Oh wow what a beautiful boy! I've dealt with a diabetic dog, but not cats. We were very successful with controlling her disease, but I found the primary issue was consistency in diet. However, she was put on insulin immediately and unlike human diabetics we did not do a daily stick but her sugars were monitored by the vet monthly, or more if necessary. Therefore we had to maintain a pretty regular routine with her carbs, and be sure she ate what we fed and so that she would not get hypoglycemic. You can see why having multiple cats and no idea who eats what and how much may present the biggest hurdle. No, I have no idea how high his blood sugar is when he was diagnosed so don't know how serious his issue is, either. No, I have not heard of controlling it with diet alone, so will be interested in what others comment on this issue.

The link below has a ton of information. We don't have a diabetic cat but it was recommended by our vet to read up about feline nutrition and the benefits of a raw or canned diet.
Katharina

Here is a link that might be useful: Catinfo

Get yourself to felinediabetes.com asap - one of the best internet communities EVER.!!! I dont know what I would have done without them when my boy was diagnosed. I cant begin to tell you all the emotional support and info youll find - has carb info for all catfood brands (low carb would actually help all your cats)

Also how to test bg, give shots, diet, etc. (btw re low carb diet - about 20% of cats can go off insulin thru diet change alone *(like type 2 diabetes in humans) which is why its worth at least trying, esp if the bg is more on the low end..

Sadly, a lot of vets are just not up on the latest thinking on pet diabetes or may be not on board with you doing your own bg testing or adjusting dose (BTW - , if youve already started insulin and think you do want to change diet and go low carb, you shouldnt do that without testing bg and possibly reducing dose. Or go off insulin, reduce carbs, and run another curve. What may be a good dose for a cat on high carb diet may be fatal to one whose blood sugar is dropping).. I ended up finding another vet who was interested in what I had learned and supportive of what I was doing, said he wished all pet owners were as involved.

On the other hand, sadly, a lot of people can't be bothered to even give the shots let alone do the bg testing.- so to be fair, a vet may not have ever come across someone who wanted to be more involved so has not developed a protocol for that.

This post was edited by kashka_kat on Thu, Jul 18, 13 at 8:55

If you haven't yet read the site I have linked below, I strongly recommend that you do so immediately. I would NEVER feed ANY type of kibble to a diabetic cat (and I would never use a vet who recommended kibble for a diabetic)!

Laurie

Here is a link that might be useful: Your Diabetic Cat

Laurie, thanks for the link - its been a few yrs so I wasnt up on the latest info, was excited to read what Dr. Hodgkins had to say. Hope the OP is doing OK with all the info - I remember it seemed a bit overwhelming at first.