I have had very good (preliminary) success with Young Again Zero Carb as an interim food, though would echo the other posters that wet food is best for a number of health reasons and should be the ultimate goal (as it is mine). My cat is a dry food addict of the first order. I transitioned her after diagnosis from Hills Science Diet dry to Evo Grain Free Turkey & Chicken dry (marked "lowest carbohydrates"). Her blood glucose remained high on the Evo dry, around the mid-200's, even though (up to about a month ago) she was receiving 4.5 units of Lantus twice a day. Hardly a success.
Mid December, I transitioned her to the Young Again Zero Carb and within a few weeks my cat's blood glucose had dropped into the greens and blues (estimating 50ish to 150ish on average) while receiving very little Lantus. Today (after a little more than a month on Young Again Zero Carb), her high BG was 111 and her low was 48 on 2 drops of Lantus. That is a remarkable improvement in a little over a month.
Her coat is beautiful and shiny and she is full of energy. That's the good news. Now for the bad news: Let me say again that there are very serious health reasons, outside of diabetes and blood glucose, that you want your cat on wet food for the long haul (kidney disease, cystitis, urethral blockage, bladder/kidney stones) so please understand that I am not recommending anyone switch to this who is already feeding wet food. Here is an excellent article by Dr. Lisa Pierson on why:
http://www.catinfo.org/#Kidney_Failure .
That said, I do believe the Young Again Zero Carb could prove a useful interim tool for those cats resistant to eating wet food when initially diagnosed. It may enable you to get the BGs down faster than feeding other dry, if you cannot transition your cat to wet food immediately. Based on my experience, I would recommend Young Again Zero Carb over Evo dry. The Young Again seems very different in the way it is metabolized, though I am not sure I understand why.
A word of caution though, if your cat is already eating another low carb dry and you transition to Young Again Zero Carb you might experience a very rapid decline in BG (similar to what you would get if you switched to a low carb wet food), so you MUST be prepared to test and decrease your insulin dose immediately so you do not harm your cat. My cat went from needing 4.5 units to needing almost nothing over a twelve day period, with several BG dips into the 40's along the way. So please be careful!
As a side note, I have since talked to the founder of Young Again, and he tells me that their other varieties (like the 50/22 variety) will not produce the same results as the Zero Carb variety and will result in your cat's BGs remaining high. And a final note, the Zero Carb did produce loose and smelly stools initially in my cat but was remedied by giving probiotics.
I will continue to transition my cat to wet food even though the Young Again is producing some positive interim results for her. We have tried many suggestions (literally hundreds) including those outlined by Dr. Pierson in her terrific article on "transitioning dry food addicts":
http://www.catinfo.org/. I consider this a marathon not a sprint for us, and feel confident that we will get to where we need to go with the wet food – hopefully sooner rather than later. In the meantime the Young Again has helped us control BG and reduce insulin dose, for which I am most grateful.
