Young Again food - huge change for Pumpkin!

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Pumpkin's Mom

Pumpkin's Mom

Member Since 2016
We never could get Pumpkin under 280, he was usually around 350. We were feeding him the M/D formula food. We noticed that he was jumping higher after eating. I decided to try Young Again Zero. He and my 4yo non-diabetic really like it. They ate a lot initially. Now we are almost two weeks in and Pumpkin was below 100 this morning! First time! He has been eating and drinking less. No shot today and monitoring. Very excited!
 
This probably should be in the Health forum. Those are impressive results for Pumpkin. Your spreadsheet is pretty wild. Lots of dosing variations over time.
From 12 down to zero
Then zero up to 5
Now 5, and a single day of zero.

All those high numbers can't be healthy for poor Pumpkin.
 
You have got to get that pmps test in. He probably went hypo the day before that low am reading. Esp with the diet change to low carb. Don't blindly shoot.
 
We were out of town. We had never seen a low number with him and weren't sure what to do. We didn't give him insulin since he was so low. His numbers rose through the day to 380 pre shot time but we only gave him 3. It's confusing Throughout it all, he was exactly the same sweet boy he always is. We will see what today brings. Testing is harder now since the new food keeps him full and his treat interest is diminished.
 
Pumpkin's Mom said:
We were out of town. We had never seen a low number with him and weren't sure what to do. We didn't give him insulin since he was so low. His numbers rose through the day to 380 pre shot time but we only gave him 3. It's confusing Throughout it all, he was exactly the same sweet boy he always is. We will see what today brings. Testing is harder now since the new food keeps him full and his treat interest is diminished.
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How about a catnip reward
 
Pumpkin's Mom said:
We were out of town. We had never seen a low number with him and weren't sure what to do. We didn't give him insulin since he was so low. His numbers rose through the day to 380 pre shot time but we only gave him 3. It's confusing Throughout it all, he was exactly the same sweet boy he always is. We will see what today brings. Testing is harder now since the new food keeps him full and his treat interest is diminished.
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I'm glad you are reducing the dose. With the new food 5 is way too much. Can you do a curve this weekend or try to get just a few more tests in?
 
Yes - we will curve this weekend. Catnip isn't his thing. He loves the freeze-dried chicken (0 carb) treats, but those aren't enticing him. Usually the "who wants a treat" call brings both cats running, now just Marvel. However, if we just take him to the bathroom, he cooperates. I will be curious to see what this morning brings for his level.
 
136 pre-shot today. Vet said to give 2 units.

@Jill & Alex (GA) - from the YA site:
There are many online experts who are offering help for your diabetic cat. Many of these people have been around for decades and have always been disappointed with available dry foods because they contain excessive starch/carbs. This has led them to ban the feeding all dry foods. They do not realize that our ZERO foods contain fewer digestible carbs than many of the wet diets they currently recommend. These experts are also fearful of hydration issues. No worries, cats being fed Young Again show hydration ratios the same or better when compared to cats eating a wet food. Our ZERO foods are nutritionally identical to a raw or wet food, but produced in a convenient, dry kibble that is easier, safer and much less expensive to feed. Please see our papers on hydration and crystals.
 
JanetNJ said:
You have got to get that pmps test in. He probably went hypo the day before that low am reading. Esp with the diet change to low carb. Don't blindly shoot.
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Please look at Woody's spreadsheet. I was giving way too much insulin. What insulin are you using? I wouldn't shoot under 200 until you are available to test. 136 isn't too high.
 
We are testing, We use Levemir. When he was 68 before we gave him 0 and he popped up to 380. His blood sugar is a wild ride. He is just a loving, happy cat. This new food is keeping him fuller. We will see what 2 does today.
 
@Mum of two felines thanks - very interesting! Pumpkin has been a very confusing case study. As you can see, he has been high for a long time. We are keeping a good eye on him now that he is finally lower. Amazing what a difference food makes!
 
Pumpkin's Mom said:
@Jill & Alex (GA) - from the YA site:
There are many online experts who are offering help for your diabetic cat.
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I agree. There are many online experts offering help for diabetics. Personally, I don't think any of the well respected Doctors of Veterinary Medicine in the field of feline diabetes (there are several of them) should ever be lumped into the category of an "online expert". Seems to me the "online expert" is more likely to be the person making a profit off of their newly found and so called "expertise".

That said, this dry food may help with controlling diabetes, but our cat's bodies are more complicated than "just diabetes". To me this simply comes down to solving one problem, but given the tendency of cats to develop stuff like renal issues anyway... it's simply increasing the likelihood of creating other problems/health issues. I prefer to minimize rather than maximize those chances, but to each his own.
 
