Transitioning from free feeding to timed feeding

Lisa and Angel

Lisa and Angel

Member Since 2023
Just wondering if there's a guide for this? She's been freefed dry all her life, but I want to go to 100% canned (currently she has dry out 24/7 and wet food twice a day). I'm just so worried about her going low and NOT having food out whenever she needs it.
 
I'd encourage you to consider feeding Angel several small meals versus feeding twice a day. You can portion out food into a timed feeder if you're not around to provide several small meals, preferably up to nadir. Most of us do not feed our cats only twice a day. Having food available during the time that insulin is most active helps to level out blood glucose and it puts less stress on your cat's pancreas.
 
She is currently freefed, as in has dry food available to her at all times. She gets wet food twice a day. I want to transition to removing the dry food entirely, so she's no longer freefed. Of course that does not mean feeding her just twice a day! I would increase the amount of times she gets (wet) food. I just don't know how to go from dry out 24/7 to structured meal times (with wet food only). Like when in the cycle to feed, how much, and so on. And how to deal with the fact that without food out 24/7, she cannot help herself during a hypo by just going to get some food...
 
A lot depends on your cat. Since you don't have a current spreadsheet, I can't give specifics. What I look at first is when the lowest point in the cycle (the nadir) falls. You can divide up the typical amount of food you give your cat for the cycle into 3 or 4 mini-meals. That might mean feeding your cat every 2 hours if nadir is at +6.

It's more complicated if your cat has an early or late nadir. If it's an early nadir, you want to "front load" the food so you are still feeding the majority of the cycle's worth of food prior to nadir. My diabetic cat had an early nadir and I fed her at pre-shot, +1, +2, and +3. She got her normal amount of food spread out over those times. If your cat has a late nadir, I'd space out the meals more and make sure you're providing food until when you're typically seeing the nadir.
 
She is not well regulated atm, for months she's been struggling with her health. Chronic diarrhea (since basically most of this year), frequent bacterial UTI's, then an AKI in august became CKD, now she's in the midst of another antibiotic course for yet another UTI. So no set nadir to speak of, or even any sort of regular cycle basically. She's currently getting 1.75U Lantus and is mostly in the yellows and reds. The diarrhea is so severe that I'm having to wash her multiple times a day, and the vet has run out of ideas to try, so this complete diet overhaul is kind of desperate resort to resolve that.
 
Also, she sometimes gets wild swings late in her cycle. Like, red preshot, then in the yellows/reds sometime between +6 and +9, and then a green at next preshot testing like she's fallen off a cliff late in the cycle (despite eating well). I'm just scared with those crazy swings that she drops down too low when I'm asleep/away and then can't rescue herself by eating anything. How do you deal with that?
 
I'd love to hear from people who do timed meals *when* in the cycle YOU feed your cat. I can find plenty of info about *what* to feed diabetic cats, but none about *when* to feed them, which is frustrating.
 
ECID- every cat is different 🙂 What works for one cat may not work for another.

My cat has snacks at +4, +6, and +8 during the day and +3, +4.5, and +7 snacks at night.

With Lantus you don't want to feed 2 hours before insulin time so bgs don't spike.
 
Thank you all! I think we'll just stick to meals every 2 to 3 hours (making sure nothing 2 hr before insulin time) while I figure out her cycles and she hopefully gets a more healthy and regulated. I've ordered an auto feeder so she doesn't miss a meal at night and when I'm away.
 
This is a link to a website on raw feeding for cats with IBD. What I think may be helpful is the section on meds and supplements. They have lots of information on managing diarrhea. It's a common problem for cats with IBD. They also have a Facebook page if you need to have a question answered.
 
