I thought of putting this link under the News topic but wasn't entirely sure that was appropriate.

http://www.petalia.com.au/templates/...&story_no=1831

The interesting comments are in the section on preventing diabetes in cats.

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That's so interesting, Colleen. Thanks for the link.

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Nita

Thank you Colleen. I soo need to put both my cats Babette and Pashmina on a low carb diet! My older cat Babette looks like a foot ball!

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Anik

Stats
198/183/115
"My metabolism isn't low, it's just hibernating!"

In 2000, I had a diabetic cat and corresponded daily with other diabetic cat owners via www.felinediabetes.com. At that time, the high protein low carb regime for diabetic cats was just emerging on the horizon and most vets had not yet gotten onboard with that concept - or even heard about it. And yet, cats are classified as obligate carnivoires! Their metabolisms are designed to live on meat and very few greens. Most dry food is mainly corn and rice and poor quality proteins gleaned from slaughterhouse leavings (otherwise known as offal). The slaughterhouse leavings are rendered (boiled) for days to break down the tissue - how nutritous could that be? Suffice to say, what little protein there is in dry food is not particularly digestible (bioavailable).

I switched ~all~ my cats to a high protein/low carb diet and was simply amazed at how much healthier they became. All of my cats were obese on dry food even though I did not free feed them. They got a measured, scant 1/4 cup of dry food 2xday - not very much - and they still kept gaining weight. My old girl kitty became so obese she could not even clean herself. Even my young cats had belly fat nearly dragging the ground.

I tried to convert them to a fresh food diet (mainly ground turkey), but they considered that to be a non-starter - they wanted CAT food! So, I gave in and switched them to a high quality canned food (85% to 90% protein), even though I gave them as much as they wanted, they ALL slimmed down. It was just amazing. That is one of the big reasons I decided to try a low carb diet for myself.

It's a little funny about the cats. One of my boy cats lost a lot of weight, but his fur did not shrink up all the way so he has a lot of loose skin. He looks like he's wearing a sweater where his fur drapes over his elbows! :bear:

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~~~Teelbee
Back to GOAL!!!
start weight: 176/goal range: 137-134/now: 138
Reached goal in Aug. 2003 - 4rd year of maintenance.

Teel,

What kind of can cat food do you feed your cats. I really have to do something with my older cat! She is soo fat it isn't funny!

I only feed them dry food and they really don't get much at all, (1/3 of a cup a day at lunch) and that's it!

Pashmina is heading that way too! Since Low carb worked for me, I'd love to put my cats on it too!

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Anik

Stats
198/183/115
"My metabolism isn't low, it's just hibernating!"

My cat is now 18 and has borderline kidney issues so my vet told me to feed her the lower-protein canned stuff. I also free-feed her dry food. She weighs all of 6 pounds (at her heaviest she was 7.5 as a prime adult! LOL!) but is fairly healthy, although we recently started her on meds for hyperthyroidism.

The NEXT cat I get (and here's hoping ol' Lucky lives a lot longer!) will be fed strictly "low carb" which is truly what cats evolved eating (and so did we.....) - I have looked into that raw pet food available frozen and may go that way, or may just do my own thing.

Vet says best not to change too much now for Lucky though, since she is doing so well for her advanced age!

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Veni, vidi, velcro. I came, I saw, I stuck around.

Save the Earth - it's the only planet with CHOCOLATE!

My "Gang of Three" are all on a raw food diet. Mostly meat (mostly turkey & chicken), some organ meat, some bone, and a very small amount of greens. I make it myself each week with a grinder and freeze it in tubs that hold about a day and a half's worth for the three of them. I defrost one while I'm feeding them from the other. They've been on raw since they left mom.

Their Uncle Brutus (of the canine persuasion) is also on a raw food diet since being a pup, but he gets more bones and more variety of veggies, some kefir, an egg, every so often - with the shell - ... and he grinds his own bones, LOL! He's 5 now, and everytime he goes to the vet, the vet calls in all the staff to look at his teeth, which are pristine and have never been cleaned.

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Of course I have a bit of a dilemma, Heidi slimmed down due to the onset of kidney disease and the recommendations for that are to reduce the amount of protein in her diet. In the week and a half since she started treatment for the kidney disease she has put on 1 lb and seems determined to put all the excess weight back on.

