How often to feed diabetic cat?

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

Shakara9

Member Since 2016
Hi,

I am new to this board. My cat, The Dread Pirate Roberts (Bobbers for short!) was diagnosed several years ago. On poor advice for a vet, I stupidly continued to feed dry food up until a couple weeks ago. He was getting 7 units of Glargine 2x a day!

I finally did my own research, and found this site through catinfo.org. I now have switched enitrely over to Fancy Feast Chicken Classic, and learned to home monitor. His numbers have gone way down. I am still trying to get to the correct dose of insulin. He's already down to 2unites 2x a day, and I think we'll try and go down to 1.5.

My problem is that I used to free feed the dry food. Now, with the wet food, I am attempting scheduled feedings 2x a day- at 8am and 8pm. I give him 1 can of 3oz Fancy Feast each time. The vet said to take it away after 10 minutes. But, despite begging and acting starving, he will only eat about 1oz before walking away! Now I'm afraid I'm starving him. I mean, as it is he is 18 pounds and teh FF is only 98cal. a can. So if he hate the full 6oz a day he'd be getting only 200 cal. But since I am supposed to take the food away he's barely getting 100!

My question to those of of you experienced with schedled can feedings is this.... I would like to know how OFTEN you feed your cat wet food, and how MUCH. Since mine only east a little at a time, I am thinking that I need to feed him small amounts more often. But, I also know that it is very important to keep him at a steady blood glucose level. so if I fee him more often will he get all messed up?

Finally, if I do get an automatic timer and feed him say 3-4 times a day, How long do you leave that food out? Does it just stay out (if the don't finish it) until the feeder rotates and the next timer goes off? And is that OKAY to put 24 hours worth of Wet food in at timed feeder?

I was thinking if I got a 5 slot feeder I could do 3 feedins (every 8 hours) and put the last one in frozen, with ice cubes in the remaining two slots?

What do you guys do?

Thank you!
 
I suggest you repost this on the main health forum so more people see it. Congratulations on doing your research and getting Bobbers off the dry food. You've already seen the dramatic impact that had on his BG. Love his names BTW! Many people here feed multiple small meals a day, including overnight if they use an automatic feeder. Some freeze food portions to put in the feeder for the overnight hours as you were thinking of doing. The main thing is no food for 2 hours before a BG test to get an accurate non food-influenced reading. I'm sure you know this because you're an experienced FD parent.

As for weight, is Bobbers a large cat? Is 18 lb a good weight for him? Do you weigh him at home? Many of us use a digital baby scale to do this. The only way you'll know what's happening is to track his weight over time as you put your new feeding regimen into practice.
 
Thanks! I will post there as well. Bobbers is a larger cat, yes, But he would still be healthier at say, 15 pounds for ideal weight. I think the canned food swtich may help with that too. I do have the salter baby scale so I'll try to be more regular about weighing him to make sure he doesn't lose weight too fast.

I wonder how many meals a day is a good balance? I know it's important to keep his blood sugar are regular as possible, to avoid huge spikes up or down. Since he only gets a shot 2x a day I want to make sure he's steady round the clock.

This is a lot of work!
 
Shakara9 said:
Thanks! I will post there as well. Bobbers is a larger cat, yes, But he would still be healthier at say, 15 pounds for ideal weight. I think the canned food swtich may help with that too. I do have the salter baby scale so I'll try to be more regular about weighing him to make sure he doesn't lose weight too fast.

I wonder how many meals a day is a good balance? I know it's important to keep his blood sugar are regular as possible, to avoid huge spikes up or down. Since he only gets a shot 2x a day I want to make sure he's steady round the clock.

This is a lot of work!
Click to expand...
Yes, it is. Once you decide to take matters into your own hands there's a lot to think about and to monitor. The up side is that you have a much clearer idea of what's going on with your FD kitty and can be a lot more proactive in treating the disease and (hopefully) preventing problems. Others on the main forum might have more advice about number of meals, etc. I feed my guy 3 times a day: once before the AM shot, a small meal mid day and again before his PM shot. He's up and down like a yo yo, though, and has been impossible to regulate so far so he's not a good example. Some cats' BG numbers react more to food than others. You'll have do some extra testing in association with extra meals to see what happens.
 
Most if us give most of the food before their insulin and the rest as snacks a few hours after the shot. It is best to feed before the nader, so the insulin is working on it as the numbers are going down rather then when the numbers are going up. I hope to see you on the main health forum
 
There is no problem with free feeding a lantus kitty wet food - as long as they aren't overweight or gutsy. You just want to remove the food two hours prior to shot time to ensure that the BG test that you get isn't food influenced and it is safe to shoot.

We do have many carers that opt to get all the feedings done before nadir so as not to be feeding when the insulin's effect is waning. This is not necessary for all kitties. Now that you're testing you'll be able to see for yourself if feeding your cat after nadir causes the BG to rise steeply before the next shot.

Feeding only twice a day on lantus is not recommended. If you want to give designated meals then you want to break them up into smaller more frequent meals so that they don't put so much stress on the pancreas
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top