Question about feeding schedules

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sivyaleah

sivyaleah

Member Since 2016
Hi everyone, I just posted an introduction but I have one question which I could use an answer to regarding feeding schedules.

First, Casper is 15 and in the past year or so has had issues with throwing up food. Now that he's diagnosed with diabetes, getting him to eat and keep it down is obviously super important.

I have confusion about how to address this. For instance, yesterday at dinner he threw up about 10 minutes after eating. Of course, I'd given him his insulin (Vetsulin, 1 unit twice a day). So now his stomach was empty.
We weren't sure how to deal with this. The vet had closed for the day. What we wound up doing was waiting another 15 minutes to give his stomach time to calm down, and then offered another small amount of food. He did eat that, and kept it down.

I think he vomited because he was OVER hungry at that point. We had decided to try and push off his dinner as he's currently used to eating dinner around 4-4:30 pm. Because we're now going to give the first dose around 6:00 am (due to work/school schedules) we need dinner to be closer to 6:00 pm. I understand it doesn't have to be an exact 12 hours between doses, but as close together as possible is preferable. Both Casper and our other cat were going insane with wanting to be fed and Casper does have a problem with eating too quickly when too hungry.

Anyway, we got over that hump and he didn't seem worse for it.

Later in the evening, he wanted something to eat because he had not had enough at dinner. We weren't sure if feeding him inbetween was ok but, he was so ravenous we offered a little bit of food to tide him over until morning.

So, my long winded way of asking my question is this: Is it ok to feed a small amount between morning and dinner? Or, after dinner? My concern is if he isn't eating his main meals completely how is he going to get enough nutrition? It isn't unusual for him to only eat a couple of ounces at each meal (wet food) and 4 total ounces a day seems grossly under what even a lazy older cat requires.

Any help/comments appreciated. We want to be sure he's eating enough but we also don't want him to have fluctuations. Hope I explained my concern properly - again, very new to this!

Laurie
 
Glad to see you have made it over to the Health Forum. :)

With Vetsulin it is suggested that the kitty eat about 20-30 minutes before the injection, since Vetsulin usually starts working fairly quickly and it is good to have food on board. Many vets suggest only feeding at shot times with Vetsulin, but many kitties do not do well with only being fed twice a day. With Vetsulin trying to feed a full meal before the shot is best. However feeding a couple of small meals or snacks in between can be easier on your kitties body. Some kitties get an a"acid stomach" if they are on a restricted diet and do better with several small meals/snacks in between shots.

I can't see whether you are home testing. If you are just makes sure that you do not feed anything at least 2 hours before doing the preshot test. Food can raise the glucose levels and when doing preshot tests you want to have a "true reading" with no food influence to make sure it is safe to give the shot.
 
Hi Laurie,

A significant number of individuals here do feed several mini-meals per day rather than just one or two larger meals; it might be easier on kitty's pancreas to process those smaller meals. Jersey ate several small meals throughout the day and evening, and we used food to steer her glucose numbers (e.g., if we saw that she was falling too low) when needed. Of course, we used Lantus, which works a bit differently than Vetsulin.

Hope that helps!
Shelly
 
On here it says not to feed dry food but my vet has Isee on prescription food. He claims the wet food isn't necessary for the cat's nutrition. Anyway, I leave dry food out all the time and feed only a small amount of moist food each day. My problem is mainly with him flooding the litter box, although he only urinates twice/day. I use enormous amounts of kitty litter and it is getting expensive. I'm spending more on the cat than I do on myself. I'm beginning to wonder whether all the expense is worth it.
 
Hi Laurie,

It's important with Vetsulin to feed 30 minutes before giving insulin. Vetsulin hits harder than the long term insulins. I don't know the size of your kitty, but 4oz doesn't seem enough. It is usually better if you can do it, to give mini meals in between his 2 main meals.
 
I fed him about 1/2 of his breakfast 20 minutes before the injection this morning. I gave him the rest right after.

I forgot to mention he was also diagnosed as having IBD about 1-1/2 months ago - not very advanced but nonetheless, an issue. He does get "acid stomach" most especially in the morning and tends to eat too fast. So, we usually give him only 1.5 ounces at a time, first when I wake up and then about 1/2 hour later once he's passed that time frame where he will typically bring it up.