Pumpkin's Mom said:
@Jill & Alex (GA) What I was showing you was what they said about the moisture and their food. They specifically addressed your concerns regarding hydration.
https://www.youngagainpetfood.com/feline-diabetes.html
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@Pumpkin's Mom
Sorry, off to a holiday party, but wanted to respond before I went out for the evening...
I did read the links provided in their entirety. They really do a super-duper job selling their products. No doubt about it. Although if you think about it, they have to. Their livelihood depends on it.

Not saying you will, but just in case you ever need it, you may want to bookmark this link: Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease. It's one of the best and most informative sites around.

Just my thoughts...
 
Pumpkin's Mom said:
@Jill & Alex (GA) What I was showing you was what they said about the moisture and their food. They specifically addressed your concerns regarding hydration.
https://www.youngagainpetfood.com/feline-diabetes.html
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unfortunately, there are more disadvantages with feeding dry than the level of moisture alone (which, IMHO, is crucial for cats) . For instance here is what turned me away from ANY dry food at all and BEFORE my cat was DX and BEFORE I joint this Forum:

..."In addition, dry food is very heavily processed which includes being subjected to high temperatures for a long time resulting in alteration and destruction of nutrients.


Dry food is also often contaminated with bacteria, fungal mycotoxins, storage mites/cockroaches and their feces, etc." - from Dr. Pierson's blog, the renown feline nutritionist.

To be totally fair: there are several instances of successful BG level control on Young Again Dry on this Forum alone - I know at least one cat here who went into remission on that type of food and there are several others who achieved great control over the BG on it. However, I believe, they were also eating wet foods in addition to YA dry.

Please do not think I am going to rain on your parade, not a all, but things with FD are such that it is better to consider all point of views, and to weigh all of the info available before putting your FD guard down - all to be very, very cautiously assessed for the sake of your sweet baby Pumpkin's health.

:bighug: Sincerely








 
Tanya and Ducia said:
For instance here is what turned me away from ANY dry food at all and BEFORE my cat was DX and BEFORE I joint this Forum:

..."In addition, dry food is very heavily processed which includes being subjected to high temperatures for a long time resulting in alteration and destruction of nutrients.


Dry food is also often contaminated with bacteria, fungal mycotoxins, storage mites/cockroaches and their feces, etc." - from Dr. Pierson's blog, the renown feline nutritionist.
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Tanya and Ducia said:
Please do not think I am going to rain on your parade, not a all, but things with FD are such that it is better to consider all point of views, and to weigh all of the info available before putting your FD guard down - all to be very, very cautiously assessed for the sake of your sweet baby Pumpkin's health.
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All excellent points!


 
:bookworm::bookworm::bookworm::bookworm:
Pumpkin's Mom said:
@Jill & Alex (GA) What I was showing you was what they said about the moisture and their food. They specifically addressed your concerns regarding hydration.
https://www.youngagainpetfood.com/feline-diabetes.html
Click to expand...

My Buzz has been eating Young Again since August. I do throw some Tiki cat in 3 times a week. I was tired of the grocery store having dented cans, and charging .74 a can. He won't eat heated up food and will stop eating it when he's done licking all the liquid off. So he was using 2 cans a day. I also tried Fancy Feast to see if he'd eat that. Same thing. I can't afford 45.00 a month for 1 cat. He also was losing too much weight and started losing hair at his tail. My new cat Raven won't eat the same flavor Buzz was eating. So, Young Again has been a good alternative. And since Buzz loves peeing outside the box, I can see he's really hydrated! I know it's not the best, but the phosphorus content is lower than Friskies or FF so I feel I'm helping him out greatly. If his kidneys start having problems I'll have to suck it up and feed Tiki cat :bookworm:
 
Regarding hydration, water weighs 8 pounds per gallon, and cats are about 60% water. So my 15 pound cat is about 9 pounds of water. Now, if he was dehydrated by, say, 10%, that'd show up on my scale -- he'd weigh almost one pound less. And then if I rehydrated him, he'd be back to 15 pounds.

So: there's an easy way to tell if dry food has your cat in a state of dehydration: Weigh him on an accurate scale. When I switched my guy Tux from dry kibble full of carbs to the Catkins Diet (all wet foods with no starches and low carbs) after his diagnosis of diabetes, his total weight change was... none. What that indicates is that he wasn't dehydrated when on kibble.

There's other reasons to feed wet foods, but at least for my cat, dehydration isn't one of them. I'm sure there are cats where that is a problem. (Shrug). All I can tell you is what I observed with my cat.
 
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