Thank you, that website is actually the one that convinced me to get her off the kibble! I don't want to do raw or cooked, but I can and will do 100% canned. I ordered the recommended probiotics a few days ago and they should arrive on monday. I've got a whole plan to first do 1-2 weeks of bland diet like the website says with the S boulardii so her gut can calm down a bit. Then we're slowly gonna transition over to a novel protein canned food (still trying to find the best option(s), but their facebook page gave me some good links too). Tough part is it has to be novel, low carb, and also low phos for her newfound CKD. And tasty of course, though Angel is a food monster so that usually isn't an issue lol. Lots of foods recommended in international groups aren't available in my tiny country either. But I've got some good leads so fingers crossed it'll finally make Angel feel better.
 
Random question in between (not sure if this is worth making a whole new topic). One thing we can't get around is our need for lickable creamy treats. Angel gets many meds a day and eats them all voluntarily with the help of gel capsules and licky treats, and I haven't found an alternative yet that works as well. And I simply won't put her through the stress of forcing dozens of meds a day down her throat when she is so willing to swallow them by herself. But these treats are all high carb (like 30+%), at least the regular brands found in the shops around here. I've looked online and can buy Churus from a specialty webstore, but I've calculated them at 11.67% carbs. Is that too high? It'd be used during shots (med) times, as well as throughout the cycle for as long as we need to give the S boulardii more than twice a day. They also have something called Churu Meal Topper which is only 6% carbs but the one review online I can find about it says none of their 10+ cats liked it and it smells strongly of multivitamin :/
 
For reference, the food I'm most likely going to introduce first after the bland diet, which she'll be on solely for a while (if she tolerates it), is Venandi Animal Turkey, with 1.4% carbs and 0.71% phos. It's not entirely novel (so I may go another route if her tummy can't handle it) but it's got the lowest phos I can find (still have to calculate some novel options found in Germany not on the international sites, so fingers crossed) and she definitely needs that.
 
Had you thought about using baby food as a treat? I've never used Churus so I don't have a comparison. However, my cats do like baby food. There are two brands in the US that are fine. Basically, what you want to look for is a product that is protein only -- no onions or garlic as they can be toxic for cats. For the sake of comparison, look at either Gerber or Beechnut Stage 2 products here in the US.
 
Unfortunately there's only chicken and beef baby food here and they both include a lot of rice starch and corn starch, so I don't think they're appropriate.

She's just had her first bland meal (poached pork filet) and liked it, so hopefully it's only up from here. Still spending hours calculating food options, but I'll keep her on this diet for at least a week and then try to slowly incorporate 1 canned food to transition to. Not sure yet which it'll be but we've got some time to figure that out. I also found a few licky treats that, if the nutritional analysis can be trusted, are low carb, so I've got those on order as well.
 
Could you make your own baby food? I'm sure there are tons of online recipes. Just look for one that is only meat and water. You basically just poach or steam skinless boneless chicken or other meat until cooked through, put into a food processor, and slowly add water until it is the desired consistency. Portion out and freeze what won't be used in a few days. Add something yummy like crushed up freeze dried treats or FortiFlora before serving.
 
Good idea! I'll try that tomorrow with her morning meal. Could be the trick to not needing the licky treats. Happy to say that she likes the poached pork a lot! I've spent the night reading up about IBD treatment and apparently, new research shows that a food elimination trial really only has to be 1-2 weeks long, not the 6-8 I've heard in the past. So if I can give her a novel mono protein without any additions for 2 weeks long, that should work, otherwise we'll have no choice but to move on to steroids. I also finally found a good food option: Mjamjam Pure Horse, with 8.57% carbs and 0,71% phos. Way more "novel" of a protein than turkey, and that's very important. As long as she likes the taste I think that's the one we're gonna go with when the bland diet is done.

Bad news though: pretty sure the antibiotics she's on right now aren't working for her UTI. She's been on them for a week and I just freecaught some urine to check, and it's pink/brown :( that's never been the case before even with her prior UTI's. Seems like it's vet time again tomorrow.
 
Leroy has IBD and is limited to rabbit, venison, and bison. He's tried kangaroo and seemed ok with it. It took a few months to see what worked for his IBD. Pork initially seemed ok but then it gave him a flare up.
 
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