Suggested feeding schedule? (PZ, wet food, autofeeder)

Hannah and Phoebe

Hannah and Phoebe

Member
Hi all,
We're considering getting a timed auto-feeder for Phoebe since we both work out of the house a few days a week, and want to be able to give her the most optimal diet possible for her diabetes. We are currently feeding Instinct Rabbit formula (wet). We are on a 6:30a/6:30p schedule, and her nadirs are typically +4 to +5 for both morning and evening. We are looking at this auto-feeder from PetLibro, which claims to keep 3 meals fresh for 3 days using integrated refrigeration (as well as being able to warm the food just prior to feeding time).

First, does anyone have firsthand experience with this particular feeder?

Second, when would be the best times to program these meals/snacks for? Right now, we are thinking:
1: Meal @ AMPS
2: Snack @ AMPS+10 AMPS+4
3: Meal @ PMPS
 
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Yes, I have two of those feeders (sometimes I need more than 3 slots). I’m very happy with them. Make sure you get the stainless steel tray variant. Their original design was plastic tray and not as nice.

My only complaint I’d say is the opening is slightly small (roughly 4” x 6”). They occasionally do screw up, don’t rotate properly. I’d say it’s like a 1% chance. So I bought a cheap camera and watch them open properly if I’m away, and call a neighbor to fix it if needed.
 
That’s not a good feeding schedule. Cats on ProZinc need a snack at +2 (yes, two hours after the shot because that is about when the insulin will onset and start to lower BG). Then the next snack should be at +4. Whether you choose to feed again at +6 is up to you, but I usually don’t recommend feeding much after nadir because it can cause the cat’s numbers to rise toward the end of the cycle when the action of the insulin is waning. If your cat gets too ravenous before the PMPS test, you could give a tablespoon of LC wet food at +10 if you have to. No food is supposed to be given for two hours before the preshot tests (so you can get an accurate glucose reading.)

Diabetic cats on insulin definitely need these snacks during the early portion of the cycle to help smooth the cycle and prevent steep drops in BG.
 
I don’t know about that feeder. A lot of people here use thePetMate auto feeders. Do you really need to load three days of food in there at a time? Can’t you just put the day’s snacks of about 1-2 tablespoons of food into a feeder each morning or evening?

Actually if it can hold evening snacks in there for one whole day (both morning and evening cycle snacks) it would be good — because a lot of people don’t realize that the snacks at night are just as important as the ones during the day (maybe even more important since many cats tend to drop into lower numbers at night.)
 
That does look like a nice feeder though. I like the stainless steel insert for sure. I don’t feed my cats out of plastic anyway. Three slots would give you enough to do the +2, +4 and +6 (or +10 if you’re committed to that time) — anyway, it would be enough for each workday’s snacks. I like that.
 
And I really am impressed by your testing. You have a good body of data by doing checks with the ReliOn meter. Thank you so much for doing this (if only I could get others to do this…. Sigh… but every cat is different and some cats aren’t so cooperative.) Anyway, I just wanted to say that you have been doing such a great job with the food transition and the testing! Phoebe is lucky to own you!
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
That’s not a good feeding schedule. Cats on ProZinc need a snack at +2 (yes, two hours after the shot because that is about when the insulin will onset and start to lower BG). Then the next snack should be at +4. Whether you choose to feed again at +6 is up to you, but I usually don’t recommend feeding much after nadir because it can cause the cat’s numbers to rise toward the end of the cycle when the action of the insulin is waning. If your cat gets too ravenous before the PMPS test, you could give a tablespoon of LC wet food at +10 if you have to. No food is supposed to be given for two hours before the preshot tests (so you can get an accurate glucose reading.)

Diabetic cats on insulin definitely need these snacks during the early portion of the cycle to help smooth the cycle and prevent steep drops in BG.
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Oh my goodness, I meant to say AMPS+4, not +10! I've edited the original post now!

And thank you for this advice! It sounds like with Phoebe's early nadirs, it would be best to do snacks at +2 and +4. About a tablespoon per snack? Would you recommend the same thing for overnight? PMPS+2 and +4?
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
I don’t know about that feeder. A lot of people here use thePetMate auto feeders. Do you really need to load three days of food in there at a time? Can’t you just put the day’s snacks of about 1-2 tablespoons of food into a feeder each morning or evening?

