3/14 Sheba AMPS 138;+3 307. +8 156, PMPS 160

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Still won't load....must be something on your end though since others are loading for me

There's never really a "wrong thing".....every cat is different so you have to experiment to see what works best for your cat! It might help for you to start making notes of the carb % that you use and see if you can find the lowest percentage that will get her surfing safely

Remember, we want them to spend as much time between 50-120 as possible so that pancreas can hopefully heal!

Edited to add...forget that first line!! I see others are having trouble too now! Guess Google is having a nervous breakdown today
 
+6 92
I rebooted the SS and it let me fill in the numbers OK now. I can see it wont load on the forum for me either. Don't know what could be wrong. Maybe it is Google as they are aware of the problem.

Thanks for the tips Chris. I am noting every bit of MC food I give Sheba in my book I keep at home. I only give her less than a teaspoon, sometimes less than a half, and she does respond to it but usually keeps on dropping but at a more sedate rate.
I will definitely note what I give her as I want her to surf and hopefully heal that pancreas!
Thanks,
Bron
 
You aren't the only one having issues with the spreadsheets, though Google does seem to be working now.

Great job shooting that 108 this evening, you now have a new lowest PS shot. :cool: Looks like Sheba has slowed down nicely. :D When they first hit the greens, you can give them a tsp or two of their regular low carb food. It can help them surf there.
 
Looks like she's starting to taper off a bit now, I think she'll probably go a little lower but I don't think she's going to hit 50 tonight. Since others are up and around now I will leave you to it. Nighty nighty.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
You aren't the only one having issues with the spreadsheets, though Google does seem to be working now.

Great job shooting that 108 this evening, you now have a new lowest PS shot. :cool: Looks like Sheba has slowed down nicely. :D When they first hit the greens, you can give them a tsp or two of their regular low carb food. It can help them surf there.
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Thanks Wendy,
Sheba seems to be behaving herself tonight. She woke me earlier to let me know she was dropping and hungry. I had the alarm set but she beat it! She has hit the greens now so are you saying I should give her some of her regular food? She will love that!
 
Yes to her regular food, and maybe a couple more tsps now. Looks like she hasn't finished dropping. This is her typical nadir, let's see if she's being typical tonight.
 
Shebas AMPS is 138. Could I reduce her dose to 6.25 please. I don't feel at all comfortable giving her 6.5 after last night. I am only just awake and feel very seedy at the moment--- sorry. I can't stay awake all day and monitor. I only got 3 hours sleep last night. Not meaning to be a wimp:(
Bron
 
Bron and Sheba said:
Shebas AMPS is 138. Could I reduce her dose to 6.25 please. I don't feel at all comfortable giving her 6.5 after last night. I am only just awake and feel very seedy at the moment--- sorry. I can't stay awake all day and monitor. I only got 3 hours sleep last night. Not meaning to be a wimp:(
Bron
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I understand Bron. I have a lot going on and add lack of sleep to that and I just couldn't dose a green number last night so I left it till this morning and dosed a low blue number instead. I have realised lately that unless I look after myself I can't look after my Lucy and so it is like the advice given on planes to put your own oxygen mask on first when you are trying to help others put their oxygen masks on. You did really well and you also need to look after yourself too. I have a chronic illness which causes severe fatigue and I really struggle a lot when I don't sleep properly. Hugs and understanding to you. :bighug:
 
Hi Bron - no need to feel like a wimp. You did shoot a lower number last night. If you need to sleep, it's OK to shoot a lower dose today, but I'd go back to 6.5 tonight. One thing to be aware of, you could still see some effects of the 6.5 unit depot today. You may still need to monitor somewhat. Or she could bounce. She should be fine for a few hours after the shot - I'd try to get a nap in early. And Voula is right - you need to take care of you to take care of Sheba.:bighug:
 
Bron --

How long until your shot time? If it's at least 15 min - or if not, you could stall for 30 min -- to see if when you re-test, if numbers are rising. I understand why you're nervous since you've not ever shot lower numbers. How about a re-test?
 
OK I did a retest and it was 180 so I gave the full dose. I had given her a tiny bit of raw meat to test as I didn't think for a moment she would test low. So I don't know if that bumped it up. I guess I just panicked a bit. Just awake...feel like I have a giant hangover:blackeye:
Thanks for responding so quickly:) I don't want to stuff her up as she is suddenly doing so well
 
Just up after an hour in bed, not sure if I slept of not. But the rest was good. It's Saturday here so my time is my own.
+3 is 307. Hopefully a food spike.

