Question about feeding times.

I have been feeding Gomez twice a day, right after his insulin shot. He has finally started eating with some enthusiasm which is a relief. His BG for the last two days has been consistently high, which is worrisome, but I am hoping he is adjusting to the increase in his dose of 2 units.

I have read on this forum that some people believe in giving 2 meals a day and others think feeding small meals throughout the day is a better approach. I started feeding Gomez twice a day because he wasn't eating much and I was concerned that he eat after his insulin. Now that he seems to have regained his appetite, I wonder if this is the best regimen for him.

Just an FYI, I got ketone dip strips but I have been unable to catch any urine. I also got a blood glucose meter but I haven't used it yet. To be honest, I am afraid of what it will tell me. Gomez's BG readings have been high. If the meter shows ketones, I don't know what I will do. He can't have fluids because of his congestive heart failure. If I get a high ketone reading and I take him to the Pet ER, I'm afraid that will be it for him. I will have to euthanize him. He seems okay as far as ketones go. He is fairly active, drinking lots of water, eating. The water is hard for me to gauge because he is taking Lasix for his heart, so he drinks and pees a lot.

I am balancing a lot of health issues with Gomez and my objective is to keep him as happy and as comfortable as possible in the time he has left. I am literally making myself sick worrying abut BG and ketones and respiration rates (for his heart.) I really have to make peace with myself and know that I am doing my best for him and that is all I can do. Worrying isn't helping either of us.

 

Ah, first deep breath. You are doing a great service for Gomez by first , being here to learn all you can and by getting his BG's before you give insulin and test through the cycle.

With the ketone meter, kitties start showing ketones on the human meter at 2.4 to 2.5. If you were to get a ketone reading, you would add some water to his food, like about 1 tbsp. to each meal, as water helps to flush out ketones. As long as he is eating and doesn't seem to be sick or have any infection, you can manage any ketone readings at home. I did with Bubba. And that was by increasing the insulin as safely as possible and adding water to his food. If he stops eating or seems sick and throws ketones, a vet visit is very important!

In the event that you get a reading on the ketone meter for 2.4 or higher, post here with a 911 and we will help to guide you.

As far as the feedings go, I use to believe that 2 times a day was good enough, but I no longer do. It is helpful to our diabetic kitties for their pancreases to process smaller more frequent meals . I actually feed mine 6 times a day.

Many of us use an automatic feeder like the PetSafe 5 to load it up with food at timed intervals when we know we can't be home all day due to working outside the home or just not being around for the day.

As far as the dosing goes, I see in your notes that you give dry food so you would need to follow the SLGS method. It is important to hold the dose the required amount of time for the depot to stabilize and for you not to go over the ideal dose at that time. I do not know the carb count for Royal Canin dry, but most dry food is very high carb. There are only a few that are lower carb and I know that Young Again Zero carbs is one of them and I believe it is EVO dry. I hope some others that know for sure will weight in.

Does he eat any wet at all?

The .75 dose was not held for the required time. but that said, it does look like you did not go over the ideal dose and it looks like that Gomez could use some more insulin. I think I would increase to 2.25 the next dose.

 

Gomez refuses to eat wet food. When I was syringe feeding him, I used canned food, but now that his appetite seems to have returned, he will eat only dry. I did order some Young Again Zero Mature tonight and I will try that.

I am retired, so I can feed him on any schedule. I just need to know what might be best for him.

As far as the dose is concerned, I sort have to stay with 2 units for the next couple of days unless something dramatic happens. We have an appointment with the vet on Friday to get blood work done and I have to do a curve for the vet on Thursday. She didn't want me to do the curve until he had been on his current dose for 7 days.

When Gomez was first diagnosed with diabetes (less than 3 weeks ago) his BG was off the chart. It read in the 700's when I first took him in to the Pet ER. He had been "off" for a couple of weeks, refused to eat much, and was losing weight at an alarming rate. The good news is that he had no ketones when he was admitted to the ER - and his weight has stabilized since he started on insulin. And his appetite is back! It is wonderful to see him eat with enthusiasm again.

 

That is the correct thing to do following SLGS, to hold it for 7 days. I jumped the gun saying to increase the next dose.

Good luck with the curve. And it is wonderful that he has come down substantially from being first DX and that his weight has stabilized.

I hope some peeps will weigh in about he carb count for your current dry food. I have a feeling that it is rather high. The carb count for our sugar babies need to be under 10 % If it does prove to be higher that the 10% and you switch to YA which is less than 1%, you will need to carefully monitor him as the BG's can come down drastically, as much as 100 points.

 

Is there any possibility of gradually transitioning Gomez to canned food? Canned food is SO much healthier for all cats, not just diabetics. There's great information on a canned food diet as well as on transitioning a cat on Lisa Pierson, DVM's website. I didn't see a brand of dry food mentioned. Also, I believe the YA is abut 5% carb -- regardless if it's 1% or 5%, it's well within the low carb range.

A lot of when you feed depends on your cat. I tend to suggest that it's best to not feed after nadir since there's less insulin available to offset the effect of food. I front loaded my kitty's meals since she had a tendency to drop quickly into low numbers and she had an early onset and nadir. She got 3 servings of food over the first few hours of each cycle.