How long after eating can you still give insulin?

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J

Jasper Blue and Jay

Member Since 2019
Sorry I know I've probably read the answer before a bunch of times but it's so much info to remember...


We are trying to find the right schedule that work/sleep/health allow...


Once you give them food , especially in the AM when it's been a while since they've eaten...


How long do you have to give them insulin after they eat?

In other words... when they wake me up howling for food like they've not eaten in a year...

but it's still a few hours before he can have insulin...

Say he will get insulin at 9am... what is the earliest I could feed him his first meal of the day?

Actually I guess I could just give him a smidge of food once I get his bg test in... and then just make sure he eats a lot more before the insulin but... still wondering for future reference. :)
 
I would say embrace the howl, but I know ECID. When we're taking too long to get up on the weekends, our guys get in bed, get snuggly, and very screechy. I find it really endearing but I know some cats go off the rails for food! Including ours when we do get out of bed.

Not sure I have the answer as far as timing. We dose roughly around 8, and that's about the earliest they could ever hope to get me out of bed for anything on the weekend!
 
I don't know the answer to this (sorry about that). But I've also wondered for the same reason. My 5 cats are pretty sure they're all going to starve to death every single morning. (It's one thing I miss about removing dry food completely, along with the expense of canned.) Some mornings, such as those where my work day begins early, I just have to let them complain a little before they're fed. :(
And once Jack's tested and fed, I don't immediately shoot him as I allow him time to eat and clean himself a little first. That's how he's most tolerant. If I shoot him while he's eating, he walks away with the syringe sticking out of him. If I try too soon afterwards, he'll growl. I'm not afraid of the growl, but I respect that he wants me to wait until he's done "bathing." He's a weird little creature of habit. My daughter and I agree that if he were human, he'd have OCD. Once he's done, or nearly done, I give him his shot and he's OK with it. So I've wondered how long I can safely go before giving him shot, post meal.
 
Daddy Jack's Mommy said:
I don't know the answer to this (sorry about that). But I've also wondered for the same reason. My 5 cats are pretty sure they're all going to starve to death every single morning. (It's one thing I miss about removing dry food completely, along with the expense of canned.) Some mornings, such as those where my work day begins early, I just have to let them complain a little before they're fed. :(
And once Jack's tested and fed, I don't immediately shoot him as I allow him time to eat and clean himself a little first. That's how he's most tolerant. If I shoot him while he's eating, he walks away with the syringe sticking out of him. If I try too soon afterwards, he'll growl. I'm not afraid of the growl, but I respect that he wants me to wait until he's done "bathing." He's a weird little creature of habit. My daughter and I agree that if he were human, he'd have OCD. Once he's done, or nearly done, I give him his shot and he's OK with it. So I've wondered how long I can safely go before giving him shot, post meal.
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" if he were human, he'd have OCD." lol! That's cute though, at least you know how he operates. When our guys were little and unpredictable it was nervewracking lol

Luckily Jazzy lets us give him insulin right while he's eating and barely seems to notice if it's early enough in the meal lol This morning it was after he'd started to lose a bit of interest and he was more interested in what I was doing but we "reconstituted" his scraps with a bit of water and made it look fresh lol and he went back to eating.
 
Jblue said:
" if he were human, he'd have OCD." lol! That's cute though, at least you know how he operates. When our guys were little and unpredictable it was nervewracking lol
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He really does have his little routines, and he's a little out of sorts if his routines are disturbed. He's comical that way.

Jblue said:
he was more interested in what I was doing
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Jazzy sounds like a nosy, curious little guy! I love that about cats. They have their little cat noses in everyone's business!
 
Daddy Jack's Mommy said:
If I try too soon afterwards, he'll growl. I'm not afraid of the growl, but I respect that he wants me to wait until he's done "bathing." He's a weird little creature of habit. My daughter and I agree that if he were human, he'd have OCD. Once he's done, or nearly done, I give him his shot and he's OK with it.
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To be fair I would growl if someone poked me while I'm bathing, or eating, or just in general poking me throughout the day. :p honestly, thesecats are so patient with us! I just had to wake Gato up to move him to his testing spot and felt so bad! But with a treat and some pets he's still happy.

I'm so thankful my guy is so food motivated. I can stick him while he's eating and he hardly notices.
 
MamaMug said:
To be fair I would growl if someone poked me while I'm bathing, or eating, or just in general poking me throughout the day. :p honestly, thesecats are so patient with us! I just had to wake Gato up to move him to his testing spot and felt so bad! But with a treat and some pets he's still happy.

