How important is it that a diabetic eat on time?
Posted by admin
TOQ asked:
My brother, sister-in-law & nephew have a diabetic cat. When I take care of my nephew I also take care of their cat. Sometimes when my nephew and I are out we get back 15 min to 30 min late for for the cat’s 1:00 feeding. Last time I actually got back an hour late.
My brother, sister-in-law & nephew have a diabetic cat. When I take care of my nephew I also take care of their cat. Sometimes when my nephew and I are out we get back 15 min to 30 min late for for the cat’s 1:00 feeding. Last time I actually got back an hour late.
Is this bothering the cat or not? It’s hard to tell with him, since he just lays around all day, and sleeps.
Would he be feeling worse?
The diabetes has goten much better and he doesn’t need to be given insulin anymore. It’s controled by diet.
Dan
September 26th, 2009 at 6:59 am
I don’t know about cats, but when taking insulin, failing to eat on time can result in the blood sugar getting dangerously low.
September 28th, 2009 at 7:13 am
Regular feeding on schedule is important___but 30 minute deviations are reasonable.
September 30th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
It depends on how the diabetes is treated.
It is less important for diet controlled diabetics and type 2 diabetics who do not take insulin or sulfonurea oral meds to eat on time. This is because sulfonurea drugs actively cause the pancreas to make more insulin which lowers the blood sugar and must be counterbalanced by eating, which raises the blood sugar. If a diabetic takes an insulin injection that is supposed to lower the sugar after a meal, and they don’t eat the meal, then their sugar goes too low.
This is especially a problem with the longer acting insulins. If an insulin lasts 12 or 24 hours and the person taking it does not stay on schedule, then there could be problems.
One advantage of a diabetic who has an insulin pump is that they have no long acting insulin in their body, and the insulin they do have acts so quickly that they can actually take it AFTER they eat if they had to. That way they know exactly how much insulin to take and it works so quickly they can be much more flexible with their schedule.
To answer your question…I am not a vet, but I imagine an hour late would not bother the cat any more than it would bother any other cat.
October 2nd, 2009 at 1:08 pm
The main reason that diet-controlled diabetics try to eat on schedule is so that they don’t get too hungry and overeat. Since you are controlling the portions, up to an hour late should be fine.