How long are your meal times?

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Sophia Bullock

Sophia Bullock

Member Since 2017
Hey everyone,

I'm not sure if I'm posting in the right place but I was wondering how long you leave your kitties to eat their meals? Our cat was a dry food grazer plus a pouch of wet food at night. Since her diagnosis on Tuesday she's been having just two meals a day every 12 hours then an insulin injection once she's eaten (she is certainly not enjoying it!). Our vet advised to give her about half an hour to eat before we give her the injection so we've been leaving her with food for about 45 minutes and then taking it away. What does everyone else do? Do you let them finish the whole bowl even if that takes, say, 2 hours? I'm worried if we leave her with food for too long it doesn't really class as "a meal" but I also want her to eat as much as she can because it'll be a whole 12 hours until she eats again! Any experiences would be appreciated :)

Thanks!
Sophia and Juniper
 
Many vets recommend only two meals a day around injection time but most of us feed several meals a day. some people set up automatic feeders so the kitty has small meals around the clock.

What insulin are you using? If it's a fast acting one like Vetsulin/Caninsulin you need to have a full meal on board before giving the injection and that likely why the vet said to wait a half hour.

If you do any reading on here you know that we're big proponents of testing blood glucose at home. Did your vet discuss this with you? If you want to know more ask any question you have on this forum. :)

Pretty kitty!
 
Kris & Teasel said:
Many vets recommend only two meals a day around injection time but most of us feed several meals a day. some people set up automatic feeders so the kitty has small meals around the clock.

What insulin are you using? If it's a fast acting one like Vetsulin/Caninsulin you need to have a full meal on board before giving the injection and that likely why the vet said to wait a half hour.

If you do any reading on here you know that we're big proponents of testing blood glucose at home. Did your vet discuss this with you? If you want to know more ask any question you have on this forum. :)

Pretty kitty!
Click to expand...

Hello!

We are using one unit of ProZinc twice a day. I actually discussed home testing with my vet as I'd picked up a spare unused AlphaTrak2 from my workplace before the appointment; he was quite shocked that I had one! Currently I'm not home testing but I do plan to after her first glucose curve which will be Friday next week. I figured that would be a good time to see if she could perhaps have maybe have a few more smaller meals a day instead of just two large-ish ones. I also want to use that appointment to see whether it would be safe for me to slowly alter her food to low carb/carb-free.

Thanks for your response! Your kitty also looks like a handsome fella!
 
Hi Sophia & Juniper. As you read through more posts in different forums you'll come across a lot of rule-breakers. Those of us that do this have only done so after nothing else works. I know the frustration of getting a cat to sit at the dinner table like a child can make you pull your hair out. Stick with the program, take notes and with a little luck "the rules" will work for you as well. You may sometimes get the impression that some of us have thrown the book out the window. This is never the case. Every cat is different but basic anatomy never changes. Keep asking questions and never feel too foolish to ask for a refresher.
 
Sophia Bullock said:
Hello!

We are using one unit of ProZinc twice a day. I actually discussed home testing with my vet as I'd picked up a spare unused AlphaTrak2 from my workplace before the appointment; he was quite shocked that I had one! Currently I'm not home testing but I do plan to after her first glucose curve which will be Friday next week. I figured that would be a good time to see if she could perhaps have maybe have a few more smaller meals a day instead of just two large-ish ones. I also want to use that appointment to see whether it would be safe for me to slowly alter her food to low carb/carb-free.

Thanks for your response! Your kitty also looks like a handsome fella!
Click to expand...
ProZinc is a little slower in onset so you don't really have to get Juniper to eat a full meal and then wait 30 minutes. Your starting dose of 1 u twice a day is a good one. We recommend low carb wet food as the best diet for diabetic kitties but you're correct that the diet change has to be done slowly. Not only will you reduce the chance of tummy upset but a switch to low carb food can have a significant impact on blood glucose level.

Blood glucose testing at the vet's clinic can cause enough stress in the kitty that blood glucose levels will be artificially high. If the vet increases the dose based on those numbers the new dose might be too high. Just be aware of that.
 
Noah & me said:
Hi Sophia & Juniper. As you read through more posts in different forums you'll come across a lot of rule-breakers. Those of us that do this have only done so after nothing else works. I know the frustration of getting a cat to sit at the dinner table like a child can make you pull your hair out. Stick with the program, take notes and with a little luck "the rules" will work for you as well. You may sometimes get the impression that some of us have thrown the book out the window. This is never the case. Every cat is different but basic anatomy never changes. Keep asking questions and never feel too foolish to ask for a refresher.
Click to expand...

