A question about feeding schedule

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TheBowHuntress

TheBowHuntress

Member Since 2012
One person told me to feed my diabetic cat a few times a day and another person told me to let him eat whenever he wants! So I did a quick search on the internet and here is a copy & paste from eHow regarding on feeding: "cats with diabetes should not be allowed to eat whenever they desire. They should be fed a portion of their meal with each insulin injection." Which way is best? Thanks in advance
 
By letting them graze or by feeding several small mini meals, the food won't spike the glucose as much and the slow absorbing insulin keeps better pace with the glucose. This is why human diabetics are advised to do mini meals.

And its always test, feed, shoot, because you want to be sure food is coming on board with the insulin.
 
BJM said:
By letting them graze or by feeding several small mini meals, the food won't spike the glucose as much and the slow absorbing insulin keeps better pace with the glucose. This is why human diabetics are advised to do mini meals.

And its always test, feed, shoot, because you want to be sure food is coming on board with the insulin.
Click to expand...
Thanks kindly BJM...I was kinda thinking that grazing would be best, cause like you say, that's what human diabetics do and my grandmother was diabetic--she basically "picked" all day...I am keeping records -- on that note, is there a blank downloaded spreadsheet (without anyone's info filled in) that can compute "curves" for me?
 
In the Tech section there is a dowloadable spreadsheet plus instructions.

Nothing to calculate for a curve, as it is just testing the glucose every 2 hours from pre-shot to pre-shot. (A mini-curve is when you test every 3 hours.)
 
Hi,

I always free-feed Bertie. He grazes food as and when he wants throughout the day. I've found that this keeps his numbers much more stable than feeding him just a couple of large meals. But I give him a snack of his favourite food with his shot. As BJM said, it's very important that your cat has food on board when you give insulin. And always test the BG before giving the shot.

Newly diagnosed diabetics are often ravenous, because they can't utilise the food that they're eating. But that usually settles down once the cats BG numbers drop. :smile:
 
Elizabeth and Bertie said:
Hi,

I always free-feed Bertie. He grazes food as and when he wants throughout the day. I've found that this keeps his numbers much more stable than feeding him just a couple of large meals. But I give him a snack of his favourite food with his shot. As BJM said, it's very important that your cat has food on board when you give insulin. And always test the BG before giving the shot.

Newly diagnosed diabetics are often ravenous, because they can't utilise the food that they're eating. But that usually settles down once the cats BG numbers drop. :smile:
Click to expand...
My Gobbles is now getting very picky about his food....he asks to be fed about 4x a day, but just picks at it....and it seems he is consuming way less water....his BG last night at 11:45 pm was 311....
 
...My Gobbles is now getting very picky about his food..
Click to expand...

You may find this happening more often as sweet boy's bg numbers come down - with insulin, his body can now USE that food he puts in it making him less hungry. Habit may keep him visiting the bowl.

BIG HUGS!
 
Here's a link to the instructions on how to set up a spreadsheet: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=18207

The reason why you might see conflicting advice on how to feed is because recommendations are different depending on your cat's weight, and how out of control the diabetes is. The diabetes we see in cats is very similar to type 2 diabetes in humans, which means it's often connected to obesity. In order to get the diabetes under good control, the cat needs to get down to a healthy weight, so you wouldn't want to free feed if you have an obese cat (because they need portioned, frequent meals). In those cases you would want to set up a safe weight loss plan with a sufficient number of calories so that the cat doesn't loose too much weight too quickly, and preferably feed a food with a higher protein and lower fat content. Diabetic cats who aren't free fed should eat at least 4 times a day.

If you have a cat who is underweight because of the diabetes, or can maintain a healthy weight on his own, then you want to free feed or feed him whenever he wants to eat. Once the diabetes is under control, you can switch to a portioned meal schedule/reduce the amount of food fed if he starts to gain too much weight. But you do want to start get weight back on an underweight diabetic cat immediately; higher calorie foods (which tend to be higher in fat) are best in that situation to encourage weight gain.
 
Is there a place that will give more clarification on the spreadsheet for tracking? I see how to download it, but I don't understand everything on the spreadsheet.....What are the numbers at the top of the spreadsheet? I guess that an overall explanation will help if anyone has it.
 
date
AMPS- preshot in the am, same for PMPS
+1, +2, +3, those are the number of hours after the shot that you test. As we are all on different time zones giving us your time doesn't really help and this circumvents that
remarks- we list anything we want to here- throw-ups, pee, poop, food. I added extra remark rows to mine so I could do an AM, PM, and food

Anything else?
 
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