This is a story which completely vindicates what Dr Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM has stated very clearly in her book Your Cat. In dedicating an entire chapter to the explosion in feline diabetes in America she puts the blame squarely on the shoulders of the pet food manufacturers and dry cat food which is high in carbohydrates forcing up blood sugar levels. In order to cure diabetes pretty much all you have to do is to feed your cat wet cat food. That may seem like an oversimplification but the story of 10-year-old Koko supports that simple concept admirably. In fact, Elizabeth M. Hodgkins DVM is one of those veterinarians who recommend that dry cat food should be off the menu even if your cat is not diabetic. At one time her ideas were controversial.
On March 25, 2015 Koko’s blood glucose was incredibly high at 522 mg/dL. The normal is around 72 to 175. The owner learned that her cat had feline diabetes because he had sharply increased water intake and was producing a huge amount of urine to the point where it was impossible to keep the litter tray clean.
The veterinarian no doubt diagnosed diabetes quite readily and the treatment was insulin injections together with a change in diet to a mixture of wet and dry food. Until then Coco had been fed on general Purina dry food together with Friskies wet food. He was put on Purina Dietetic Management Wet Food and Purina Dietetic Management Dry Food.
To cut a long story short there was no improvement at all in Coco’s health. His blood glucose levels remained high. They thought that the readings may be inaccurate due to stress but that proved to be a red herring.
Desperation resulted in the owner, after many hours of research, deciding to feed Koko solely on wet cat food. She worked out that the calories he was receiving on a diet prescribed by the veterinarian, was 540 calories per day – enough to feed 24.5 pound cat. The diet was far too calorific for Koko to lose weight and of course it contained dry cat food and the high levels of carbohydrates within it.
The owner switched his diet to Purina Dietetic Management Wet Food only. In my opinion she could have chosen any high-quality wet cat food with the same effect which resulted in a startling improvement in Koko’s health. Within two days his water intake decreased together with a consequential reduction in urination. As a result he felt better and therefore became more active which in turn helped him to maintain a better weight. This is when the real progress began and it was all kicked off by feeding wet cat food only.
From the end of April to the end of June i.e. two months, Koko’s blood glucose was down to 88 without any insulin injections. Blood glucose levels remained stable and only on one occasion on July 1 did have to receive an insulin injection but since then there have been none and all seems well.
Koko is a big cat anyway and he remains at about 18.6 pounds in weight. He receives 382 calories per day by way of two cans of Purina DM wet food. He is fed a tiny bit of dry food nibbles of about 20 calories per day bringing his daily calorie intake to 402.
Koko is normal again and fairly active. Koko’s story should be handed out to all veterinarians and all cat owners whose cat has been diagnosed with diabetes. Feline diabetes is said to be an epidemic and a major cause is due to overfeeding with dry cat food. That is not an oversimplification judging by this story.
The food profile for diabetic cat food is:
- high-protein
- low-carbohydrate
This is because cats mainly metabolise protein for glucose rather than carbohydates thus the cat food profile mentioned is “more efficiently metabolised” and a help in controlling cat diabetes.
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Source: Examiner.com
Hard to believe that there is a “cure” for diabetes, especially with a cat that has never been fed dry food in their life.
I may be able to concede that a dry food only cat could stabilize on a wet food only diet.
However, I believe that diabetes, once established, is a lifelong issue but can be controlled.
Wonderful story, and makes so much sense.