Diabetic cat

One of cats was recently diagnosed with diabetes. My problem is trying to fix multiple problems with a very grumpy stubborn cat. I thought I was feeding him "good" food. Apparently not, it is high carb dry(he wouldn't touch wet except to try and cover it up with the rug) and free fed. I started to try to transition to timed and new food plus injections but it is just too much for him. Most days it's a struggle to get him to eat so I can give him shots. Should I try these changes one at a time and if so how and in what order? We're both at our wits end. Any advice on how to best help him would be appreciated

I posted some info to another newbie diabetic owner here: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/291635/newly-diagnosed-diabetic-cat

Go slow with the food change. What brand of canned food are you trying? Fancy Feast is acceptable to most cats and there are some low carb varieties.

If you want, keep feeding the dry food for now and get your cat used to the insulin shots. Then do a slow food change. The FelineDiabetes.com message board will have more tips on how to get a newly diagnosed cat used to all the new changes (shots, food, etc). My GA cat was easy to switch to canned food when he became diabetic.

It's most important that he eat, so take your time with the food switch. It took me many months to convert my kibble addicted diabetic to wet food (and then eventually raw). Going to measured, scheduled meals as opposed to free-feeding does make a huge difference in how successful the transition is, so start with that. What I did, cause my cat wouldn't eat enough in one sitting, was put out a precise amount (for instance, 1/3 cup) twice a day at the exact same time, and let him finish it at his own speed. I would gradually, over the course of weeks, decrease the amount of dry, while increasing the small amount of canned I placed beside his bowl. He wouldn't always eat the canned, especially at first, but this helped him get used to the smell and mere existence of canned. He started to recognize it as food, since it was there every time he went to eat his beloved crunchies. Plus, if he'd finished his allotted amount of dry and the canned was still there when he was nosing around for a snack, then he was more likely to eat it. By the way, it is fine to leave canned food out for a few hours. You might end up throwing quite a bit away at first, but it's totally worth it if you can eventually make the switch. Just don't stress too much over it in these early days.

Good luck! Diabetes is very manageable in most cases, with many cats even going on a "off the juice" (no longer needing exogenous insulin). My own cat had diabetes for 11 years.