Just want to clarify something please ................I have been feeding Sheba's fast drops with MC food (15.8 carbs) to slow the drop (on advice from forum) and it has made a huge difference to Sheba not bouncing nearly as much. And it looks like it has allowed her to lower her numbers generally. My question is:
When Sheba has a low preshot, then has a food spike up to around +3, if she is having an active cycle, she almost always starts to drop by around +4 when the insulin kicks in. The drop between +4 and + 5 or 6 is often a fast drop. Is it OK for me to give her a small amt of MC when I see this? I have also been giving her some MC to 'manage' the drop and stop her going below 50
I know she would drop below 50 if I didn't give her some MC and I don't like that happening esp at night (scaredy cat I know:nailbiting:). I think I feel like this because she is a fast dropper when she is on a mission, and I am scared if I left her to drop under 50 she might drop too low too fast.:eek:
Opinions and advice please:)
Bron
 
We have a number of people here who manage their kitties cycles with food. Sheba has company doing fast drops. Sometimes it means changing the regular LC to a slightly higher carb food or it could mean giving MC or higher low carb food. You have to experiment with what works for Sheba. Jill gives an great explanation of feeding the curve in this condo. Tashie was on Lantus, so the times might be slightly different for Sheba on Levemir.

As for feeding higher carb overnight - I am a great believer in getting sleep. There are many times when I've seen Neko lower than I felt comfortable leaving her, so I've given HC to "abort" the cycle and bring her up so I can go back to sleep. I figure if she's ready for a reduction, she'll show me again soon enough, preferable during the day time the next time. For me it's taken some experimentation to know how much HC to feed, to bring her up enough to be safe, but not to skyrocket. It's good to track quantities and times you feed higher carb so you learn what works for you.
 
Thanks Wendy,
I felt I was cheating a bit giving her the MC food to keep her above 50. I am quite comfortable above that number but it makes me very uncomfortable below......only because of how fast she drops. I guess I will get more comfortable with it as time goes by.
Re the MC food. Is 15.8 OK for MC? I have looked for MC which is also low phosphorus and this is the only one I could see. For high carb I have had to go with a FF one which is high phosphurus but I rarely use it.
I can see Sheba is starting to put on a little bit of weight with all this extra food. I usually have her on a strict amount and don't vary it.
If I cut her back in her basis food will that change the insulin needs?
Sorry so many questions. Thanks
Bron
 
I am interested in what foods are medium and high carb. I have found the fancy feast grilled with wheat in them which should be higher carb don't really affect Lucy's glucose levels but the Whiskas casserole in the cans seems to have more of an effect. The fancy feast in gravy I have had to feed a whole can to have any effect.
 
Most of the carbs are in the gravy - so if you're really trying to raise blood sugar, you want to start with giving the gravy. I think it helps to have a seriously high carb gravy cat food (like over 20%, preferably 25%) to use when dealing with low numbers. The lower the carb content of your HC, the more you'll have to give to have it take effect.

If you cut back her food volume by a lot, yes, it could change her insulin needs. Just depends on how sensitive she is. What carb works for you is just a matter of experimentation. Some people routinely feed around 3-5% and use 10% or so as medium carb. I originally bought a 16% for a HC until someone helping me suggested that he wasn't coming up easily from low numbers because I had too low of a high carb.

It's great to steer her with food - what you might want to do is look at the volume you intend for meals and then just divide it up into smaller servings. If she's underweight it's ok if she regains her weight, but if she's getting fluffy you want to be cautious. Fat is not helpful to diabetic cats. You also don't want her to lose weight fast, though - cats need to lose weight very slowly.

That's not a very definitive answer about the carbs - mostly because some cats are very sensitive to slight differences in carbs and some are not. If you take good notes in your spreadsheet you'll be able to look at what works and what doesn't.
 
Voula said:
I am interested in what foods are medium and high carb. I have found the fancy feast grilled with wheat in them which should be higher carb don't really affect Lucy's glucose levels but the Whiskas casserole in the cans seems to have more of an effect. The fancy feast in gravy I have had to feed a whole can to have any effect.
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There are two different FF 'gravy' cans here in Aus. One is a classic recipe and it is low carb according to my source. If that is the one you are feeding it won't have an effect on the bsl. There is another one which is not a classic recipe and it is high carb. Check to see if it says 'classic recipe' on the can.
Recently I posted a thread on the main forum with a list of the canned food I had researched here in Aus. Did you see it?You might be able to find other foods on that. If you google www.weruva.com you will get the website of Weruva food which is now available here in Aus from Petbarn stores. Can be ordered online as well. They have a comprehensive list of all, the carbs, protein , fats etc. The brands in the Weruva range available here are the 'cats in the kitchen" cans (all low carb) and the pouches which are higher carb. I like them because they are lower in phosphorus. There is also the BFF I think it is called in the Weruva range, which I haven't used but may be suitable for you. Weruva is a high quality brand, and a bit more expensive than some but I think worth it. I use the Chick Magnet in the pouch for my medium carb (15.8 carbs).
Bron
 
