8/23 Muffin amps 139 +2.25 63 feeding question?

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Anne&Muffin (GA)

Anne&Muffin (GA)

Member Since 2010
Yesterday: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=23024

Good morning all.

Last night Muffin got into some chicken fingers and honey mustard dipping sauce that got left out...doesn't look like she got more than a few bits of the chicken (but they're mostly breading) but the honey mustard was licked clean :roll: I don't know how bad the sauce is for her, but I know the breading can't be good! She's a happy camper this morning, tho, breffis partly eaten (and on time today) and the rest of the family is outside, so she doesn't have to worry about someone else coming along and eating the rest. LB being used at this very moment.

Have a good day everyone!
 
Re: 8/23 Muffin amps 139

That's a good number considering the feast she had....she must have been in 7th heaven!
What a find for Muffin! :lol:
 
Re: 8/23 Muffin amps 139 +2.25 63

+2.25 63 Gave her more dry, she's acting starved, but otherwise normal. She's really making me wish I could control her with canned food. Still completely unsuccessful in that area :cry:

ETA: Had a thought, want some feedback. This is another decrease # (remember AT meter). Seems like she's always giving me these @ +1-3. While this could just be her normal nadir (I know ECID), I'm wondering because she eats dry food and it takes longer to get into her system, what if I fed her 30-60 mins before shot time? Do you think this would mess up her ps #'s and cause any problems? I know I should be happy she's asking for dosecreases, but since she is often up in the blues these days, I'm just not sure they're warranted, and maybe I need to manipulate food to keep her more steady. Which, of course, is harder on dry food.
Edit again: She really doesn't get fed overnight. I leave a little dry out for her when I go to bed, but not much because the other cats will eat it for her, as I make them all stay inside overnight.

Thoughts?
 
Anne, sorry I haven't been tracking your condos as well as I should. I'm not the food expert, but what is happening with your attempt to move Muffin to soft food? I know Kitty was addicted to his hard food at first, too.

I used to heat up the soft food to make it smelly (they like that), and hold the plate in front of him to encourage him to try it. Once I was sure he was able to eat it, I started leaving him less dry food, and more wet. He ate the wet because he was hungry.

Is Muffin unwillin to ingest it at all? Have you tried sprinkling chickn dust treats, or bonita flakes, to make it more attractive?

I think Muffin will improve a lot if you can make this transition.
 
This is quite a problem, isn't it? And we all know that canned would be ideal but you have tried everything. I hope you keep on trying to get her to eat the canned, but still...what to do in the meantime?

As far as when she goes low....will she eat just the gravy from the canned food? Just strain the gravy and not give the solid food. That would raise any low numbers quicker than the dry. I have used a syringe to give gravy to Shadow when he didn't want to eat at a low BG.

If she will eat that, then if she goes low, you will be able to get her numbers up.
That would eliminate the wait....and it might eliminate your need to feed her before preshot.

But if she won't go for the plain gravy,the feeding 30=60 minutes before shot time might be worth a try. I doubt the dry would influence her preshot number in that short a time....
But I think others who are more experienced will weigh in here on that....
I actually set my alarm and get up to test Shadow at 3 am (+7)and give them both a snack. I started that when Raja's numbers were a little high in the mornings before she went OTJ. The food would lower the numbers after about 4 hours or so...

If she could eat a few hours before preshot, the food would lower her morning BG.
Hope others have some better ideas....
 
IMHO, the best way to find out if feeding at a different time will help is to try it. :smile: Try it and track the results and see what happens. It could be interesting. She does drop early, so it's definitely worth a try.
 
+8.5 135

Kathy: Muffin does not even think that wet/moist food is edible. I have tried about 20 different brands/flavors so far, tried it cold, room temp, warmed up, sprinkled with fortiflora, freeze dried chicken, parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, her dry food...I have tried rubbing it on her gums (really I just got it on her face), offered it on my finger, put some on her paw, and syringe feeding. (I'm really wary of syringe feeding, as I don't want to create a food aversion and she HATES the syringe. I used baby food in it and really only succeeded in getting it all over the room when she shook her head lol) I've tried raw food and baby food. I've even tried evo dry food - she's just not interested in anything but either her own dry food (FF) or cooked chicken chunks some days as an afternoon snack (only when she's gotten really hungry) or very bad things like Taco Bell, cornbread, breaded chicken fingers...you get the idea. I am still trying, but really without any expectations or even hope at this point. I am keeping her dry food in the fridge, so she can't smell it in the house, but she still knows it's there. I've successfully changed her brand of dry food one time in the past, but it took days of not feeding her to do so, and I've since learned that is a huge no-no. Since dx, vet has said not to let her go more than 12 hrs without food, and she's just too stubborn for that to be nearly enough time to change anything.

