best can cat food for senior diabetic cat and cat with struvite crystals

I have a senior diabetic cat and a cat that develops crystals occasionally. I've done a lot of research and it's just to hard to find "the perfect" food.

I don't have time to make them food, so I need commercial food. I was feeding wellness chicken, but that bothers my struvite crystal cat. Evo chicken cat and kitten seems so high in fat... I've been trying tiki cat chicken flavor and chicken and salmon, but I keep reading that fish is bad for cats and there's only one protein source of tiki cat other than fish, it's chicken. Is it bad to only feed a cat chicken? Shouldn't they have other protein sources? I'm just so confused with what the best canned cat food is for my kitties and anybodies kitties for that matter, and if I try calculating what the best food is using all of the available food charts like catinfo.org and binkys page, it's just impossible because the lists are outdated, they don't show the newer cat foods that are currently available. help!

I highly recommend that you join the message board at FelineDiabetes.com for more help on diet and managing the diabetes Members there can point you to newer lists of foods.

For a diabetic cat you want to feed low carb canned, and only that if possible. Canned food is good to help keep the urinary system healthy and minimize urinary issues like crystals. I know the Catinfo.org chart is slighlty outdated (from 2012) is from but the info is still useful. Look for foods that are under 10% carbs. The "new" Binky's chart is even older, from 2008, so I wouldn't rely on that information.

I've heard Wellness can cause urinary issues in cats so I suggest not feeding it.

Have you tried Nature's Variety Instinct? All of the lines except the Pride one is low carb. When I had a diabetic cat, I mainly fed Nature's Variety Instinct and EVO with a few other brands rotated in for variety.

If your cat will only eat one protein, then just feed that. A vareity of proteins is ideal and keeps potential food allergies from happening but cats have their own ideas of what they want to eat Seafood is ok but only as a once in awhile meal.

Thanks for the reply. I'm glad you mentioned nature's variety instinct,and I see it comes in a variety of protein. I'm going to try it, I hope they like it

mariak said:

 I've been trying tiki cat chicken flavor and chicken and salmon, but I keep reading that fish is bad for cats and there's only one protein source of tiki cat other than fish, it's chicken. Is it bad to only feed a cat chicken? Shouldn't they have other protein sources?

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Tiki Cat does have other proteins that are not fish although some include a combination of chicken, e.g., chicken & turkey, chicken & duck, chicken & beef liver. They do also make beef & liver and beef liver & lamb:

http://www.petropics.com/tiki-cat-gourmet-carnivore/

I don't know of any other canned cat food that is as low carb as Tiki although NV is pretty good, however, TC is even lower in carbs than NV.

LisaMarie12 said:

Tiki Cat does have other proteins that are not fish although some include a combination of chicken, e.g., chicken & turkey, chicken & duck, chicken & beef liver. They do also make beef & liver and beef liver & lamb:

http://www.petropics.com/tiki-cat-gourmet-carnivore/

I don't know of any other canned cat food that is as low carb as Tiki although NV is pretty good, however, TC is even lower in carbs than NV.

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Our cats eat a lot of the Tiki Gourmet Carnivore foods and especially love the ones with liver. I think the Nutro Natural Choice foods are also very low carb, too. I called them for data and, though they didn't/wouldn't give me actual numbers for that, I do believe them when they say the carbs are "negligible." (They gave me other data, no problem.) The Nutro foods don't have fillers like potato or thickeners like tapioca that add carbs. Our cats love those foods, too.

Good luck in your search!

Thank you LisaMarie for the info. I had no idea tiki cat had other options! the pet food stores in my area don't carry any of the gourmet carnivore cans... I will be ordering some on amazon!

And thank you LisaHE for the info on the Nutro cat food

mariak said:

 
Thank you LisaMarie for the info. I had no idea tiki cat had other options! the pet food stores in my area don't carry any of the gourmet carnivore cans... I will be ordering some on amazon!

And thank you LisaHE for the info on the Nutro cat food

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You're welcome! About Gourmet Carnivore: we tried them out on the cats by ordering the variety pack. It was an easy way to figure out what they like that doesn't have fish (everything!)... and we'll give the fish cans to a local shelter. Our local pet food stores don't carry Gourmet Carnivore, either, but the one that sells Tiki's luau foods has offered to order whatever GC foods I need. They've offered to order just about anything I want so I'm hoping they'll be my Cat Food Concierge so I can buy most of my food in one place for a change!

Good luck!

mariak said:

Thank you LisaMarie for the info. I had no idea tiki cat had other options! the pet food stores in my area don't carry any of the gourmet carnivore cans... I will be ordering some on amazon!
And thank you LisaHE for the info on the Nutro cat food

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Chewy.com is usually cheaper.

LisaMarie12 said:

Chewy.com is usually cheaper.

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I'm glad you mentioned this... I'd meant to say how much I like Chewy.com, too!

I'll check chewy.com and ask my local discount pet store as well. Thank you so much! Today was the first day I have my diabetic cat on tiki cat all day and I was able to get a good curve done on his blood levels.
Do any of you use solely tiki cat? If so, are your cats happy and healthy on it?

To answer your question, no: Our cats eat quite a few brands because they get bored easily! I'm glad to hear the blood levels came out well on Tiki. It's great food.