Actually if it can hold evening snacks in there for one whole day (both morning and evening cycle snacks) it would be good — because a lot of people don’t realize that the snacks at night are just as important as the ones during the day (maybe even more important since many cats tend to drop into lower numbers at night.)
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So the main issue with my cats is timing. If I make food available, they will eat it immediately, or eat as much as they can until they throw up. And all three of them are like that unfortunately. If they finish their own food they'll go find the next available food source from one of the other cats. So it's important to only make the food available on a schedule. I have 2 civvies, one who needs to lose weight, and then Phoebe can't have poultry but the civvies are eating the chicken formula just to try and save a bit of money, so it is just kind of a complicated situation. Our plan was to refill the 3 trays each day. And based on this advice now I'm thinking we'd actually fill them twice a day. So it would be:
Breakfast, snack, snack
Dinner, snack, snack

(We have a more complicated plan for keeping them each to their own bowl, but it was more complicated than I wanted to get into in this post)
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
And I really am impressed by your testing. You have a good body of data by doing checks with the ReliOn meter. Thank you so much for doing this (if only I could get others to do this…. Sigh… but every cat is different and some cats aren’t so cooperative.) Anyway, I just wanted to say that you have been doing such a great job with the food transition and the testing! Phoebe is lucky to own you!
Click to expand...
Thank you so much!!! 🥹
 
Hannah and Phoebe said:
So the main issue with my cats is timing. If I make food available, they will eat it immediately, or eat as much as they can until they throw up. And all three of them are like that unfortunately. If they finish their own food they'll go find the next available food source from one of the other cats. So it's important to only make the food available on a schedule. I have 2 civvies, one who needs to lose weight, and then Phoebe can't have poultry but the civvies are eating the chicken formula just to try and save a bit of money, so it is just kind of a complicated situation. Our plan was to refill the 3 trays each day. And based on this advice now I'm thinking we'd actually fill them twice a day. So it would be:
Breakfast, snack, snack
Dinner, snack, snack

(We have a more complicated plan for keeping them each to their own bowl, but it was more complicated than I wanted to get into in this post)
Click to expand...
Oh my. I understand about cats who need special food. One of my IBD boys has to eat only beef and he can’t eat the chicken duck turkey stuff that the other cats eat. I am sorry it’s so complicated. Let me know if you have any questions pr ideas of how to make it work. There are these feeders that open only for certain cats wearing a microchipped collar or can be programmed to open for their subcutaneous microchip, BUT those only hold one meal.

Really we have some flexibility in feeding due to special cat circumstances but the bulk of the food for the diabetic cat needs to be in the first half of the cycle. How will you ever know which cat eats out of which feeder.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
How will you ever know which cat eats out of which feeder.
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So @squeem3 actually pointed me to this older thread which I think may contain be our solution, although it is complicated and a bit expensive. The long story short is that we would get three autofeeders and place each one inside a transparent and well-ventilated enclosure (probably made from Rubbermade tubs or similar). Each enclosure would be fitted with a microchip-reading cat door that will only allow one cat inside. Hopefully, as food-motivated as my cats are, it won't be too difficult to train them on this solution. Also, depending on how the cat flap works, I might need to implement a one-way escape hatch that would let the cat exit if the microship one doesn't work for some reason. I know all this sounds a bit over-the-top, but I feel like folks on this site understand such things. 😅
 
Almost identical AMPS to yesterday so no worries there. The cycle should be similar.

I was thinking that she was still on the 1.5 dose, but I had forgotten that she had a reduction. I believe it’s because I looked at the spreadsheet numbers yesterday and it was so borderline (ReliOn numbers just barely below 90) that I thought— if it were my cat I would not reduce; I would hd at 1.5 and keep the good numbers coming. So I was thinking she should have had 1.5 units yesterday morning.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Almost identical AMPS to yesterday so no worries there. The cycle should be similar.

I was thinking that she was still on the 1.5 dose, but I had forgotten that she had a reduction. I believe it’s because I looked at the spreadsheet numbers yesterday and it was so borderline (ReliOn numbers just barely below 90) that I thought— if it were my cat I would not reduce; I would hd at 1.5 and keep the good numbers coming. So I was thinking she should have had 1.5 units yesterday morning.
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Ah ok I understand. Thanks!
 
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