Advice on setting up a 4xday feeding schedule?

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Harper'sHuman

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Hi, all. My kitty was diagnosed less than two months ago and we're having a devil of time getting regulated, so I want to make sure I set up a consistent feeding schedule we can all live with (including his civvie sister who I'm trying to transition onto wet food only). Twice a day doesn't seem work well for Harper - he doesn't eat enough at one meal to sustain him for 12 hours, so I'd like to get him on four smaller meals a day. If some of you who feed "mini-meals" would be will to share your schedules, I'd be most appreciative! I'm also interested in how to properly time the meals in relation to BG tests and injections.
Thanks so much!
 
When we fed 4X/day, it was shot time and +6. We also bought auto feeders for when we're gone.

Hope this helps -

Libby (and Hershey, too!)
 
Thanks, Libby. I had no idea there were auto feeders for canned cat food! Are these pretty widely available in stores, or should I check on-line? That's very helpful, because I've been calculating various feeding times all morning and trying to figure out how I was going to work in that last feeding of the day and still get something approximating a decent night's sleep.
 
I didn't use a timed feeder but I also fed Bob four times a day. He got a whole can of FF at AMPS and PMPS, and then about 2oz. of Friskees pates around five or six hours after each shot. You don't want to feed too much during the last half of the cycle when the insulin is beginning to wear off.
Carl
 
We love our PetSafe5. It has five compartments, is easy to problem and neither of our cats have ever been able to get it open. (We went through 3 catfeeders before we found it. Oliver could demolish them. ) The secret is that the bottom moves, not the lids. I freeze the wet food and leave it for several hours in the feeder.

It is available at PetSmart and on line. It is not the cheapest feeder but we have had ours for 5 years and not had a problem.
 
We have the PetSafe 5 meal feeders, too, and they've actually come down a little in price (Can you believe it?! :o ) since we bought ours. I found the best price at Amazon.com $42.79 http://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-5-Mea...WHNS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338484953&sr=8-1. We add water to the food to keep it from drying out. If it's set for closer to 12 hours or so, we add water and freeze that portion.

Our cats love the magic food box and come running when they hear it! I would advise you to try it out when you're going to be home, first, because if you don't have it snapped down just right, it won't advance. And, I read a lot of reviews from people saying the directions sticker inside the lid would start to come off and hinder operation. It's no longer a sticker, it's actually printed on the underside of the lid, so problem solved. I put the trays in the dishwasher and wipe down the unit with an antibacterial wipe. I remember someone saying they found bowls that would fit inside the tray sections and someone else said they made dishes out of foil to fit inside the tray sections to help with the clean up.
 
Thanks, everyone! That's really helpful. I'll check out the PetSafe5 for days when I know I'm going to have to work really late or be away from home for hours and hours.

Carl, your schedule sounds exactly like what I'm aiming for. Harper needs to eat 3 small (3oz.) cans of food a day. The vet is adamant that he must be forced to eat half in the morning and half in the evening. Well, first of all there is NO way he is going to eat a can and a half at one time, and that just leaves too much time between feedings for him. I understand the importance of consistency, but in reality I know that schedule just won't work for him, and I'm not going to force feed him until he's sick. But I do think it's workable to do a full/half/full/half schedule every six hours (or as close as I can possibly get it).

I'm so glad to hear that I have some options!
 
I feed prety much the same schedukke Carl mentioned. At first I was feeding about 3 oz at shot time and half that at.+6. Gradually my boys stopped eating as much, so now they get the same amount each time (~6 oz total for the day).

You can also freeze a portion & leave it out to thaw for when you can't be around; this works for some cats some prefer to play with it and Cass just ate it frozen.
 
I think that maybe your vet is aware that they really need to eat at shot time so that the insulin and the food work together (actually against each other). So maybe his reasoning for "force him to eat" is that he knows that food is critical at that time of the cycle. Why he doesn't understand the mid-cycle meals, or that human diabetics do better eating multiple small meals a day rather than just two or three big meals, I don't know. What you are trying to do is spread the carbs out as much as possible so the carb load is distributed more evenly over a 24 hour period. And insulin every 12 hours keeps insulin in the system for most of the 24 hours too.
I don't think that is specific to cats, but to any animal or human with diabetes. The only difference in cats is that they process insulin twice as fast as dogs or people do, so that is why they require 2 doses a day.

Carl
 
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