I'm so thankful my guy is so food motivated. I can stick him while he's eating and he hardly notices.
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Seriously, they're amazingly forgiving aren't they!? lol
 
Jblue said:
Ha, Jazzy is Jasper... they both have a million nicknames lmao...

Jasper 's brother is Bailey. They're both great guys , littermates but totally opposite personalities lol
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Our cats have their silly little nick names too, but most of them are ridiculous! For instance... Wally (who passed right before Jack was diagnosed) was often called Wally Schmally, or Wal Shmal for short. So our alternative names aren't nearly as creative as yours. However, we have a calico who was originally named Devon Daisy, and we've always called her Dede.
 
Daddy Jack's Mommy said:
Our cats have their silly little nick names too, but most of them are ridiculous! For instance... Wally (who passed right before Jack was diagnosed) was often called Wally Schmally, or Wal Shmal for short. So our alternative names aren't nearly as creative as yours. However, we have a calico who was originally named Devon Daisy, and we've always called her Dede.
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aw those are cute names!
 
I have an auto feeder set up to give my kitties a small meal every 4 hours. So Spot eats at 4:30 then test/feed/shoot at 8:30. The guideline for newbies is no food 2 hours before the shot time so you can be sure the preshot number is not food influenced.
 
Did you mean how long after eating should you test? Eat, wait, test, shoot.
I had a Jasper, the absolute softest fur ever and not one knot in 15 years. Like a shampoo commercial!
 
Noah & me (GA) said:
Did you mean how long after eating should you test? Eat, wait, test, shoot.
I had a Jasper, the absolute softest fur ever and not one knot in 15 years. Like a shampoo commercial!
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No I mean how long after they eat is it still safe to give them insulin.

Like ... if I wake up and they haven't eaten for like 5-6 hours... and he's begging for food...I test him for his AMPS number...but it's still early for his actual insulin shot...

How long can I wait after he finishes eating his breakfast before giving the insulin?
 
It's the test that has to wait for 2 hours after food. For me it was just easier to shoot right after the test.
So... "How long can I wait after he finishes eating his breakfast before giving the insulin?" He eats, you wait two hours, test and then give the insulin. I think I'm missing something, what's keeping you from giving insulin right after the test?
 
Noah & me (GA) said:
It's the test that has to wait for 2 hours after food. For me it was just easier to shoot right after the test.
So... "How long can I wait after he finishes eating his breakfast before giving the insulin?" He eats, you wait two hours, test and then give the insulin. I think I'm missing something, what's keeping you from giving insulin right after the test?
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lol sorry... if he is due to get insulin at 9am... and he is begging for food at 7:30am... and it takes him a while to eat... that doesn't give me enough time...
 
So it’s not a matter of being safe to give insulin 1.5 hours after eating. It’s a matter of you being sure his preshot number is safe to shoot. If he’s already high enough an hour and a half before shot time, then it’s a fair bet he’d be high enough at shot time. The problem would be if he was still too low at 7:30 for you to be sure his number is safe to shoot. If that was the case, I would not feed an hour and a half early, but wait to see where his number is at 9am.
 
SpotsMom said:
So it’s not a matter of being safe to give insulin 1.5 hours after eating. It’s a matter of you being sure his preshot number is safe to shoot. If he’s already high enough an hour and a half before shot time, then it’s a fair bet he’d be high enough at shot time. The problem would be if he was still too low at 7:30 for you to be sure his number is safe to shoot. If that was the case, I would not feed an hour and a half early, but wait to see where his number is at 9am.
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Right, makes sense.
 
If he is starving when you first get up, why don't you test and feed him and give the insulin then? (ie change his dose times permanently to the earlier time when he is hungry? Would that work? Would it work at the other end of the day when the PMPS is due?
It is best to test, feed and shoot within a short period of time, providing your cat will eat. And stick to giving the insulin each 12 hours.
 
You might hear one day about being in a rush and testing immediately after the last bite. The idea is the food has not changed his metabolism or blood sugar yet so it's kind of okay. "Kind of okay" is not very reassuring.
 
Noah & me (GA) said:
You might hear one day about being in a rush and testing immediately after the last bite. The idea is the food has not changed his metabolism or blood sugar yet so it's kind of okay. "Kind of okay" is not very reassuring.
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I’ve done this several times... usually because in the fog of morning I forget to test first. Definitely not ideal... doh!!
 
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