How much food to give and when?

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meand4

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Hi there,

Thanks to everyone who helped out with my thread last night "My Cat is Coming out of Hypoglycemia".

This morning I tested him at 8am. His BG was 497 or 27.6. I fed him 1/3c of the PC Finicky Cat Turkey. I gave him 0.5 units of Lantus at about 8:30am.

Now my concern is with his food. How much and when? I was told to feed him 260 calories per day over 2 meals at 8a and 8p (a total of 1c of food per day). He couldnt eat that much in one sitting so I took it from 1/2c per meal to 1/3cup. The 12 hours in between was too long for him and he was bugging me for food throughout the day but I did not feed him. He then dropped and started to show HYPO symptoms - hence my thread last night.

I noted that someone said last night to feed him in the first 6 hours of the 12 hour cycle. Is is better to do 1/3c at breakfast and then a 1/4c snack after 4 hours and then wait until the 12 hour mark to give the 1/3c dinner OR give him the 1/3c and then let him graze on another 1/4c until 4 hours after AM insulin shot and then take food away until 12 hour dosage time?

Your advice is very much appreciated.
 
Up to you and your kitty. Lots of us free feed between shots - you can freeze the canned food (I use a silicone muffin pan - after freezing,they slide right out) or just leave it out for grazing or buy a timed feeder. (We love our PetSafe5) The important part is to pick it up after 2 hours before the test, so you are testing a number not influenced by food.

As far as amount, it really varies. It partly depends on the size of your cat at normal weight, the activity level. Unregulated cats are literally starving; their bodies are not able to process the food well. Oliver was a large Maine Coon (16 pounds at diagnosis); we fed him 3 of the little cans of Fancy Feast daily - spread out over the day. Once regulated, we cut it back to 2 - 2.5 cans daily. On the wet lo carb, he lost 3 pounds and ended up with a much healthier weight.
 
My guy used to be overweight at 21lbs. He had a diabetes scare about a year and a half ago that we were able to ward off with the switch to wet food only. He then got Fatty Liver about 3 months after and was very sick for about 2 months. He then recovered and was fine on all accounts. I kept him on wet food until July of last year. When I made my stupid mistake and let him start eating dry food again after we moved in with my boyfriend and his cat that ate dry. I thought at the time I was doing the right thing...now I know it was a mistake. Lesson learned.

He was very happy and playing a lot with his new friend. He was losing weight - from what I thought was exercise. He is now down to 11lbs. The vet said this is from the diabetes. I thought they wanted him to lose weight but I guess it was too much. So now, I need to keep his weight stable and get this BG under control.


Right now Im trying this:

8am
TEST
Feed
Inject
Graze until 12 noon.

then

7:30pm
TEST
Feed
Inject


ETA: I also have 3 more cats and the feeding is all wonky for them as well. I fear that one is not getting enough food b/c of the long waits in between so I think the 4 hours grazing period may be better. Im so confused.
 
Would an option be to feed them at noon if there is no food left after grazing? If you are not home, then with the feeder? Or by noon, the frozen food would have thawed and be available in the afternoon? There is no right or wrong answer - it's whatever works for you and your cats. But there is really no downside to frequent small meals as long as he doesn't eat for 2 hours before the test.

Changing from wet to dry can really mean a lowering of bg levels. For Oliver, it was 100 points overnight. So be doing some diligent testing during this transition period. Wet lo carb can make a huge difference.
 
Sue and Oliver said:
Would an option be to feed them at noon if there is no food left after grazing? If you are not home, then with the feeder? Or by noon, the frozen food would have thawed and be available in the afternoon? There is no right or wrong answer - it's whatever works for you and your cats. But there is really no downside to frequent small meals as long as he doesn't eat for 2 hours before the test.

Changing from wet to dry can really mean a lowering of bg levels. For Oliver, it was 100 points overnight. So be doing some diligent testing during this transition period. Wet lo carb can make a huge difference.
Click to expand...

I am feeding him wet lo carb now. I work from home and and here a lot of the time...but sometimes, obviously, I cant be. Good to know that as long as he doesnt have any food 2 hours before testing.

Thanks again for all the great advice.
 
So, I took my little guys blood again 6.5 hours after the 0.5unit dose of Lantus and after letting him graze on food until 3 hours before testing. His BG was 414 or 23.

After, giving him the sugar last night and then the low dose this morning...how long should it take for the insulin to bring his numbers down? Would it have happened already?

All help/advice is appreciated.
 
If you would set up a spreadsheet, it would be much easier to everyone to see your history, doses and numbers at a glance. We have a world template spreadsheet that will convert the numbers. Setting up a spreadsheet Be sure to pick the world version. If you need help, just ask.

Once you have your spreadsheet up, it would be a good idea to post over on the Lantus support group. They all use your insulin and can help with dose questions.
Lantus forum Be sure to read the stickies on the top of the page. They explain how Lantus works in cats.
 
Oh shoot. We have been having trouble with the template. Any chance you use a Mac? PCs seem to be able to access it.

I know Tech is working on it but I guess it isn't back up yet.
 
I think Cyn and Randi have it fixed. It worked for me for the first time in several days. When you choose the template on the Tech support thread, you get the template from google. Then click on the picture of the template. It does take at least a minute or two to come up. When it comes completely up, then click on Choose the Template. It will be blank for another minute or two, but it eventually came up for me.

Hope it works for you!
 
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