Feeding Schedule Advice

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StormysMom

StormysMom

Member Since 2017
Yet another question from yours truly! :)

We are transitioning cold turkey from free feeding dry food to twice a day wet food. All of our kitties are taking it hard but diabetic kitty Stormy is taking it particularly hard. Saturday night she actually pulled an empty wet food can out of the trash and brought it into the bedroom while crying and crying until I got up and gave them a half can of wet food to split among themselves. Last night, we put down an extra can of wet food before bed to keep them happy overnight and there was maybe 1/4 left when we got up this morning. So here's the question: I know Stormy's numbers aren't balanced yet because she hasn't even been on insulin for a week so should I continue to feed whatever her appetite demands until she does get regulated? For reference she's underweight and needs to GAIN weight.
 
It is actually better to transition a kitty over to wet food a little at a time. Her BG could drop very quickly just from her going to all wet food diet. You will need to monitor her blood sugar because you may need to decrease her insulin dose from the diet change alone. Otherwise, her current dose may be too much.

My Smoky is very underweight as well, he is not getting a lot of nutrition from his food. I feed him several times a day as FD kitties need to eat more to get the nutrition from their food until they are regulated. My vet said to give him as much as he wants to eat to help him get the weight back on. She also said he will regain the weight once his BG is better regulated.
 
Yes, she'll be very hungry because she can't get the energy-producing nutrients out of her food. This will imporve once her BG is better regulated. You can feed her more food. If you don't want the others to eat as much, you can try training her to eat in another room for the extra meals.

Transitioning to all wet low carb food can have a big impact on BG levels. Is Stormy on insulin? Are you testing her BG at home?
 
She's on one unit of lantus twice a day and I feed her 3 oz of wet food with each shot. Luckily both of my other cats aren't over eaters. Stormy goes around and finishes the leftovers from the others so she's probably getting closer to 5 oz per meal. I'm not testing her BG yet. We just started treatment on Thursday. We have an Alpha Track meter on the way but I want to get a Relion too for day to day testing.
 
StormysMom said:
She's on one unit of lantus twice a day and I feed her 3 oz of wet food with each shot. Luckily both of my other cats aren't over eaters. Stormy goes around and finishes the leftovers from the others so she's probably getting closer to 5 oz per meal. I'm not testing her BG yet. We just started treatment on Thursday. We have an Alpha Track meter on the way but I want to get a Relion too for day to day testing.
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Even at this low starting dose of Lantus, I'd be wary of transitioning to all low carb wet food cold turkey. You have no idea of its effect on her BG. The safest thing would be for you to go buy a ReliOn meter at Walmart, one that takes the smallest blood drop for testing, and start BG testing today. It's easier than you think and after your first few you'll be much more confident.
 
I'll be near home today during lunch. Maybe I'll go set out some dry food for peace of mind. My vet was recommending wet food only so I just assumed that dry food = bad. So much to learn!
 
StormysMom said:
I'll be near home today during lunch. Maybe I'll go set out some dry food for peace of mind. My vet was recommending wet food only so I just assumed that dry food = bad. So much to learn!
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Yes, dry food = bad but the transition has to be phased in. I strongly recommend you get that meter today. We have lots of tips to help you with testing. We also all understand the trepidation. :)
 
When Smoky was diagnosed on Sept 6, 2016 I started to home test but then I felt bad about sticking him with the lancet.
I stopped testing him from about end of Sept to end of Oct. I was then testing him once a day only or sporadically. It's a wonder I still have him with me now. When I think of those times I gave him insulin blindly without testing him first.:banghead: . :nailbiting: See Smokys 2016 spreadsheet to see what I mean.

I probably set him back quite a bit doing all of that. I wish I had started home testing him in the early days after his diagnosis. The folks on this site will help you out every step of the way. More than a few have held my hand along the way.

He was on vetsulin for a few months and didn't do well on it at all. It's great that your vet told you about all wet food diet. I agree with Kris about switching Stormy over to wet food gradually.
 
I love, love my vet. He's a brilliant guy but everything is so overwhelming that you don't even know what questions to ask until you get into it! He made it sound like testing was optional but preferred but was very happy to hear that I was willing to do it. I'll see if I can get a Relion meter after work today and start testing (or check the tracking on the alpha). Then I'll have to figure out the spreadsheet too -- which looks a bit intimidating!

I'm forever indebted to you lovely people. Hopefully one day I'll be able to pay it forward to others! :bighug:
 
Kris & Teasel said:
Even at this low starting dose of Lantus, I'd be wary of transitioning to all low carb wet food cold turkey. You have no idea of its effect on her BG. The safest thing would be for you to go buy a ReliOn meter at Walmart, one that takes the smallest blood drop for testing, and start BG testing today. It's easier than you think and after your first few you'll be much more confident.
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Does it matter which ReliOn meter you get? There seems to be prime, confirm and ultima. Confirm has the smallest sample size need per the website.
 
I use the Relion micro which uses a small sample of blood. Any of them will be fine to use. I believe the test strips for the Prime are less expensive though. The strips are what cost the most when testing.
 
StormysMom said:
Then I'll have to figure out the spreadsheet too -- which looks a bit intimidating!
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I was terrified of the spreadsheet when I first joined FDMB, lol. Trust me, it's nowhere near as intimidating as it looks! :)

Any of the Relion meters are good, the Confirm uses the smallest amount of blood, yes, and the strips run about $35 for 100. The Prime uses a larger blood sample but, if finances are an issue, the strips are cheaper.

