Mini meals?

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Teetee (UK)

Teetee (UK)

Member Since 2019
Something @JanetNJ asked me yesterday about whether Duke had by any chance got into some high carb food after his BG shot up yesterday and it got me thinking about food and feeding.
I know quite a few on here feed their cats mini meals throughout the day but my cat is on two meals per day as directed by my vet and many don't agree with that plus it's not good on his pancreas. I do occasionally feed Duke a teaspoon full of food throughout the day but apart from that nothing. I know that 2 meals is not enough for a diabetic cat, he's actually on less food now than before he was diagnosed.
So what i would like to ask is how many grams of food do i feed in a mini meal and how often do i feed plus how does feeding low carb mini meals affect their Blood Glucose throughout the day. Do the mini meals use up the insulin quicker which can affect the dosage?
 
Feeding only twice a day is old thinking but quite a few vets still recommend it.
Diabetic cats do much better having several smaller meals throughout the cycles.
It is better to feed the snacks in the first half of the cycle when the insulin is at its strongest.
Don’t feed in the 2 hours before preshot so that the preshot BG is not food influenced.

Feeding during the cycle helps stop a cat from dropping too fast and too low and that in turn will help stop bouncing.
I can see that Duke likes to bounce up into high numbers after dropping down into numbers he is no longer used to.
He is still very early in the diabetic journey and bouncing is very common in newly diagnosed cats.

The food doesn’t use up the insulin quicker, but it can help keep the BG from dropping too fast or too low.

To find out how much food you need to give.... first you need to know how much Duke weighs.
Then it is 20 calories per lb healthy body weight per day for an indoor cat. If he is thin he may need more.
Then divide the amount you get into 2 and give 1/2 in the am cycle and half in the pm cycle.
You can further divide each of those lots up into the preshot meal and 2 snacks at say +3 and +5 for each cycle.
For example if you worked out the number of calories was 250 calories per day....you divide that by 2=125 per cycle.
Then 125 divided into a preshot meal and 2 snacks per cycle = 75 cals for the preshot meal and 25 cals for each of the 2 snacks.


To get the number of grams you would have to look at how many calories are in the can of food and work from that.
 
Thanks @Bron and Sheba (GA) bear with me as maths is not my strongest point.
Duke weighs 13 pounds, so that's 260 cals needed daily
So if i give him say 100 cals for AM preshot then 30 cals at +5 then another 30 cals at +9 then 100 cals for PM preshot, totalling 260 cals. Would that work ok.
Also i'm going to add some boiled egg white to his food to give him a bit more protein to help with his muscle loss in his back end. I have just ordered some Liquivite Liquid Cat Food to help him as well.
 
teetee (UK) said:
Thanks @Bron and Sheba (GA) bear with me as maths is not my strongest point.
Duke weighs 13 pounds, so that's 260 cals needed daily
So if i give him say 100 cals for AM preshot then 30 cals at +5 then another 30 cals at +9 then 100 cals for PM preshot, totalling 260 cals. Would that work ok.
Also i'm going to add some boiled egg white to his food to give him a bit more protein to help with his muscle loss in his back end. I have just ordered some Liquivite Liquid Cat Food to help him as well.
Click to expand...

You haven’t left any food for the pm snacks. you would be better giving 80 cals for each of the preshot meals and that leaves 50 divided by 2 for each of the snacks in the 2 cycles. So that is 80 for preshot meals and 25 for the +5 meal and 25 for the +9 meal of each cycle.

However, I would think about bringing those times back a bit to say +4 and +7 as that might help stop the big drops

The egg white is a good idea as it is excellent protein.
If you aren’t able to give a +7 at night, you might like to think about getting a timed feeder.
 
Thanks @Bron and Sheba (GA) i will try that method you suggested.
As for the feeder, no chance of that as we have two cats and the other cat can open the doors so he would eat everything before Duke could even open his eyes.
What i cannot get my head around, sorry Bron for sounding so stupid but i'm really confused now, if i feed Duke mini meals throughout the day (which i do need to do) then the food stops him dropping too fast and too low, so will his dose need to be increased eventually to compensate for the increased food intake or does the small amounts of food not affect it that much.
Tee.
 
There are no stupid questions here!
The mini meals won’t mean you need to increase the dose of insulin. The mini meals will help keep Duke from dropping too fast and therefore help stop bouncing. He may still do this and you may have to move the mini meals around a bit to stop the drops, eg you might find he does better with an earlier mini meal. It’s all trial and error.
He may eventually need an increase in dose but it shouldn’t be because of the mini meals. The pancreas works better with several smaller meals over the day. Not just 2 meals.

You can get a timed feeder that has a chip/code that only lets one cat use it. They are more expensive than the ordinary feeders.
 