Thanks to you and Noah! It's going to just take some adjustment but I'm sure it'll work out in the end! :)
 
Kris & Teasel said:
ProZinc is a little slower in onset so you don't really have to get Juniper to eat a full meal and then wait 30 minutes. Your starting dose of 1 u twice a day is a good one. We recommend low carb wet food as the best diet for diabetic kitties but you're correct that the diet change has to be done slowly. Not only will you reduce the chance of tummy upset but a switch to low carb food can have a significant impact on blood glucose level.

Blood glucose testing at the vet's clinic can cause enough stress in the kitty that blood glucose levels will be artificially high. If the vet increases the dose based on those numbers the new dose might be too high. Just be aware of that.
Click to expand...

Would you recommend still taking the food away after a certain period of time even if she's not finished? She loves wet food so I'm sure it is at least one change she'll be happy about ;)
 
Sophia Bullock said:
Would you recommend still taking the food away after a certain period of time even if she's not finished? She loves wet food so I'm sure it is at least one change she'll be happy about ;)
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I'm not sure what to suggest, Sophia. My three are all on a rigid schedule where they're fed in three separate rooms at set times in the day. I can do this because I'm retired. This works really well for me because they eat different food and I've adapted them all to Teasel's feeding schedule. There's nothing given in between except for Teasel getting freeze dried meat treats when I test his blood glucose or give his injections.
 
All 7 of my cats graze all day and night. We put out 5 bowls of wet in the morning and evening and leave Young Again Zero carb and Evo Cat and Kitten out all the time.
 
My cats were accustomed to free feeding on kibble 24/7, with wet food at breakfast and dinner. The food they were getting had too many carbs in it/spiked BG readings, even the Science Diet diabetes food. So I had to take up the kibble except for certain times. Oh the ruckus!
It was a big relief for the entire household when I bought some "Young Again zero carb mature" kibble - an online purchase. Sounds like you have a different routine, what's working for us is YA 24/7 free feed, wet food after testing Java's BG, before his Prozinc shot, and as much Fancy Feast as I can get him to eat after his shot, up until 2 hrs before his next test and shot. He's elderly, that's why.
It's great that you have a meter.
 
Sophia Bullock said:
Would you recommend still taking the food away after a certain period of time even if she's not finished? She loves wet food so I'm sure it is at least one change she'll be happy about ;)
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Hi Sophia,
Maury gets (1/2 can) 2.25oz of wet food for his meals and some times he'll only eat half right away, so I just leave it for him to finish. He comes back to finish it so it might be out less than an hour? Also, since I do his Pre-shot test, he still gets his shot about 15 minutes after he has eaten. The big thing with the food is no food 2 hours before pre-shot test. I tried the 2 meals a day and I think he was going to start chewing on me if I did not feed him more :p. He gets a "lunch" now of (1/3 can) 1.83oz before his nadir (lowest number in the cycle).
 
The real key in consistency with respect to both amount of food eaten and the time it is eaten. If not consistent than BG will vary because of it.
I feed my three insulin-dependent cats, one off the juice cat and four civi's two meals a day. Each gets fed separately or semi-separately to make sure I know if each finishes their food. Each feeding takes 1-1 1/2 hours.
Not separating them would not work since some eat fast and and when finished would bully food from the slow eaters
 
My civie Dancer gobbles up her food in less than 3 minutes flat. My OTJ sugar kitty Wink on the other hand has always been a very slow eater. So, I'd often have to separate him or stand close by so the other kitties would not intimidate him away from his food dish.

My kitties get 4 meals a day, two breakfasts a few hours apart and 2 dinners a few hours apart. Well, actually in Winks case, he picks at his food so it can be many hours for him to finish his meal selections.;) I sometimes add a bit more water, 1/2 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon, to his food if it's been out for a while and looks to be drying out too much.

ECID (Every Cat Is Different). You'll find a routine that will work best for you.
 
Thanks everyone! It's great to hear different strokes for different folks but still a healthy kitty! She's not doing too bad considering but she's been waking up us with meowing, meowing in our faces, opening cupboards at 6am every morning but she doesn't get fed until 7! Think she does get peckish at night bless her...
 
Sophia Bullock said:
Thanks everyone! It's great to hear different strokes for different folks but still a healthy kitty! She's not doing too bad considering but she's been waking up us with meowing, meowing in our faces, opening cupboards at 6am every morning but she doesn't get fed until 7! Think she does get peckish at night bless her...
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So set extra out before bed or set up a timed feeder.
 
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