Son's cat is diabetic

My son's cat, Simon, was just diagnosed with diabetes. He has to give him 2cc's of insulin daily. The vet also said he has to have special food for diabetic cats, only available, (naturally!) through him. If anyone has experience with this, I could use some information. Simon likes canned food. Is an all meat and no grain diet what he needs? I read on line somewhere that fancy feast is low in carbs and good for diabetic cats. I also checked petfooddirect.com and they have meat only cat food. Is there a good quality food that can be bought in local stores such as Petsmart or Walmart? Thanks! :confused:

I purchase Purina DM (Diabetic Management) cat food through my vet for Morgan. When he was first diagnosed over 2 years ago, he was on 5 units of insulin twice a day. Since he has been on the DM, he's been weaned off of having to have the insulin. The 12 lb bag of cat food costs $45, but I have found that it is cheaper than the insulin and needles needed to give him shots. He also has a small teaspoon of high protein low carb canned food in the morning and afternoon. The afternoon one was added when he had to have the insulin shots twice a day. I know there are other ways of treating the diabeties, and if this hadn't worked so well for Morgan, I would have tried something else. With only having to give 2 units per day to the kitty, it might be that changing his food could regulate his sugar enough that he won't need insulin as well. Morgan has been off of the shots for 18 months.

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Originally Posted by lucysmom

My son's cat, Simon, was just diagnosed with diabetes. He has to give him 2cc's of insulin daily.

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2 cc's or 2 UNITS? There is a big difference!

This site is for pets with diabetes. Your son - or you - will likely want to "chat" with folks in a similar situation.

There is a member's area, with a Chat Room.

Best wishes!

http://www.petdiabetes.net/

Here is another excellent site on Feline Diabetes.
http://felinediabetes.com
My cat was diagnosed 5 years ago. Had him on Purina DM canned, and dry. It is excellent for management of the disease. He tired of that about a year and wouldn't eat it anymore . I feed him Wellness canned, grain free.. He has been in remission for almost a year now and doing very well.

Our cat Patches was Diabetic for over 16 years. She would get 3 units every day but did not have a special diet. I still miss that baby.

Mobius was diagnosed almost 2.5 years ago. I had her on DM but she didn't like it. (She was 12 at the time.) She's been stable at 3 units 2x a day for over a year.

How old is the cat? Particularly for young male cats, there's a vet who has a link through felinediabetes.com who advocates curing diabetes with diet. The nutshell version is no dry food at all; and she has a list of wet food with the carb content. Her postulate that diabetes in cats is caused chiefly by the carbs that humans feed them.

Cocoa was diagnosed with diabetes in March. He was a dry food junkie and that's all he ate for the first 9 years of his life. Last summer he had to have 4 teeth pulled due to severe plaque and gum disease.

After he was diagnosed with diabetes I got serious and did a lot of research on feline diabetes and it's management. The link that TruthRUs posted is a very good source for information.

I stopped feeding dry food and am feeding Wellness canned food to Cocoa and all my other cats too and Cocoa is now off insulin and doing great.

If you have any other questions feel free to PM me and I'll do my best to help you.