If anyone has any more ideas, please chime in!

Pat: That's a good idea about setting an alarm to feed her 4 hrs or so before am shot.

Libby: Good point - I'll give it a try, but tomorrow morning I won't be around for testing so maybe will start Wednesday.
 
Does Muffin get jealous or even interested in what the rest of your crew are eating? If so, I'd use that angle. If not, I'd give her the usual kibble with a bit of canned on the side and tons of praise, treats, whatever, for when she eats the canned. Even if she gets close to the canned and sniffs it, do whatever it takes to reward her. Very gradually, as she eats the canned, try to shift the balance from dry to canned. If you can transition all of the cats to canned it will be much easier over the long run. I also wouldn't expect this to be a quick process.
 
+11 144

Thanks Sienne, that's a good idea about praising her for even smelling it. She is not interested at all in what the other cats are eating. She doesn't even eat around them. They all eat in the kitchen, and Muffin eats upstairs in the office where I am most of the time. When she did used to eat in the kitchen, she ate on a shelf in the pantry, all by herself. The other cats are all on canned/raw food, except when they come up on the desk and eat Muffin's dry food, which is one reason why I only put a little out at a time for Muffin. Plus, she is a grazer, so only eats small amts at once. I do put a small bit of canned out next to her dry, in a separate dish (she won't eat her dry if it's on same plate as canned, or too close to any other food). After a couple of hours, Kibby usually comes up and eats the canned for her. :idea: I will try inching the canned food closer and closer to her dry food tho, and maybe she will become less revolted by it :lol: Maybe I can eventually even put them on the same plate :shock:
 
Anne, I'm sorry I even tried to suggest something. You are a walking encyclopedia of food tricks!

But okay, I'll play one more time. Have you rolled the hard food in soft food? (I'll bet you have.)

Good luck. I send many "eat the soft food, darn it!" vines! :lol:
 
Oh no, don't be sorry Kathy! I have tried scooping a tiny bit of wet onto a dry kibble, and even dipping just a corner of the kibble in gravy - those pieces were ignored (until Kibby arrived of course) But, if you think of anything else, PLEASE suggest it to me. Even if it's something I've already tried, maybe even the way it's worded will spark something else in me. Like in my last post, I just thought of moving the canned closer as I was typing.

I've even thought about trying to analyze what it is about Taco Bell and other human food that she likes so well, and if it's some sort of seasoning that is ok for her, using that on canned. I read something last night mentioning fresh rosemary for tempting a cat. Doesn't sound very cat-like, but I may try it! :lol:
 
i feel for you. it took almost 4 looooong months to transition one of my civvies from dry to wet food. i usually had the best luck in the morning because he was hungry after not eating all night long. i'd always offer wet first. if he didn't eat any, i would let him have a little dry after about an hour. sometimes he'd wait me out. other times he'd break down and eat a little of the wet. eventually, he started eating wet on a regular basis. don't give up. it just may take time...
 
Thanks for the encouragement Jill. I will not give up! Good idea making her wait an hour in the morning before I cave in and feed dry, but it is ok to do this for an FD kitty? Maybe it would be ok if I get up at pm+8 and feed her a little then? I get so nailbite_smile about withholding food.
 
Hi Anne, thanks for stopping by Tess's condo while I was gone. What kind of raw are you feeding the others? Have you tried just a little piece of plain, raw chicken to see if she will eat it? That's how I got Tess to eat raw.
 
unlike some of the other insulins, the thing to remember with lantus is you have a couple hours to get food on board.
if you make sure food is on board before onset, muffin will be fine.
 
I started with the sample order of Feline's Pride, which the other cats loved, but it was so expensive. Now I have Nature's Variety chicken from the feed store (less expensive) and I actually have to put fortiflora on it or they won't eat it. I have not tried plain raw chicken with Muffin. I tried half cooked chicken, which she did not eat, but I only offered that once, so it could have just been a day when she opted to not eat chicken. I will try that, thank you.

I could not offer John any advice, but I do try to keep up and follow along - and throw in the occasional encouragement and/or pat on the back. That's about all I'm good for :lol:
 
Wow, Anne, you really have tried everything to get Muffin to eat wet food! I agree though, don't give up...someday she may decide that wet or raw food is good. I have one civvie that simply refuses to give up dry food entirely, and she isn't the best eater anyway, so I still have a bowl of dry food out for her. She will eat wet food, just not enough to keep her from losing weight, and she doesn't have any to lose!

Have you tried soaking her dry food in a little water? I wouldn't leave it out for long because of the bacteria concern, but if you could get her to accept moist dry food, that might help transition her. You've probably tried it already, just thought I would toss it out there!
 
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