12/15 Willie PMPS 257

Yesterday’s Condo

Starting to look like a familiar daily starting place for us! I do know that infections do drive up blood sugar numbers... does anybody know if antibiotic dosages drive them down? I generally give Willie his antibiotic after his pre-shot poke while he's eating or just after. He's healing nicely, but does still have a little ways to go. It will be interesting to see what his numbers look like when the infection and antibiotics are finally out of his system.

AMPS 351
+9.5 303

Re: 12/15 Willie AMPS 351

Hi K and Willie,
I haven't visited your condo before, but I'm glad to see that you are up and running with a spreadsheet and a daily condo. Welcome (a bit belated) to LL!
I believe that antibiotics do affect the bg level, but you will have to wait for someone more knowledgeable to tell you how! If Willie still has some infection, that would almost certainly result in higher numbers. In any event, when you have finished your course of antibiotics you will have a much better idea of how Willie is trending. By that time it will probably be necessary to begin increasing his dose, following the protocol. Be patient, because Lantus takes a while to get settled in the cat's system. And the infection/antibiotics are combining to give you readings that may not be representative.
Hang in there!

Ella & Rusty

Re: 12/15 Willie AMPS 351

Hi Christie,
Infection will keep the BG numbers elevated, in our experience you don't get a nice curve when there's an infection present....the numbers tend to stay high and relatively flat. Some antibiotics could elevate numbers because they contain sugar, usually liquid forms of antibiotics. Other than that, our experience has been that the infection causes the high numbers, and the numbers will begin to drop once the antibiotics work to clear up the infection. This can happen suddenly, so it is important to be monitoring so you catch the drop in numbers, as you may need to decrease the insulin dose to compensate.

Re: 12/15 Willie AMPS 351

Thanks for the responses!

I was thinking with his numbers generally above 250, I might advocate on Friday to increase his dosage. but given the infection, it sounds like it might be better to keep him a little high but stable at the 1 unit dose until we're done with the infection and antibiotics. Unless the doctor is crazy pleased with his progress, we've got at least another week left on the meds. His tummy is healing up nicely (the skin infection took over most of his belly from head to tail), but it still has a little ways to go. Given that I work full-time and will be traveling for new years and leaving the kitties with a sitter, I think conservative is the way to go right now.

Thanks again!

Christie

Re: 12/15 Willie AMPS 351

Christie, are you testing for ketones? With the BG elevated, and an infection present, you need to be testing regularly for ketones. You can get ketostix at any pharmacy, you dip the strip into his urine. That is important, as ketones can become a very expensive and life threatening condition if not caught early. It also would very much affect any dosing guidance...so please do this ASAP.

I wouldn't necessarily say that you shouldn't increase the dose to try to bring the numbers down while he is fighting the infection, just that you need to be aware that his insulin needs may change suddenly as the infection clears up. His numbers are relatively high, and not seeming to come down much at the spot checks you have gotten. He may benefit from a dose increase for now, at least until you leave on your trip. Let's see what others have to say on that.

Re: 12/15 Willie AMPS 351

Thanks! I haven't done much with the ketostix yet. I've read about them, but am not sure how well I'll be able to implement them. Willie tends to do his litterbox business when I'm not in the house and I have two cats using the boxes, so I can't just do the "sprinkle the stix in the litterbox" trick. My cats tend to cuddle and sleep together during the day, so I'm hesitant to add to Willie's stress by separating them into different rooms while I'm gone.

I will definitely get the stix and try to be more diligent about trying to catch willie in the act... at least on the weekends when I'm home during the day to catch him if nothing else!

Re: 12/15 Willie AMPS 351

Christie...welcome to LL and I hope Willie will be feeling much better soon!!

Some people put saran wrap in the box to catch the urine. I make little trays out of aluminum foil and then every morning as soon as we get up, I put Gracie in the litter box and slip a tray under her bottom as she squats. I only need a little bit of urine and I just slowly pull the tray out and dip in the ketostix. Some days I miss her in the morning but we can usually catch her going at some time...but lately, we've gotten into this morning routine and it's working for us.

Good luck!!

evening update--

did a spot check at +9.5 (see above), and willie seems to have made a nice downward move today, which gives me a little assurance that all this is doing something! willie seems to have perked up today. we had some play time tonight, which we haven't done in awhile. he was probably going at 60-70% of his energy and enthusiasm when he's at his best, but he was definitely perky. even tonight, he hasn't passed out on the couch yet, which usually by now he's snoring away on his kitty bed pillow.

While I know it will probably stress him out, i'm anxious for the vet to check out his skin and see if he's putting any weight on when we go in Friday morning. will be interested to see what she advises.

Have been thinking about it today, and I'm leaning a little more towards keeping him at 1 unit until after new years (barring any dramatic upward changes to his numbers, obviously). I've also just started him on a pancreatic supplement which someone recommended. I'm just nervous about upping his dosage, then having the supplement kick in, the infection resolve itself, and then suddenly his numbers drop... especially knowing that i'll be away in a couple weeks and that we're going to be traveling a somewhat long distance for Christmas.

Just happy with the small steps I'm seeing so far.

It sounds like you are on the right track and doing lots of sensible things. Keep your eye on him. Glad to see that he came down tonight and that he is getting more playful again. Good work!

Ella & Rusty

Not a bad PMPS, and great that you got a spot check! The more data you get between the preshots, the better you will be able to see how the insulin is working. It would be very helpful to get another test in before bed tonight.

I would prefer to see more spot checks before increasing the dose, so it's fine to stay with the 1.0u for now. I really would like to see ketone testing as soon as you can, it is something you want to be on top of.

Christie -

Great looking PMPS!

Make sure your read the labels on any supplements you're giving. Many of them contain sugar in one of it's various forms. Even if the vet recommended a supplement, it could contain sugar. My vet suggested a probiotic for Gabby that contained sugar. She felt it was "such a small amount" that it wouldn't make any difference. I asked her if she'd give a diabetic child a tablespoon of ice cream twice a day. She blushed and said she understood my point!

Re: 12/15 Willie PMPS 257, +2 303

Thanks for all the input, everyone! We're creeping back up again a little. I'd love to get a +4 but I've already fell asleep on the couch... twice!

The Pancreatrophin doesn't have any sugars that I see... a couple of carb ingredients... alfalfa, wheatgerm and buckwheat. The Immune Support supplement has a couple similar ingredients fairly far down the list and has honey listed as a "tableting aid." Part of why I'm trying to get in spot checks the next few days (in addition to reading the sticky on the "forgotten" spot checks!) is to see what the effects of these are so I can do a cost-benefit... do they seem to benefit him vs. do they significantly affect his blood sugar? I think I blew his curve earlier this week when I gave him a methylB12 supplement with lactose in it. He was in the 400s the whole day and then shot a 501 the next morning. I took him off it right away and he came back down. I just want to do whatever I can to help his system recover from the infection, keep future infections away, and take pressure off his pancreas as we tackle the FD.

Going to have my sister come over this weekend and may have a friend or two stop by. Willie is my little petslut kitty who believes that the sole purpose of human existence is to love on him. since the onset of the skin infection, he'd been far less social, so it will be good to see how he reacts to humans other than me.

thanks again. everyone's support and suggestions really mean the world to us.