6/21 Leo PMPS 137

Yesterday:
http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=45885

Morning All,

Well i got up this morning, tested, fed and shot Leo and went BTB. My mother phoned and woke me up, she said that its been all over the news and radio that the city of Saskatoon is advising people to conserve water usage and has been asking people to do so since Friday, as of today....there is NO WATER!!! :shock: :shock: I guess the monsoon rainfalls have been wrecking havoc on the city's water treatment plant.......BIG GULP. I panicked and all i thought about was my precious coffee but thank god i had enough water in the fridge to make a pot...... ahhhhh. Maybe i should watch the news.

So all panic set aside, Leo is doing well and is really liking this new reduced dose, and i'm pretty happy we aren't using 500 strips a day anymore (ok slight exaggeration) because he's too low. I'm noticing his twitching more and more now, in his shoulders, front legs and face. Does this happen to anyone else besides Leo and Patty and Champ? I'm really hoping this is related to insulin, actually my gut feeling says this is related to insulin. I've rubbed him down several times to see if he's hurting anywhere, but nothing, he's just really enjoying the kitty massages he's getting. I've spent some time googling it, and all i'm getting back is that it sometimes can be a sign of slight hypogylcemia.

Anyways we hope all are having a Terrific Tuesday!

Edit: i'll post in Health re: twitching

Re: 6/21 Leo AMPS 113, +4 65, +5 59

Hmmmm me thinks someone is shooting for another reduction. I'm sure it probably would have happened this morning, but he was hungry so i fed him half a can of FF for lunch.

We are burning thru strips like there is no tomorrow. I should probably bid on a few hundred of them on ebay so i'm not going to the store every few days to buy them.

Re: 6/21 Leo AMPS 113, +4 65, +5 59

Ha, that's what I used to do. I would bid on 100 nearly expired ones because I knew they would be cheaper, and that I would go through all of them in a month! Now I can't even get through 50 in 6 months.

It does look like Leo is aiming for another decrease! This was how it was with Bandit. All of a sudden his insulin needs just kept going down and down until he was OTJ. I'm so happy that Leo's doing awesome and he finally found a food he likes!

Re: 6/21 Leo AMPS 113, +4 65, +5 59

A 100 strips lasted you a month?!?!?

OMG i'm going thru 100 in a week and a half or so!!!

:shock: :shock: Ok i need to stop testing so much.......

Re: 6/21 Leo AMPS 113, +4 65, +5 59

re: twitching
has leo had any bloodwork drawn lately? alex started mild twitching and we boiled it down to low potassium. my vet supplements with potassium when she falls below 4.0 (normal 3.4 - 5.6). he figures her potassium level drops due to the excessive peeing associated with diabetes. i have no idea if that's what is going on with leo, but perhaps having blood drawn would be a good place to start.

leo's numbers are great!

Re: 6/21 Leo AMPS 113, +4 65, +5 59

Do you use the Accu-Chek Aviva meter? If so, I bought my strips on ebay. Typically, you can get 300 strips for about $100 which isn't bad. BUT...if you use a ReliOn meter, found at Walmart, you can go to Walmart and buy the strips anytime you want, without waiting for someone to mail them to you, and the cost is less than $100 for 300. If you have a Sam's Club, they're even cheaper and you don't have to be a member. I use the Aviva also, but it takes a bigger drop of blood than the ReliOn so I end up using more strips when I miscalculate if I've gotten a big enough drop of blood going. I have the ReliOn as my backup meter and I'm going to start using it as my primary as soon as my Aviva strips run out. Just thought I'd let you know!!!

Re: 6/21 Leo AMPS 113, +4 65, +5 59

Let's see--I was testing about 4 times a day on weekdays, and then doing about 10-15 tests over the weekend. And then extra when he was low. So I lied...I guess that's about 150 strips a month.

Although at 400 a month I would say you do have room to cut back on the testing a little But do what you want to! More data is better, not worse. If I didn't have to work so much I probably would have tested more.

Re: 6/21 Leo AMPS 113, +4 65, +5 59

Like I said, you can get much better deals if you get ones that are nearly expired...like this auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/Accu-Chek-Aviva...165?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2564bdbcb5

75 bucks for 250 strips is about $15 bucks for 50--I was paying $23 for 50 for the Relion micro. But I did keep it in case of an emergency. thought about going back to it now that we are going through less strips but I really like the accuchek better.

Man, I don't know why when I'm nervous I have the urge to examine everything for cost-effectiveness. I've been doing this all day. I'm just nailbiting until I can pick Bandit up from the vet after he's done recovering from his dental.

nailbite_smile

Re: 6/21 Leo AMPS 113, +4 65, +5 59

Ok so Jill's Q......Leo had his full workup when he was dx at the beginning of April. His potassium was 3.9 (it was in mmol/L). Normal range is 3.9-5.5 so he was on the low end of it, but still in normal range. I hate to have more bloodwork done, as Leo's vet puts him under to draw blood plus it costs $400 to get a blood workup done. Maybe I'll send an email to his vet to see what he thinks about the low potassium.

Patty, we don't get the Relion stuff in Canada :evil: So aviva it is.

Julia, I did try bidding on 2 different sets of strips on eBay last week. One was 200, the other was 250. But I was at work, eBay is blocked on our computers (haha go figure huh) etc etc so i didn't win :roll: I will try bidding this week.

Let me know how Bandit's dental went, fingers and paws crossed here for you guys.

Re: 6/21 Leo AMPS 113, +4 65, +5 59

Look at Leo goooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Now is a good time to surf that number, k?

Glad you were able to get your water for coffee.....Isn't coffee one of the main food groups?