1/15 Patootie AMPS 323 PMPS 373

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cwm2027

Member Since 2011
Hi all! We are new here and I had a question regarding trying to do a mid day feeding. I have posted this on the main board as well and someone suggested I come on over here since we are on Lantus. My kitty. Patootie, was diagnosed about 2 years ago. It's been a bumpy road but I think we are moving in the right direction. The biggest problem we have is that she seems to be STARVING all the time. She will get into anything that is left out and while we try to be diligent (I've even gotten baby locks for the cabinet with the garbage can) she will eat anything she can find. She will tear open packages, lick remainders out of bowls, leap on the table and counter if our backs are turned. Needless to say, when she does get something to eat (like the bread dough she ate yesterday) it wrecks havoc with her numbers and her system. We are trying to be very careful about things but... sometimes there is a slip :(. When it comes to her meal time she is frantic and gobbles her food in seconds. It's actually kind of scary to watch (and a bit sad as I feel terrible she is so hungry!)

Anyway, I wondered if a mid day feeding might help with that? The problem is that I work so am unable to be home mid day to give it to her. Does anyone know of a sturdy timed feeder for wet food? It would need to be pretty sturdy as I know she would pick at it until the thing opened. I know a mid day feeding would mean possibly shifting the insulin a bit but I thought if we could manage her hunger a bit then she wouldn't be so frantic and wouldn't be constantly searching for food elsewhere.

Any thoughts or ideas would be so helpful!!

A little background:

She is currently on Lantus 1u BID
We feed Friskies canned (tried FF but she became very constipated and vet thought it might be too low protien). She gets 1 can BID.
She weighs about 8/9 lbs. She is a bit underweight and I would really like her to put on a pound or two
She also has asthma and we use an inhaler BID.

I have been doing curves on her over the past year or so but not logging them so this is what I have put together since I found this site. Her numbers have been pretty haywire and our vet has been really against her going lower than 100 (even though when she has she seems fine... she has had times when she has been as low as 30 and no side affects but vet has told me to feed her if she goes below 100 and then her numbers are all wonky again!) Reading on this site and looking at others curves it appears that lower numbers are ok... I'm inclined to start letting her go a bit lower than the vet suggested without messing with her insulin...)

Thanks!
 
Re: 1/15 Patootie AMPS 323

Welcome Crisse!!! LOVE your cat's name...

you'll like it here in Lantus Land...

celi & binks
 
Re: 1/15 Patootie AMPS 323

You'll get lots of good advice. You should start a spreadsheet and a profile. The spreadsheet is an invaluable tool for you but also everyone here in helping Patootie.

If she is underweight, I think you need to feed more. You will be able to optimize the food and insulin with the data you get. Every cat is different. Maverick needs 9oz of food to maintain his weight. Some food would be lower or higher in calories so you need to know how many calories is in the food to know how much she needs to eat to maintain an ideal weight.

Lots of people here use timed feeders. A number of us have asthmatic kitties too - Maverick is one of them. We started Lantus in October and I can't imagine doing it without the support of this amazing group of people.
 
Re: 1/15 Patootie AMPS 323

Thanks!

I do have a spreadsheet going... I hope folks can open it.

Right now she is getting a 5.5oz can of Friskies mixed grill twice daily. Seems like a lot compared to my other cat who is 13lbs (but has no medical issues either). Still... I could increase the amount she eats but it seems like it would be better to spread it out throughout the day if I could... though working full time makes that a challenge.

It was recommended on the main board that I get her thyroid tested... def going to sched that ASAP.

Thanks again everyone! Looking forward to all the helpful info.
 
Re: 1/15 Patootie AMPS 323

Welcome to Lantus Land.

Most vets are nervous if a cat goes into lower numbers. That's because they are concerned about liability issues since most people don't home test and don't know how to manage numbers with food. We do all of that routinely.

Let me suggest you read the starred, sticky notes at the top of the Board. There is a great deal of information in those notes. I'd especially draw your attention to the dosing protocol that we use. Cats earn dose reductions by having their numbers drop below 50 for a newly diagnosed cat and below 40 if your cat has been diabetic for more than a year.

From what Patootie's numbers look like, she's not well regulated. Is she still drinking and urinating a lot? Until she's routinely in lower numbers, she's probably going to be hungry. What her voracious appetite is telling you is that the food she's eating isn't being metabolized because she probably needs more insulin to get the glucose into his cells. Once that happens, hopefully her appetite will begin to decrease. As far as a mid-day feeding, it can't hurt. There is a Petsafe 5 compartment feeder that is study. It may be bigger than what you need, though. Their 2-compartment model may not be sturdy enough to withstand Patootie's efforts. I think they are carried at Petsmart if you want to take a look at them.

Also, has he been tested for hyperthyroid? Hyper-T can contribute to a kitty being hungry.

I think Karrie missed that you do have a spreadsheet. Your color coding is different than what we use here so it's a bit of an adjustment. If you plan on hanging around Lantus Land, changing the color code rules will help us but that may be putting the cart before the horse.
 
