Sister's cat diagnosed with diabetes, can't eat wet food.

flowerdew

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Hello!  I think it's been about a year since I've been here - my cats are doing well, happy and in good health. 

But my sister's cat has just been diagnosed with diabetes.  He's 9, an underweight at 14 pounds giant Maine Coon mix.

The issue is that he has a tender stomach and can't digest wet food.  All experiments in this area have ended in disaster.  What goes down comes right back up. 

Do you have any advice on what the best foods to feed a cat are in this situation?  Quite clearly, it would be ideal if we could get him on low carb wet food.  But it's more important that he has food he is capable of eating.  Any help would be very much appreciated. 
 

ruthm

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Which insulin is your sister giving?  I recommend your sister join Feline Diabetes Membership Board- http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/.  Lots o good people with years of experience, 24/7. Most kitties can be successfully transitioned to a good quality high proteiin low carb canned food,it has to be done very slowly; my Tiger was diabetic and a kibble junkie, but overall it was much easier once I had encouragement from the FDMB.
 

Columbine

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I would also talk to the vet about appropriate foods for him. A prescription food might be the best choice for right now, then you can work on finding a wet diet to suit both the diabetes and digestive sensitivity whilst still managing the diabetes effectively.

I know the ingredients aren't always ideal in the prescription foods, but they DO do the jobs they're designed for.
 

LTS3

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Definitely check out the FelineDiabetes.com message board
Situations about food similar to your cat's has come up on the board before. The members there can suggest a diabetic-friendly food that won't affect blood glucose levels too much.

Does the cat have a food allergy or sensitivity? Sometimes it's a protein the cat is allergic / senitive to, other times another ingredient like a starch or egg or grain. A limited ingredient canned food may help. There are commerical brands, such as Nature's Variety Instinct and Merrick.

Is feeding raw or home cooked an option? Some cats who don't do well on canned do much better on raw or home cooked. Neither raw or home cooked need to be labor intensive (grinding meat, etc) or expensive.
 
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flowerdew

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Thanks, guys! Much appreciated.

She'll find out the kind of insulin tomorrow morning. She just got the vet results yesterday by phone.

Right now, she feeds him Nutro Natural Choice indoor adult dry food, though I believe she free feeds him. Prior to this illness, he was perhaps 25+ pounds. Definitely overweight, but now he's definitely underweight. Probably a lot of good would come just from portion control.

I don't know if she's tried raw. I suspect not - I can suggest it and see what she says. I am almost positive she's never tried home cooked.

Thanks for the advice, particularly about the feline diabetes board. I feel like a dummy for not thinking of that immediately.
 

LTS3

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Freeze dried raw is a hit with most cats. It's dry and kind of crunchy and super stinky. Frozen raw doesn't have much of a smell and a lot of cats don't recognize it as food. Stella and Chewy's is a good brand to try.

There's also air dred raw which is hard and crunchy just like dry food. These can be pretty expensive, though. A 14 oz bag of Ziwi Peak is close to $20. The Real Meat air dried raw is slighlty more affordable at around $12 to $14 for a 14 oz bag.
 
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