Question on Timing

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Christine & KR

Christine & KR

Member Since 2012
Hello, everyone. My vet has directed me to start Kitty Rabbit on insulin (1u Lantus BID). This won't start until Thursday night as I'll take off work Friday to stay home and see how the first three days go.

Over the year's I've managed to train KR that "mom coming home from work" equals a treat (1/4 can FF mixed with 1 capsule Cosequin) and dinner (1/4 can Friskies Pate). The amount she eats varies widely; some days she'll polish off the treat plate but leave her dinner, some days she eats a little of both, and still other days she eats just a tiny bit of the treat (I always leave whatever's not eaten as she'll eat it over the next couple hours when she gets hungry). KR is currently underweight at 6 pounds; her healthy weight is 8 pounds.

With a 12-hour shot schedule, Mom will be home from work almost 2 hours before the next shot is due. I'm pretty sure I shouldn't give her a lot of food when I get home as it will affect her PMPS, but since she's so well trained on the "treat" side I hate to just stop treats/immediate feeding cold turkey.

How long does it take for food to impact BG? How much food? If I give her a tiny piece of a low-carb treat will it have an impact? My poor girl's 19 and I feel like I've already changed a whole lot of things on her; I'd prefer to find a way for her to get a treat when I come home if at all possible.

Any advice will be appreciated,

Christine & Kitty Rabbit
 
Hi Christine and Kitty Rabbit (love the name),

A couple of thoughts come to mind. If you are testing, maybe you could test her and then give her her usual treat (maybe some wet, lo-carb canned food? FF pate varieties are ok. If you add a tsp or two of warm water, it will stretch the food and make her feel more full.) Then when you test at pre-shot you'll have an idea of how much the food affected her bg. Generally its best not to feed for about 2 hours b4 a test and shot.

I'm wondering if you have a timed feeder - spreading out her food during the day will help to level out her bg. I feed every 4 hours and fill the feeder whether or not I am going to be home. My cat checks his watch regularly and is often sitting waiting for the feeder to open. This might be another way for her to have food during the day and not expect more than just a treat when you get home.
 
Any chance you could move the morning shot time earlier by 2 hours? (Cringes - I am soo not a morning person!)

How about start delaying when you give treats getting home.
Begin with a 5 minute delay and instead do lots of lots of petting or playing with her. Then do the treat, but smaller and low carb.
Give that a few days, then increase to 10 minute delay.
And so on, adding another 5 minutes to the interval every few days. She'll eventually learn that mom coming home means petting and play, not food, and that way the change is gradual and not so distressing.
 
Thank you both. I like parts of both your ideas. Moving the morning shot two hours sounds good on the surface, but I've been delayed getting out of work often enough to know that scheduling that evening shot earlier is just playing with fire. On top of that, I'm most definitely NOT a morning person. It's in everyone's best interest not to wake me unless absolutely necessary... :)

Timed feeders: does yours allow access to anything not eaten? Being that KR's underweight right now I'd hate to limit her too much just yet. Having never used a timed feeder I'm not sure what qualities are best. Any recommendations?

I like the idea of delaying the treat, as well as extending the delay. That sounds a lot less harsh than everything else I've put KR through this past week!

BJM - I saw your post on my other thread. Thanks for finding the magnifiers for me. Three days ago I'd have bought one immediately, but as of tonight KR and I have had three successful tests in a row so I'm beginning to think I can master this with the tools I have. If the wheels come off again, though, I'll certainly reconsider.

Christine
 
I love my PetSafe5. It has 5 compartments. The timer is set by the clock, so you can set the feedings anyway you want. If you want to feed him during the day so he isn't starving when you walk through the door, you can set it up to feed several times during the day. Just set it to go to an empty compartment 2 hours before you plan to test.

Though you don't have compartments that remain open when a new one opens. Each time a new one opens, it closes the old one.
 
I had this one for a long time. It depends on how agressive you think she might be to get into the food. I had to screw the feeder to a piece of plywood so that Tony didn't turn it upside down trying to get into it cus the lids don't flip up so well in that position! http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... Id=2751313

The advantage is that the compartments remain accessible if she hasn't eaten all the food. I add water so that the food is still fresh when the compartment opens. When the weather was really hot, I put a couple of small ice cubes in with it. Some people are so organized that they remember to freeze food to put in the compartments - not me, but it's a great idea.

Good work on testing. It is the key to helping her feel better. Knowing her numbes means that you know how the insulin is working, and the closer you can keep her to normal the better she will feel.
 
I did some on-line research yesterday and, while I like the two-door feeder because the food remains accessible, I found a whole lot of negative reviews on this product (starting with the fact the doors won't open!). Other than Tony breaking into the feeder, did you/do you have any problems with it?

I like the five-compartment feeder, too. I think it gives much more control over the feeding schedule. Kitty Rabbit was driving me nuts at 5:00 AM today, so I checked her food plate: mostly full. At 6:00 AM, when she should've been waking me up, she was sound asleep. Why? Her plate was empty. And to think I gave just a moment's thought to picking up her plate at 5:00... On the other hand her AMPS didn't go well at all (to the point I didn't get a reading) so whether or not she ate before hand is a moot point. One of these days all the pieces of this puzzle will come together...I hope...

Thanks for the advice. I'll keep looking to see what other automatic/timed feeders are available.

Christine
 
Hi Christine,

I've no advice for you, but I just wanted to say that - although you're still very new to this feline diabetes stuff, you're learning fast and I'm sensing a real growing confidence from you. KR is in good hands! :smile:
 
I realized this morning that a feeder that leaves uneaten food available indefinitely defeats the purpose of timed feeding. What I need is a feeder that CLOSES two hours before testing time, and since I've not been able to find anything like that I ordered a Petsafe 5. It will be here in a couple days.

In the meantime, I still need help on some of my original questions: how long does it take for food to affect bg? How much food? Will a small, low-carb treat have an impact? We start insulin tomorrow (Thursday) night and I'm a bit concerned about the food/bg interaction given that I can't easily control KR's meal times right now.

Christine

Elizabeth - thanks for the vote of confidence! It came at the right time. I switched ears today...and I swear Kitty Rabbit has found a way to stop her blood from flowing. I don't know how she can still love me when it takes 10+ pricks to get a usable blood drop...
 
I think you'll like the PetSafe. My cats were able to break into every other feeder I tried. Only this one has been cat proof.

The answer about the food is, unfortunately, it's one of those dreaded Every Cat is Different things (ECID) Most cats have a higher glucose reading within 20 -30 minutes of eating a meal. That's why we suggest test, feed and shoot so you know the number is not impacted by the food. And most cats continue to have that food impact for 2 hours or so. That's why when you get a low preshot, we say to wait without feeding, so you have the chance to shoot being sure the number is not food influenced.

Low carb treats do not seem to impact the glucose level like a meal. As you start testing, you will just know that the number midcycle (for instance) almost always have a smalll treat on board.

So your PetSafe will let you close up the buffet 2 hours before the preshot number.
 
I use fresh cooked chicken or Beefeaters freeze dried salmon as a snack and they don't seem to affect the BGs - complete protein and no carbs.

We use the 5-compartment model and I like it - I have it set to move to an empty section 3 hours before shot time. However, a concern is that if you feed several small meals, if one isn't finished by the time the next one is to be served, then it "goes away." I am thinking about cutting the top cover so that two sections are open at a time, so if Leo snoozes through one snack, he can still get all the food he needs if he comes by later. Otherwise I love it.
 
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