Feeding Times

[Gracie'smom]

My vet instructed me to feed my cat roughly six hours after her insulin shot (and feeding.) I am having a hard time getting home from work to give her a mid day meal. I'm wondering how vital it is to give her the meal close to 6 hours. I sometimes have to give it at least a few hours early or late. She is not allowed to free feed.

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

There are people here who free feed and those who feed twice daily. Whatever works best for you and your cat. Lots of us use an automatic feeder so the cat can be fed when we are not home. I love my PetSafe 5. My cat can't break into it and I have 5 choices of feeding times.

 

[Larry and Kitties]

All you really need to do is to feed consistently day to day

 

[BJM]

Some of the Lantus folks time the feeding of mini-meals so that some food is going in just before the Lantus effects begin to peak around +5 to +7 hours after the shot.

They might feed some at shot time, then at +3 and +5

 

[Thebudster77]

My vet told me to ensure that Jack was fed before I gave the shot.

Based upon his weight it was 1/2 can wet twice a day. NO free feeding either.

I do it at 6 AM and 6PM. I have recently broken that meal down into 2 portions (2/3 & 1/3) the 1/3 fed around 3 hours after the first. This is only to reduce the load on the pancreas. I happen to work from home so this is not a problem.

The idea is to get food into him before/as you give the insulin so that with the digestion of the food and when the insulin starts to act (insulin action curve), they balance out.
Kevin

 

[Gracie'smom]

I do the meals with the insulin my problem is that I was told it's important to six a meal six hours after the insulin, I guess no one here does that? Maybe this is specific to prozinc? My cat can't really have dry food so being available to give wet food at a certain time is the challenge.

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

Food is not a big issue with a mild insulin like ProZinc. You should hold food for the two hours before amps and pmps so you have an number not influenced by good, otherwise it's your and your cat's preference. Some people feed small frequent meals; others give a third meal at +6; others feed only two meals a day. You could look into a feeder which will let you set the times you want to feed and close up 2 hours before the shot times. Lots of people just put wet food in a feeder; some freeze the food and let it thaw.