3/27 Frosty AMPS 280 after splitting pm feed in 2. Advice on auto feeder?

[Ana & Frosty (GA)]

last post

I had to give him 2 cans this morning before I left work because I won’t be home til the pm feed, but wondering what brand feeder people are using for cats who are very food motivated and break into things easily. I’m considering it but don’t wanna throw money away bc taking care of him is SO EXPENSIVE as many of you know.

I ordered a blood ketone meter with strips yest for $40. Hopefully all of this will help him.

Gonna split up his pm feed again tonight 3 hours apart and see how he does, hopefully he will be OK during the day.

 

[Ana & Frosty (GA)]

last post

I had to give him 2 cans this morning before I left work because I won’t be home til the pm feed, but wondering what brand feeder people are using for cats who are very food motivated and break into things easily. I’m considering it but don’t wanna throw money away bc taking care of him is SO EXPENSIVE as many of you know.

I ordered a blood ketone meter with strips yest for $40. Hopefully all of this will help him.

Gonna split up his pm feed again tonight 3 hours apart and see how he does, hopefully he will be OK during the day.

Also. Do ppl set up 4 automatic feeds or 5? 4 might be easier timing wise but is 5 better for sugar control?

 

[Nan & Amber (GA)]

Many of us use this one: Petsafe Eatwell 5-Meal Automatic Pet Feeder

There's a lot of flexibility in how you set it up in terms of timing. I don't think I'd worry about 4 vs. 5 mini-meals in terms of sugar control (they're probably about the same), but just tailor your feedings to Frosty's personality. If he's a member of the clean plate club and will reliably eat whenever food is available you can pretty much do what you want, but if he's more of a grazer you might want to make sure that the food doesn't rotate away from him too quickly.

 

[Stacy & Asia]

Also. Do ppl set up 4 automatic feeds or 5? 4 might be easier timing wise but is 5 better for sugar control?

You'll have to play around a bit and see what works best for Frosty and for you. It's not an exact science, but the general idea is to space out the calories enough that there isn't a massive food spike from eating half the days meals at preshots. If it's split into 3, 4 or 5 feedings in a cycle just depends on what works for you. I feed Asia 10 times a day, her meals are a tablespoon each for the most part. I set the autofeeder for every other hour (you can program 9 settings in the feeder even though it only has 5 slots, obviously, you'd have to refill after the first 5).

I only feed Asia that frequently because she is old and has a lot of issues, one of them being stomach acid that causes her to vomit if she goes more than about 3-4 hours without food. If she didn't have this issue, I would feed her probably 3 times before nadir and nothing after until preshot. When I am away or sleeping, I know she will have access to food every 2 hours and that helps me worry less, which is a bonus.