Free feeding

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KristenP&Sam

KristenP&Sam

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Am I correct in thinking that this is what most of you do? My vet told me to feed twice daily right before giving the insulin, but Sam has lost so much recently that I can't imagine keeping food from him when he cries for it. Since I brought him home from the hospital (Sunday afternoon), I've continued to leave food out for him. He's eating well, not large amounts in one sitting but a few bites every couple of hours. He's also got some renal function issues, which I know can cause him to lose more weight, something I'm desperate to avoid. I feed a high protein diet, primarily wet. There is dry food out, but it's never been Sam's favorite, mostly the others eat it.
 
I think a lot of the people here who successfully follow the tight-regulation regime are home during the day, and so can provide their cats with canned-food snacks.

I'm generally not home during the day, so I've gotten the PetSafe five-meal timed feeder for my cat. I have it programmed for snacks at +6 and +8 (both day and night). He doesn't quite have the hang of it and only eats some of his snacks. So it goes. I've experimented with adding an ice cube to the +8 snack to keep it cool; I don't know the ice cube makes a big difference or not. I've also experimented with adding some water to the canned food; it does keep it from drying up and sticking to the bowl. If you're leaving canned food out for a while, you may want to experiment with adding some water to it if you're having trouble with it drying up.

I've been told by board experts that the cat should be fasting for some number of hours prior to the pre-shot test: about four, maybe five. So if one is trying to have the cat to fast pre-shot, they wouldn't quite be free-feeding the cat. If you're not home and have multiple cats, some of which free-feed, I'm not sure how you'd pull that off.

The board experts here don't care for dry food at all. That said, if you feel you need to keep dry food out, I understand Evo makes some dry food that's quite low in carbs. If that's what you had out, it probably wouldn't effect your kitty's BG much if he had a snack of dry.

J.
 
Hi Kristin,

I kept wet food down for Schroeder all the time because he doesn't eat large amounts at one time. As long as you are home testing your cat's blood sugars, you will be aware of how eating impacts the insulin/BG response. Blood sugars naturally go up after eating, and then drop back down. So, if your cat ate in the hour before he/she is scheduled for insulin, their blood sugar will appear to be higher than it normally would be, and can mislead you in giving a dose that will drop the sugars too low.

I found that because my cat grazed all day in small amounts, it didn't impact his numbers too much. He is also on an all wet food diet. My other cat is thrilled to bits that he gets to eat wet food too!

Andrea.
 
I just tested Sam's BG and it was 367 which alarmed me, but I didn't realize his BG would go up after eating and he did just have a "snack" within the half hour so I guess I shouldn't freak too much. Man, this is a lot to learn. I've never felt so underwater! I really appreciate this site and have been reading through the links trying to absorb it all.
 
It *is* overwhelming. In my experience it gets a little better, although you'll always have a high-maintenance cat.
At least you are successfully able to home test! Give yourself several pats on the back for that! It took me *ages* before I was consistently successful with home BG testing.

J.
 
Until you are able to get him regulated by finding his best working dose, it is normal for him to be hungry all of the time. You can feed him often. Once his BG levels start to level off, you will probably find that he is not as hungry all of the time.

Of course as you just discovered, this means his preshot readings may be higher depending on when the last time he had food. Since you are hometesting, you will eventually learn to determine his best dose. What insulin are you using and what dose is he getting?
 
Sam is getting 2 units of Prozinc. I just tried to test his BG and failed. I poked his ear 7 or 8 times and couldn't get blood. I finally gave up. I feel like I'm a little on the verge of a meltdown emotionally. I just want to take the best possible care of him and I feel like there is so much information, I don't know where to start. At least I finally got some low-carb food since I wasn't so sure the grain-free stuff I was feeding was up to snuff.
 
My sympathies on the testing issues, and on the near-tears. I found that by the time I was finished with my first box of lancets (100 lancets, so maybe 500-600 pokes) that my cat's right ear got to the point where it was bleeding more easily. Sounds awful, but the ear gets some inflammation going, and so bleeds easier. This is a good thing: you can get blood without ending up in tears or in a wrestling match with your cat. So keep trying. You'll at least get samples some of the time, and the testing *will* get better, sooner or later.

