Cali is Temporarily OTJ!

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Cali Cat and Rosi

Cali Cat and Rosi

Member Since 2017
Sorry I've been MIA that past while and hope everyone and their fur babies are doing well. I have great news as Cali's numbers have gone down and are staying between 7-10. The vet and I spoke today and he suggested I stop dosing this weekend and see how she does. He still recommends I only check her BG's once a day, thinks I check too often. I think I would still like to check her 3 times a day, AM, afternoon, then PM.
What do you guys think? Is 3x's daily still too many BG tests?
 
If the current (OTJ) BGs are consistent than three times a day testing is too much.
I only test my three insulin-dependent cats twice daily. I only test more often if I get inconsistent BG values which very seldom happens.
My Dulce has been OTJ for over two years and he gets tested monthly. All are below 100.
 
I haven't done any OTJ BG's yet as I was just advised to take her off insulin today, she had a morning shot, and she how she does this weekend. The third test was to check her halfway through cycle (nadir?) and make sure she wasn't dropping too low. I'm guessing if her numbers are normal in the AM and PM than I don't need to worry about her dropping too low and going into hypo?

Thanks,
Rosi and Cali Cat
 
Cali Cat and Rosi said:
I haven't done any OTJ BG's yet as I was just advised to take her off insulin today, she had a morning shot, and she how she does this weekend. The third test was to check her halfway through cycle (nadir?) and make sure she wasn't dropping too low. I'm guessing if her numbers are normal in the AM and PM than I don't need to worry about her dropping too low and going into hypo?

Thanks,
Rosi and Cali Cat
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No, she won't hypo if she's OTJ. Excellent news! :D
 
That's great news. Everything in this house defies the laws of nature. Always easy to spot a Canadian. The first time I read about a cat at 500 I didn't know what to think. We're almost neighbors, we live in Milton, same insulin, same meter. Good luck!
 
WHOO HOO! :D:D:D:D:DWonderful news! So very happy for you and Cali! The usual routine for an OTJ trial would be to test at your usual AM and PM times to see what Cali's BG's are for a period of 14 days. If her BG is staying within normal range then more testing is not needed. If Cali is up a bit at either the AM or PM test, getting another mid cycle test will let you know if the higher number is just a blip or if numbers are trending higher. If numbers stay within normal limits for a period of 14 days, you can officially declare Cali in remission. Numbers of 7-10 are good but normal range for a cat not on insulin is about 3-7. If her numbers start drifting upward, you may need to provide a little more insulin support to get a strong remission and might mean micro dosing. Fingers crossed Cali will stay in low numbers but if her numbers do start drifting upward, I suggest you post for some dosing assistance.
 
do remember that normal OTJ BG's are much lower than insulin dependent diabetic BG's. Shaak's OTJ BG's ran anywhere from 55-100. a number lower than 100 is no cause for alarm in an OTJ cat. It's normal.
 
I'm confused, what are 7-10 numbers and 3-7 numbers?

I'm in the US, are numbers different in Canada ?
 
Noah & me said:
That's great news. Everything in this house defies the laws of nature. Always easy to spot a Canadian. The first time I read about a cat at 500 I didn't know what to think. We're almost neighbors, we live in Milton, same insulin, same meter. Good luck!
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Hey neighbour I actually used to live in Acton and worked at Allendale in Milton many years ago!
I apologize to you and the others @Kris & Teasel , @MrWorfMen's Mom @JeffJ , @sherrib , @ Cath , I did not see the last few posts from everyone and haven't been on FDMB in close to 3 or 4 weeks. I can't believe it's been that long! I am not one for computers unless I absolutely need to be online or am extremely bored.
I wish I had checked here sooner as I missed @MrWorfMen's Mom post about testing for 14 days. I stopped testing Cali's BG's altogether besides 4 random AM and PM readings which were both under 5 within those first 12 or so days after stopping insulin. The vet convinced me to stop testing and I really wanted to stop putting her through all those pokes and once I did I felt a lot better.

