? Does Skipping A Meal Or Snack Affect BG levels?

Status
Not open for further replies.
BirdAndTobikat

BirdAndTobikat

Member Since 2020
I have a question about feeding times... Oktober struggles with very high numbers most of the time, and recently has started waking me up at 5:30am. I feed her wet food at 9:30 am/pm and will often put some out for her if I'm home during the day around 2 but she has a small amount of dry food that stays out all day that she can pick at. I know dry food isn't ideal, but it's not a staple and her vet recommended it.

We jumped from a once-a-day nightly food routine (pre-diabetes) to feeding several times a day. And now this week is 5am wake ups. I'm not stoked about that. I usually don't get to go to bed until 1am.

I'm considering locking my bedroom door so I can get more sleep, but I'm also living a paranoid life constantly worrying about her numbers. I'm afraid making her skip early morning feedings will just make her numbers worse, and she has already been bouncing around the 300-600 range lately.

So much question is: does skipping a meal change BG levels? And if so, does it raise it or lower it? I've been unable to see a pattern at all when home testing because her numbers are all over the place. But also, I could be doing it wrong, lol.
 
Hi there! A lot of things to touch on. :)

First, I would recommend investing in an autofeeder. Most of us use the Petsafe 5 Feeder. It's a little pricey new; I bought mine used on Ebay for about $20. Oktober needs night meals as well as day meals, so filling this up before bed will really help you out.

If you're doing a 9:30 schedule, by 5:30 it's been 8 hours post-shot time. Typically you don't want to feed after nadir (the lowest point of blood sugar during the cycle, depending on insulin type it can range from 3-8 hours after the shot, then blood sugar starts rising again) and without data I can't say what Oktober's nadir is but generally speaking, it's probably earlier than 5:30, so you won't be doing her any favors by feeding her at that time.

Skipping a meal prevents blood sugar from rising (to a point), as blood sugar naturally rises after eating. We use food to control the blood sugar, so if for example their blood sugar is dropping too low, we can use food to pull it back up.

For us to best help you, you can make a spreadsheet with all of Oktober's BG readings. You may not see a pattern but one of our experienced members probably will. :) Here are the instructions for making one, once you fill it out you can have our senior members take a look and they can help you figure out an ideal feeding schedule. It'll also give you piece of mind to anticipating when you might need to stay up a little late or if it's safe to snooze the night away!

And a side note for the dry food - just know that you will have a harder time getting those BG readings down if dry food is still in the picture. I dare say I can tell when my girl has snitched some of the contraband - her BG skyrockets up into the 500s!
 
You could try leaving some wet food out for her overnight. She'd be better off with that than the dry, and it sounds like she'd be more interested in eating it. The only thing you would have to look out for was making sure all food is withheld 2 hours before preshot test.

Skipping a meal can cause bounce, a really high blood sugar reading. The cat's body is used to operating on high blood glucose, then the BGL drops, and the cat's liver and pancreas panic, even if the drop isn't to a dangerous level. "We're crashing!" the liver says. "Release all the sugar!" Boom, high reading.

On the other hand, when a cat is on insulin, skipping a meal can also lead to a dangerous hypo event, where they don't have enough blood sugar in their system.

The only way you can track what's happening is to keep a record of when you're feeding, what you're feeding, and what happens to the BGL.

Have you considered setting up a spreadsheet for your kitty? It's super easy to do. Not only would it help you keep track of what is happening with October, it would help the experienced members in this forum offer you more specific help and advice. There's a post that will help- FDMB Spreadsheet Instructions. Also, Understanding the Spreadsheet and Creating a FDMB Profile.

If you look at my signature, you can click on "Billy's Spreadsheet" to see an example. Also notice the information I have in my signature. That helps the members of the board help me and Billy.
 
Juls and Billy said:
Skipping a meal can cause bounce, a really high blood sugar reading.
Click to expand...
Not true. The term bounce is misused a lot around here so I wanted to clarify for any other readers. A bounce is caused by either numbers going lower than kitty is used to, or fast drops in numbers. That's it. No more reasons.

Can you move to a snack just before your bed time? I found that a small meal before my bedtime helped me sleep longer without interruptions.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Not true. The term bounce is misused a lot around here so I wanted to clarify for any other readers. A bounce is caused by either numbers going lower than kitty is used to, or fast drops in numbers. That's it. No more reasons.
Click to expand...
Sorry, Wendy. I though a missed meal could cause a drop in blood sugar like that.
 
Thank you all very much for the information. I didn't realize "bounce" was even a thing. Working on getting her an auto-feeder, and doing a spreadsheet!

So lucky to have this community, I am grateful to be able to do all these things to get her the best life possible!
 
BirdAndTobikat said:
2.5 units Levemir
Click to expand...
Looking forward to the spreadsheet (SS). You've found the standardized version we use and the directions on how to create one? Let us know if you have problems with the setup. There are a couple of people that can help with that, but not me.

Levimir is a good insulin.

Let us know how else we can help. Home testing? Food ideas? Hypo instructions? Help with getting those high numbers down? Lots of info here. "This is a marathon, not a sprint".

And breath, don't forget to breathe. Calming deep breathes. Breath, hold, release, breathe, hold, release.

Please read this post: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/letter-from-your-kitty-to-you-during-this-time.131186/
because humor gets us through.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top