? Feeding Question

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ajamaistien

ajamaistien

Member Since 2018
This may be common sense, but I may have missed the memo. My cat is strictly on low carb wet food right now. When feeding, do you allow kitty to eat, give shot, and then take up the food? I've been allowing the food to sit out and then switching out a new bowl 12 hours later. I'm starting to wonder if that's why the readings vary day to day despite the same doses. Chewy always goes for the fresh food but doesn't eat a lot at once and will revisit the bowl during the 12 hour period.

I'll resign myself to having even more "starving" cats at meal times if that's what it takes, just wanted to check. Thanks in advance!
 
I feed a little before the shot, just to make sure her appetite is good. Then she gets a big dish of canned food after the shot. Cleo gets four meals per day. Breakfast and dinner, which happen right after her injections, and lunch and bedtime, which she gets between shots. She is a nibbler, so she'll wander away from her dish and then wander back. With this schedule, she's able to graze for most of the day and night. I tried putting her on a schedule of two meals per day, but that just didn't work for us. Especially at 2 am.
 
Hi. The only time you want to take up all food is two hours prior to your pre-shot glucose test. Other than that, it is okay to leave the food out for grazing.
 
FurBabiesMama said:
Hi. The only time you want to take up all food is two hours prior to your pre-shot glucose test. Other than that, it is okay to leave the food out for grazing.
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I'm not able to take up the food since he gets his shots from 7-8, and I'm either asleep or just getting home from work then. What happens in this case?
 
At our house, any kitty who doesn't eat all of his or her food will find another cat or dog eating it. Each of our cats has to be fed a different food in a different room. Some rooms don't have litter box's. We will give the cats up to an hour if necessary, then we pick up the food and offer it later. It gets crazy at our house. It seems most of our time is spent caring for our pets. It's a lot of work for elderly people.
 
alexthecat said:
I feed a little before the shot, just to make sure her appetite is good. Then she gets a big dish of canned food after the shot. Cleo gets four meals per day. Breakfast and dinner, which happen right after her injections, and lunch and bedtime, which she gets between shots. She is a nibbler, so she'll wander away from her dish and then wander back. With this schedule, she's able to graze for most of the day and night. I tried putting her on a schedule of two meals per day, but that just didn't work for us. Especially at 2 am.
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How do you get so many feedings in? Do you work from home?
 
I have a very understanding boss, who happens to be diabetic. He is fine with me taking a long lunch every day to run home and feed Cleo and test her blood glucose.
 
ajamaistien said:
I'm not able to take up the food since he gets his shots from 7-8, and I'm either asleep or just getting home from work then. What happens in this case?
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If he has access to food before his pre-shot test, it means his results could be impacted by food - meaning they could be a little higher due to being temporarily elevated from food. That is primarily an issue if his pre-shot results looks border line and you have to decide whether to give a lower dose or no dose.

A lot of people use auto feeders. There are feeders that have several compartments, so you can have them scheduled not only to feed your cat when you are at work or asleep but also to turn to an empty compartment two hours before shot time.
 
Hello Chewy's Mom! I am trying to decide if I should change to ProZinc. Harley's numbers are still way out of control. He started Novolin N on 6/3. He also free feeds. He is very picky. He will eat fresh from the can but then I need to add water to any leftovers to get him to finish the can. I have canned food down at all times as he "picks" little bits all day. Every time I walk in the kitchen there he is!

My question for you is did you start on ProZinc in April? How/why did Chewy get in such good control relatively fast in about one month? I printed your spreadsheet to show my vet.
 
Harley Baby & Michele said:
Hello Chewy's Mom! I am trying to decide if I should change to ProZinc. Harley's numbers are still way out of control. He started Novolin N on 6/3. He also free feeds. He is very picky. He will eat fresh from the can but then I need to add water to any leftovers to get him to finish the can. I have canned food down at all times as he "picks" little bits all day. Every time I walk in the kitchen there he is!

My question for you is did you start on ProZinc in April? How/why did Chewy get in such good control relatively fast in about one month? I printed your spreadsheet to show my vet.
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Hello! Yes, Chewy was diagnosed in early April. My spreadsheet doesn't pick up until 2 weeks later when I started to change his diet. I transitioned him to 100% wet food over the course of a couple of weeks. He gets absolutely no dry at all, and I saw an immediate response just from changing that. Before that he was consistently between 350-500s no matter how much insulin I gave. Other than that I'm not sure I'm doing anything different. I'm also using an Alphatrak, so I'm not sure how the numbers would vary from a Freestyle meter.
 
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Harley Baby & Michele said:
thank you. I picked up the dry food and I am only feeding Friskies Pate. I would prefer Fancy Feast but it is spendy for 4 cats!
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I'm feeding Friskies pate and Fancy Feast as well. I have 2 so they each get a half can twice a day of Friskies plus a can of Fancy Feast split between them added to their morning meal.
 
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