Homemeade cat food for a borderline diabetic cat?

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

Our cat has been diagnosed borderline diabetic. She refuses to eat the diabetic maintenance food the vet gave us. Can I make a homemade cat food?

I've searched the internet, but couldn't find anything quickly except a raw food diet that included grinding up wild animals. Uh, I need something a LOT easier.

[Jenny in Atl]

You can buy raw food already made but it's not cheap. Here is one we have used in the past, a place near us carries it (Red Bandana). I'm sure there are others as well that you can get locally or order.

 

http://www.naturesvariety.com/content.lasso?page=1507&-session=naturesvariety:447212250553014FA3Ovn33E23B0

 

hth's

[Laurie]

I don't know anything about diabetes in cats, but if you're supposed to watch carbs you might want check out the grain-free canned cat foods available in pet food stores. (Wellness and Prairie are two of the brands that have some grain-free choices.)

 

The book The New Natural Cat by Anitra Frazier includes some recipes for homemade catfood, but I've never made any of them for my cats. (I share my salmon with my fish-eating kitty, though!)

[Soph the vet]

I am a vet but I am not an expert on homemade diets for cats. I will just give one caution. Some raw diets can harbor salmonella and E. coli so use judiciously. For diabetic cats in my practice I recommend Purina DM, and maybe that is the one your cat won't eat. But I have actually had many cats come off of insulin after 2 or 3 months on the Purina diet. I am also curious about the "borderline" diabetic diagnosis. Usually one either is or is not a diabetic given the appropriate tests. Occassionally a cat will be stressed and have a high blood glucose but urine is normal and when retested a week later is no longer hyperglycemic. In that case, the cat is not a diabetic, just stressed out, and no need for special diets.

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

The vet said our cat's glucose level was 6, whatever that means. Stressed? Oh yeah, she hates riding in a car and going to the vet is an half hour ride.

 

However, about a month ago she became unable to eat her lifelong diet of Purina Cat Chow, she gagged it up daily. She also started drinking copious amounts of water. So, we switched her to Friskies wet food. She loves it and seemed much better, but the vet said her age (13) and all the water drinking led him to believe she was heading for a diabetes diagnosis. Other than that she is very healthy.

 

What we've done the last few days is mix the Friskies with the diabetic maintenance food. At least she will eat that.

[Soph the vet]

I'm not sure what a "glucose level of 6" means. Normal glucose for cats is very similar to ours 80-120. A stressed out cat could have a glucose in the 300's or 400's but it is transient. I would question your vet to ask if he definitely diagnosed diabetes in your cat or not. The other big reason for a 13yr. old kitty to be drinking a lot is kidney disease. Many middle aged cats have both issues. A chem profile (bloodwork) and a urinalysis would tell you exactly what is going on. He may not have liked the cat chow but you could try the Purina DM as it is a much different formula from the chow and might delay his needing insulin if diabetic.

[Sandy in Indy]

No answer here about food...but definitely my sympathies. My longtime friend and kitty developed diabetes...and we had to give him daily injections. He was good about it, but it was really hard on him and us. (Not to mention expensive between the vet visits, the meds and the syringes.) My sweet, friendly kitty became a very unhappy pet.

 

I hope you'll have better success with your cat.