How do I know when my kitty is in remission

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MrWorfMen's Mom said:
I'm not sure I can share my true thoughts in mixed company!
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I agree - I had to leave that one alone too.

Just back from a vet visit and I'm out this evening, but I'll be about tomorrow. @Critter Mom - get your rest, you need it. I'll look in when I get home later on and I'll be here tomorrow. If there's an emergency, because I'm following the thread I'll get an email notification to my phone while I'm away from my computer this evening. Between us, we've got this. :)
 
PS ... I just wanted to double-check summat and picked up the following from MO2F's opening post:

Mum of two felines said:
Buzz is the second SS below. This weekend I've taken him completely off dry food ...
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Watch for BG to possibly start trending progressively lower over the next few days if dry food not reintroduced.

EDITED TO ADD:
Infection / resolution thereof may complicate things further.

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No I think I'll take everyone's advise and stick with just the w/d canned until this infection has run it's course. Thankfully his "real" owner has a snow day tomorrow so she can watch for funny behavior. She is not wanting to learn how to prick, but I really wish she would.
 
Hey stop hoggin' all the snow! Share it! All we're gettin' is rain and I'd rather have snow even if it means some shovelling! Much prettier 'cause right now it's looking pretty brown and dismal here nature wise! Send some east PLEASE!
 
This is our first snow that counted! We've had some rain, but not enough. We just got the edge of Storm Kayla, further north got like 24 inches. We just have 35 mph winds .
 
Ok. I guess you don't get a lot of snow in Kansas? I guessing location from your mention of K-state? I'm just finding this winter so depressing because it looks so BLAHHH outside! Aiming to try and get me some snow from anywhere I can to cheer the outside up! I'll send rain in return!
 
We'll take the rain!! This will help the wheat! I live across the state from K-State. Actually I am closer to Denver than Manhattan KS. It was starting to look BLAH here too! Friday afternoon and Saturday w worked in the yard taking out a tree and cutting some huge bushes back.
 
Ok figured it out! K State is the university. No gardening here right now. It's not as cold as usual but far too cold for any gardening activities! On the other hand the heater in my pond is not getting much of a workout and I know my fish are OK so I suppose I should be happy for small blessings!
 
Yes it's a four year university. It also has one of the few veterinary schools in the US. My daughter has a friend who will be graduating from there this year or next. She's not I practice yet, but I know her heart is in large animals. Cattle mainly. And that is what our two vets mainly do. They are consultants for the feed yards around the area and are vets for the ranchers. They do small animals and there are a lot of them. My vet is almost ready to retire.
 
Kansas has 3 larger universities, kansas state university, university of kansas (where basketball was invented, and has the medical school for humans) and wichita state university. The closest town to me is 24 miles away and they are smaller than my town. The town south of us is 40 miles away and has target walgreens walmart. It's the largest city within 3 hours of me.
 
If your vet is nearing retirement, that likely explains why he/she is so unfamiliar with the newer diabetic cat treatment methods. I've noticed the same kind of issues here when folks live in a more rural area where large animals are their bread and butter. I think it may have something to do with a lot of cats being barn cats and people just don't want to spend any time or energy treating them so the vets just advice the easiest simplest treatment possible and hope for the best.
 
I live in Toronto, a humungous metropolis, so finding vets is much easier but can still be a bit of a challenge. When my vet of 30+ years passed away, I went to see the vet who took over his practice and she was useless and horrible and I had to find a new one in short order. After a lot of interviews and research I lucked out with my current vet and I count my blessing every day with my little odd ball! I can only imagine how frustrating this must be for you.
 
Mum of two felines said:
Although his wife informed me he researches all the conditions. I wonder why he didn't find the info you guys have.
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Probably because diabetes seems so simple. Give insulin. I really think this is one disease that requires a lot of hands on experience and a lot of input from the caregiver and obviously if he usually handles farm animals, he's just not used to dealing with a diabetic cat and the caregiver to the same degree as is required in this circumstance. There's all sorts of info on the web and depending on what you read, you get different information so who knows what he found and read. I'm still finding stuff I never saw before after countless hours of research over the past year on my journey with Menace.
 
