How do you meal feed?

[liz king]

46 years of cat ownership, and all I’ve ever done is free feed dry food. My boy Hugo was diagnosed diabetic a week ago, and this site has taught me I need to transition to meal feed fancy feast classic. How do I do it? How many times a day? And how much food? Hugo is 15 lbs.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi Liz and welcome to you and Hugo.
Before you transition to low carb wet food I would start testing the blood glucose levels. When you swap to low carb food the BGs can drop more than 100 points and you need to be testing to ensure you keep Hugo safe.
Here is a link to how to home testing. It is not hard and Hugo won’t hate you. I would buy a human glucose meter as they are much cheaper to run than the pet meters and out dosing methods are based on the human meter..b
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

What insulin are you giving and what dose?
The type of insulin can make a difference as you when you need to feed before giving the shot.

Most of us feed several times during the day and night. For example feed a good meal before the shot then divide the rest of the days allocation of food into another couple of snacks that you can give at say +3 and +5. Then do the same for the pm cycle.
Approximately 20 calories /lb healthy body weight /day
Or 13.6 x optimal body weight in lbs +70 = calories per day.
Keep in mind that unregulated diabetic cats will be hungry because they are unable to utilise all the nutrients in the food so they may require more food until the BG numbers come down.

Here is another useful link for new members
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/

 

[jt and trouble (GA)]

WELCOME TO FDMB!
SO GLAD you found us! We are a community of dedicated caregivers with all kinds of information and tips on navigating this disease called diabetes. Our aim is to make your experience here fruitful and educational and maybe a little bit fun. As you know its a daunting thing learning your kitty has a disease. Right here:
"Before you transition to low carb wet food I would start testing the blood glucose levels" Is some of the most important info for you right now. Thank you Bron!
Now how do you do that...Well? My Trouble only ate kibble the first half of his existence.
(And a good part of the kibble was DOG FOOD)
He was a mess, when he came to his new forever home. What I did was mix his kibble with can food. First half the bowl was dry then every day added less and less dry. Finally Trouble decided this was ok. I HAVE to add... Poor kitty would sit and stare at the blank space where his kibble bowl use to sit. I felt like a monster BUT, with the dry removed, Troubles Blood Glucose numbers dropped by a hundred points! So the dry has to be removed and more importantly SLOWLY . Monitoring is the key to this whole dance. And believe me it IS a dance.
Bron has already given excellent info and advice. Buckle up because this is just the beginning. and again
WELCOME to the best darn site to help you help Hugo
jeanne

 

[liz king]

Thanks for the replies! Hugo is on novolin 5 units 2x a day. He’s at 550 before dosing, with a nadir of 450. So he is no where near regulated. One good thing is that he absolutely LOVES the fancy feast!!! I’ve been giving him 1 can 3x a day, and he’d happily eat more. Urine output is way up.

 

[jt and trouble (GA)]

Well something obviously isnt working here.

For us to be able to help you I suggest you set up a spreadsheet and signature. You can find that info here:
Suggestions, Tech Support & Testing Area

The signature is so that at a glance our experts wont have to ask OR wait for a reply as to, "Insulin type, dosage, and food" . Its also a chance to let us know a little more about you like name and "general? location and kitties name."
Look at some of the signatures of others on this site. Its the light grey printing under each post. Mine is not suitable, because I no longer have a diabetic cat.
The spread sheet is an excellent way to track "trends" the insulin is taking Hugo. It is a great way for our experts to give better and more accurate advice.
Are you open to either of these? If you are having problems we have a couple of VERY skilled people here who can help you set this all up...ARE YA IN?

 

[JanetNJ]

Thanks for the replies! Hugo is on novolin 5 units 2x a day. He’s at 550 before dosing, with a nadir of 450. So he is no where near regulated. One good thing is that he absolutely LOVES the fancy feast!!! I’ve been giving him 1 can 3x a day, and he’d happily eat more. Urine output is way up.

That dose is a bit scary. Actually very very scary for two reasons. First the recommended starting dose is 1 unit twice a day, then raising by no more than 0.5 units at a time of the dose is not enough. Most cats never need more than 2-3 units... It's rare that a cat needs 5 units. Second Novolin is a short acting insulin with a steep drop. I'm extremely concerned your cat is going to go much much too low! The dry food was keeping his numbers high, but I'm afraid now that he's on low carb he's going to have trouble. I'm so glad to hear you are testing at home. Do you have some honey or syrup and gravy food in case he goes hypo?

 

[JanetNJ]

To answer your original question I feed early in the morning, a little in the afternoon, dinner, and before bed.

15x 20 is 300 calories... So that's about 3.5 cans of ff to maintain 15 lbs. Unregulated diabetics often need more food because their bodies can not properly utilize the nutrients. So he may need 4-5 cans until the numbers come down. So I say if he's hungry, feed him.