The strips for the AlphaTrak are very expensive (about $50 for 100, if I remember correctly) and have to be purchased online, so they are not readily available if you run low and find yourself in a situation where you may need to do a lot of testing!
 
Squalliesmom said:
I was terrified of the spreadsheet when I first joined FDMB, lol. Trust me, it's nowhere near as intimidating as it looks! :)

Any of the Relion meters are good, the Confirm uses the smallest amount of blood, yes, and the strips run about $35 for 100. The Prime uses a larger blood sample but, if finances are an issue, the strips are cheaper.

The strips for the AlphaTrak are very expensive (about $50 for 100, if I remember correctly) and have to be purchased online, so they are not readily available if you run low and find yourself in a situation where you may need to do a lot of testing!
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Alphatrak are about 1.50 a test strip!! :(
 
Yep it costs me $65 for a box of 50 of them. I also got a box of Freestyle lite strips from a good friend for free. They also work in the AT2 meter but there is a slight variance when comparing them side by side with the AT2 strips while testing BG.
 
Lucky us - our alpha track arrived from adw this evening. Getting blood was crazy hard (I have the scratches to prove it!!) But we made it happen. It was 448! I have no idea when she last ate because we put dry food back out for her to free feed.
 
StormysMom said:
Does it matter which ReliOn meter you get? There seems to be prime, confirm and ultima. Confirm has the smallest sample size need per the website.
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I use a one touch ultra to test my ham's sugar... I must of watched 100 YouTube videos and I thought it'd be easy. The first time I tried I stuck the lancet straight throughhis ear and then I cried. I am lucky enough he's an awesome cat and let's me use the pen and we haven't had a problem testing since.
 
Amanda McMasters said:
I use a one touch ultra to test my ham's sugar... I must of watched 100 YouTube videos and I thought it'd be easy. The first time I tried I stuck the lancet straight throughhis ear and then I cried. I am lucky enough he's an awesome cat and let's me use the pen and we haven't had a problem testing since.
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I had no luck with the lancet pen. Did it free handed and had it on the second try. We are really lucky that Stormy is an orange tabby because I can see the vein just looking at her.
 
StormysMom said:
Lucky us - our alpha track arrived from adw this evening. Getting blood was crazy hard (I have the scratches to prove it!!) But we made it happen. It was 448! I have no idea when she last ate because we put dry food back out for her to free feed.
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If you want to free feed dry, please get young again zero carb food or evo cat and kitten in the purple bag.
 
StormysMom said:
I had no luck with the lancet pen. Did it free handed and had it on the second try. We are really lucky that Stormy is an orange tabby because I can see the vein just looking at her.
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You'll want to poke just next to the vein... Its less painful.
 

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Question, no matter how much I put down for phoebe during the night she tries to eat it all at once. :( I don't want her to puke that up. Any ideas besides auto feeder?
 
If you need me to do the spreadsheet for you, please send me a private message by clicking on "Marje and Gracie" to the left and then click on "start a conversation". I'd be glad to help.
 
Congratulations on starting to home test. I know it's scary at first, but you really aren't hurting your cat. In fact, you very well could be saving her life. High BG numbers are hard on the body and over time can cause damage to organs and contribute to diabetic ketoacidosis, but a BG that is too low can kill a cat quickly. That is why we strongly recommend that you always test before you shoot, to be sure it is safe to give insulin, and try to get at least one other test during the cycle. Unlike the short duration insulins, Lantus dosing is based on how low the insulin takes the BG during the cycle, so if you don't get some mid-cycle tests in, you don't know how well it's working.

StormysMom said:
We are really lucky that Stormy is an orange tabby because I can see the vein just looking at her.
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Our Cinco was an orange tabby, too. I loved how easy it was to see where to poke and to see the blood. When my Harvey became diabetic, it was a much bigger challenge to test him, with his brown fur tipped in black.

Here is a post with some tips to help you learn to test with ease. Some of my biggest tips are: 1) Always warm the ear first. You can fill a small sock with uncooked rice to form a ball (golf ball sized or slightly smaller) and put that in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds (depends on your microwave). It should be warm but not too warm to put against your wrist. Hold that against the kitty's ear for a few seconds to warm it up. Then, put the sock behind the ear to support it as you poke. It's okay if you go through the ear once in a while. It honestly doesn't hurt the cat. 2) If you have trouble getting the meter to the blood because kitty is moving, get some on your finger nail and test from that. 3) If kitty is very reluctant to let you test, get her used to having her ears handled by gently rubbing them between your finger and then giving her a treat (something safe for diabetics, like freeze-dried meat or plain cooked chicken). Once you start actually poking the ear, always give a treat, whether you were successful in getting blood or not. That way, kitty will associate having her ear touched with getting a treat. Some people find that their kitty will actually come running to the usual testing spot when it's time to test, in anticipation of the treat.

We kept a small, spiral notebook with our testing supplies, and as soon as we got a test, we'd write down the date, time, PMPS/AMPS/+# (this will make sense when you start using the spreadsheet)*, and the reading. Then when we had a chance, we'd use the notebook to transfer the info to the spreadsheet. But that notebook was our hard copy and we could refer to it any time, even if the power was out or the computer down. That also helps if there are two of you sharing kitty's care - you can look at the notebook and see when the last test was.

* AMPS = Morning Pre Shot test. PMPS = Evening Pre Shot test. +# = how many hours since the shot - if you shoot at 7 am, then test again at 10 am, the test was at +3.

I know this is all overwhelming, but you are in the best place to help Stormy. There is a lot of information in the stickies, so do your homework, then ask LOTS of questions. We love to help. Remember, we were all new at this once, too, and we remember what it felt like.
 
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