I'm glad you found us too! Looks like Woody is in much better shape tonight. You might want to get another reading before you hit the pillow just to be absolutely sure he's OK but it looks like he will be fine. I know you don't like that number but with all the lows lately, it going to take a day or so for things to start normalizing so don't despair. Patience is the name of the game!

I'd suggest you start a new post tomorrow as this one is getting really long. We'll track you down so don't worry....we'll be here.:)
 
If you can manage it, I'd recommend testing again at +3. If you look at Woody's data you'll see that he typically goes lower after +2. He has already dropped over 100 points from the earlier pink.


Mogs
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Ok, thanks Mogs! I'll stay up and check. I have another snow day so I can also wake up at +5 to check him. I have learned so much over the last few days. Looking back at his spreadsheet I'm surprised he's walking! I am surprised you guys didn't say, "hey dummy! Quit giving so much insulin!" Thanks for being so understanding even though I was making major mistakes!
 
Mum of two felines said:
Thanks for being so understanding even though I was making major mistakes!
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I wanted to help without rendering you catatonic with fear! ;) That would have helped neither man nor beast.

The thing you need to get your head around is that you're trying to be an artificial pancreas for your cats. The problem is that, unlike a cat's pancreas, the insulin you inject doesn't come with an off switch. Therefore you are now engaged in a balancing act between the dose and the amount of carbs in the diet - round these parts it's called the Sugar Dance. :) Reduce the food carbs and you are highly likely to need less insulin. Also, there is no linear relationship between how high BG is at preshot and how low a dose will drop BG. The preshot BG level is only part of the story. You need to look at how low a dose takes the cat (the nadir BG level) to make the safest dosing decisions. Also, dietary carbs aren't the only thing you're dealing with. As April explained earlier, the liver converts excess dietary carbs to glycogen which is stored for later release. When BG levels drop the liver breaks down the glycogen or other macronutrients into glucose to provide energy to the body's cells. If there's too much insulin in the cat's system the liver tries its best to compensate by producing more glucose so as to protect the cat, hence bouncing. If you can refine the dose so that you don't trigger bouncing the preshots can become more meaningful.

I'm about to pass out (sleeping tablet onboard). I wish you all a safe night.


Mogs
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Critter Mom said:
Also, there is no linear relationship between how high BG is at preshot and how low a dose will drop BG.
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That's exactly what I was thinking! But now I can tell that my Woody will need time. I have to remember that I've been doing this with Buzz since August. And Woody was dosed with 4 times the amount that Buzz was at at his highest. His little body (all 13.6 lbs) will have to have time to adjust and heal from all of this!
 
I'm sure you need some shut eye even if you do have a snow day so yes you could put out some kibble for him tonight. If you can get another test in an hour, you'll know if he's continuing to drop as fast or slowing down. He's just a little unpredictable right now so the goal is to try to keep in better but safe numbers. So far so good but he's down another hundred points and we don't know if he's at his lowest yet. We are at +4 now? Is that right?
 
Ok. can you get another test in an hour? I have to retest my furkid in about half an hour anyway so can check back in an hour to see how Woody is doing if you will post the reading here. I want to make sure you guys are Ok tonight!
 
Yeah he's rising now (and maybe nibbled some kibble) so I think it's safe to call it a night and get some shut eye. Tomorrow I'd keep the kibble out of the picture as long as there are no precipitous drops that need a major boost to try and get a clearer picture of a kibble free cycle on 1u . Have a good rest! You've earned it Big Time! Good night!:bighug:
 
Great job monitoring last night. Hope you got a good rest! Not a bad starting number for the day. Hopefully any bounce is clearing and you'll get start to get a better idea of what 1u is really doing for Woody. Heading over to your new thread!
 
Mum of two felines said:
Woody just came in at 393 +10. Please tell me not to worry!
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I have used Novolin N before for my cat.i started low and upped dose day by day til I got to where she started going too low and had to adjust it lower.Novolin can pack a punch sometimes.cat can be in 400s and drop 200 in first hour and more after that or it can act a little gentler and drop more slowly over the first few hrs.and will drop out of their system really fast.i had to dose every 8hrs cause it wouldn't last 12 with my baby.
 
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