Thanks @Bron and Sheba (GA) for explaining that to me, it makes sense perfect now. :)
I only managed a couple of mini meals today 1 at AM +7 and another just now PM +4. but he's had his 260 calories today (big supper)
As from tomorrow i will try AM+4 and +7 then PM +3 or +4. Does that sound ok to you.
As you say it might need the times adjusting to suit him.
Tee.
 
Hi @Bron and Sheba (GA)
Thanks, yes he loves his mini meals.
I understand what you're saying about the PM mini meals but the problem with Duke is that has never ever been a night eater, once we go to bed he comes with us and he stays there asleep all night until we get up, then he wants his breakfast. I gave him his Mini feed at about 12:30 am (UK time) last night, we went to bed and he never moved again until 7:30 am this morning. (nice and snug on his heated blanket lol)
Tee.
 
How long after the Preshot is 12.30 am? If you can’t give a later one maybe just give him a bit extra at that snack.
My Harry comes to bed with us too. I’m sure he thinks he’s a human being and the bed is his. He doesn’t stir til I do either. He’s a bit hot to have close on summer nights!
 
Summer nights lol, it's freezing and minus 3 here.
What i do is check his BG at just before 8 am and 8 pm everyday and give him his food straight away and then i give him his injection at about 8:20 am and pm, i then check his BG pre bed time at about twenty past midnight (PM +4) so his mini meal is about 4 to 4 1/2 hours after his injection.
Tee.
 
teetee (UK) said:
Summer nights lol, it's freezing and minus 3 here.
What i do is check his BG at just before 8 am and 8 pm everyday and give him his food straight away and then i give him his injection at about 8:20 am and pm, i then check his BG pre bed time at about twenty past midnight (PM +4) so his mini meal is about 4 to 4 1/2 hours after his injection.
Tee.
Click to expand...
That sounds like a good plan.
If the +4 before bed test is a lot lower than the preshot, you may need to get up and test again in case it drops low.
Sounds like you are doing a lovely job of looking after Duke.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
That sounds like a good plan.
If the +4 before bed test is a lot lower than the preshot, you may need to get up and test again in case it drops low.
Sounds like you are doing a lovely job of looking after Duke.
Click to expand...

Knowing me Bron if that happens i wouldn't go to bed as i wouldn't sleep, i would be too worried and be checking him every hour or two just in case.
I often wonder why my wife calls me a stress head lol.
Tee.
 
I was just about to ask the same question!!!
My boy needs 300 cals a day, doesn't really leave a lof of room for meals and 3 snacks.
Should I be feeding him two snacks in between AM and PM meals?
He gets food and insulin around 6am and 6pm.
What times should his snacks be?
 
Hi
Sorry if i can't help anymore but with my cat i give him his AMPS breakfast of around about 90 cals, then at +4 i give him 30 cals, same 30 cals at +7, then at PMPS he has his supper, again 90 cals and 30 cals at PM +4. That adds up to 270 calories.
With your cat maybe do the same as me but add a meal at PM +7 to make it up to 300 cals.
As @Bron and Sheba (GA) suggested to me why not try a timed feeder.
I'm sure Bron will help more when she logs on again as this is very new to me as well.
Tee.
 
Last edited:
idauria said:
I was just about to ask the same question!!!
My boy needs 300 cals a day, doesn't really leave a lof of room for meals and 3 snacks.
Should I be feeding him two snacks in between AM and PM meals?
He gets food and insulin around 6am and 6pm.
What times should his snacks be?
Click to expand...
@idauria
If your boy is getting 300 calories a day divide that by 2 to get how much to feed in the am and the pm cycle. So that would be 150 calories each cycle. I would feed 90 calories for each Preshot meals and for the remaining 60 calories (per cycle) I would divide that up into two snacks and feed them at +2 and +5
Can you start a thread if your own on main health ? as I would like to comment on a couple of other things but don’t want to hijack @teetee (UK) thread.
Thanks :)
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
@idauria
If your boy is getting 300 calories a day divide that by 2 to get how much to feed in the am and the pm cycle. So that would be 150 calories each cycle. I would feed 90 calories for each Preshot meals and for the remaining 60 calories (per cycle) I would divide that up into two snacks and feed them at +2 and +5
Can you start a thread if your own on main health ? as I would like to comment on a couple of other things but don’t want to hijack @teetee (UK) thread.
Thanks :)
Click to expand...

It's no problem @Bron and Sheba (GA)
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
@idauria
If your boy is getting 300 calories a day divide that by 2 to get how much to feed in the am and the pm cycle. So that would be 150 calories each cycle. I would feed 90 calories for each Preshot meals and for the remaining 60 calories (per cycle) I would divide that up into two snacks and feed them at +2 and +5
Can you start a thread if your own on main health ? as I would like to comment on a couple of other things but don’t want to hijack @teetee (UK) thread.
Thanks :)
Click to expand...
New thread started!
 
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