.

I've introduced her to Vital Grain Free Chicken & Beef (in a tube that was fun to try and open without squishing all of it) this evening and she loves it

Crude Protein (min): 10%
Crude Fat (min): 6%
Crude Fiber (max): 1%
Moisture (max): 78%
Taurine (min): .05%

She also got to sample Crave Chicken Pate (I didn't see Crave listed on the wet food list, but I'm also not sure it was a brand in 2017

Crude Protein (min): 12%
Crude Fat (min): 6.5%
Crude Fiber (max): 1%
Moisture (max): 78%
Ash (max): 3.5%
Taurine (min): 0%

And a few pieces of Freshpet Vital Grain Free Chicken & Ocean Whitefish Recipe with Carrots, Eggs & Spinach

Crude Protein (min): 19%
Crude Fat (min): 11%
Crude Fiber (max): 1.5%
Moisture (max): 65%
Taurine (min): 0%

We also received her Lantus pens from DCIN today. I don't want to start her on the new insulin until I have a few more numbers to go by to determine if what the vet prescribed is enough or too much (1U). I read on the Lantus forum that it's best to start low, but I also have to take into consideration that Soleil just recently got on wet food only, and that .5U of Novolin has seemed to have gotten her in a much better place. Once I have more numbers I'll be sure to get advice on the Lantus forum. I also have to print the insulin information and the extensive wet food list tomorrow as well for reference.

Questions!

She's currently scheduled for a curve appointment on 4/4. While I'd like her to go, I feel as though the car ride will reset the work we've put in to get her to the point we're at now. At the same time, I'm not sure if I should go ahead with the appointment so that the curve can be done with the new insulin. But at the SAME time, I can't imagine they'd be able to do a curve if by next week she's steady in the 100's and hasn't broken 250. So I'm torn in this regard. To curve at the vet, or not to curve?

My other question is how can I get my cats to live in harmony without her brother eating ALL of the wet food left out while I'm at work or while I'm at home without having to monitor every move he makes? Soleil isn't the type to eat an entire bowl of anything as soon as it's placed in front of her. Her brother on the other hand? You can give him his own portion, and then he's quickly on the other side of the house to see what she has and is eating it. My concern is that she won't get enough food if I start letting her roam the house during the day once I'm sure she's over her vomiting episodes. I try to keep them separated the best I can, and I don't know how her numbers would be affected if I took up their food for the entire duration of me being at work. They'd of course have access to water, but they're used to free feeding. And that was a lot easier to not worry about him eating all of the dry food without her getting a nibble when they were on a dry food diet. And while I keep them separated, I feel horrible because I don't want them to think they did anything wrong.

 

[Julie and Honey]

It is great if you can transition to wet food, just make sure it is low carb, just because it is wet it is not necessarily also low carb. Best bet is checking carb content on food list. If not on list there is a formula for figuring carb content, not sure where I saw that though.

Curves at a vet are not very useful because cat is just stressed being there. When you are ready to do a curve, you can do it at home. Plus they may charge you for that?

 

[Jackie & Ms. Soleil]

It is great if you can transition to wet food, just make sure it is low carb, just because it is wet it is not necessarily also low carb. Best bet is checking carb content on food list. If not on list there is a formula for figuring carb content, not sure where I saw that though.

Curves at a vet are not very useful because cat is just stressed being there. When you are ready to do a curve, you can do it at home. Plus they may charge you for that?

The vet does charge for the curve. Not as much as Banfield, but’s it’s a charge nonetheless. So I’m going to cancel her appointment for next Thursday when I go in this afternoon to pick up some more RX wet food.

I was a little leery of giving her the Friskies Meaty Bits because of the gravy, and had doubts about the Crave she was trying yesterday. The Friskies she didn’t get much of (she actually finished what her brother didn’t eat, which wasn’t much but was surprising considering he usually licks the bowl clean) and the Crave I realized didn’t say No Grain. I took it away from her last night and she did end up getting a little sick. So Crave isn’t something I’ll be feeding her going forward, and while Friskies is on the list, I don’t think I’ll be giving that to her anymore either. What seems to be working is the RX Hills wet food, and the Freshpet food. Her numbers this morning were in the high 100’s, but she’s definitely in a much better place than she was when she was first diagnosed.

