Diabetic Veterinary Diets: Which Do/Have You Used?

[We Hope]

There are quite a few prescription only dog foods available for diabetes. I know some members have tried more than one because one or more of them wasn't the right choice for his/her dog.

For those of you who are feeding or have ever fed any of the prescription only diets, would you please post what brand(s) you fed or are feeding and how you dog did with the one(s) you tried or are currently using?

Kathy

[Cara's Mom]

Re: Diabetic Veterinary Diets: Which Do/Have You Used?

Cara's food story: We started out on Science Diet Lite, but vet wanted to change to:
1. WD Dry and canned: Dry she would not eat......canned she ate, but it raised BG, went back on Science Diet Lite while DCO was on order!
2. DCO worked great, however she did not digest it properly....there was major vomit episode and went back on Sciense Diet while new food on order.
3. IAM's Vet. Formula, Weight Maintenance D, since mid January and no problems (yet?) No high after food spikes!!!!!

[BaileyBear]

Re: Diabetic Veterinary Diets: Which Do/Have You Used?

Bailey has been on Purina DCO dry and enjoys it, but he'll pretty much eat anything. He gets big BG spikes after each meal (up to 300+ additional points!) if fed by itself. I've tamed those by adding veggies and additional protein - was using chicken breast, now getting even better results with scrambled eggs.

I'm going to ask the vet about trying the Iams Weight Maintenance D. Purina DCO has corn & wheat, but the Iams D is barley & sorghum based. The same ingredients are in his Newman's Own treats and they don't spike his blood sugar, so I'm hoping we may have similar results with the Iams dry in Bailey. Will let you know when we try it.

[eyelostit]

Re: Diabetic Veterinary Diets: Which Do/Have You Used?

Niki started out on DCO we used this for about 10 months, did not help with bg, we did try the Hills WD but that was too much for our budget. Tried the Eukenuba Weight Control from the vet, no luck seems it worked the same as DCO and did not help with Niki's bg.

[lab lover]

Re: Diabetic Veterinary Diets: Which Do/Have You Used?

Just read this thread I wonder if the Purina DCO would worked for Baby or the Iams I will asked the vet on Monday. I did not know you could give them a scrambled egg she loves them - every feeding or once in a while. I just posted her readings with the Alpha track meter and it was still high after feeding so maybe her dry food is doing that to her. Wished I could figured it out. Thanks for the info. Ida

[lab lover]

Re: Diabetic Veterinary Diets: Which Do/Have You Used?

Haven't been able to changed Baby's food because of her low reading on Monday but, hopefully in time I will be able too. I've been wondering what kind of treats everyone gives their dog - Erin, when you mentioned Newman's Own is that a dog biscuit? I do have too try the scrambled egg instead of chicken but, scared to even changed anything until she does better. On 15 units now.
Thanks for the info. Ida

[We Hope]

Re: Diabetic Veterinary Diets: Which Do/Have You Used?

Ida,

Newman's Own is a food company started by the late actor, Paul Newman. The company has both people and pet food lines. The pet line is dry food, canned food and treats.

http://www.newmansownorganics.com/pet/home/

Pet products home

http://www.newmansownorganics.com/pet/products/

List of pet products

Many supermarkets carry both the people and the pet products.

http://www.newmansownorganics.com/pet/stores/

Where you can buy the pet products.

HTH!

Kathy

[BaileyBear]

Re: Diabetic Veterinary Diets: Which Do/Have You Used?

Yes, Ida - we use the biscuit type treats in the chicken flavor (they're actually heart shaped...cute, lol). The difference I noticed with Bailey is that his old treats were corn and wheat based and his BG would spike 100 points or more after just one small biscuit. The Newman's are barley and sorghum based and don't seem to effect his blood sugar at all...sometimes it even goes down a bit.

In fact, I'm thinking of trying a small bag of their dry food before Bailey's current bag of DCO runs out, just to see if it makes a difference. If it does, then I can pick that up at my grocery store or Petco instead of always having to remember to order it in advance from my vet. My vet only keeps the small bags of DCO in stock because of lack of space, so I have to order the larger bag and wait for it to come in.

You might want to consider buying a bag of the Newman's treats and then testing Baby's blood glucose before and after a wheat/corn based treat, and then the next day after the barley/sorghum based treat. You might see a pattern (like we got with Bailey) or you might not. But at least that way, you're not out the cost of a new bag of dog food, plus the week of mixing and making the switch, before you do some investigating to see how she reacts to different carbs in her food. None of the Newman's pet food or treats contain any corn or wheat, so you could pick anything you think Baby would enjoy...they have lots of treat flavors.

Once the insulin dose issue gets resolved, then I'm sure you'll be able to figure out what works for Baby's BG and what doesn't. That egg issue was a total fluke. I just ran out of chicken and needed to substitute another form of protein. It was a very happy coincidence that it worked out so well.

[We Hope]

Re: Diabetic Veterinary Diets: Which Do/Have You Used?

I need to be totally boring here and say that we used Prescription Diet W/D canned. Started there and found it worked well for us.

Kathy

[peggy0]

Re: Diabetic Veterinary Diets: Which Do/Have You Used?

Don't forget sister joans nutri-bits for diabetic dogs. you can get them at petco. I also bought the newsmans organics chicken treats. They don't bother forbin either. I tried Royal Canin diabetic food and it raised forbins BG. He is still on Buffalo Blue weight control with wilderness canned to wet his whistle. Works well for us.

[pgcor]

Re: Diabetic Veterinary Diets: Which Do/Have You Used?

Well, I haven't been on for awhile as I feel I don't have much to offer anyone! But on this thread I can at least add something.

Pip was on W/D kibble, and he did quite well with that and Vetsulin for awhile. He started to be non-responsive to the Vetsulin and maybe that would have been temporary, but after dropping a bottle and having to run all over the place on a Saturday, and panicking, I decided to switch to Humulin N.

Pip is doing quite well on that too. He began to lose too much weight so I began homecooking. Right now he gets a mixture of chicken, green beans, zucchini, pumpkin and a touch of organ meat. He's finally gained weight and looks good! For once!

[debbie]

Re: Diabetic Veterinary Diets: Which Do/Have You Used?

Hi. I use prescription w/d diet. I think it works great. The only thing he is always hunger. But then again he always liked to eat.
I hope this helps. I am new here. Someone was nice to answer me and I feel I should try to help too

[FoggyOaks]

Re: Diabetic Veterinary Diets: Which Do/Have You Used?

Nana is on Science Diet Mature Adult small Bites mixed with W/D can. The Vet mixed 1 pound of the dry with 1/4 can in a zip lock bag. Nana wouldn't eat the dry at all in the begining. She gets 1/4 cup 2x daily. The food after being mixed up is kept in the fridge.

[crystal]

Re: Diabetic Veterinary Diets: Which Do/Have You Used?

Hi. I use prescription w/d diet. I think it works great. The only thing he is always hunger. But then again he always liked to eat.
I hope this helps. I am new here. Someone was nice to answer me and I feel I should try to help too

My dog is on the same, I am also new and my Snickers acts to as if she is hungry. I hope she adjust as I feel bad that she is always looking for something.

[Busy07]

Re: Diabetic Veterinary Diets: Which Do/Have You Used?

We're using W/D as well. However, he gets a little bit of chicken mixed in with his meals...about 1/4 oz of chicken.

If he gets treats, they are just more of the W/D. We've worked on cutting out the mid-afternoon and late evening small meals. I think it's because, like the others said, he's hungry all of the time.

My problem with this food is the fact that he's a puppy. I just wonder if he's really getting all the nutrients he needs while growing.