A break from the normal DIYs and recipes, here’s a short story and review of Young Again Pet Food and how it cured my cat of diabetes.
Meet Scratch, my kitten McMitten and this blog’s namesake. Last summer he was diagnosed with feline diabetes. Two months later he was diabetes-free.
First I noticed our 10 year old, indoor tabby cat was having trouble jumping up onto things. He had fallen a few times and I was concerned. My husband and I began to watch him carefully and quickly noticed that he was walking on his hocks and dragging his feet. We turned to Google and immediately came up with the symptoms of feline diabetes. Scratch had many of them.
Symptoms of Feline Diabetes
- Change in appetite (either increased or decreased)
- Weight loss
- Excessive thirst/increase in water consumption
- Increased urination
- Urinating in areas other than litter box
- Unusually sweet-smelling breath
- Lethargy
- Dehydration
- Urinary tract infection
- Weak hind legs
- Feet slipping out from under him/her on the floor
- Walking down on the hocks in back and/or on the wrists in front
- Lying down more frequently, especially after short walks
- the list goes on…
Our cat had urinated outside of the litterbox (we thought something in the laundry room spooked him); he drank a lot of water (he always had); lethargy (Really? He’s a cat!); lying down more frequently (don’t cats sleep something like 23 hours a day?). Once we started learning of these symptoms we began to realize that feline diabetes was probably the cause. We brought him to the vet the next day. Sure enough, Scratch was diagnosed with feline diabetes. He was prescribed insulin and I was taught how to administer it. Our vet recommended we change our cat to low-carb cat food and directed us to a long list of options. We went beyond the list and with a few Google searches had learned a lot about feline diabetes. We wanted to keep him on dry food (even after learning that wet food is the better option for diabetic cats) because he uses an automatic feeder and we wanted to keep it that way. We came up with the best dry food for diabetic cats, Young Again Pet Food’s Zero Carb Dry Cat Food, and ordered a bag. Within the first couple of weeks, we noticed a drastic change.
Best Dry Food for Diabetic Cats
After two weeks of insulin and the new zero carb cat food, Scratch had an all-day appointment at the vet to monitor his glucose levels. I brought him in, they checked his glucose levels and sent us home with a lower-dose (by half) insulin prescription. Two more weeks passed (and several boxes of syringes) and Scratch had another glucose test. I brought him in that morning, they tested his glucose levels, cut his insulin dose by half again, and sent us home. At home, Scratch was again able to jump up on things that were previously causing him trouble, had no more litterbox incidents, and seemed to have more energy. Three weeks after that we brought Scratch to our vet for a final glucose test. The vet came out of the back room and said “Congratulations, Scratch doesn’t have diabetes anymore!” No more insulin, no more syringes, no more frequent vet visits. Scratch was back to being a normal cat.
Young Again Zero Carb Cat Food Review
Young Again Pet Food’s Zero Carb Cat Food a 10 out of 10 as the best food for diabetic cats. Ever since we changed his food from mainstream cat food to the zero carb food there have been several positive changes. Not only did our cat no longer have diabetes, he also no longer has a wheezing cough. He’s more social, his “pay attention to me” kitten antics are back, and he wants to play often. Other than myself and my husband noticing the symptoms of feline diabetes, I give all the credit to Young Again’s Zero Carb Food for curing my cat.
I highly recommend checking out this brand if you have a feline friend that you love.
Just wondering, with the all day feeder, how did you administer insulin after every feeding at that kind of rate? Most diabetic cats are ravenous feeders and you’re suppose to administer insulin after every single feeding? But at the same time, feed them often. We have our cat on the prozinc because she didn’t respond to vetsulin, at 115 a bottle, we can hardly afford to feed her 3 times a day, daily. We currently have to give her wet food, lucky for us fancy feast is carb free, and we give her straight chicken fish sometimes as a mix up, but we’ve been wanting to get her on a dry food. The petmed stuff is expensive and full of carbs, we discovered it was a scam with the vets and it kept her sugar high. She is missing several teeth, so it’s hard to chew, but she misses it.
Hi Dee – When our cat had diabetes we were giving him insulin twice per day. Changing his food to Young Again was what ultimately made his diabetes go into remission. I can’t recommend it enough.
Hi Cathi, I have ordered Young again for my diabetic cat and still waiting on delivery. My vet said there was no need to monitor his glucose levels at home like the Young Again people said to do before each injection. My vet said to just watch how much he drinks and urinates. When they decreased to cut his amount of insulin by 1/2. He gets 8 units of Vetsulin and still not in the normal BS range. So thats when I started investigating his so called RX cat food loaded with carbs! Sorry this is so long.But did you monitor your cats BS before you gave the insulin? I’m really nervous about this whole thing. Thanks for taking the time to answer. And congrats on your cat being diabetic free!!!
Hi Donna – Thanks for reaching out. Our kitty was on insulin for such a short time that we were doing glucose level checks with the vet every two weeks. After being on insulin for just a couple weeks, he was able to cut the dose in half. Then by the next time we checked a couple of weeks later, he was back to where he should be and was taken off of the insulin altogether. My recommendation would be to do was your vet says.
I strongly believe that switching to the Young Again food helped get his weight under control and was what ultimately resolved the diabetes (just like in humans). Best luck to you and your kitty. :)
Thank you, Cathi, for your speedy response! I will do what my vet says. My Woody could stand to lose some weight for sure! lol
Just a note to say it doesn’t work for all diabetic cats. We tried it and BG levels went right up. It appears to be due to the sugar they use.
Thank you for the feedback on this.