 

[Julie and Honey]

Have you tried Fancy Feast Classics pates? Those are popular low carb, I add a little water and make like a thick soup and she eats it up.
Really suggest finding something on the food list cat will eat because then you can actually see the carb content. You want something under say 5 carbs or so if possible. The Fancy Feast pates are good if kitty will eat them.

If the Rx Hills and Freshpet are lower carb, I am not sure. I do know Hills is not cheap and usually is not any better than some of the others.

Usually gravies are higher carb, so you want to stay away from those, we save gravy food for hypo episodes just because the gravy has carbs.

Just because it says grain free does not necessarily mean low carb. I fed my cat grain free (dry) for years thinking it was healthy, didn’t have grains, but had peas and potatoes, which are carbs. I likely gave my cat the diabetes even though I thought I was feeding her a good diet.

 

[Jackie & Ms. Soleil]

Initially I didn’t think she liked the Fancy Feast but at the time I was looking for her to dig into it, but she’s not that kind of eater. The RX Hills And Freshpet is on the list of cat foods. I’ll grab a couple cans of Friskies for emergencies since the gravy would help bring her back up again if that were to ever happen. And I’ll definitely try to feed her Fancy Feast again while also diluting it with a little warm water. I have to do that in the morning for the Freshpet food because it starts to dry out from sitting in her food bowl all day / night instead of being in the fridge.

Any idea if the food list will be updated with the new brands of cat food out there? I see a lot of them but they don’t specifically list carbs. I try to add up everything else they list and figure if it doesn’t add up to 100%, what’s left over is the carb level. I’m not sure if that’s the right way to go about figuring it out or not.

 

[Idjit's mom]

Jackie, if you look at the following link, you can filter for the Hills prescription canned food.
https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf
If Soleil is eating the Hills canned DM the carbs are 13%.
The Friskies classic pates are all under 10%, the highest I see is 6%. The Fancy Feast Classics (all pates) are even lower carbs, 3, 2, and even 1%. Weruva, Tiki Cat, Soulistic are also brands that I have seen members like. Just depends on what you can afford, how hard it is to get and what your cat will like and eat.

You can download the PDF chart from the link I gave you. It also gives calories, which is really helpful with ensuring that our darling furballs are getting enough or not too much. I would get my FF and Friskies supplies and mark the carb and calorie % number on the can label, then I knew how many calories and carbs each can was going to provide.

There may be more brands out there now than are on the chart. It takes a long time to contact and get the required information from the food companies, if they even provide it, and then update the chart.

As Julie said, don't let the "grain free" fool you. The grain has only been replaced with other carbs like peas and potatoes, or even carrots and spinach that cats just don't need and can't use. www.catinfo.org is Dr. Pierson's cat nutrition website and is very informative.

It's wonderful that she's doing so well, you have done a great job.

 

[Julie and Honey]

Just because it is on list, they are not all low carb. Some higher carb are listed just to show what to stay away from or if a high carb food is needed for hypos such as the ones with gravy. Look in the carb % column. Carbs should be under 10%, a lot of people here look for under 5%. Only Hills I saw on there looked to be high carb unless I missed something? Freshpet listed looked good, were under 10% carbs, if she likes that, that is good.

Updates, not sure, that original list was compiled by a vet who is a friend of FDMB. She suggests as a guide, protein minimum of 40, fat maximum of 50, carb max of 10, and for cats with kidney issues....phos less than 300. You may not find exactly these numbers, most important is carb content, and of course phosphorus ( only if cat has kidney disease.)

You are on the right track for figuring, but there is another calculation from wet to dry matter basis. Sounds confusing, I know. I found this that explains it for any not listed on that chart..

http://www.diabeticcatinternational.com/knowledge/calculating-carbs/

 

[Julie and Honey]

Thanks @Idjit's mom for the clarification of Hills DM info which is different that regular Hills...

 

[Jackie & Ms. Soleil]

Thank you for the clarification. I was under the impression that if it was listed and not under the Do Not Reccomond section that it was the best option. I’ll stick with getting the Friskies to have for emergency purposes, and will stick with the Freshpet food. I printed the list out this morning to read over so I know which options to try that she may like and that are best for her.