Re: 1/15 Patootie AMPS 323

Thanks and thanks again! I will adjust the colors on her SS to make it more user friendly here on Lantus Land and we have an apt in jut a bit for thyroid testing.

I agree about her still being unregulated... but she is waaaaayyy better than she was! :) Her eating random and weird things also makes it difficult to get a handle on things. The bread dough I had rising that she ate yesterday really messed those numbers up!! She is very pu/pd and when we are at the vets today I am going to have them check for a bladder infection (again... she has gotten these frequently over the past years) as she is peeing all over the place again.

Thanks for the input on the feeder... I will look around today and see what might be out there.
 
Re: 1/15 Patootie AMPS 323

Crissie:

If you want to join the crew here, I do think we can offer some suggestions that are in keeping with the way you are thinking and that will help to get Patootie in better numbers. The people here are very generous with their time and knowledge so please feel free to read our threads (we call them condos), look at our SSs, and ask questions.
 
Re: 1/15 Patootie AMPS 323

Just want to welcome you to LL and you will get so much great help here the advisers are great sounds like you might want to feed Patooie more often they what you are and a timed feeder is a great idea IMO anyway I have 2 of the petmate 2 compartment ones but many on here have the 5 compartment one I have it also but DL refuses to get near that one hope to see you posting regular ;-)
 
Re: 1/15 Patootie AMPS 323

Welcome to Lantus Land... you're in the right place!

Until you can get a feeder, you can also use a more low-tech solution..


Take you food, add some water to make it a little soupy, then freeze it in ice cube trays. Once frozen, you can pop them out and into a ziploc. I have a bunch of small ramekin sized glass bowls (think corelle) that I use for feeding that fits 2-3 "kitty-cubes" perfectly. Because I feed raw, I also use a gel-type freezer pack that I freeze with the bowl on it so that it will conform to the bowl shape as it thaws and will keep the food at a safe temp for Willie. I think that having the cubes has really helped him out. When our numbers are high, we still drink and pee too much (I can walk in the door, and with one look at the litterbox, know exactly where his numbers are!), but it is gradually getting better.

Hope that helps, and once again, welcome!
 
Re: 1/15 Patootie AMPS 323

Hi again!

Just back from the vet and it does look like her thyroid might be an issue. We looked over her bloodwork from about 6 months ago and she was in the very high end of normal. Should have some news by Monday. The bad news is she is down to 7.2lbs :sad:

I'm going to start adding food in and will try the ice cube idea until I can find a timed feeder. Perhaps if I water it down pretty good it will take awhile for her to get at the food... or I might even freeze it sizes larger than ice cubes with the food in the center. That sure would increase her water intake! :smile:

I've updated Patooties SS to the template on this site for those of you who care to look at it. (pretty awesome of whoever put that together! It makes things so much easier!!)

I'm off to get some more food for cutie Patootie and will check in and read more stickies and posts later!

Thanks for your input and ideas. This really is a great site!
 
Re: 1/15 Patootie AMPS 323

It looks like you have been moving Patootie's dose around a bit. Unless you get a pre-shot number less than 150, I'd keep the dose at 1.0u. Patootie is getting some very nice numbers mid-cycle.
 
Re: 1/15 Patootie AMPS 323

Yes. I think you are right. I have mussed with the numbers a bit per Dr. recommendation as she didn't like that she dipped so close to 100 or dropped below 100 (before I started doing a SS she had dips down into the 70's and 80's). While she seemed to do just fine at that level the vet wanted me to keep numbers higher. After looking at many SS of others using Lantus I'm thinking the vet is being to conservative and I should go with the 1u BID and not be too concerned unless it drops below 50.

As I'm reading through the info and considering adding additional feedings in to get her weight up just a bit... I'm wondering how often I should feed her? With the ice cube method I can probably do an extra feeding after each shot. But if I get a timed feeder I could probably add more (though I would need to figure out how to make that work with 2 cats in the home).

Any suggestions?

Thanks!
 
Re: 1/15 Patootie AMPS 323

We all feed a little differently but many of us feed several small meals. I would figure out how many calories you want to add to Patootie's diet and then divide that up into portions. The only thing you don't want to do is feed 2 hours prior to shot time. For now, it's also probably best if you feed during the first half of the cycle when the insulin is most active to offset the effects of the food.
 
You should get an accurate scale - if you are in the US you can buy shipping scales that weigh to the ounce or better cheaply and often with free shipping. Maybe you already have a petscale or a babyscale. But every cat is different. Some need lots of food, some less. And you might be dealing with hyperT. The only way to really know if you are feeding enough is to weigh Patootie often. Still losing, need more food. The others have advised you on how to break up the feedings and not feed too much at once.

A scale caught Maverick's diabetes. We bought it because he was recovering from almost dieing from feline hepatic lipidosis. We had to ensure that he maintained or gained for his liver to heal. And now we weigh him to make sure he still maintains. So I got an additional return on our scale investment thankfully. A human scale isn't accurate enough.
 
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