…because they signal that a meal is coming
It is usually easy to tell if your dog is going to eat and so the most practical approach for most dogs is to feed the meal as a reward after the insulin injection. It is recommended that the meal is prepared in front of the dog. If desired, a small portion or a treat may be fed immediately prior to the injection to ‘test’ the dog’s appetite. Then the insulin injection is administered and the meal given to the dog as a ‘reward’. This approach encourages dogs to accept and even look forward to the insulin injections. It is typically recommended that meals be consumed within 4 hours of the insulin injections, although many diabetic dogs will eat the whole meal immediately.