You will also get the recommendation to warm the ear up first, either with rice in a baby sock (briefly heated in the microwave) or with a hot, damp washcloth in a plastic bag. Give yourself time to calm down, and then give it a shot. (pun intended.)

J.

KristenPainter said:
Sam is getting 2 units of Prozinc. I just tried to test his BG and failed. I poked his ear 7 or 8 times and couldn't get blood. I finally gave up. I feel like I'm a little on the verge of a meltdown emotionally. I just want to take the best possible care of him and I feel like there is so much information, I don't know where to start. At least I finally got some low-carb food since I wasn't so sure the grain-free stuff I was feeding was up to snuff.
Click to expand...
 
You know, the first two times I succeeded with the test, I used the warm washcloth in the plastic bag. The last time I didn't. I guess I know now I need to warm his ear. I'm going to try it again before his evening shot and see how it goes. Thanks again for all the feedback. This place is keeping me sane.
 
I just attempted a BG test again and after warming Sam's ear, I managed to do it! BG was 305. Not great, but better than the 367 it was earlier and I've now removed all food I don't know for certain is low carb. I have every intention of testing again right before his 9pm shot.
 
Good job getting blood! The other bit of advice that I found useful is to 'milk' the ear. If you see a tiny tiny drop, gently milk towards it and more blood usually comes out making enough for a test. Some cats prefer to have their ears rubbed rather than another poke. Oh, and when you poke, do it like you intend to draw blood - not annoying little pricks. If you go through the ear, it doesn't really matter because when you hold pressure on it for a few seconds, you can do both sides at once.
 
One of the videos I watched showed how to rub the ear like that to get more blood out and I've been doing that with good results. Last bg test was 264, then he got his insulin shot. If I'm still awake, I'm going to try to test again at 11 pm.
 
Good job Kristen. With practice it comes easy. You'll begin to get it right on the first one or two tries in no time!
 
I realize that I'm jumping into the discussion a little bit late, but I do free feed Motska as well, because she doesn't eat a lot at one time. I don't bother with a timed feeder, because I can't afford it and I seriously doubt she would conform to a specific schedule. I just mix her canned food with water until it has a texture almost like a thick applesauce. That way it doesn't dry out or go bad during the day (and she loves it with the extra water).

Also, leaving the food out for her to eat whenever it works for her allows her to eat if she starts heading toward a hypo. I'm at work all day, so I'm not there if she starts feeling crummy -- but I do know that she just instinctively eats when her BG gets low. And it's also the first thing that give me a clue as to how she's doing when I get home. If there's a little bit of food left when I come home from work -- then that's a good sign. But if the bowl is licked clean, or if she's hardly eaten anything, then I know something's not right with her. If I used a timed feeder, it would be harder for me to judge whether Motska was not feeling good, or just missed out on her window-of-opportunity with the feeder. But as always, Every Cat Is Different, so just do whatever it is that makes Sam happy & healthy!!!
 
Sam seems ravenous, so although I've taken away the dry food (might get some low carb dry eventually), I've tried to keep some low carb food (Merrick's Cowboy Cookout) available. He loves chicken breasts and thighs (organic, poached in water only, then diced with some of the cooking water added back in) and today I discovered he loves raw liver. Considering he's a little anemic, I'm hoping that could be good for him. Anyway, I'm seriously thinking about making his food following the recipe for Hydrogen's chicken stew on the Know What You Feed Your Cat site. (I think that might be Gator's recipe?)
 
Re: Free feeding (treats)

If Sam likes liver, you (he!) might be interested in the Bellyrubs freeze-dried liver dog treats. Yeah, they're for dogs, but they're just cubes of freeze-dried liver, so cats can eat them too. Junga was nuts about them for a while. It's good to have some treats on hand when one is doing ear-poking.

Bellyrubs makes other kinds of treats; make sure the ones you buy are just meat/liver.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002LS ... R0NQ2JCY8S

J.
 
Are those treats hard or soft? (I'm assuming hard.) Sam doesn't have too many teeth, so I'm not sure he could swing those. I've been using the Wellness Pure Delights jerky treats.
 
The freeze-dried liver is sort of crumbly; not very hard. You may be able to get a free sample from a fancy pet-food store; I did.
J.
 
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