Feeding schedule question from new member

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fourcatmom

fourcatmom

Member Since 2018
Hi all - I posted this on the newbie forum but am posting here for additional guidance. We just found out last week that our 8 year old female DSH Sophie is diabetic. We have had a diabetic kitty in the past, and our son is type 1 diabetic (22 years old now, diagnosed at 9) so this is not a new thing for us. However, I have questions about the other 3 cats in our household with regard to the feeding schedule and insulin dosing (previous diabetic cat situation we fed 2 meals a day in conjunction with 12-hour shot schedule - all cats at that time - different batch as it was 12 years ago - were already on a 12-hour schedule).

We have 4 cats in the house now on a 3-meal-a-day feeding schedule (6 am, 2:30 pm, 11 pm). Obviously need to go to a 12-hour schedule to accommodate Sophie's injections, but I'm struggling with whether to keep the other 3 on a 3-meal-a-day schedule and feed Sophie separately (which will be a big challenge) or switch everyone to a 2-meal-a-day schedule (which will be a chore since they complain about starving to death at least an hour before their meals). We don't free-feed - they get their food in their own bowl and eat it and when it's gone, it's gone, so there's no dry food lying around at any time that Sophie can get into.

Does anyone have any suggestions on adjusting the feeding schedule of my other 3 cats vs. feeding Sophie separately? If I keep the same schedule for feeding for all, when would I dose Sophie? Should I dose her at 6 am with a meal, then feed at 2:30 as usual, then dose her again at 6 pm and feed her more? Or should I feed her separately? Vet didn't have much guidance for me here - she said to switch all to a 12-hour twice a day feeding schedule, but if I do that, the other 3 will be pestering me at 4 am for breakfast and going wild at 4 pm waiting for a 6 pm feeding. Wondering if I should stick with the schedule but give Sophie a light meal at 2:30, then a bigger meal at 6 when I dose her second dose. Thoughts and help? Thanks all!
 
I feed all my cats multiple times a day with out any problem actually it helps with one of my cyvies (non diabetic) since she has some gastritis issues so several meals through the day helps us avoid nausea and vomit
 
Amanda and a Loudogg said:
I also feed my buddy Lou multiple times a day instead of only every 12 hours. I know some people separate their diabetic from the herd, but I put my non-diabetic on the exact same feeding schedule as Lou. If he eats, she eats, even if it's just snacks.
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Thanks for the info! Do you feed a larger meal with injections and a smaller snack for the other two meals? As I mentioned in my original post, we are on a 6 am, 2:30 pm, 11 pm feeding schedule right now - based on what you've said, would you suggest something like the following:

6 am - test and feed all, inject Sophie
2:30 pm - feed all, Sophie gets low carb snack
6 pm - test and feed Sophie a snack, inject Sophie
11 pm - feed all, Sophie gets a snack

Thanks!
 
fourcatmom said:
Thanks for the info! Do you feed a larger meal with injections and a smaller snack for the other two meals? As I mentioned in my original post, we are on a 6 am, 2:30 pm, 11 pm feeding schedule right now - based on what you've said, would you suggest something like the following:

6 am - test and feed all, inject Sophie
2:30 pm - feed all, Sophie gets low carb snack
6 pm - test and feed Sophie a snack, inject Sophie
11 pm - feed all, Sophie gets a snack

Thanks!
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I think that would work out just fine. Is the 6pm feeding is a feed all? Honestly though, you can make your schedule to fit what works best for you. I personally feed more at shot times and smaller portions the other times, but honestly it's just a holdover from when Lou was on Vetsulin, which is a quicker-acting insulin. So I would start with that and see how Sophie and the others handle it. If it seems like she needs a bit more food or another feeding, then you can work in another meal/meals as needed. :)

PS- I love the name Sophie... Crazily enough, my ma has a girl name Sophie (or Princess Sophia), who was pure white when she was born, but then developed some grey on her head and the back of her neck. She looks quite a lot like your Sophie actually! Talk about a small world! :cat:
 
