Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Proteins and Lipids and Fats, Oh My!

Been pretty busy these days, so apologies for those following that I've not put anything new out lately.

Diabetic cats are becoming an epidemic in America. Are you noticing any signs?  Lots of drinking and lots of trips to the cat box to urinate? Owies that don't heal?  Weight gain? Lethargy?  You can make changes in your cat's diet to reduce these symptoms and help manage diabetes, but if you are honestly following the guidelines and your cat's health doesn't improve, it might be time to see the veterinary for more drastic measures.

Personally, I find that a diet high in protein and fat will force the liver to produce the glucose needed for brain function, and the body will start to burn the fat for energy needed by the muscles and metabolism. You hear talk of complex carbohydrates, but these food items tend to take longer to digest (of course) which happens closer to the large intestine where the bacteria count is highest. This in turn produces, well, a lot of intestinal gas.  It can be uncomfortable for the cat (and anyone within olfactory distance of the cat), so I recommend staying away from any extra carbohydrates if possible.

Start with canned cat food. Buy a premium food that is not made from ingredients that are primarily "by-products" of some sort of animal.  The canned food is to add moisture and provide the vitamins and minerals that cats need not found in the pure sources of protein and fat we can obtain (unless you want to go hunt mice and songbirds and grasshoppers).  Then we're going to add cooked chicken thighs. Not boneless skinless breasts, but thighs with the skin on.

Two weeks worth of chicken thighs can be had for about $5.  Cook them long and slow in simmering water about an hour, then cool and refrigerate until they are cool enough to handle. Remove the meat from the bone and dispose of the bones unless you want to grind them up into very small pieces - not as small as salt but smaller than peppercorns.  Don't let the cats shew on cooked bones or they could end up with a shard stuck in their esophagus.

Dice the meat into 1/4 inch cubes, fat and lean, add a little of the gelled broth, and freeze half for next week.  Put this week's half in a bowl, cover with tight lid, and then add this to your cat's canned food at about 2 parts chicken to 1 part canned food. Feed the cat a teaspoon or less of the bones or offer about a teaspoon or tablespoon of dry food for some crunch factor.  Be sure that dry food is of the utmost quality and as high in protein as you can find. Beyond One or Blue Buffalo are both good dry foods. Do not use the partially soft foods in pouches; they are usually preserved with glucose.

Fat soluble vitamins include A, D, E, and K. These can build up in fat tissue, and can be toxic, so err on the side of a little less for these four. The rest are water soluble and will wash out pretty regularly, and you need to replenish these. Talk to your veterinarian about adding vitamin supplements to your cat's homemade diet.  You can purchase over the counter vitamins at the pet shops or online made for cats' needs, but again, err on the side of less is more because there are supplements in the canned food, cats make their own vitamin C (unlike humans), and adult cats don't need the same as kittens or geriatric cats.  You do not want to deprive kittens (18 months and under) of vitamins, and your veterinarian should recommend supplements for your geriatric cats (over 10 years).

And yes, this high protein and fat, no carb diet seems extreme.  Most people are so befuddled by the combination, it going against what we've heard for so long about fats and carbohydrates, that it is hard to think about how it works.  Domestic cats are not as far removed from the wild as even dogs.  Nutritional ideas are changing.  When you consider that diabetes in humans (and cats, for that matter) has skyrocketed in the face of low fat diets and complex carbohydrates, throwing carbs, made of starch, made of sugar, at an organism not equipped to digest these compounds, is illogical and contrary.

If you are at all concerned about your cat's pancreas, kidney, and liver functions, have those checked with a urine test and chemistry blood panel test at your veterinarian.  If you don't see results within 30 days, discontinue the diet and have your pet examined for other causes of the symptoms.  If you cat is receiving insulin injections, check with your veterinarian before implementing this diet.  Insulin levels will drop substantially on this diet and then medications may be contra-indicated.