don't know if i'm doing this right

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lucybooz

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i'm doing the every 2-hours testing. problem is, beeber eats just about every time i do a test. will that make the # go up in another 2 hours?

maybe i'm doing this feeding wrong. i'm used to having dry food in a bowl all the time but have taken that away from her. i want her to eat if she's hungry but is the eating so often (she doesn't eat a whole can each sitting, but i'd say she can put away 2 cans of fancy feast in a day) causing the #'s to read accurately.

when feeding canned food, should she be on a schedule or just eat if she's hungry. she needs to gain some weight as well.

confused again!!!!!!!
 
lucybooz said:
(she doesn't eat a whole can each sitting, but i'd say she can put away 2 cans of fancy feast in a day) causing the #'s to read accurately.

when feeding canned food, should she be on a schedule or just eat if she's hungry. she needs to gain some weight as well.

confused again!!!!!!!
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2 cans? I'd love it if my cat ate just two cans a day :lol: . She is still unregulated and eats more than she should (but less than the original starting amount of 15-18 ounces/day, so i'm happy), 3-4 oz in the morning (it can start at 2am), 4 oz in her feeder, and then 3 oz at night when I get home (rarely all at once, usually spread out until bed-time).

Sneakers has a feeder that is timed to present food on the days that I am not there so she doesn't free-fed like she used to BUT when I am home and can do a curve I run into that problem, mainly because I have conditioned her, I think, to get a poke, get food, get shot- but she eats less at those times when I am doing a curve. I try feeding the lowest carb I have those days and I know it is with food influencing. I do try and not feed within 2 hours of her shot time so I have a good fasting bg to start off with.

Hope that helps,

Heather
 
2 cans of FF is not too much, unless she is a really tiny kitty. Most FF classics have less than 100 calories in a can, so she's getting less than 200 a day. How big or small is she?

You don't want her free feeding all day and night, but eating 4 or more times a day is a good thing. It spreads out the BG boost from eating more evenly. On a normal day, where you aren't testing every two hours, you just don't want her to eat in the two hours leading up to AMPS or PMPS, so that you know those 2 tests are "fasting numbers". On a day where you are running a curve like today, you just need to note when she ate, so that you can figure that into the numbers you get. Food will show up in the BG numbers for an hour or two after she eats, but as long as you can account for that, your curve will still make sense.

Bottom line, I don't think 2 cans of FF is too much, especially if you think she needs to gain weight.

Carl
 
Most people here give smaller frequent meals rather than 2 meals a day, in hopes that will support the pancreas to heal. Many of us use automatic feeders; some of us freeze the wet food and let it thaw. You can pick the amount and times that work for you and your kitty. The only time it is important NOT to feed is the 2 hours before you are going to test in the am and pm and then give insulin. You want to make sure you have an accurate number to base the dose on. When you are taking tests other times during the day, food will impact the numbers, but you are looking for trends and patterns - not exact numbers. If you record in the message part of your spreadsheet what you fed and when, that will help you see, day to day, how the food and insulin is working together.

Does that make sense?
 
she was at the vet for her regular checkup in february and weighed about 9#'s. she's NOT a big cat by any means. during this ordeal she went down to almost 7#'s, more like 6-1/2#'s - quite a drop.

she's certainly gotten her appetite back.

she probably eats 2 cans TOTAL for the ENTIRE day. i think it's about what it says to feed/lb on the can.

getting the antibiotic into her is quite another ordeal. she absolutely HATES that!!!!! we wrap her in a towel and hope for the best!!!!! i've got the claw marks to prove she got out of the towel!!!!! there were 2 days when we couldn't give it to her because she'd run and hide and then i worried i would have to hunt her down for her shot. not worth it. she's had 5 of the 7 they gave her and i'm not going to get upset about the pill yet.
 
OK, a 9 lb cat needs at least 180 calories a day (non-diabetic cat), and a diabetic needs more because they can't digest and metabolize food efficiently. So 2 cans a day is not too much in her case. You should see her gain some weight back as her numbers get better controlled.

I've had lots of cats over the years, and I've never had one that was easy to "pill". When Bob needed supplements, I would crush them and hide them in his food, but that might not be an option for the pills you are giving her.

Carl
 
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