I am still having some of the same challenges and other issues since Cali was Dx. I am only sleeping 2-3 hrs at a time because of her feeding issues but now most of the time I end up throwing the food in the garbage because she is refusing to eat it and would rather lick all the plastic things in my apartment, recycling bin, tote bin, outside of freezer basically anything hard and plastic. She hasn't gotten into any grocery bags (this seem popular with other feline plastic lickers/eaters online), I rarely use plastic bags and the few I have are strictly for cat litter and are in a drawer. And then there's the running outside to eat grass as if she's starving. I did notice today she did not poop so I am thinking she might constipated.
I called the vet and explained her behaviours and he didn't think anything was wrong and after much research online and on FDMB forums it does seem somewhat normal behaviour for many other cats and most of it can be explained away.
The weirdest thing about these behaviours is that they seem to happen all day one day and the next day she is fine and eating everything including the food she refused the day before! I cant find the correlation between these instances and whenever I think to bring her to the vet she's fine again. The stress of it all and lack of sleep is really starting to wear on me.
 
The licking of plastic quite often accompanies hunger and if I were you I'd test her to make sure her BG is not going up at least on days when you witness that behaviour. My girl licks paper, plastic, whatever, when she is running too high or too low and wants food so it's like her way of telling me something is up. I suppose some cats likc these things for no good reason but with a diabetic, I'd make sure it wasn't a BG issue.
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
The licking of plastic quite often accompanies hunger and if I were you I'd test her to make sure her BG is not going up at least on days when you witness that behaviour. My girl licks paper, plastic, whatever, when she is running too high or too low and wants food so it's like her way of telling me something is up. I suppose some cats likc these things for no good reason but with a diabetic, I'd make sure it wasn't a BG issue.
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I was thinking the same thing and checked her BG after biting me awake at 3am and licking plastic but she was at a 4.2 which is normal range. I also tried to feed her and at times she will eat and others she won't. I've tried warming the food, opening a fresh can, and she wouldn't eat but wanted to go outside for grass. Then I thought it was a texture thing so I got her food with cuts rather than pate and she ended up eating it that day. So I started giving her a can here and there but that stopped working. I have literally tried everything I can think of or read online and I just can't seem to figure out what or why shes doing this. She did these behaviours once in a while before her Dx but now it is a daily thing.
 
Maybe it's just become a habit with Cali. I'd keep an eye on her BG periodically just to be sure that if she does come out of remission, you catch it early. Check her once a week for a couple of weeks randomly and then once a month if she is never higher than expected.
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
Maybe it's just become a habit with Cali. I'd keep an eye on her BG periodically just to be sure that if she does come out of remission, you catch it early. Check her once a week for a couple of weeks randomly and then once a month if she is never higher than expected.
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A habit is what I am afraid of lol. I will take your advice and check her once a week. I think I am going to bring her in to the vet and get some blood work done to check if she has a deficiency, or is becoming anemic.

Thanks @MrWorfMen's Mom
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
Maybe it's just become a habit with Cali. I'd keep an eye on her BG periodically just to be sure that if she does come out of remission, you catch it early. Check her once a week for a couple of weeks randomly and then once a month if she is never higher than expected.
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Since you are also in Ontario CAN. do you know of any zero carb dry food comparable to the Young Again line that is sold here? I haven't been able to find anything online or in some of the shops I checked out. Not that carb content is listed anywhere on these bags. I got her Stella and Chewy's freeze dried food which is grain and gluten free and after checking the ingredients I didn't see much that would contribute to high carb content from what I know. I only got this as an option to leave out (not re-hydrated) while I'm not home, which she didn't touch.
 
Sorry but there is no dry food in Canada in dry food under 14%. If there was I'd be on it immediately as I have a kibble addicted cat who refuses to acknowledge that anything that does not crunch is even edible! She'd starve in the wild! :banghead::arghh::mad:

Stella & Chewy freeze dried is fine and other than raw or canned, is about the lowest in carbs available here and if memory serves it's under 10%.
 
sherrib said:
Have you tried sprinkling Parmesan cheese on the canned food?
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No I haven't tried that as it's not something I keep in the house. I did read about that trick during my research last night and thought I should try it out. Now with you mentioning it also I will definitely have to pick some up in the AM.

Thanks!
 
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