A new week...

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Hey there, glad you didn't panic last night with those low numbers and very gad that you listened to your instinct about the dose last night, very surprising that he went that low after a recent skipped shot and on that dose . When he goes that low higher carb wet is best because dry takes to long to bring the numbers up .

It might be best that you only move the time up by a half hour because Sam is on a mission and an early shot will act like dose increase.
 
I went with a chubby 1.5u. He's usually higher during the day, and I only have one meeting I have to go in for, so I'll be able to work from home most of the day. I'm curious what other people would have done? I was really torn between giving a reduction and being aggressive.

I gave him the Evo at the +4 because I was hoping to avoid going with the high carb food and dealing with a high number this morning, but when I checked him about 40 minutes later and saw the 49, I got out the gravy. Thankfully, he was totally normal again this morning.

I was really surprised by that dive too. Especially after hitting the 277. I thought we were going to have a high cycle and I was regretting giving such a low dose. I'm so so thankful for your help yesterday, and the encouragement that if he went low I could handle it. I kept reminding myself of that last night, and it really helped.

I hadn't thought of shooting early as being similar to a dose increase. I'll try to babystep us back to the regular schedule.

He ate a big breakfast this morning. And now he's standing by the closet where he now knows I store the kibble and he's crying softly and pawing at the door, then giving me his sad eyes. I may regret working from home today ;)
 
Looks pretty flat today. Maybe should have given a little more this morning? It feels like it's an unpredictable guessing game at this point...
 
Djamila said:
Looks pretty flat today. Maybe should have given a little more this morning? It feels like it's an unpredictable guessing game at this point...
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Don't second guess yourself. He's more insulin sensitive today because of the low greens - look at the blue you have at a much smaller dose than you gave yesterday that gave a similar blue.
 
Good point. I may try to get a late cycle number since he's being super cooperative today. The last two days it's seemed that he's either having a late nadir, or dropping through the whole cycle. Getting a +8 or 9 might help figure out what's happening.
 
And we don't know if he actually is hitting that nadir late either..it's possible that's been his issue all along.
 
We're about at +8, but he's sleeping on my lap which he never does, and he's making these adorable little kitty snores. So now I'm thinking +9 might be better...:cat:
 
He got up on his own. There was no way I was going to break the spell!

And of course, now that I'm paying attention, he's gone back to his regular cycle and is rising (227 at +8.25).

Maybe the last couple of days were just because the sun was shining. It hasn't been sunny in weeks, so we were all feeling a little extra good. Today it's raining again and he's gone back to normal.

Any suggestion for tonight's dose, assuming he stays at this number or higher? Go back to his regular dose? Stay at the reduced dose? Throw a dart at the conversion chart and go with whatever it lands on? (I'm kidding!)

PS I will be leaving shortly after his shot, and not getting back until +6 tonight, so he's on his own, though he does have access to food.
 
Thanks to both of you. This morning I was feeling bold, but tonight I'm feeling more cautious since he's going to be alone until just past nadir.

Adding to that a rather dramatic reduction in carb intake effective immediately (grrrr....)

It's just so hard to know how to dose him after the past two evenings. I am so so thankful to have this group of people who understand how tricky this can be!
 
It's tough for sure! You're in the toughest zone too, when they suddenly start sliding down the scale...
 
Okay, he's at 244 and still mad because even though according to the schedule he's getting dinner 30 minutes early, according to the usual schedule it's still 30 minutes late. Oh, how he suffers!!! :rolleyes:

I think I'm going to go with the 1.75 tonight. And then keep my fingers crossed that he really is back to normal now.
 
Rachel said:
It's tough for sure! You're in the toughest zone too, when they suddenly start sliding down the scale...
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Gosh I hope that's true! It does get hairy at this point, but nothing would make me happier than to see him head that direction!

Any thoughts on the dose before I go shoot him (that just sounds so awful, doesn't it?)
 
HAHAHAHA it does, but we're all used to it!

I think 1.7 w0uld be fine. You shot 1.5 this morning on a similar number and it didn't drop him too much.
 
Came home a bit early because I decided I really wanted to catch the nadir and make sure he was okay.

