Amount of wet food

[Sandi & Chase in AZ]

Hello,

Is there preferred amount of wet food that I should be letting my cat eat? I give him his insulin 12 hours apart and since he's not regulated, yet, I've not been giving him anything in between. The only thing I find that he will eat, besides soft treats, is Purina DM mixed with a little baby food, and made into a paste but running through my NutriBullet. I then fill the 2.5 oz baby jar bottles up with it so that I can measure how much food he's getting. He likes to eat, but I don't want to overfeed him. Any suggestions? He weighs about 14.75 pounds. Thank you.

 

[Kris & Teasel]

Did he lose weight because of his diabetes? Is he at a good weight now? If so, you can feed his daily ration in several small meals instead of twice a day only. Many vets say that but many cats do better on several small meals (no food for 2 hours before AM and PM pre shot BG tests - are you doing that?). If he needs to gain back some weight just increase his daily ration. Many of us here use a digital baby scale to monitor weight.

 

[Sandi & Chase in AZ]

He lost a very small amount of weight. He use to weigh 15 pounds. I work 10 hour days and live alone so feeding him 3 small meals during the day isn't feasible on the week days. When I did his glucose curve on Saturday, they had me feed him, then test his glucose, then give him insulin. Then every 2 hrs I checked his glucose. Am I supposed to be testing him twice a day every day?

 

[Squalliesmom]

We suggest testing before you feed, that way your test reading isn't food-influenced and you get a truer picture of kitty's blood glucose. All food should be taken up at least 2 hours before testing and shot. This will help keep your kitty safer from hypos, as well.

We test before meals at AM and PM, and it's very helpful if you can get some mid-cycle tests in, as well, to help determine kitty's nadir (lowest point of the cycle) and ensure he doesn't drop too low. If you're working 10 hours a day I understand this may not always be possible, but if you can get some extra tests in on the weekends, and in the evenings, during his PM cycle, that would be good.

You can't really overfeed him if his diabetes is still unregulated. He isn't able to utilize his food properly so he will be hungry all the time until he is regulated. You can use a timed feeder for meals while you are at work, or you can freeze some small portions and set them out before you leave, they will thaw for him to eat later in the day.

The formula for caloric intake is kitty's weight x 13.5 + 70. So if, for example he weighs 14 pounds, the formula would be (14 x 13.5) + 70 = 259 calories per day. If your cat needs to gain weight you would use the desired weight rather than his current weight. You can always adjust the calories up or down as needed, this is just a rough formula, not a hard, fast rule.