Bron and Sheba said:
There are two different FF 'gravy' cans here in Aus. One is a classic recipe and it is low carb according to my source. If that is the one you are feeding it won't have an effect on the bsl. There is another one which is not a classic recipe and it is high carb. Check to see if it says 'classic recipe' on the can.
Recently I posted a thread on the main forum with a list of the canned food I had researched here in Aus. Did you see it?You might be able to find other foods on that. If you google www.weruva.com you will get the website of Weruva food which is now available here in Aus from Petbarn stores. Can be ordered online as well. They have a comprehensive list of all, the carbs, protein , fats etc. The brands in the Weruva range available here are the 'cats in the kitchen" cans (all low carb) and the pouches which are higher carb. I like them because they are lower in phosphorus. There is also the BFF I think it is called in the Weruva range, which I haven't used but may be suitable for you. Weruva is a high quality brand, and a bit more expensive than some but I think worth it. I use the Chick Magnet in the pouch for my medium carb (15.8 carbs).
Bron
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Thank you Bron. I am feeding mostly the low carb classic FF varieties with no wheat in them and the Whiskas pouches which are also low carb. The higher carb fancy feast are the gravy varieties and supposedly the grilled varieties though the grilled also say classics but they have wheat in them so I presume they are higher carb. I will have a look at the weruva foods.
 
julie & punkin (ga) said:
Most of the carbs are in the gravy - so if you're really trying to raise blood sugar, you want to start with giving the gravy. I think it helps to have a seriously high carb gravy cat food (like over 20%, preferably 25%) to use when dealing with low numbers. The lower the carb content of your HC, the more you'll have to give to have it take effect.

If you cut back her food volume by a lot, yes, it could change her insulin needs. Just depends on how sensitive she is. What carb works for you is just a matter of experimentation. Some people routinely feed around 3-5% and use 10% or so as medium carb. I originally bought a 16% for a HC until someone helping me suggested that he wasn't coming up easily from low numbers because I had too low of a high carb.

It's great to steer her with food - what you might want to do is look at the volume you intend for meals and then just divide it up into smaller servings. If she's underweight it's ok if she regains her weight, but if she's getting fluffy you want to be cautious. Fat is not helpful to diabetic cats. You also don't want her to lose weight fast, though - cats need to lose weight very slowly.

That's not a very definitive answer about the carbs - mostly because some cats are very sensitive to slight differences in carbs and some are not. If you take good notes in your spreadsheet you'll be able to look at what works and what doesn't.
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Really helpful reply Julie. And food for thought. I think I need to rethink her meals to include some of this higher carb food when necessary. At the moment because I prepare the food myself, she has no carbs really except from the pumpkin. Oh and a quarter can of 4 carb weruva I add in twice a day mainly for flavour- she loves it- and if I am missing any supplements it might help. Don't think I am though.

At present I do divide her meals up and give at+12, +2 or 3 and +4 or 5 depending on the day and where I am at. So I could add a bit of medium carb (15.8) to one of those meals to manage the curve. What do you think?

She is a good weight at the moment, and I have struggled to get her here are times, she was underweight for ages and I just could not get the weight on. I don't want to overfeed her and have another problem. She loves her food and will eat all I give her, so the potential is there to put on weight. Just as well she doesn't know how to open the frig or we would be in trouble.

I have a FF 22 carb I keep for high carb situations and it seems to work well. If I really need to get it up fast I give her a drop of honey. Try not to though.

This forum has helped me so much. I have struggled with fast drops and bouncing for a year and it looks like things might be about to change, thanks to all you wonderful people.
Bron
 
I can't even imagine taking care of a diabetic cat without help from people here. It's invaluable to have the wealth of experience of people here - and because cats are each so different, something's going to be right for your cat.

I think i'll find your post on foods available in Australia and add it to the "Where Can I Find?" post. There'll be others who find it helpful in the future. Thanks for sharing it!
 
Thanks Julie,
I wish I had joined months ago. I used to look at the site daily, and I did learn a lot by just reading all the stuff, but this help I am getting now is unbelievable and is making a big difference to my life already.
Thanks for adding that post to the 'where can I find' list. Hopefully it can help others
Bron
 
I looked at this site for about 2 months before I joined. Punkin was diagnosed in December and I found it right away, but I was kinda put off by the lingo - all the "surfing in the green lagoon" type stuff. But I realized how much I needed the help and joined in February - and was so glad. Punkin turned out to have acromegaly and my vet didn't even know what it was.

by the way, you might want to edit the subject line if you're not still needing advice. Every time I see it I think you've got a new question! :D If you are looking for more opinions, that's fine - just leave it.
 
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