Rook our burmese cat subscribes wholly to the high protein, low carb concept. He doesn't recognise most dry foods or tinned foods as being edible. In fact when we first got him, he had no idea that fish could be eaten. He will now eat some of the most expensive tinned cat foods (fish only). His idea of a proper meal for a cat is fresh raw steak and he has never been too fussed about waiting for the steak to be cut up. Or the catch your own varieties (mice, rats, birds). He is svelte and very strong.

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Maggie, what kind of "greens" do you get the Gang of Three to eat? Do you mix it all up with the meat?

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Veni, vidi, velcro. I came, I saw, I stuck around.

Save the Earth - it's the only planet with CHOCOLATE!

LOL! the reverse of what we did! First the cats and then the beans (people). Anyways, these days my mantra is 'to eat like a diabetic so I don't become a diabetic' (my DSis already has type II diabetes).

Currently, the cats are on Fancy Feast, their preferred flavors run about 5 to 8% carbs, the rest is protein and fat.

For a while, especially when Punkin was still with us, I tried to get them on the BARF*-type recipes - homemade raw turkey and chicken with some greens and supplements. But, they didn't like it and refused to eat, which is dangerous with overweight cats. They can get an often fatal fatty liver disease very quickly from a couple days of fasting. So, we tried just about ~all~ of the holistic brands. Most of them did not get raves from the cats, but they would eat Wellness and Innova canned foods, albeit somewhat grudgingly.

But, they much prefer the Gourmet line of Fancy Feast and it's just way easier on all of us - it's a very low carb line that doesn't use a lot of "by-products" (offal); although some might think the phosphorus is on the high side. Also, I give the cats smalll amounts Rx dry food from the vet as treats.
Janet and Binky's Canned Food List
Janet and Binky's Dry Food Chart
Janet and Binky's International Food Chart

Here are some links on feline nutrition. Look for the section: Recommended Links on various diets"

(*BARF=Bones And Raw Food)

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~~~Teelbee
Back to GOAL!!!
start weight: 176/goal range: 137-134/now: 138
Reached goal in Aug. 2003 - 4rd year of maintenance.

Heidi likes peas, corn and beans. Actually she loves peas. She is not fond of lettuce.

I need to be careful with the BARF as her system can't handle much.

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Char, I throw in a handful of either green beans or romaine to a batch. It's not really much when you figure a "batch" is a week's worth of food for three adults. I just run it through the grinder with everything else and mix the whole thing up like a big bowl like a giant meat loaf before dividing it into containers to freeze. Except for winter, they can graze on grass if they feel they need more.

I agree that it might be tough to convert a grown cat to a BARF (which I've also seen translated as Biologically Appropriate Raw Food) diet if they've eaten cooked foods all their lives.

When my dear Joker (who had his own version of a BARF diet - major hunter) died, I adopted three kitties from the same litter. Since Brutus was alread a BARF guy, it was a no brainer to start the kitties on raw foods as well. I grind a few chicken wings or necks into each batch of food for them because there is pretty much nothing available in the supermarket that has prey appropriate sized bones for a kitty. Don't see many moles or mice at the local Wegmans.

Teel, thanks for a really wonderful resource for choosing commercial cat food!

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Hey Teelbee, I also have a diabetic cat and was a regular for sometime on the felinediabetes group (don't post much anymore though). I remember postings about
a Punkin so it might have been you. What a coincidence! My diabetic cat is doing
much better (is a healthy 10 lbs from a low of 5 and beat the neuropathy monster finally after nearly a year) but has never made it to h*n*ym**n stage. She's still LC-ing with Fancy Feast.

Calico,

That is one thing I don't have to worry about yet. Heidi is not diabetic. But when she woke me up at 5.15 this morning she was in extreme danger of becoming an ex-cat (apologies to Monty Python - Parrot Sketch). Since I started the medication for her kidneys, her appetite has come back and I really think she wants to become fat again.

I sent the link to the article to another LC Atkins friend via email under the subject Atkins for Cats? Her DH came back with "Of course, its Catkins"......

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Thanks Teel!

I'll be slowly switching my cats from the high Carb diet that they have been eating!

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Anik

Stats
198/183/115
"My metabolism isn't low, it's just hibernating!"