Newbie with feeding and testing questions

Hi, I'm Jenn and my kitty is Henry. He is 16 yrs old. He has been a sort of free feeder all his life, fed when asks even a few minutes apart or during the night. Can't leave food down because of our other cat Remy who will eat all Henry's food if left down.
How do you give a shot and make sure the cat has eaten enough food? Henry never eats a ton at a time. Should I withhold food before insulin, if so for how long?
Henry eats FF classics and will be starting 1 ml of Lantus tomorrow 2x daily.

Also, when do I test his glucose on a normal day. Before he eats? Then when???

 

Hi Jen and welcome to FDMB. You want to test his glucose before he eats and gets insulin. Can you separate Henry and Remy when feeding them? Another option is to split Henry's food into smaller portions and feed him more frequently.

 

1ml or 1 unit? I think you meant 1 unit!

 

Head on over to the Lantus forum and read the stickies there. LOTS of info to digest. Keep on asking your questions even if you get answers but don't understand. There's always someone willing to explain things.

You'll be asked to set up a spreadsheet with Henry's numbers and information once you start home testing. You can read how to set it up here.

For now, I'll try to answer your questions but once you start testing and people start to get to know Henry, you'll receive much better more specified advice

Every cat is different (ECID). Ming will eat half of his shot time meal and then I will shoot. Then 15 mins or half an hour later, he'll go back and eat the rest. It sometimes takes him up to an hour to finish 1 can of fancy feast. And that's okay for Ming because I know that's enough food for him. But I'd observe how much Henry eats in a day and make sure he's eating his normal amounts and also find out how much he should eat for his body weight (perhaps someone can direct you to a calculator or site that helps figure that out).

Like @Lisa and Witn (GA) suggested, feeding smaller meals throughout the day is something you can do and is encouraged. And you may need to separate Henry from Remy during those feeding times and/or establish a routine. With time, your kitties will know when food time is and where food time is. Ming jumps on the table to get his blood tested when he knows it's dinner or breakfast time. Then he'll jump down from the table when I finish and wait at his food bowl for his meal.

You can also go fancy and buy those timed meal dispensers that only open for a specific cat.

Generally, it's recommended to withhold food 2 hours before shot time so that the number you test before insulin is not food influenced.

Yes, it's important to test before you shoot to make sure it's safe to shoot. Again, once you start home testing and gather more data, you'll find patterns and figure out the important times to test for Henry.

I started testing every +2 because that's usually when Lantus starts to work. So if Ming's number at +2 is much lower than the pre-shot (before insulin) number, then I know he may drop later on in the cycle. I also found out that for Ming, +4 is a better indication as to if he'll be dropping low at Nadir or not. That's generally what people recommend: get a +2 and then get one at Nadir (the lowest point in the cycle) which can be anywhere from +4 to + 8. That you will need to find out with testing.

For now, I'd test as often as you're able to and gather as much data as you can from Henry.

 

You are going to be using Lantus so feeding schedule doesn't have to be so strict I think you can continue feeding as you are doing now, actually free feeding on small amounts is even better for his pancreas, with one exception withdraw all food 2 hours before the pre shoot test so that the result is as they mentioned is not food influenced and you are shure is safe to give insulin and is ok if he only eats a small amount after the shoot as long as he is eating normally the rest of the day and night