by K B McFarland
(Ravenna, Ohio USA)
I have a diabetic cat who was on 5 units (U-40) of insulin two times a day. My veterinarian advised me that if I could get my diabetic cat on a diet of all canned food it would be best for him, but my cat doesn’t care for canned food and only eats 1-2 teaspoons a day.
I needed to find a dry food with high protein, low carbohydrate and no grain product.(Cats ARE obligate carnivores and shouldn’t eat grain). I found EVO with 50% protein, 7% carbohydrate and no grain products.
Within a month I was able to reduce my cat’s insulin to 1 unit two times a day. This was without him losing any weight. I was able to get him off insulin for several months until my youngest cat was diagnosed with lymphoma (cancer) caused by a malignancy in his kidney. He lost 1/3 of his weight in two weeks, and I had to find something he would eat.
He is doing well, and is in remission for the time being but my diabetic cat started to sneak his food and is back on 1 unit of insulin two times a day.
All of my cats, are special needs who came from the local animal shelter. I also volunteer with the Portage APL and foster for them.
I have fostered over 350 orphaned kittens, most of them bottle fed, mom cats with babies, special needs cats and kittens, dogs recovering from surgery and recently a mom dog with 6 puppies.
I currently have a pregnant female cat who is ready to give birth any day now. I also take shelter animals into the local nursing home for pet therapy, they love the the bottle fed babies and I take care of the PAPL cats that are at the local PetsMart store adoption center.
It is important to find a quality dry cat food with 40-50% protein, low carbohydrate and no grain products for your cats well being.
Canned foods are also good because they have high protein, very little grains and a high moisture content which is good for your cat’s urinary system. Cats teeth are designed for tearing chunks of meat and swallowing it whole so they really don’t need much dry food since they usually don’t chew it very much.
K B McFarland
Hi..K B McFarland Great post. Love it because you give good advice on cat food and you tell us how you help so many cats who need our help. These are the kind of stories I particularly like.
I am very impressed your efforts. You must be well known in the area.
You might like to tell us more in due course as your work is important.
Thanks for visiting and sharing. It gives me the opportunity to explore what you say a bit more……
I added the above cat photo because I like it and this is a healthy cat sanctuary cat. Photo by the great fofurasfelinas (Flickr) Giane Portal.
…..As I understand it, EVO cat food has been designed (within the limits of convenience and practicalities) by the manufacturers, Natura Pet Products, to reflect the prey diet of wild cats.
By the way, I believe Natura Pet Products is the company – a lot of people refer to EVO cat food as Innova EVO cat food, but Innova is a different product line within the Natura Pet Products range as far as I can see – perhaps someone can leave a comment to explain this.
In order to make dry cat food crisp and what is called “kibble” (in the Untied States), carbohydrates are needed as an ingredient of dry cat food. This high level of carbohydrates is not there for the cat but for the manufacturer to successful produce a convenient product.
Click this link for a spreadsheet that shows the high carbohydrate content of typical dry cat food. Evo cat food is not typical it seems.
A well known advocate of a more natural diet and wet cat food is Dr Elizabeth M Hodgkins DVM, who wrote a book around the subject: Your Cat, published by Thomas Dunne Books St.Martins Press New York – ISBN -13: 978-0-312-35801-3 and ISBN-10: 0-312-35801-6.
In her chapter about feline diabetes she heads the chapter with a bag of dry cat food above which is the tile of the chapter, “Feline Diabetes – A Man-made Killer.
Dr Hodgkins says feline diabetes is a growing problem in the USA (at about 1.5 million cats as at date of publication – 2007). She puts this mainly down to the growth in convenient dry cat food.
High carbohydrate dry cat food produces “wide swings in blood sugar” resulting in sluggishness. She goes onto say that, “taking the carbohydrate (sugar) out of the diet is a much bigger help in the control of feline diabetes….”.
As I understand it, the basic tenor of her argument is that a cat with a genetic tendency to feline diabetes and obesity will be pushed down that path by eating high carbohydrate dry cat food in a permanent indoor environment.
She says that she has never seen a diabetic cat that eats only either homemade cat food
or canned cat food (see best canned cat food)! Evo cat food attempts to replicate the best home made cat food.
Innnova EVO dry cat food came out top on my survey of the most recommended dry cat foods. See the linked page below:
YAY! EVO HAS DISCONTINUED THE FOOD I FEED MY CATS AND I DIDN’T KNOW IT SO I BARELY ANY LEFT TO GRADUALLY CHANGE THE FOOD AGAIN ON THEM! THE LAST TIME THE VET TOLD ME TO CHANGE THE FOOD I HAD TO CLEAN UP DIARRHEA FOR 3 MONTHS BECAUSE BEAN’S TUMMY DIDN’T LIKE THE CHANGE! I CAN’T WAIT TO CLEAN UP MORE SHIT! THANKS EVO! ASSHOLES!