I discussed this with my vet and she said it looked like we could go one of two ways: either keep feeding Chester snacks during the day and night and possibly raise his dose or try not feeding him snacks and lower his dose to 1.25 and see what happens. She'd like me to see how low he goes on this dose for awhile (without getting too low, of course).
I know that he hasn't "officially" earned a dose reduction, although I'm pretty comfortable speculating that he would have for the last three nights if I hadn't 'artificially' kept his numbers higher by stopping the drops (selfishly, I suppose, because of the whole lack of sleep issue which has actually gotten to the dangerous level...nodded off at the wheel four times after work this week!) Maybe if I have him on a lower dose, but with no snacks, he'll reach an acceptable level without the constant late night intervention.
The problem I'm having with the autofeeder is that I never know who is eating the food. I wish I could adequately describe the craziness that is my house and the intricate dance that goes on with shuffling contagious cats, diabetic cat, anti-social cats twice a day, not to mention the dogs as well. Chester is VERY social and would be miserable without his friends. His friends, unfortunately, are confined at night (because one is on a time-share with the cat upstairs, whom he frequently tries to kill...seriously). If I confine Chester with them, they don't get to eat (and Chester is MUCH better at 'eating on cue' than those two). If I leave them food, Chester can't be with them. Same problem in reverse for the day. At least if I only feed Chester at meal times the other two can eat during the night if they choose.
There is no good solution here. I actually found myself saying to my vet that what I need is for one of his friends to become diabetic! :shock:
