Feeding and shot question

[Michaelc26]

In a nutshell, is is necessary to give a shot to your cat 30min after they eat or 12hrs between each shot.

Example

My cat is currently on 1/2 u of Lantus twice a day (She is slowly getting better and better considering she started on 4u twice a day). She usually eats at 7am and 7pm, and picks throughout the day when she wants to. Getting her shot at 7:30 a/p

Now here is the pickle,

For years the cats always ate between 5:30-6am when my mother in law woke up and fed them, (we have 4 total) and then went outside to play in the morning and chase assorted wildlife. Now that they are eating later, they don't always eat, they are to anxious to go outside and play (We live in a rural area btw) and she is all a dither about the fact that 2 of them are not eating.

Does the insulin (Lantus) have to be given 30 min after they eat or should it be every 12hrs, which would be about two hours after she eats if we let them go back to their routine of eating early

make sense?

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

Actually you don't feed for 2 hrs prior to giving the shot (insulin) and immediately after giving the shot you feed - unless you have really low numbers and then it's a different process. The cats will all get used to the different feeding times as did Davidson and his brother Harley...........they will eat when hungry and my guys don't always eat when I put the food down and with wet food I add some water to it keeps from drying out. At times after I arrive home many hours later the food is still there, untouched as they patiently wait for me to come home to watch them eat. The shots are give 12 hrs apart, so the food is as well and you are better to give several smaller meals per day then 2 big ones if you can arrange that..........

 

[BJM]

Most of us test, feed, & shoot within about a 10-15 minute time span when using long acting, gentle insulins. Because they gentle, it isn't critical that they eat a big meal all at once.

If the cat is having GI problems - inappetance, vomiting, or diarrhea - you may adjust this somewhat.

 

[Deb & Wink]

In an ideal world, if you can allow 2 hours between food and that pre-shot test, that is optimal. We know that not everyone's world is ideal, so there is definitely some flexibility in the feeding times. Some people always free feed and so they always have food out. That means those pre-shot tests will Always be food influenced.

Food influenced tests are more of a concern when your cat is running in really low numbers, you're not sure if you want to shoot the full insulin dose or stall/retest or give a small token dose. Because of the food influence, the BG may be higher due to that food influence and could make you decide to go ahead and shoot, when in reality, your cat's BG levels are dropping.

I always figured a good 30-40 point rise in BG levels within about 20-30 minutes of food being eaten.

So, you could go back to feeding early like you were doing. Just be aware of the food influence for those pre-shot tests and be cautious in shooting if the BG's are really low.