Nature's Variety Instinct line for diabetic and IBD

Hi,

My cat Lucy was diagnosed with diabetes last year and I switched her food to a low carb diet using Fancy Feast Classics. She has been insulin free for a year and counting. Her sister Ethel has now been diagnosed with IBD. We have to change their diet so that Ethel can eat a more digestible diet (they eat together and not separate). I found Nature's Variety Instinct line and read that it was low in carbs - good for a diabetic cat as well as one with IBD. Has anyone tried this food for their diabetic or IBD cat?

Thanks.

I would think that any low carb food should be good for a diabetic cat, and the same would hold true for an IBD cat.  But just in case, here is a great website for IBD kitties, and there an entire section devoted to food,  BTW, Natures Variety Instinct is definitely on the list as "good" for IBD cats (but so are more of the Fancy Feast Classics!)

http://www.ibdkitties.net/index.html

Thanks so much for the info, The Fancy Feast classics that I have been feeding them is on there list - so now I am more confused! Maybe Ethel couldn't tolerate it? I am giving the Natures Variety a shot and see how it goes. I just saw some info this morning that indicates that the NV is very low in carbs.

Is raw an option? I had always been interested in raw, but thought that making it would be too hard. My cats were suffering terrible diarrhea regardless of which canned I fed...even medications weren't making much of a difference. Raw is all that has helped all 3.

 Yes,  I have had positive results  with the NVI venison for a cat with both diabetes and IBD.   In fact the  canned was recommended by a board certified internal med specialist   (  he wanted Louis to go on a "novel protein" diet - some sort of meat source he was not used to ,  and he said they had canned foods like venison, rabbit or duck .  - .   and it would still be low carb for his diabetes.     He said to pick one kind of meat, not switch around between those.

The canned was very helpful for the IBD ; Then I tried the raw frozen which I think was even better.    I ended up feeding him between 1/3 and 1/2 raw and  the rest canned. 

I started out with chicken since they both are use to that - wondering if that was a bad idea.....

JTG25 said:

I am a bit afraid with raw. They like to have their food down all day to nibble - I read that the raw food had to be taken up after 30 minutes so that it won't go bad?

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Are they on canned or kibble?

As far as leaving it down, I do that. Haven't had a problem. Mine take it straight from the fridge.

JTG25 said:

I started out with chicken since they both are use to that - wondering if that was a bad idea.....

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Not necessarily. Chicken *can* be an inflammatory trigger for some IBD cats because chicken is in so many cat foods that an allergy to it is common. That is why a novel (one your cat hasn't had before) protein is recommended for IBD cats because then you know it's not an allergy to the protein that's causing the issue. However, your cat may not have a problem with chicken. If you don't see any improvement on the chicken however, I would switch to a novel protein. There are a few Nature's Variety Instinct that are single protein and fairly novel for most cats. Hound & Gatos also offer some as well. The trick is to find what works for YOUR cat.

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I just started to try the NV Venison version of Instinct...starting with 25% of that and 75% of the current. They ate it last night...keeping fingers and paws crossed!

If it's any consolation I currently have my senior Main Coon ( IBD ) on this food (Chicken, Rabbit, and Duck varieties) in addition to RC Hypoallergenic (Venison/Duck). It seems to be working for him, but he's a nibbler and eats Purina Select One kitten food throughout the day. No vomiting or bad stools.

My IBD cat has been on Instinct  dry (chicken formula) for a little over a month now. He's been doing really well on it. It's grain free/low in carbs but the montmorillonite clay in it is also supposed to help tummy troubles.

I have a question for you then. My cat has been diagnosed with suspect IBD (short of a biopsy, it is a guess). My vet suggested a novel protein diet if Royal Canine PR and Rube has been eating that for a month. All bile and food vomiting has stopped and he was vomiting only hair balls about every 6-7 days. I read that canned was much better than dry so I started feeding him the canned morning and night and low and behold, he started vomiting hair balls 4 days in a row. That is when I started researching and read about carrageenan and how horrible it is for cats with IBD...and the RC food has it listed as the 10th ingredient. Maybe why his puking hairballs increased with the increased canned food. So today I purchased some Nature Variety Instinct Rabbit and want to slowly start transitioning all the cats to this food. My vet is out of town for 7 days so no chance to talk it over but I am really concerned about the carrageenan content. Your thoughts???

NV's canned food is 95% meat so yes it is low carb. If you go to catinfo.org, Dr. Pierson had food charts of many different manufacturers including protein, fat and carbs. NV comes up very low in carbs - the canned food.

You make me feel so much better and definitely that I made the right choice. Thanks so much for your answer and blessings to you and your fur babies.