It's complicated for us because I'm out the door by 6:35 for work M-F. I don't return until 7pm most days. My fiance, goes to school full time; we leave together although he does get home a couple of hours before me. Summers he's home but he's got some issues about doing the injections. It's the needle thing a lot of people have phobias of - but he said he probably will be able to suck it up because he adores Casper, and wants him to be well.

Keeping an eye out/monitoring will be very difficult because of our schedules come September.

We are not home testing yet, this all was learned late yesterday. I'm going to speak w/the vet further Monday when I pick Casper up from his curve test. Having said that, I do know something about diabetes and food intake because I have a nephew that has Type 1 and, my fiance had borderline Type 2.
 
Woodsywife said:
Hi Laurie,

It's important with Vetsulin to feed 30 minutes before giving insulin. Vetsulin hits harder than the long term insulins. I don't know the size of your kitty, but 4oz doesn't seem enough. It is usually better if you can do it, to give mini meals in between his 2 main meals.
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Right now he's just over 12 pounds. He lost 2 over the course of this past year. Yes, 4 ounces is NOT enough. We do need to get more into him, and giving some small "snacks" is going to be necessary. Thankfully, he and our other cat love the wet food so we won't be carbo loading at any point.

Edited: Probably it's more like 5-6 ounces total as we were giving him wet food snacks inbetween meals. But many times, not even that.
 
Ellyn Renken said:
On here it says not to feed dry food but my vet has Isee on prescription food. He claims the wet food isn't necessary for the cat's nutrition. Anyway, I leave dry food out all the time and feed only a small amount of moist food each day. My problem is mainly with him flooding the litter box, although he only urinates twice/day. I use enormous amounts of kitty litter and it is getting expensive. I'm spending more on the cat than I do on myself. I'm beginning to wonder whether all the expense is worth it.
Click to expand...

Dry food is to high in carbs for a diabetic cat. The diabetes causes large urination and drinking. Once the diabetes is controlled it will lessen. Unless you are home testing, do NOT remove dry food. It can cause a dangerous or fatal situation if you are giving insulin. In my opinion it is definitely worth it to have my kitty feeling well.
 
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Ellyn Renken said:
On here it says not to feed dry food but my vet has Isee on prescription food. He claims the wet food isn't necessary for the cat's nutrition. Anyway, I leave dry food out all the time and feed only a small amount of moist food each day. My problem is mainly with him flooding the litter box, although he only urinates twice/day. I use enormous amounts of kitty litter and it is getting expensive. I'm spending more on the cat than I do on myself. I'm beginning to wonder whether all the expense is worth it.
Click to expand...

Vets, sadly, in general are not well versed on cat nutrition and tend to push foods which are not best. Getting a cat off kibble can be challenging! Especially if they free feed.
 
Ellyn Renken said:
On here it says not to feed dry food but my vet has Isee on prescription food. He claims the wet food isn't necessary for the cat's nutrition. Anyway, I leave dry food out all the time and feed only a small amount of moist food each day. My problem is mainly with him flooding the litter box, although he only urinates twice/day. I use enormous amounts of kitty litter and it is getting expensive. I'm spending more on the cat than I do on myself. I'm beginning to wonder whether all the expense is worth it.
Click to expand...

Hello Ellen,

I strongly disagree with your vet. Dry food is high carb and that is what makes it bad for all cats, especially diabetic cats. Wet food is lower carb and thus can help to control the diabetes. Not to mention cats are carnivores (meat, meat, meat) and dry food has too much plant based material to fulfill the dietary needs of a meat eater. Even the prescription dry is too high in carbs. I switched my diabetic to wet food and with the insulin------ultimately he went into remission (no longer needed insulin).

As for the "expense" Little Friskies Classic Pate ( except Mixed Grill) is relatively inexpensive and very low in carbs. I also bought Walmart cat litter----$10 for 40 pounds.

Have you posted about your kitty?
 