He's at 252. At nadir. That's higher than his PS. :banghead:

Back to regular dose in the morning (2.2u)? Or stay low for awhile?
 
Djamila said:
Came home a bit early because I decided I really wanted to catch the nadir and make sure he was okay.

He's at 252. At nadir. That's higher than his PS. :banghead:

Back to regular dose in the morning (2.2u)? Or stay low for awhile?
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I'd stay low for another cycle or two because the flatness yesterday was a bit of bouncing. He's likely still sensitive after that free fall the other night - after a dose of 1.4 u and an NS the night before that. He wants less insulin. Maybe try 1.5 u or 1.75 u?
 
Thank you. I'm switching to the u-100s this morning, so I think I'll go with between 1.6 and 1.8u. I love all the tiny lines on these!
 
Djamila said:
Thank you. I'm switching to the u-100s this morning, so I think I'll go with between 1.6 and 1.8u. I love all the tiny lines on these!
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They're great - gives you a ton of dosing options. Just be sure to hide the U40s so you don't make a mistake in a moment of panic/brain fog.
 
Yes, I gave him a bit of gravy, but he wanted more. Then I remembered that the Stella and Chewy's is higher carb than the gravy, so I mixed up a couple of bites of that for him. He should skyrocket any minute now... :cat:
 
My granddaughter is with me since yesterday and I haven't been on much. Just saw that Sam hypoed again. If it were me , I think since he hypoed on 3/16 with a 1.4 dose, he needs less insulin. I would drop the dose to below that so maybe around 1.25 unit and let this bounce clear for 6 cycles and then see where he is.

I am wondering now if around 3/ 10 - 3/13 PM cycles if he hit some greens and bounced in the AM and the dose was increased. And it was too much.


It will be hard to continue holding the dose if you see some higher numbers but I think you are going to need to do that to keep him safe and then methodically raise him from then( .25 unit at a time.). I am glad you are getting U 100 syringes. I printed out the conversion chart and kept it inside my cabinet door and checked and rechecked the dose before I shot.
 
Bobbie - I hope you're enjoying your weekend with your grandaughter! I must have looked at that chart and practiced a dozen times before I switched. And I played with the u-40 and the u-100 together for a couple of days to make sure I was confident first. it's a big change - and not something we want to mess up.

You may be right about the 3/10 and 3/13 cycles. Especially in light of the 3/15 and 3/16 AM cycles which showed the insulin lasting so much longer. It seems like his nadir is a bit of a moving target right now since 3/11 and 3/17 both show it around +5-+6.

I appreciate the recommendation to hold the dose low and ignore high numbers for a few days. That will be hard to do if he hits a pink. I may need a reminder. But at this point, I'd love to give his body some rest. It has to be exhausting to him to bounce all over like this!

One thing that I'm really concerned about with all of this: Up until yesterday, he's been eating Stella & Chewy's for somewhere near half of his daily calories. It turns out that the flavor we were using was over 20% carbs. When I learned that yesterday, I pulled it, so his carb intake has changed quite a bit in the past 24 hours. That seems really fast to be the direct cause of the hypo today, but it may have contributed. So in light of that change in diet, do you think I should go to maybe just 1u? Or would you still say 1.25u since I thought diet changes take a little while to have an impact?
 
Holy crap! That's quite a sudden loss of carbs. I think that could be the culprit...changing food can change them over 100 points overnight.

What carb % is he on now? I think I might be tempted to drop to 1 and see what happens...with the carb changes and the insulin sensitivity he might have, that's a lot of stuff happening at once...
 
Okay, I don't normally take "unnecessary" numbers on him, but I figured I was going to need advice tonight and better start a little early. His +11 is 205, which means he'll be safely shootable. Also, he's already going crazy trying to get me to feed him. Anyone and everyone who wants to chime in with dose suggestions is welcome!
 
Rachel said:
Holy crap! That's quite a sudden loss of carbs. I think that could be the culprit...changing food can change them over 100 points overnight.

