Food and Diet

[Hosanna]

I've heard some of you say your cat eats 6 ounces canned food four times a day.
How do you manage this? Martha is always hungry ( except in the mornings). She needs to lose some weight, weighs 13-1/2 pounds. It's hard to keep track of how much she eats because she and Morelli are always stealing each others food.
Can you help me get Martha on an eating plan that will help her DM? I recently got her off all dry food and had expected better results with ber BGs by now.
Thanks!

 

[Dyana]

I think each cat is different. My cat is about 13 1/4 pounds and eats about 1 and 1/2 to 2 cans of 3oz Fancy Feast a day.
Maybe a little more. I try to feed three 1/4 can FF meals in the morning and three in the evening. My 11 pound female non diabetic gets the same thing. I do leave out frozen FF and some Friskies in the automatic feeder when I'm at work, and sometimes it's eaten, sometimes it's not, and sometimes only some is eaten. I have two cats, so I can't tell.

I'm sure you've already been told this, but Lantus is a depot insulin, and works best with consistant dosing.

 

[Hosanna]

Thanks for your reply. Incidentally, what do you mean when you say: I occasionally use R to bring him down.....??
I was told that DM cats had to eat every 3-4 hours. So I get up sometimes twice during the night to feed Martha and, of course, Morelli wants to eat, too, so that's what they do. I wish I could leave some frozen out but Morelli would eat it all.
Have you been told your cat is overweight at 13 1/4 pounds?

 

[Dyana]

He used to be 17 pounds and looked like a round panda bear. Now he looks a lot better.
He is a big boy though. I mean, I look at the cat furniture and beds and think, my cat will never fit on or in that.


R is Regular Insulin (what the vets use to get a kitty in DKA down fast), it's not something to be used without guidance from someone experienced with it. It is harsh and fast acting, and dangerous in the wrong the hands.

 

[Hosanna]

Ho kay.....so it's not something I want to mess around with. But now, what is DKA? (Sorry I'm so dumb)
Martha used to weigh 17 pounds. She's just a dainty lady cat, though. Now Morelli, he's my big boy. He weighs in at 12 1/2 but it's muscle.
So you don't feed your diabetic cat during the night? What's this about every 3-4 hours, have you heard this?

 

[Dyana]

13 1/2 pounds is a lot for a dainty female kitty.

I usually feed at PMPS, and feed again at about +1 or +2, and then feed again when I get up and test at around +5, or sometimes as late as +7. He is on Levemir which is a lot like Lantus in that it is a long lasting depot type of insulin, but the nadir (the point where he has the lowest numbers) is a couple hours later than with Lantus. Lantus usually gives your cat her lowest numbers around +5 or +6 and Levemir gives my cat his lowest numbers around +8 or so. You want to find out what the lowest numbers are of your cat's cycle, so as to know how well the insulin is working.

DKA is a life threatening condition usually caused by not enough insulin plus not enough food plus infection. The infection isn't always known. They never did fine one in my cat when he had it. But it is very serious, and he was in critical condition when I took him to the hospital. He had to stay there for 8 1/2 days. And, he had to come home with a feeding tube, because he wouldn't eat while at the hospital, and cats have to eat, they can't fast long at all.

 

[Dyana]

I think eating consistantly every 3 to 4 hours is probably easiest on the pancreas. Just like being consistant in your dosing will help the insulin to best do it's job.

 

[ericbakes]

Hosanna,

I use to have the same problem as you describe, so I put my cats on strict feeding schedules. Never in my life would I have believed that my cats could go 12 hours without food. Now, it's just a matter of course.

Every morning, I wake up and weigh out their food. Melville gets 100g, Baxter gets 85g, and Choppy gets 75g. I put each bowl in a different room. I don't let the cats out until they're finished (which doesn't take long, because they're HONGRAY), and they don't get another bite to eat until supper time (occasionally, Choppy won't finish her food -- she likes to pick. So, I put hers in the fridge and let her finish it a bit later). I have found that this is the only way of guaranteeing each cat gets the appropriate amount of food. It's also the easiest way for me to manage Melville's diabetes.

Once you get into a routine, you can slowly cut back on the amount you're feeding (weighing as you go, so she doesn't lose weight too quickly). This could be a process that takes many months. In fact, I'm 6 months in for Baxter, and he's barely budged. I could probably be more aggressive, but I don't want to overdo it.

 

[rhiannon and shadow (GA)]

Hi Hosanna,

I'm feeding my cat at least 4 times per day. She gets 1/3 of can ( small 3 oz can) at shot times mixed with 3 chopped up shrimp.
( the shrimp has to be there for her to be still and let me shoot)
And she gets her next portion (1/3 can) around +4 or +5 depending on if I can stall or not. If I get in the shower, she thinks it's time to eat even if it's only been 1 hr since shot time.... :roll:
And then during the day, she gets another 1/3 right around that +6 or +7 so that we can have a no food space between that +7 and her pm shot.
She does get her freeze dried treat each test time.

At night we do the same. feed and shoot at same time. then wait until +4 or +5 and eat again. And I go to bed with her eating.
I was getting up in the night to give a small meal until I re-arranged our shot time ( now 5:45 am) so she gets that +5 at 11 or 11:30 pm
and if she wakes me at 4 am... I give her about 6 freeze dried turkey lumps ( size of the tip of my finger) to satisfy her and stall
another hour or two.

Smaller meals more often are better for them if you can manage to do so. Just like human diabetics, it keeps there bg levels more even.


so to make it clearer
am shot time - 1/3 to 1/2 can food
+4 or +5 - 1/3 can
+6 or +7 - 1/4 - 1/3 can
pm shot time - 1/3 - 1/2 can
+5 - 1/2 can and bed
+9 or 10 - a bite or two if she asks

you can see her numbers on my ss.