Can we go out in the evening?

[Melsterwithcat]

Tldr we're going out from 3pm to 11pm this evening and our cat is usually fed and injected at 7pm. What should we do?

We have a foster cat who was recently diagnosed. Her history is a bit vague but she's between 7-10 years, was spayed a few months ago when we realised it hasn't been done before, and is currently on 1 unit in the morning and 2 units in the evening of injected insulin. (Not sure of the conversion but I believe this is quite a small starting dose, close to minimum). The vet has tested her levels twice but otherwise we weren't told to test her. We feed her twice a day when we give the insulin. We don't have anyone nearby who can give her the shots - my mother was fine with feeding her before the diagnosis but is flat out against giving her the shots, and she attacked someone we found through Facebook so I feel reluctant to ask that person again.
Anyway, long intro but we're going out tonight to see a play, and it just occurred to me that we need to figure out her shot. Usually we feed her around 7-8am (with one unit) and 6-7pm (with two units). This morning I fed her around 7.30am and gave one unit of insulin. This evening we'll be out from around 3pm to 11pm. I feel really bad about leaving her hungry until 11 as she's normally really hungry when we feed her but I'm not sure what else to do. Feed at 3 with a half dose of insulin then again at 11 with the other half? Not feed until 11? Feed at 3? Scour Facebook for someone to do it?
As a bit of context we were planning to adopt her but are now having second thoughts because we're not sure if we can make this work when we go on holiday or away for the weekend, and I've now realised that even going out for the day is a minefield. When we planned to adopt her we had my mum and several neighbors who were happy to look after her but I can't see any of them being willing to do injections. Whatever happened we'd keep her until we found her a forever home.

 

[CORKY]

Tldr we're going out from 3pm to 11pm this evening and our cat is usually fed and injected at 7pm. What should we do?

We have a foster cat who was recently diagnosed. Her history is a bit vague but she's between 7-10 years, was spayed a few months ago when we realised it hasn't been done before, and is currently on 1 unit in the morning and 2 units in the evening of injected insulin. (Not sure of the conversion but I believe this is quite a small starting dose, close to minimum). The vet has tested her levels twice but otherwise we weren't told to test her. We feed her twice a day when we give the insulin. We don't have anyone nearby who can give her the shots - my mother was fine with feeding her before the diagnosis but is flat out against giving her the shots, and she attacked someone we found through Facebook so I feel reluctant to ask that person again.
Anyway, long intro but we're going out tonight to see a play, and it just occurred to me that we need to figure out her shot. Usually we feed her around 7-8am (with one unit) and 6-7pm (with two units). This morning I fed her around 7.30am and gave one unit of insulin. This evening we'll be out from around 3pm to 11pm. I feel really bad about leaving her hungry until 11 as she's normally really hungry when we feed her but I'm not sure what else to do. Feed at 3 with a half dose of insulin then again at 11 with the other half? Not feed until 11? Feed at 3? Scour Facebook for someone to do it?
As a bit of context we were planning to adopt her but are now having second thoughts because we're not sure if we can make this work when we go on holiday or away for the weekend, and I've now realised that even going out for the day is a minefield. When we planned to adopt her we had my mum and several neighbors who were happy to look after her but I can't see any of them being willing to do injections. Whatever happened we'd keep her until we found her a forever home.

@Bron & Sheba (GA)

 

[Wendy&Neko]

First, what type of insulin you are using? Was your kitty diagnosed with ketones or diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) with the diabetes diagnosis. Depending on the answer, I might suggest a skipped dose, or not. That's not an option you've listed. With ketones or DKA, a skip is not an option. Depending on the type of insulin, shooting early is not a good idea. Shooting late is only good if you can shoot around 12 hours after that next morning. You can get back to your regular shot times over several days, but not all at once.

FYI, here we are strong believers in three things. The first is a good insulin for cats such as Lantus/glargine or Prozinc. We generally give the same dose AM and PM. We also believe in feeding all low carb wet or raw food ideally, something under 10% carbs. What are you feeding kitty? And lastly, strong believers in home testing, as it's the only way to keep a cat safe. Testing at the vet isn't valid, as often kitties can be stressed and higher blood glucose (BG) as a result. You don't want to determine a dose based on an artificially high blood sugar when it'll be back to normal at home.

A post to let you know what information we'd like to know about you - including your cat's name.
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[Melsterwithcat]

We can't share her name but let's call her Blackie. I don't know what kind of insulin or diabetes. We were just told to do the injections and feed at the same time. I can take a picture when we're back. I called the vet and they said to give her the shot and feed her when we got back, and next time to feed her a bit later in the morning so it's not such a gap.
The vet recommend a dry diabetic food and wet diabetic food, but she was looked after while we were away recently and that person fed her regular food but with just fish in it, no filler. Plus the dry food but more than we we're giving her and less wet. So we might stick with that when we buy the next lot but go back to more wet and less dry. I can add a picture of the food she is eating.
Apparently at the vets she was ok with the injection but hated the test so I'm not super enthused about doing a lot of testing, especially as the vet didn't mention it. If there is a reasonable way to do a few test just as a check of her dose then I'd be ok with that.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

I bet if the vet had a diabetic child they'd be testing before injecting insulin. Cats can't tell you if it's safe to give insulin, that's why we test. Another option is to get a Freestyle Libre placed on Blackie. Cats are smart. We reward the test with a low carb treat, and pretty soon they look forward to getting the test. Like many, mine came running when the test kit came out.

The vial or pen you are using to withdraw the insulin should have a name of the insulin on it.

It may not be safe to change food without home testing. None of the so called "diabetic dry foods are suitable for diabetics, they are too high in carbs for a diabetic. I wouldn't make a change in foods to a lower carb food without testing. We've had cats need a lot lower dose of insulin when their food has been switched.