question about when to feed

[melba tee]

Melly has had a feeding tube for a month now. He has always been a big boy. At one time he was 21 pounds. Now he is too thin at 13 pounds.

He has always eaten three times a day. This is his current schedule:

6:00 am: I test and feed him one can of fancy feast and give him his insulin and potassium.

4:00 pm: I feed him when I get home from work. (He is insists on being fed at that time, and I am so happy that he wants to eat, I comply). He gets about a half can of fancy feast.

6:00 pm: I test and feed him a half can of fancy feast and give him his insulin and potassium.

I still don't fully understand the workings of lantus, but am curious to know if my feeding schedule is working with it or against it. Or if there are any suggestions on how I might adjust his feeding schedule to get the best effects of lantus.

Also, he is not gaining any weight... He does nibble on his own. I am thinking of increasing his 6 pm meal to a full can of fancy feast... if he will let me.

 

[Thebudster77]

Hello,

What my Vet had said was that she wanted to ensure that Jack got something to eat just before I gave the shot. So since the Lantus schedule is every 12 hours, I feed at 6 AM and 6 PM.

When I first started I gave only the 1/2 can twice a day that the vet said was the amount of food he needed to maintain weight.

I now have broken the 1/2 can down into 2/3 and 1/3 (3 hours later). From what I have read, smaller portions tax the pancreas less and help it heal. I am all for that. We need to heal the pancreas in hopes it can at some point take over on it own.

When you give the food at the same time as the shot, as the food digests and turns to Blood Sugar, the Lantus kicks in and lowers the BG thus keeping the BG in range.

It is the same way the pancreas works. As the Blood Sugar rises following a meal, the pancreas releases insulin, enabling the body to covert the blood sugar into useable energy.

Again, the vet calculated the amount of the Purina DM I needed to feed him to maintain his weight. I am sure there are calculators online that would tell us that.

Hope this helps.
Kevin