For BG curve-how do I arranage feeding?

[barbp]

Hi-

I have been attempting to get curve to see nadir-but I am confused as to eating schedule-

Currently giving lantus at 9 am and 9 pm.
the nadir should be 4-6 hours after 9 shot? 1pm through 3 pm? Have not tried for 1am -3 am
However I wonder about the effect of food on the curve-

When I get up 6am to 7am, I make sure there is no food around anywhere for her to get-think I read somewhere she should not eat 2 hours prior to lantus shot? Plus I want her hungry to eat after shot.

After AM shot I offer 1 can FF. She eats and if she finishes it all, I give her 1/2-1 can -sometimes she leave some and I think the other cats eat that.

I am currently in the habit of feeding her another FF can + at 2pm but that is in the middle of this nadir period so that will affect her readings? For example today I got a reading at +4 455 and fed her 1 can FF, then at +6 it was 553 (she also ate another can after this).

Then I make sure there is no food from 7 pm on to the night test and shot and then she get another can, I try to test +3 and then leave a can for the night.

 

[Deb & Wink]

When you are doing any BG testing, we expect there to be some food influence in all those tests after you give the insulin shot. It's only the pre-shot test where we like to see no food influence if possible.

When you are running a testing curve, feed as you normally would. We want to see what is happening with the normal schedule you use. We'll look for patterns on your SS and maybe help you to decide to make some changes, but for now, hold that steady course.

Most cats get around a 30-50 point increase in the BG reading after feeding a very low carb food like the Fancy Feast you said you were feeding. ECID, Every Cat is Different so you can test to see how much of a 'food spike' your cat gets from the food.

Yes, 2 hours is the recommended time for no food before those pre-shot tests if you can manage it. That is so that if your cats BG levels are near the shoot/no shoot threshold, you can wait a bit and retest in 15 minutes or so to see if the BG is rising and it would be safe to give the full dose of insulin.

If you run into this type of situation, close to the shoot/no shoot safety threshold, you want to hold the food, wait about 15-20 minutes and retest. If the number is rising, you should be ok to give the full dose. If the retest is dropping, you may want to wait and repeat test again. You can delay as long as your schedule allows you to. Alternatives are to give a reduced dose, like half the normal dose or to skip the shot entirely. You might want to add some notes on when you are feeding her and how much. The Remarks column on your SS is a good spot to do this.