Feeding recently diagnosed diabetiec cat

[kay]

Hi. This is my first post ever. And my first diabetic cat.

I am doing BGT at home and giving Nellie shots (Lantus) twice a day. I test, feed her, then give her the shot. I am currently feeding her throughout the day. She has 3oz of appropriate Fancy Feast at about 7am, three ounces of canned salmon with fish oil about 9am and about three oz of cooked shimp at 1pm. She grazes on the shrimp until about 3pm and is hungry again at 4.30pm. i currently withhold food until 6pm when she is tested and fed.

I realize that she probably can't go on eating this much food. She is a small, skinny Siamese who lost a lot of weight before we figured out what was wrong with her. However my question is, can she be fed right up until the time that she has her BGT? Does eating prior to/close to the test cause an inaccurate reading?

I would appreciate your advice. K

 

[Mindy & Max]

The usual rule for feeding with Lantus is not to feed for 2 hours before a pre-shot test. Certainly test and monitor the level throughout the shot cycle, but for the pre-shot test, you don't want to be measuring a food spike.

Have you been over to the Lantus support board? If not, you should definitely visit there. There are lots of stickies on the protocol we use here, so that you can get the most out of your testing/treating routine and have the best chance of getting your kitty off the insulin. And I think roughly 140 kitties on that board have gotten off insulin since Feb. 2008. My Max was one of them, and I wouldn't have been able to do it without the help of everyone over there. :mrgreen:

 

[kay]

Thank you for the quick response. Nellie has asthma and has taken prednisone for some time. The vet does not believe that Nellie will be able to give up insulin. I will check out the Lantus support board. Again, thanks. K

 

[Mindy & Max]

Aha, yes, you probably won't be able to give up the insulin if Nellie is on prednisone. Pred is what made my Max go diabetic in the first place. BUT, I know there are a few other kitties on the Lantus forum that are also on long-term steroids for other conditions, so they may be able to help you out with figuring out how to dose the insulin. Good luck!