Amanda and a Loudogg said:
I think that would work out just fine. Is the 6pm feeding is a feed all? Honestly though, you can make your schedule to fit what works best for you. I personally feed more at shot times and smaller portions the other times, but honestly it's just a holdover from when Lou was on Vetsulin, which is a quicker-acting insulin. So I would start with that and see how Sophie and the others handle it. If it seems like she needs a bit more food or another feeding, then you can work in another meal/meals as needed. :)

PS- I love the name Sophie... Crazily enough, my ma has a girl name Sophie (or Princess Sophia), who was pure white when she was born, but then developed some grey on her head and the back of her neck. She looks quite a lot like your Sophie actually! Talk about a small world! :cat:
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Amanda - thanks for the input. The 6 pm feeding would be a feeding for Sophie and probably a snack for the other 3 because when one eats, they all act like they are being deprived and are starving to death. Sometimes when someone scarfs and barfs, I go back and give them a bit of dry food to tide them over till the next meal, but I really get the sad eyes from everyone else when I do that!

We tested and gave our first injection this morning at 6:15 am - glucose was 355 (which was lower than the vet check last week) and she didn't even feel the needle (testing was more of an issue but she was good). Vet said to give 2 units, but after reading this forum, I went with 1.5 (split the difference between the vet and the opinions here) and plan to check her at noon to see where we are. Watching her closely this morning.

Sophie was born all white with those two little gray spots on her head - looks like eyebrows to us. She has one blue eye and one green eye, too. She's 8 years old now - pic is a few years old. She was almost a "Lucy" but she acted like a princess so we went with Sophie. We had just read the Dan Brown book "DaVinci Code" and there was a character in that book named Sophie who ended up being very important, so that's where our "Sophie" came from!
 
Beck and Grandpa said:
I made a huge mistake by following the vet's guidance of only feeding two meals a day.
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I also made a big mistake following the vet's recommendation to feed only two meals a day. Never again! All that accomplished was to get a very thin, very very unhappy, non-regulated diabetic cat.

Like many here, I feed main meals 4 times a day and then free feed throughout the day except to pick up the food 2 hours before the morning shot and two hours before the evening shot.
 
FurBabiesMama said:
I feed the same amount at each of the 4 meals. The meals are at 6am/pm and 12am/pm. Shot times are 6am/pm.
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My schedule is very much like @FurBabiesMama. It helps me to feed the other cats in a different room from my diabetic cat, Pretty Girl. None of them are crazy about eating in a different room rather than all together but they do it. And it is so much better for my cat with diabetes.
 
Again, many thanks to all of you! We started insulin for Sophie today. Vet recommended 2 units but I erred on the side of caution based on this group and did the following - note that her glucose at the vet last Thursday was 415.

6:15 am - glucose 355 (last meal was 11 pm last night); fed Friskies canned food (1/4 can) and dosed 1.5 units Prozinc
12:15 pm - glucose 221, fed Friskies canned food (1/4 can)
6:15 pm - glucose 237, fed Fancy Feast 1/2 a can, dosed 1 unit Prozinc (again erring on the side of caution as I thought 237 was kind of low and don't want her to go hypo this evening.

The other three ate when she ate in order to keep the peace.

I plan to feed her again with them around 11:30 pm (unless I can stay up later which will be difficult tonight) and check her glucose then. I'll report back here again if that's okay.

(BTW - @JeanW - my mother-in-law had a cat named Pretty Girl, too! She was a calico and we got two of our first cats as a married couple out of her first litter. That was many moons ago, though.)
 
JeanW said:
It helps me to feed the other cats in a different room from my diabetic cat, Pretty Girl. None of them are crazy about eating in a different room rather than all together but they do it. And it is so much better for my cat with diabetes.
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I feed my girls the same food, so they eat in the same room and have been known to swap bowls when the mood hits them. :)
 
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