Food for diabetic cats

[Catty1]

A friend of mine just found out his cat is diabetic. The vet advised low-to-no carb food, of course.

The vet brand food is expensive of course; can a diabetic cat use a quality no-grain food? The carbs in these are vegetables and fruit sometimes.

The vet wasn't crazy about my friend using Friskies wet and Iams dry (mixed with tuna, and the protein is ok...the vet was ok with that. The Friskies will be used up and then?)

Thanks for any suggestions!:)

[jennielynn1970]

Can he do the chicken puree like I do for Honeybun?? That's no carb and has lots of good stuff in it for him. You can put in veggies and stuff and blend it all up. Yummy!!

[mrspunkysmom]

I don't know about how many carbs the cat can have. I do know that BLUE makes a BASICS cat food with limited ingredients. Compare ingredients with the vet's recommended food?

Wishing a long healthy life to your friend's kitty.

[Scooter's Mom]

The thing is, you'd think fruits and veggies would be okay. Having recently been diagnosed diabetic myself, it's amazing how many fruits & veggies have carbs in them.

Good luck to your friend in his quest for healthier food for his kitty.

[Freedom]

Spot's Stew is fine for diabetic cats, and there are other recipes like it in The Whole Pet Diet, by Andi Brown. I make Spot's stew for my crew of 15 quite often.

Also, the grain free foods will be a step in the right direction: Taste of the Wild makes several. Merrick Before Grain, Orijen also are fantastic.

Lots of info on the diabetic pets forum, too.

http://www.yourdiabeticcat.com/forums/

Once a cat is on insulin, you really must monitor how much and when they eat, so you can adjust the insulin accordingly. You can't "just" give the prescribed insulin at the set time -- if the cat decides to skip a meal, you have a huge issue, the cat falls into an insulin coma. This makes your personal schedule rather strict as well -- if you are going to work late, or be out at the time of a shot, you MUST arrange for someone else to take care of the cat. Following the protocols is key to survival and success in managing diabetes - in pets AND humans.

[TommyCat]

Freedom gave you some very good advice on diabetic cats.

Here is also a very good website with lots of good information. You will find a link within this site "Janet & Binky's food chart" - it gives carbs of many brands of wet food.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/

[krazyaboutkatz]

I know that since most canned foods are much lower in carbs than dry food that maybe if he likes canned food this may be the way to go. A friend of mine also has a diabetic cat but he also has urinary problems so he's been on the Hills C/D dry. Now her vet wants her to feed him canned Hills C/D only. If he still craves dry then I know that both Wellness Core and Innova Evo are two dry foods that have very low carbs but they are high in protein. As long as his kidneys are working well, then he should be able to eat a high protein diet. There are also come canned foods that have 95% protein like the Innova Evo ones. I hope that your friend will be able to find the right diet for his cat. Good luck.:)

[smokey the elder]

Dry food is the worst! Just about any brand of wet is better than any brand of dry because dry has a lot of grain in it. The prescription wet food is supposed to be good for them, but lots of cats (including my RB Moby:love:) wouldn't eat it.

[AvaJoy]

Freedom gave you some very good advice on diabetic cats.

Here is also a very good website with lots of good information. You will find a link within this site "Janet & Binky's food chart" - it gives carbs of many brands of wet food.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/

TommyCat, I just wanted to thank you for posting this link, as I just spent over an hour perusing it and clicking on the other informative links on the website. I especially learned much from the Lisa A. Pierson DM site and printed out all 41 pages as I haven't yet studied it completely. I learned SO much, and with my new knowledge I may be able to help one of my cats overcome his chronic constipation issue by feeding him exclusively wet food. The others aren't eating much dry since I switched to Blue Buffalo. They aren't very fond of it. Thank you again!:)

[mrspunkysmom]

TommyCat, I just wanted to thank you for posting this link, as I just spent over an hour perusing it and clicking on the other informative links on the website. I especially learned much from the Lisa A. Pierson DM site and printed out all 41 pages as I haven't yet studied it completely. I learned SO much, and with my new knowledge I may be able to help one of my cats overcome his chronic constipation issue by feeding him exclusively wet food. The others aren't eating much dry since I switched to Blue Buffalo. They aren't very fond of it. Thank you again!:)

I feed Blue Buffalo because my newest cat, Jane, will not eat VF Veterinarian's Formula, which the other two liked. One cat eats Blue wet exclusively and the others will nibble at it.

Jane will also eat Innova. I did not try her on Innova Evo.

Good luck with your search.

[ElGatoTriste]

I give my diabetic cat Innova EVO canned food (http://www.evopet.com/products/default.asp?id=1664), which my vet approved of and said was a good choice. It's 95% meat. Beef, chicken, venison, and duck are the ones I buy. I also give him the dry kibble version of EVO, but I measure it very carefully rather than just leaving a full bowl out all the time.

[katladyd]

Wellness Core and Wellness have no grains and lots of good stuff. This is the wet I feed my cats and one of them has urinary tract problems. It's good stuff!