Ellyn Renken said:
On here it says not to feed dry food but my vet has Isee on prescription food. He claims the wet food isn't necessary for the cat's nutrition. Anyway, I leave dry food out all the time and feed only a small amount of moist food each day. My problem is mainly with him flooding the litter box, although he only urinates twice/day. I use enormous amounts of kitty litter and it is getting expensive. I'm spending more on the cat than I do on myself. I'm beginning to wonder whether all the expense is worth it.
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Many vets are not well versed in nutrition, especially for diabetic kitties. Dry food is high in carbs which is not good for any kitty especially a diabetic kitty. Using a low carb wet food...such as Fancy Feat pate (not the gravy varieties) will help a kitty's glucose levels,

When a kitty is peeing enormous amounts it means the glucose levels are high and not well controlled. Once the levels get under control better the amount of peeing will reduce.

If you want to discuss this more you can start your own thread using this link:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/feline-health-the-main-forum.28/create-thread

And put a question in the title such as "What food should I be feeding?"


ETA Starting your own thread will get you more attention and replies to your question won't get mixed in with the original poster's questions :)
 
sivyaleah said:
Right now he's just over 12 pounds. He lost 2 over the course of this past year. Yes, 4 ounces is NOT enough. We do need to get more into him, and giving some small "snacks" is going to be necessary. Thankfully, he and our other cat love the wet food so we won't be carbo loading at any point.

Edited: Probably it's more like 5-6 ounces total as we were giving him wet food snacks inbetween meals. But many times, not even that.
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A lot of us use automatic feeders for when we are out or overnight. My kitty will vomit if not fed every 3-3.5 hrs. It's a long story but we can't get past the 3.5 hr mark. It is what it is. The feeder has eliminated the vomiting.
 
Woodsywife said:
A lot of us use automatic feeders for when we are out or overnight. My kitty will vomit if not fed every 3-3.5 hrs. It's a long story but we can't get past the 3.5 hr mark. It is what it is. The feeder has eliminated the vomiting.
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How would this work if one has 2 cats? Casper tends to sleep way more than Cocoa, who is half his age and she's a mooch too. How can one monitor who ate what or how much?
 
sivyaleah said:
How would this work if one has 2 cats? Casper tends to sleep way more than Cocoa, who is half his age and she's a mooch too. How can one monitor who ate what or how much?
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The only way to be 100% sure that Casper was the one getting the food would be to separate the cats during the day, which they might not like. Or if you know of a food that Casper likes and Cocoa doesn't like, you could always try to use that.
 
julietb19 said:
The only way to be 100% sure that Casper was the one getting the food would be to separate the cats during the day, which they might not like. Or if you know of a food that Casper likes and Cocoa doesn't like, you could always try to use that.
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Impossibe :( We are out of the house the entire day; 6:30 am until 5-7 pm. And unfortunately both are good eaters and love anything given to them.
 
sivyaleah said:
How would this work if one has 2 cats? Casper tends to sleep way more than Cocoa, who is half his age and she's a mooch too. How can one monitor who ate what or how much?
Click to expand...

That's the hard part. There are a couple of feeders where you put a tag on the collar so it will open only when the kitty with the tag goes to the bowl. My guy knows when it opens and will go sit in front of 15 minutes early. I also put food the other two (I have 3) cats don't like in it.
 
Woodsywife said:
That's the hard part. There are a couple of feeders where you put a tag on the collar so it will open only when the kitty with the tag goes to the bowl. My guy knows when it opens and will go sit in front of 15 minutes early. I also put food the other two (I have 3) cats don't like in it.
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I will look into one of those for sure! Thanks :D
 
Oy that's a lot!
I book marked it anyway. Maybe someone will get it for me as a gift LOL. (But honestly, I might splurge on it if it winds up that it would really help)
 
There is another one more like the second link but can use wet food and will close when the animal leaves. I just can't find it though.
 
Here is a link to a previous discussion of the microchip feeders just in case it might be helpful/for future reference.

We used the PetSafe5 feeder based on recommendations we received here. We liked the feeder, but with 6 cats, I'm guessing it was pretty much a free-for-all while we were at work. :)
 
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