8/19 Sushi: AMPS~219|PMPS~265 (8/18 AMPS~265|PMPS~203)

Wednesday

Good evening!
Hope everyone is doing well and gearing up for a great weekend. I appreciate you checking on us! It's wonderful to be so supported!!

The past 48 hours have been absolutely CRAZY, but Sushi seems to be doing fine.
I found another cat sitter at the last minute that's able to come at the same time every day (yay!). I spent a good part of Wednesday typing up instructions, finding instructional videos and actually training her how to care for Sushi. It's pretty nerve wracking trying to "size up" a complete stranger to see if you can trust them and if they're cut out for the task, but things seem to be going really well. She caught on to everything quickly and doesn't seem to be overwhelmed or frustrated by it all. In fact, I think she's handling it better and catching on quicker than I did! We agreed she would call me each time she came to tell me his BG level and just to check in; that's been good. She's lined up to come by to test/feed/shoot next week too, so hopefully things will continue to go well!

I decided to drop Sushi back to 5u, and he's been steady yellow since. I hate that I'm not in a place to take another step with getting him regulated, but I think it's for the best to wait until we're moved and settled.

Current questions/concerns:
1. I'm still struggling to get Sushi to eat all of his food in 4 hours. He's used to grazing, and gets really confused when he goes to munch and his food is gone.
As I've mentioned before, he loves the "stock" gel stuff in the cans of food; that seems to be the "golden ticket." So I tried adding chicken broth (not much; just enough to wet his food). I know it's super high in sodium; is it okay for me to add it to his food all the time?
2. A symptom I forgot to mention is that he dry heaves a lot. I stumbled upon some other posts that describe the same thing, but they all suggested that it was because of LOW BG levels, which is definitely not the case here. Any insight?

Hi Ashley - I am so happy that you have found another pet sitter - and she sounds like a really good one. That has to be a huge sigh of relief.

I think it is good too that you have dropped Sushi back to 5u, for the time being, while things get settled. Sushi will be safe then, and it is less worry for you. Once things are all as they should be you can get back to working on numbers, etc. - for now this is really good: even and steady. Plenty of time later to go looking for blues and greens, and regulation.

I can't help too much with the questions. I used to free feed too, but with Mannie's DX i had to change all that - for all the cats. Eventually they got used to it, knew they had better eat up. :lol: not sure on the chicken broth either... it is a low sodium one? Years ago I did that for one cat, per vet instructions, just to get them to eat... .Perhaps someone else will now on that. When I need extra moisture, I just use water... Mannie doesn't seem to mind. and sorry to say - clueless on the dry heaves. Mine on occasion do that, but for them it is just because of fur balls.... Sorry - not much help, huh...

Do have a great evening! Good luck with the new job, ad the moving!

Hello,

Great news about the cat sitter, hope it continues to work out. Also glad you dropped the dose back to 5u. These numbers for a few days are not worrisome. Once the dust settles you can change your dosing strategy.

Regarding feeding, you'll find folks are using many different methods/timings. I use a 5 compartment programmable timed feeder and it was/is a lifesaver. BK eats 2 3oz cans of LC FF per 24hrs. I feed him 1/2 can at AMBG and 1/2 can at PBMG. In between those main meals the feeder feeds him. 1/4 can at +4, 1/4can at +8 and a freeze dried chicken breast chunk at +10. Around the clock. It works for us.

Not sure about the chicken broth...
No experience with dry heaves...

Hi Ashley

You have really had a full plate so I'm glad you found a great petsitter so you can get the move, etc done.

I believe you can get sodium free chicken broth or at least low sodium. Or you can make your own by boiling chicken down (including bones) and squishing the broth out of the meat and bones.

Not sure about the dry heaving.

Also...Gracie used to get fed all day, too. Then we put her on a schedule. It took a little time to adjust but she did. Hope Sushi will, too.

that gel stuff - not to tell you more than you want to know, but you know jello, right? gelatin is made from bone marrow. that's what is in the cans. if you boil a chicken carcass (including the bones, like marjorie said) in water, then put the broth in the fridge you will have chicken broth jello. you can freeze it, i think, and bring out some at a time. then it won't be too high in salt.

i don't know for certain, but would just imagine that sodium would be hard on a cat's kidneys, just like it is people kidneys. and since kidney problems often go along with diabetes, i think i would try to stay away from a super salty thing every day.

probably you could take unflavored gelatin and use a can of low-salt broth to make chicken jello too.

dry heaves - could it be hairballs? give sushi a little butter and see if things slide on through.

the point on the food schedule is because of the timing of the insulin and the carbs in the food. you can always try whatever you want and just see what the effect is on sushi's BG. leave the food out 24/7 and test to see if his numbers in the second half of the cycle go significantly higher. that's what the concern of feeding in the second half of the cycle is - so if it doesn't affect him much, then do whatever you want.

i've found that punkin will adapt to any schedule with his eating as long as i give him a few days to get used to the New Feed Me Contract, and then i really better stick with it for a long time. he just doesn't like change, but once he's used to it, it's fine.

great news on the pet-sitter! wahoo!