OK, I'm not a feline nutrition expert, I just read a lot....
Here's my basic theory. Food raises BG. More food raises it more. Higher carbs raises it more.
Insulin lowers BG.
Elementary stuff, right?
Specific to Hershey. Feeding him his normal amounts at shot time will raise his BG "normally" once the food hits his system. This can happen like an hour after he eats, and depending on how long it takes to digest, can take several hours to digest. Food isn't turned immediately into glucose in his tummy. Most of the converting happens once the food hits the small intestine and then gets into the bloodstream. If you feed him more at shot time, it's going to raise his BG more than normal, and it's going to take longer to digest. So, it will raise BG longer, or higher, or both. If you then feed him a little bit at +6, it would seem that this would give him a tiny boost in the +7 to +9ish range, right about the time the insulin should be past peaking and petering out.
So, I would think his curve would look like it drops less quickly, and less in general, flattens out for an hour or two, and then rises back until next shot time. In general, I think it would look flatter than normal. Because you feed the middle of the cycle a little less, then the climb in the 2nd half of the cycle should be slower.
Does that sound logical?
As far a feeding mid-cycle goes....
What has been suggested to Lydia and others lately is to try to use food to "manipulate" the curve. People do this all the time with Lantus, some feeding "mini-meals" at +1, +2, +3 and sometimes +4, rather than feeding all at the start of the cycle. The intent, as I understand it, is to flatten the curve on purpose, and stop kitty from diving deep and fast in the first 3 or 4 hours of the cycle, like Sid was prone to do, especially when Lydia was having to supplement with "R" insulin to chase away ketones. I've had numerous conversations with Marjorie (and Gracie) on use of food to shape the curve, and she is really knowledgeable on the subject. And it seems to work on many kitties. I have mentioned this concept a couple of times to some PZI beans, but not to that extreme. What I think can work is if you are seeing nadirs that are too deep, or sudden drops in the first half of a cycle, then you break that "normal" meal into a couple of smaller meals.
Let's say kitty normally eats a 5.5 ounce can for breakfast. Instead of all of it, feed 3oz at shot time, and then the other 2.5oz at like +3 or +4, whenever it is that you have seen the insulin really kick in and push the BG down hard and fast. That 2nd helping, if timed right, should give kitty a 2nd BG boost that will offset the insulin's downward motion on the BG. So, the kitty won't drop as fast or as far. It makes for a flatter curve, but not a flat curve. It buffers the low numbers, so instead of going from pink to green, maybe you go from pink to blue, or a low yellow. The intent is to avoid the drop that is so much that it results in liver panic and the bounces that follow and take a few cycles to clear. Because all they do is muddy the water and make you sit there and think...."should I reduce?, so should I increase???" What I hope will happen is that you won't have to wonder, or have to adjust at all. If the liver doesn't panic, then maybe the preshots will get lower, and the progression will be that all the numbers come down together, and you don't get all the bouncing. Your curves might not look really drastic or fantastic, but they'll be effective and allow the pancreas time to heal. If you want a deeper curve, then feed less in the middle, but just not too little, or you get deep drop, and then the panic and bounce. Using food this way gives you the effect of a lower dose, without lowering the dose. Make any sense?
I read Kim's observation (now I can't remember who's thread it was on) that she thought mid-cycle food shortened the cycle.
If you can find where that is, let me see it? I don't know the context, or want to say I agree, disagree or understand without reading it first. I can see where feeding mid-cycle could cause the BG to rise if the kitty is surfing in the middle of a cycle, for sure. You can basically use food as the "anti-insulin" at any point during a cycle if you time it right. And there are IMO valid reasons for doing so as I tried to explain above. If kitty was consistently running "long duration", I can even see where you would want to use it to shorten a cycle if you could. Maybe Kim recalls which thread it was in...
Carl
