10/18 Question about Chester's Eating Habits

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Jaye and Chester

Jaye and Chester

Member Since 2010
Hey, Folks...

Yup, I'm still here...as is Chester, of course! :-D

We're working our way down the scale and Chester is now at 1.0 bid. He hasn't been on it long, though and, seeing as how my goal for him is to keep him in the blues (for now) I think some of my problems are the snacks and when Chester prefers to eat.

After being confined all day to one room (with a timed feeder...although I have no idea how late he eats) it seems the last thing he's interested in at supper time is eating. He gives me that "Mom, I'm just not into that right now....have more fun things to do" look (and it's a pathetic look, let me tell you!) He'll eat a token meal...tablespoon (heaping) perhaps and then off he goes. I have been shooting anyway, because I know that he'll be back to nibble and he really seems to appreciate his 9:30 (+4) snack.

My vet (looking at the ss from yesterday) seems to think that I didn't really need to give him the two snacks last night, that he would have been just fine at the numbers he was at and perhaps those "panic snacks" (as I've been calling them) are part of the reason he's higher in the a.m. She actually prescribed sleep tonight (for both ME and Chester). I'm on board with that.

Anyone else have an eater like Chester? Is it okay to go ahead and shoot, knowing he'll be back for food later as long as I get "some" on board at shot time?
 
I don't force the food on mine, but I give them their shots. They eat when they are ready.
 
Hi Jaye...at what time do you set the timed feeder for? Maybe he is eating close to Preshot time...and maybe he is eating too much then. If he eats within the 2 hours previous to the preshot, the numbers might show a food spike and/or he might not be all that hungry. That's natural.
When you are home, do you feed him earlier than 2 hours before preshot?

Same at night...if he is getting hungry at +11 and the food is there, he might be eating it all then...
Those are my thoughts ....I see he gave you green the other day! :mrgreen:
 
There's another factor your vet may not have thought about. The AMPS number is often the last number to come down in line with other numbers. This is due to what is referred to as "dawn phenomenon." The adrenals release cortisol in the early morning hours as a means of preparing the body for stress of the day. Cortisol is a steroid hormone and will raise BG level. I don't think that a small snack at +8 is going to raise BG all that much. I might get rid of one snack in the latter part of the cycle, though. Giving snacks after Lantus peaks means it's harder to bring down the numbers in the latter part of the cycle since the insulin is waning.
 
A snack at +7 or +8 sometimes brings down the AMPS...if they fast in those 3 or 4 hours....the food bring sthem down and w/o the snack, their numbers seem to be higher...
 
I wish I could be sure when Chester eats during the day. Unfortunately, I bought the wrong kinds of timed feeder, the one that opens at a specific time, but doesn't close and move on to empty slots...and Hubby would be quite upset (with expenses being what they are lately) for me to have an "oops" moment...time to buy another new feeder! ;-)

I set it for between +3 and +4. He had a buddy in with him today and I'm surprised there was any left when I got home this late afternoon, but there was quite a bit in each of the two compartments.

When I feed him at +4 at night, I'm there making sure he eats it. If he doesn't I either generally leave it since I don't give him much at all and I know I'll probably be getting up again to check on him.

When I'm home I don't let him eat at all within the two or three hours pre-shot.

If he gets a +4 snack is it absolutely necessary to give him a +8 as well? There's no guarantee he'll be the one who eats it (he sleeps with buddies) or that he'll eat it in a timely way with the autofeeder and frankly, I'm looking for one good night's sleep!

I am usually able to get a +11 and an amps on him. Is the +11 an important number to get or am I wasting a strip on him at that time?
 
You could skip the +11...sometimes it's nice to have a heads up as to where they are going, but that can change in that hour anyway, right? If you leave the +4 food out at night that should be good for now...see how that goes. Hope you have a nice sleep tonight Jaye!
 
hiya Jaye!

I never did get that timed feeder at the time, I did make sure Luna ate around there in the wee hours of the morning (+8/+9ish), I also did do a midnite(before bedtime, +5/+6ish) little snack at times, or just left a bowl out for him where his sis won't find it, that is hard, when you have piggy civvie's.
(keep in mind, I was unemployed during his insulin days, lost my mind and sleep because I would be up at 3am doing the precious snack, so I don't recommend that... on weekends yes, or if you have a spouse or roomy who you can take turns with)


as for the +11 spot check, I liked them because they gave me more data, and I could see Luna double dipping which was cool, plus more debt :lol: but also gave me an idea of what might be happening come pre-shot time. Especially if I caught a low +11 number - it can help in case you might be due for a lower than usual pre-shot number.
 
OMG! A nice sleep....I'm sure you all know how rare that is! I guess it will depend on what the little man's bedtime number is. I tell myself I'll feel "safe" if it's in the mid 200s. Then I see how he's dropped sometimes and I get worried all over again. But on just the 1.0 unit, I'm hoping for one good night's sleep (if you can call getting up at 4:15 good to recharge the bean batteries a bit.
 
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