What carb % is he on now? I think I might be tempted to drop to 1 and see what happens...with the carb changes and the insulin sensitivity he might have, that's a lot of stuff happening at once...
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Right?! I was horrified when I opened the email. Although today I used it as part of my hypo kit, so it's not totally useless o_O

His other foods are around 3-4% - Fancy Feast Classic and Instinct Raw. I may give him some Fancy Feast Naturals too since he's not loving the Classic right now. That's 0% carb.

So yes, a huge change.
 
That is a huge dif in carbs I agree with Rachel. Take him back to 1 unit and monitor all you can to gather data and you can preceed from there and I wouldn't be surprised if he'll even need less soon.
 
Djamila said:
Okay, I don't normally take "unnecessary" numbers on him, but I figured I was going to need advice tonight and better start a little early. His +11 is 205, which means he'll be safely shootable. Also, he's already going crazy trying to get me to feed him. Anyone and everyone who wants to chime in with dose suggestions is welcome!
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No number is an unnecessary one :D
 
Bobbie And Bubba said:
That is a huge dif in carbs I agree with Rachel. Take him back to 1 unit and monitor all you can to gather data and you can preceed from there and I wouldn't be surprised if he'll even need less soon.
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Gosh, I hope that's true. It may also mean that this entire round of diabetes is because I trusted the label on a pet food instead of doing the research. Lesson learned.
 
He is bouncing from the low number today. Ignore the higher number and I wouldn't shoot anything over 1 unit and get a few test in before you go to bed.
 
Djamila said:
Gosh, I hope that's true. It may also mean that this entire round of diabetes is because I trusted the label on a pet food instead of doing the research. Lesson learned.
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Djamila, that is exactly why I started giving Bubba and Forrest raw food from My local butcher( no AB , no steriods, no additives ) and adding Foodfurlife supplements. I was so tried of the recalls and the changes in formula and the carb count getting higher.

Our daily food intake is 4 meals a day ( of equal size ) being raw and 2 are YOUNG AGAIN ( 1 tbsp each ) dry Zero Carb formula for 2 meals.
 
Bobbie And Bubba said:
Djamila, that is exactly why I started giving Bubba and Forrest raw food from My local butcher( no AB , no steriods, no additives ) and adding Foodfurlife supplements. I was so tried of the recalls and the changes in formula and the carb count getting higher.

Our daily food intake is 4 meals a day ( of equal size ) being raw and 2 are YOUNG AGAIN ( 1 tbsp each ) dry Zero Carb formula for 2 meals.
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So you just get the meat (chicken? turkey?), grind it up, add the supplements, and...done? I might consider that.
Although you should have seen the look for rebuke Samir just gave me when I handed him a bowl of regular food. I think he was expecting the high-carb extravaganza to continue. :p

Rachel said:
It's possible that is the reason for this relapse! My gosh...the good news is you know now and you've changed to a better food!
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Yep. Live and learn - and hope this hasn't damaged him beyond recovery. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks as he adjusts to a lower carb diet.
 
If you are interested in homemade food, you might want to read Dr. Lisa Pierson's article about how to prepare your own cat food :). It really does sound amazing and makes a lot of sense but until I can get my dream career I cannot afford to do so, myself.
 
pI buy raw ground chicken and turkey and add the FOODFURLIFE supplements to each meal. Since it is raw ground meat without ground bones, I buy the FOODFURLUFE with eggshell calcium.

My butcher sells 1 lb frozen packages and I have him cut them in half because 1/2 pound is exactly what my two cats eat a day. I give two meals a day of the Young Again mainly because when I not home and I need to use the auto feeder ,I don't want raw food hanging around because of spoilage.

You can freeze portions of raw and put in the auto feeder to be thaw when the auto feeder opens. Then I use the YA for much later feedings but you can use low carb can food for those feedings also.

Believe it or not, but the raw food from the butchers is cheaper than the Natures Variety Wet food I was feeding a day. Go figure and the beast part is that I can use that ground meat from the freezer for our human meals.
 
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Hahaha I'm with you on that! I definitely want to try Dr. Lisa's recipe one day...but that has to wait until I have more time and can afford a meat grinder.

I don't think it's damaged him much Djamila...not with those numbers!
 
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