Oh goodness, can you remove the GA from your title? It means the cat has passed away (Guardian Angel/Gone Ahead). I was scared for a second.
With Prozinc you really don't want to give insulin more than 1 hour early. Cats do best receiving insulin every 12 hours.
A cat can technically eat at any time, however we DO like to pick up food 2 hours prior to pre-shot testing time, because we want to gauge the pre-shot test on a fasting number, not one elevated by food.
We also prefer to keep the meals in the first half of the cycle ... after nadir (when insulin activity is at its highest/BG is the lowest), feeding will "burn up" the insulin faster and it won't last the full 12 hours. On Prozinc, nadir is usually 5-8 hours after injection. If you can fill out your spreadsheet a bit, we can figure out when his nadir is, and feed accordingly.
Unregulated diabetics need at least twice as much food as they normally should have. Is Wriggley underweight, or is 13 lbs his typical weight? If he's underweight, don't restrict food. Otherwise, a 13 lb cat should consume an average of 260 calories a day (20 calories per lb). You want to allow Wriggley to have at least 520 if he wants to eat that much - more if he is underweight. FF Classic cans average around 100 calories per can so he does need more to eat. If cost is an issue (it was for me!) you can buy some cheaper food to feed too with the FF while he's unregulated (I bought 9 Lives Meaty Pate, but Friskies Pate is good too. Or you can stick with FF Classics if the cost doesn't bother you).
When Panic was unregulated, I gave her something whenever she asked for food. When she was passed her nadir, I would either give her very small bites of her regular food or give her lots of zero-carb treats (baked chicken or PureBites). I did schedule her mini-meals to be getting them at +2, +4, and +6 at minimum. Not including treats.
If you were able (depends on your schedule), could you get some specific tests in for us to fill out Wriggley's spreadsheet a little more, so we can find his onset and nadir? We use food to "steer the drop" so the insulin doesn't nosedive BG and cause bouncing. Typically with Prozinc onset (the time when insulin starts to kick in) is +2, so we offer a snack at +2.
Tests that would be nice to get:
+2, +4, +6 one day
+3, +5, +7 the next day
It wouldn't have to be exact, just something to give us an idea of what his curves look like on Prozinc.
We also recommend getting at least one "before bed" test in at night, because cats drop lower then. Do you have an autofeeder? Kitties need multiple meals throughout the night too to maintain their BG. You could set the autofeeder to dispense his food at the same times as the AM cycle.
Hope that helps!
