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all RAW... Yup... frozen raw frozen. it is the closest to what they should be eating as we can get... well... you could throw a mouse/rabbit at them (frozen and thawed there are web sources and people do feed this) but i prefer frozen prepared, although sometimes I prepare my know raw foods for them. This takes time, planning and recipes.
I hope you are out finding the great stuff! It can be reversed and at the very least reduced dependency.
I found a small pet store that seems to carry most of these brands.
I purchased the BFF canned food. My cat has never eaten canned food. My other cat ate canned food but this cat wouldn't touch it.
First day, I gave her some of the canned BFF and some of her dry "duck and pea". She went right to the dry and ate it. Later that day, I gave her the same and she ate all the dry and a taste of the canned! From there, I started decreasing her dry and increasing the canned. Now...a couple of days later, she is eating the canned food FIRST. She really seems to be enjoying it!
I have decreased her insulin from 2.5 to 2. She doesn't seem constipated and actually pooped in the litter box again! Yay!
My plan is to decrease the dry as I increase the canned and decrease the insulin at the same time.
Once she is off the dry and the insulin, I will take her to the vet to test to see if her diabetes is in remission.
I'm keeping a very close eye on her, working from home as much as I can.
The Pet store did have the Stella and Chewy but the person working suggested it may be too high in calories for a diabetic cat?
great news. glad the experienced cat lovers on here could help. most cats will come around to the wet-especially if that is the only alternative. I know it is so much easier to feed dry but by now we know how much better the health of our cats is with wet.
The Pet store did have the Stella and Chewy but the person working suggested it may be too high in calories for a diabetic cat?
I'll keep y'all posted.
Glad you mentioned this -- for anyone with Diabetic cats (who don't click on the Feline Specialists' links posted for whatever reasons, where they explain) -- very crucial note to those with Diabetic cats:
It is carbohydrates which burn out the Pancreas as cats lack the Amylase enzyme to break down carbohydrates, thus carb-laden foods is what causes these issues in the first place.
I have decreased her insulin from 2.5 to 2. She doesn't seem constipated and actually pooped in the litter box again! Yay!
My plan is to decrease the dry as I increase the canned and decrease the insulin at the same time.
Once she is off the dry and the insulin, I will take her to the vet to test to see if her diabetes is in remission.
I'm keeping a very close eye on her, working from home as much as I can.
Just curious, is the vet aware you're decreasing the insulin? You might have mentioned it in your initial post, but after a 10 hour day working my brain is a tad fuzzy. Insulin is something that needs to be regulated and adjustments slow as mentioned on this site Giving Insulin to Pets and Cats.
Just curious, is the vet aware you're decreasing the insulin? You might have mentioned it in your initial post, but after a 10 hour day working my brain is a tad fuzzy. Insulin is something that needs to be regulated and adjustments slow as mentioned on this site Giving Insulin to Pets and Cats.
That is very helpful information.
Yes, the vet knows. I didn't notice any difference when we increased her from 2 to 2.5 so the vet doesn't think decreasing her back to 2 will make any difference. Sometimes, I think this all started when we put her on the "Duck and Pea" dry food.
Are you talking about the Natural Balance L.I.D. green pea & duck dry food ? Because if you’re looking for some wet food and trying to get some moisture in her, they have a canned food version of that formula that my Mom’s diabetic cat eats and loves. I would also recommend their grain-free Platefulls in a pouch. I believe there is one with duck.
I wanted to update y'all since everyone was so helpful and maybe this information will help someone else in this situation.
I have always believed the dry food "Duck and Pea" was the problem all along. The reason we started Ally on Duck and Pea was because she had started dragging her butt across the carpet. Took her to the vet and they determined she had an allergy to the food so we started on the duck and pea dry food. Ally preferred dry and wouldn't eat canned.
She did stop dragging her butt on the carpet.
However, she also started drinking lots of water. One night we had left plenty of water and food and came home to a HUGE MESS. She had peed all over the rugs and pooped all over them too. There were about 10 piles of poop!
I took her to the vet the next day and they checked her levels and determined she had diabetes.
I asked about taking her off duck and pea but the vet didn't agree but wanted us to give her the 2.5 units of insulin.
I still thought the duck and pea was the problem but vet said no.
Everything was fine for months. Had her levels checked from time to time and vet said keep her insulin at that level.
A few weeks ago, Ally began being constipated and pooping very white and dry poops on the rug again.
I decided to switch her to canned food and hence, my inquiring about which canned food to buy, other than the stuff from the vet that is outrageously expensive!
Thanks to your suggestions, I started with the bff canned food. Started with little canned food and the dry duck and pea and then increased the can and decreased the duck and pea.
After a week, I decreased her insulin from 2.5 units to 2 units.
She is enjoying the bff food and almost stopped eating the duck and pea. I give her about 10 bits because I didn't want to totally take it away until after I took her back to the vet to check her levels again.
Took her to the vet yesterday. Vet suggested I decrease the insulin down to 1 unit (gradually) and have Ally re checked in a month or so. Vet seems to think by that time, we can take Ally off the insulin altogether!
So...I still think dry food isn't good and the duck and pea was a big part of Ally's problem.
Sorry this is so long but I wanted y'all to know what YOU can do for YOUR PETS even if the vet isn't totally onboard.
Vicki, many of here will tell you a lot of vets don't know diddly about cat nutrition. So sorry your girl had to go through this. Wonder what would have happened if you put her strictly on quality wet without ever starting the insulin/ of course you will never know but I'm astounded a vet would nix the idea of wet and insist on dry.
If she's getting better then that is what matters. Continued good luck.
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