? Questions on test, feed and shoot time

[Summers Mom]

Good morning to everyone. I have a few questions regarding the times of testing, feeding and shoot time. When testing, i know there must be 2 hours after food before you can get a true reading of another test. So my question is, for example, if i test at 8:30 and feed a 5 minutes or so later, i can't test at 8:30 in 2 hours or my test won't be accurate because of the cat eating a few minutes AFTER the test at 8:30. So what do you all do?? I got to thinking about it and it really bothered me. For it to be EXACTLY 2 hours after i fed i wouldn't be able to get an accurate test at testing at 8:30, would i? I'm trying to make sense of this and i hope you all can understand what i am asking. The way i look at it if i test at 8:30 and feed 5 minutes or so later, that would throw my test time off schedule for the following test if i test before 2 hours because of Summer eating after the test time.
And has anyone ever been a few minutes late on the shots? I know it needs to be consistent 12/12 but i was wondering if a few minutes would do harm. I have been 10-15 mins. late and it worries me. And also how do you ever change shot times, say for example, from 8:30 back to 8:00? I hope this all makes sense. Thank you all.

 

[Ella & Rusty & Stu(GA)]

Hi,
The only 2-hour rule is that you should NOT feed 2 hours BEFORE shot time. The reason for this is that food eaten before a shot can raise the blood glucose number. You might think that a number is safe to shoot, when in reality it is artifically raised by the food and may be much lower than you think.
The usual way to proceed is Test, Feed, Shoot, all in the space of 5 minutrs or so. The rest of the cycle--up until 2 hours before the next shot time--you can feed whenever. Most diabetic cats benefit from several smaller meals over the course of the cycle. You can determine what is best for Summer by obsrrvation and trial & error . Many here use an automatic feeder if they can't be home to feed.
So you don't have to worry about the various tests you do during the cycle influencing the blood glucose and therefore not feed! We all have to eat!! Just keep your spreadsheet up to date and you will see Summer's patterns emerge. It is good to get tests at diffetent times over the course of the weeks and months.

You can shoot as much as 20 minutes early or late, if necessary.
You can move a shot time by 30 minutes a 24-hour day, either all at once or in 15-minute segments. When the switch to Standard time occurs look on the board for instructions on how to transition

 

[Summers Mom]

Hi,
The only 2-hour rule is that you should NOT feed 2 hours BEFORE test time. The reason for this is that food eaten before a test can raise the blood glucose number. You might think that a number is safe to shoot, when in reality it is artifically raised by the food and may be much lower than you think.
The usual way to proceed is Test, Feed, Shoot, all in the space of 5 minutrs or so. The rest of the cycle--up until 2 hours before the next shot time--you can feed whenever. Most diabetic cats benefit from several smaller meals over the course of the cycle. You can determine what is best for Summer by obsrrvation and trial & error . Many here use an automatic feeder if they can't be home to feed.
So you don't have to worry about the various tests you do during the cycle influencing the blood glucose and therefore not feed! We all have to eat!! Just keep your spreadsheet up to date and you will see Summer's patterns emerge. It is good to get tests at diffetent times over the course of the weeks and months.

You can shoot as much as 20 minutes early or late, if necessary.
You can move a shot time by 30 minutes a 24-hour day, either all at once or in 15-minute segments. When the switch to Standard time occurs look on the board for instructions on how to transition

Thanks for your reply. I know and understand what you are saying no food 2 hrs before testing prior to shot time because of it being influenced by food but wouldn't it influence test times throughout the day if testing before the 2 hr time frame when food is given during the day. For example if i fed and tested in an hour, that test would not be accurate, right?

 

[Stacy & Asia]

Thanks for your reply. I know and understand what you are saying no food 2 hrs before testing prior to shot time because of it being influenced by food but wouldn't it influence test times throughout the day if testing before the 2 hr time frame when food is given during the day. For example if i fed and tested in an hour, that test would not be accurate, right?

I'm pretty new here, so someone else chime in if this is inaccurate. As I understand it, they are all accurate tests, some fasting, some with food. The two hours prior to shot shows a good idea of a fasting number on that dose of insulin (thus giving you valuable information right before you shoot). The rest of the tests are accurate as far as how Summer responds to the dose of insulin and eating with that insulin (which is how it's designed to work, when they eat food and need insulin). You would want to know how the insulin is working with the food as well, so it's not inaccurate, it's just a different data point: numbers with food vs a numbers without.