dawn effect / BG test timing

I was wondering if anyone has played around with their shot times and noticed a difference in their cat's AMPS values, holding the insulin dose constant? I ask because I test my cat at/before dawn (at 5:30am local time), and recently started to wonder if I tested him after he'd been awake for a couple of hours (i.e., well after dawn), if I'd see different AMPS values. My cat is such a piggy, it would be hard for me to test him at 5:30am, not feed him for a few hours, and then test him again to find out! Even with food, though, he does come down a lot from AMPS/AMBG to the +3 measure.

 

Interesting. However, to do the test you would have to slowing transition both his AM and PM shot and feeding times to be three hours later. It may also be hard to differentiate between a dawn effect and just the added amount of time that the cat is active before testing/shot/eating and the the fact that BGs tend to rise after peak. I test way before dawn at about 4-4:15 AM.

 

Actually right now he's on an OTJ trial (fingers crossed!) so I wouldn't have to worry about fiddling with shot times, which I would not be able to do as I'm out the door NLT 6am on weekdays. But maybe if he's off insulin. I'll do a check or two on a weekend day to compare.