How Much Should Cat Eat?

[Julie and Eleanor (GA)]

Eleanor has always just nibbled at food, which was fine. But now that she's diabetic and I'm giving her insulin, I'm very concerned about her getting enough food.
I was told with Lantus, it doesn't matter if they don't eat at the time of the injection as long as they eat later.
How much later is okay? I've been free feeding, but as soon as her bg comes down even slightly she stops grazing.
How much, or rather, how little, food is okay?

 

[Lisa dvm]

I will let others chime in to address your specific questions but, in general, whenever someone asks me how much to feed a cat my answer is: Too fat? Feed less. Too thin? Feed more. Good weight? You're doin' good.

If too thin, or just right, I am a fan of free-feeding canned or homemade food. (No dry....ever....)

There is homemade food out in my house pretty much 24/7.....with A LOT being put out before I go to bed lest I have to threaten one of their furry little butts with a trip to Siberia for waking me up.

 

[lenistar]

Hi everyone,

I have a question also along these lines; I hope it's ok I post it here (if not, just let me know, and I'd be happy to re-post as a new topic).

Anyway, my cat, Moritz, was diagnosed with diabetes in March 2010. About a month ago, after getting rid of dry food and switching to higher quality canned food, he's gone from needing 3/3.5 units of Lantus to just a Touch, twice a day . His feeding schedule has been changed as well, and he's now fed 6 times a day. This is possible at the moment because I'm home quite a lot lately, but it won't be possible forever unless I can get him to use his automatic feeder. I give him 50g of food at each feeding, but he typically only eats between 30-40g (he weighs about 5.5kg, although I need to weigh him again to be sure that's still accurate). Anyway, I'm wondering if perhaps 50g x 6 would be too much, even if he would want to eat it all? He's not underweight, and although I don't think he's overweight, perhaps if he lost a bit of weight it would help him in his quest to become insulin free

Complicating matters are his eating habits: he only eats a little bit when I first set out the bowl in front of him, and then he goes away and sits somewhere else. I need to bring the bowl to him a few times before he's eaten the 30-40g. Has anyone else had a similar experience? I'm wondering if the fact that I need to bring the bowl to him means that perhaps he has some teeth/mouth pain (I'm considering getting his teeth looked at once/if it's determined that anesthesia wouldn't be too risky). If, however, he has severe dental pain, wouldn't his blood sugar levels be reading quite high, since, as I understand it, blood sugar soars as a response to pain and stress?

Sorry for the long post! I hope it's clear, and that I haven't posted it in the wrong place! Any advice and info. would be greatly appreciated

Thanks!
Elena

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

Hi Elena,

Welcome to FDMB. I would suggest you start a new thread of your own. (choose New Topic and copy your post into it.). You may get lost at the end of Julie's thread.

I don't use your insulin but it sounds like you are doing really well. You might include Lantus in your title so Lantus users can give you specific info.