Mini meals and Lantus

[Suzi_S]

I have just started Snickers on Lantus. She has spent 4 months or so on Vetsulin so her schedule was eat twice a day when she gets her shot. But she is too hungry so I am going to be giving her mini meals throughout the day now and because of her new wacky lantus schedule. So I am wondering how the mini meals work with her blood testing. Is it going to give me higher readings? Do I do the testing before I give her the mini meal? One other thing, with her wacky schedule she will get half her breakfast 2 1/2 hours before she gets her shot. Is that going to affect her AMPS?

 

[Larry and Kitties]

You just test before each shot as casual. Just makes sure that you feed abut the same amount at about the same time all the time. You still periodically do a curve and feed normally when you do.

 

[Suzi_S]

Thanks!

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

Most of us feed mini meals because it's easier for a healing pancreas to deal with small meals than it is two huge ones.

How you feed your cat will take a little investigative work though. Some of us divide the "daytime" portion into 2-3 servings and feed it all before nadir...some of us feed every 2-3 hours throughout the cycle. This is where ECID comes in, as well as good data-keeping.

If you feed throughout the cycle, it's possible that you can "slam the brakes" on the insulin after nadir because you're adding carbs after the insulin has started to wear off....Not all cats have that problem though so when you feed, jot it down in the remarks on your spreadsheet or maybe put an * in the cells at the times he's had food

 

[Suzi_S]

Even when I fed her her normal big breakfast she is starving (according to her, lol) about 2 hours after. Her appetite is progressively getting huger! This is why I decided to try many mini meals (and to see if it will help the pancreas). Her main meals will not be at her shot times, though. And this is yet another reason I went with mini meals. My schedule and my husbands leaves us no choice but to do it this way. Some days we aren't home at all til her shot time, which means not even mini meals. This isn't ideal and thankfully not all the time. I can try freezing cubes but we have two cats and I can't guarantee who will actually eat the food.

 

[BJM]

Until she is regulated, she is going to be very hungry because she can't use all of what she eats. You may need to feed up to 50% more food for her to be more satisfied. In addition to mini-meals, it can help to add a tablespoon of water to the food to give it more volume and help her feel more full.