|
Susie's
Diet |
|
Introduction | Balanced Nutrition | Susie's Weight | Earlier Diet Changes | Later Diet Changes
Introduction
Since Susie became diabetic in 1999, I made several changes to her diet for a number of different reasons. The background to these changes and the advice I received are summarised below.
In any comments on this page relating to changes to Susie's diet, I am not making any recommendations for or against any of the foods mentioned. Every cat is different and specific dietary needs should always be discussed with a veterinary surgeon or qualified nutritional specialist. Susie's dietary needs appeared to change over time, and the alterations that I made to her diet reflect this.
Balanced Nutrition
I quickly became aware of the importance of a balanced diet and calorie control when Susie was first diagnosed. Most of the main high street brands of catfood have variable composition, particularly in their sugar content, so it can be more difficult to manage diabetes if using these. Other foods are available that have fixed nutritional content and there are also prescription-only veterinary diets for a range of medical conditions.
Over the years, I tried Susie on all of these at different times, and each had its own benefits and drawbacks.
Susie's Weight
Susie was overweight when diagnosed in 1999. At that time she was 5.3kg. In the months after being diagnosed, her weight dropped, reaching 4.5kg before her diabetes was fully stabilised. This weight loss in uncontrolled diabetes is expected. Once stabilised, her weight crept back up again and by the time I changed vets in summer 2000, it was 6kg. In spite of various diet changes, her weight remained just above 6kg until the start of 2005.
During 2005, Susie's weight loss continued. All of the indicators suggested that her diabetes continued to be under good control, but sadly this was the start of a process in which Susie's health ultimately failed. When her life was brought to a dignified and peaceful end at the vets in January 2006, her weight had dropped to 2.65kg.
Susie's Diet - Earlier Changes
Before 2000
After being diagnosed with diabetes, Susie's diet was initially a mixture of specialised canned and dry foods. Whilst I was weighing her food, I wasn't restricting it for calorie control.
- Canned foods: I mixed Hills Feline R/D with Whiskas Feline Low Calorie Veterinary Diet. Both are prescription-only foods. My vet recommended the R/D, but Susie found it unpalatable and would only eat it as part of a mixture.
- Dry foods: A freely available mixture of Hills Feline Maintenance Light (from pet shops) and Eukanuba Restricted Calorie Veterinary Diet (prescription). A always weighed how much Susie had eaten, but there was always plenty left over.
From 2000
When I changed to a different veterinary practice, my new vet recommended a specific calorie-controlled weight loss diet. Its success was limited, halting Susie's earlier weight gain and her weight remained fairly stable for some years after that. It was an exclusively dry food diet.
- Eukanuba Restricted Calorie Veterinary Diet (85%)
- Hills Feline Maintenance Light (15%)
I was feeding Susie about 20-25g twice a day, which worked out at about 150-160 Kcal/day. At first I used to feed her a small amount with her injection, providing the remainder over the next few hours. Later, this changed, but the total amounts remained the same.
Susie's Diet - Later Changes
From 2004
One of the vets recommended Hills Feline M/D dry food which is specifically formulated for diabetic cats. I introduced it as a straight replacement for the other Hills food in her diet. Over the course of the next 18 months I gradually increased its proportion in her diet, so that it eventually became her main food. It was noticeable that Susie would pick out the Hills M/D and eat it in preference to the Eukanuba.
November 2005
During 2005, Susie's weight dropped significantly, she was becoming increasingly ill and was eating less and less of her food. In November she almost stopped eating altogether. I tried to get her to eat any sort of food, just to get her eating again. She responded positively to normal moist foods (pouches, trays, etc). I decided to continue with exclusively moist foods, even though they are not normally recommended for the management of diabetes in cats. In the final months of her life, it was more important to give her something that she would enjoy and find more palatable.
Important note: All information and opinion in the Susie, Diabetic Cat pages is from personal experience. Nothing in these pages is intended to be a substitute for proper professional advice, which should always be sought from a qualified veterinary surgeon.
This page
was last updated
May 2006