Feeding routine, night time

[Carina Josefine]

Another question from me. Feeding! How do you do it throughout the night?

I feed Kitty several times a day, and the +12 in the evening is a lot higher than the + 12 in the evening. I feel her blood sugar is dropping too much at night. Kitty won't eat unless I sit with her. She is still upset about me removing the dry food. The other cats though, they empty everything (they love it)!

How often should should she eat ?

I have not left food out, to make sure her morning reading isn't just after food, as I thought that was okay.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

You might want to look into getting an autofeeder…..The PetSafe 5 is a favorite here. There are 5 compartments and you can program each one to open when you want her to eat and if you leave the last compartment empty, you can program that last one to "open" 2 hours before AMPS so you'll know she didn't have anything to eat for those last 2 hours

 

[Carina Josefine]

You might want to look into getting an autofeeder…..The PetSafe 5 is a favorite here. There are 5 compartments and you can program each one to open when you want her to eat and if you leave the last compartment empty, you can program that last one to "open" 2 hours before AMPS so you'll know she didn't have anything to eat for those last 2 hours

The auto feeder is not an option, as Kitty wont eat unless I sit with her (she is still oh so upset about the desapperance of the dry food). However the other ats would be all over it the second the food is dropped.

Can I just leave wet food out all day, but remove it two hours prior to testing?
If not, how often should I feed her? Is getting up once a night enough?

 

[Kris & Teasel]

Can I just leave wet food out all day, but remove it two hours prior to testing?

Yes, you can do this. Re night time: I give Teasel a small meal before I go to bed and no more after that until morning. It seems to work for him.

 

[Tuxedo Mom]

I leave food out most of the day. Maxie is a grazer and eats little bits throughout the day. As long as there has been no food for 2 hours before each preshot test it comes down to whatever works best for Kitty ( and for you)

Just a comment. It looks like Kitty had a bit of a bounce from those lower numbers Nov 14. ( perhaps lower than Kitty's body is used to)It can take a day or so for the numbers to fall back into 'normal' . Also Kitty seems to have his nadir later in the cycle which is quite common with Levemir. All the testing you have been doing is giving good data.

If you have not already given the AM shot my thoughts would be to stick with the 0.50 and see how she does with this. The concept of bouncing is sometimes hard to wrap your mind around, but the flat ( number) cycle you just had is a good indication of bouncing and once the bounce 'breaks' often the numbers will work their way downward

 

[Carina Josefine]

I leave food out most of the day. Maxie is a grazer and eats little bits throughout the day. As long as there has been no food for 2 hours before each preshot test it comes down to whatever works best for Kitty ( and for you)

Just a comment. It looks like Kitty had a bit of a bounce from those lower numbers Nov 14. ( perhaps lower than Kitty's body is used to)It can take a day or so for the numbers to fall back into 'normal' . Also Kitty seems to have his nadir later in the cycle which is quite common with Levemir. All the testing you have been doing is giving good data.

If you have not already given the AM shot my thoughts would be to stick with the 0.50 and see how she does with this. The concept of bouncing is sometimes hard to wrap your mind around, but the flat ( number) cycle you just had is a good indication of bouncing and once the bounce 'breaks' often the numbers will work their way downward

Yes, I think yesterday could have been a bouncy day. We are more back on track today. I stuck to the dosage at am, gave a skinny on the pm (I had to leave her alone for a little and got a little worried about sinking numbers). We have not seen green today, so far, but we have been in the blue range for 20 hours

I am trying free feeding now, to try to get her used to eating without me sitting there (like she used to with dry food). It would remove one stressy aspect of life if she did. I guess the problem with this is that she might not be hungry and eat before shot time. how do you resolve this?

We also seem to have a weight issue. Since strating wet food last friday (we got a 1 week diabetesaversary today), she has definitely gained weight. I her case, that is NOT a good thing. We will have to see how free feeding might affect that.

Her fur is a lot softer than it was a week ago though. It was sort of hard and greasy, now it's not anymore. Could I really see changes that fast?

 

[Tuxedo Mom]

Kitty's numbers look great. Yesterday was most likely a bounce from hitting the lower (but safe) greens the other day, but she didn't bounce very high which is wonderful. It can take a day or so for a bounce to clear so she may wander downward a bit more on this dose.

Free feeding works with some kitties. If Kitty does not need to gain any weight then you could divide the daily total up and give her small amounts throughout the day. Just make sure she is not eating at least 2 hours before preshot test time. Since Levemir has a longer onset time it is not as crucial that she eat right away when she gets her shot, as long as she will eat in the next while afterwards.

You can see results from keeping the glucose levels in better ranges fairly quickly. Kitty is in decent numbers and is 'surfing' or staying in the same range for long periods of time, which is exactly the way that Levemir is supposed to work. I will check back later and see how the rest of the cycle is going, but the 0.50 unit seems to be a good choice for now.