Good morning to you, too! We are pretty good this AM. We made it safely thru the night, and before breakfast Squall's BG was 346. He ate well and got his morning shot, so I will monitor him thru the day. Poor guy's getting tired of having his ears poked, I may research how to do a test using a pad, although to me that seems like it would be even more painful.Good morning, Lucy! How are you & Squallie doing this morning?
Am so glad you're around to monitor through the day; I always feel for people who can't be home to do that. (Btw, when you get a minute could you add your morning dose to the spreadsheet?)
Thank you for the advice, I will try that! Does it have to be Neosporin or will any triple antibiotic suffice? I know Squallie will try to wash his ears, it won't hurt if he ingests what he gets on his paws?
Am so glad you're around to monitor through the day; I always feel for people who can't be home to do that. (Btw, when you get a minute could you add your morning dose to the spreadsheet?)
Re: Ear pokes - Yeah, at the beginning of Bat-Bat's treatment, I felt horrible about having to poke her, as she made it so obvious she hated it.
(Trying to squirm away, a little bit of squawking at the pin-prick.) But she got used to it fairly quickly - I alternate ears from test to test - and now she just crouches on the chair ("assumes the position") & acts like it's a normal part of life. There really aren't that many nerve endings at the edges of their ears; I would think that getting pricked on the paw-pads would hurt more ... but then, I have no experience with that option because Bat-Bat BITES if I try to touch her feet!
Aww, Lucy, I'm sorry you're feeling so low about that. It's hard on us when we're already worried because of the diabetes, and then we must do all these things to help that our kitties don't like & there's no way we can explain to them that it's for their own good. But trust me, he WILL become accustomed to all the things you must do to treat him effectively. His more affectionate behaviors will return as he starts feeling better.
Aww, Lucy, I'm sorry you're feeling so low about that. It's hard on us when we're already worried because of the diabetes, and then we must do all these things to help that our kitties don't like & there's no way we can explain to them that it's for their own good. But trust me, he WILL become accustomed to all the things you must do to treat him effectively. His more affectionate behaviors will return as he starts feeling better.
Discomfort at ear-poke time is far better than what can result from a hypo episode - and thinking of that is what helped me stay strong, even though I was a "tower of Jello" at times, inside. You're doing just fine!
Sounds like Squallie is a smart cat!
Hi Lucy,
Thanks , Joan, I do this every time but for some reason his left ear seems prone to bruising, more than his right. I'm thinking of trying a finer lancet to see if that helps.
It's odd, sometimes they do, and sometimes not at all. Probably me doing something wrong, poking him in the wrong place or something.Aw, poor guy. I'll bet that will help a little. His ears should be good at bleeding by now
Oh, I can well imagine. I get that look all the time! How long did it take before her ears "toughened up"?
Well, we're at just over a month now, maybe we'll turn that corner soon. Fingers crossed!
Lucy,
ECID - every cat is different - from ears to toes!
Melanie, I think I've done something to screw up the spreadsheet again :-( I don't know why but today's date-box turned black when I entered the info, and somehow the info line for the 6th has moved back up the list again! I swear I don't do this stuff on purpose, I don't know what I keep doing that causes all this havoc! BTW, I just last night noticed the second spreadsheet for the Alphatrak, thank you so much, it's lovely to have all the info in one place (I just need to fill it in, now)!
So true, and part of why we love them so much!ECID - every cat is different - from ears to toes!
Thanks for the headsup, Joan!
Okay, thanks, I'll try that!
No joy :-(, still doing the same thing. I think I probably hit one of the "artsy" icons by accident but I don't seem to be able to resolve it, obviously my tablet is smarter than me, lol!
Oh, goody! Would you like another one? (Only kidding, I dearly love my wicked black kitty!) I told Bat-Bat that you complimented her. Then she bit me.
Thanks Áine! I'm happy to help! Poor Lucy has a renegade keyboard on her tablet, although I suspect it may actually be Squallie surfing in the wee hours …
Lucy, have you checked your credit card statements to make sure Squallie hasn't ordered anything off Amazon when you weren't looking?
Thanks for checking on him, RobinHi, Lucy - Just checking in to see how Squallie's doing tonight.
He seems good tonight. His PMPS BG was only 219 and I was a little hesitant about giving him 7 units but I took a deep breath and gave it, figure it'll just be another long sleepless night of testing. But that's okay, if that's what it takes that's what we'll do!Ok, I did NOT post that twice.Appears there is a ghost in my machine! (Has been happening a LOT.)
Perhaps whatever Lucy's tablet has is catching?
Nice PMPS # you have there! Glad you & Squallie had an uneventful day!
Was reading through the above posts re: food ... Lucy, if you can't transition him out of eating kibble, please at least transition him from the Purina D/M dry to either of the two dry foods others have recommended (Evo or Young Again, I believe.) Because the D/M dry is @ 31% carbs, & you say he's eating about 3/4 cup of the D/M per day, right? (One of your earlier posts: He eats Fancy Feast or Friskie's pate' and ProPlan DM. I can only get him to eat about 1/2 can per day, 1/4 for breakfast and 1/4 for dinner. He much prefers the dry, and he gets that throughout the day, about 3/4 of a cup all told.)
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Was reading through the above posts re: food ... Lucy, if you can't transition him out of eating kibble, please at least transition him from the Purina D/M dry to either of the two dry foods others have recommended (Evo or Young Again, I believe.) Because the D/M dry is @ 31% carbs, & you say he's eating about 3/4 cup of the D/M per day, right? (One of your earlier posts: He eats Fancy Feast or Friskie's pate' and ProPlan DM. I can only get him to eat about 1/2 can per day, 1/4 for breakfast and 1/4 for dinner. He much prefers the dry, and he gets that throughout the day, about 3/4 of a cup all told.)
Lucy, that amount of high-carb dry every day is really shooting you & Squallie in the foot. I'm feeling fairly certain that this is playing a significant role in his numbers not coming down as much as you'd like: Squallie's getting a dry food that's 3 times the max. amount of carb content that a diabetic cat should be consuming. (Not beating you up here, just encouraging you. It took me a while to wrap my head around all of this the first time around with Bat-Bat, too.
So if you must feed him dry at those times he refuses to eat any brand of low-carb canned, please transition him from the D/M kibble to a much lower-carb kibble. (Any extra cost will be cancelled out by less need for insulin over time.) Make that transition bit-by-bit, though - Ex: 75% DM/25% Young Again or Evo; then 50/50, then 25/75, etc., making sure you keep monitoring because his BG numbers will likely drop considerably (and his dosage of insulin will likely have to be reduced then, too).
Keep on keepin' on, Lucy ... Squallie will get there, I know: because I can see (even from this far away) how much you adore your kitty!
