? Regulation...what does it really mean??

Status
Not open for further replies.
Darnell & Sprocket (GA)

Darnell & Sprocket (GA)

Member Since 2015
Regulation. What does this actually mean?
What BG range is it?
I assume the food intake goes down as the needs go down? is this usually sudden or gradual?

So how can you balance the less food intake with quick reductions? Last week Sprocket seemed not to be able to handle the fast change & started to look and act ill. How can I help him to balance in it safely??

Then how do you know they are safe when you leave the house or go to bed as the bgs are so much lower?

I want to be prepared next time it happens so I can help him and keep myself calm too.
Thanks
 
There is no single definition of "regulated". Do you mean tightly regulated? From the FDMB FAQ:
  • Regulated [generally below 300 (16.7) with glucose nadir near 100 (5.6), good clinical signs, no hypoglycemia]
  • Well regulated [generally below 200-250 (11.1-13.9) and often near 100 (5.6), no hypoglycemia]
  • Tightly regulated [generally below 150 (8.3) and usually in the 60-120 (3.3-6.7) range, no hypoglycemia, still receiving insulin]
Click to expand...
That FAQ is a little old now, and I think we'd define tightly regulated a little lower. Personally, I aimed for as much time as possible under renal threshold. That number varies by cat.
Darnell & Sprocket said:
I assume the food intake goes down as the needs go down? is this usually sudden or gradual?
Click to expand...
As cats become better regulated, they don't need as much food. I used the scale to determine if food amount needed to go up or down.
Darnell & Sprocket said:
So how can you balance the less food intake with quick reductions? Last week Sprocket seemed not to be able to handle the fast change & started to look and act ill. How can I help him to balance in it safely??
Click to expand...
Sorry, not clear on what you are asking. I fed enough food to maintain Neko's weight. She got the same amount of food regardless of whether she was earning quick reductions or not.
Darnell & Sprocket said:
Then how do you know they are safe when you leave the house or go to bed as the bgs are so much lower?
Click to expand...
Know your cat's nadir, onset, duration and reaction to different carb levels of carb food at different points of the cycle. Try to spot patterns in their blood sugar. If Neko was flat at a certain point in the cycle, it was fine for me to sleep.
 
I was just going to post the same thing. There are a few more categories to cover the whole gamut of numbers (also from the FAQs)
    • Not treated [blood glucose typically above 300 mg/dl (16.7 mmol/L), poor clinical signs]
    • Treated but not regulated [often above 300 (16.7) and rarely near 100 (5.6), poor clinical signs]
    • Regulated [generally below 300 (16.7) with glucose nadir near 100 (5.6), good clinical signs, no hypoglycemia]
    • Well regulated [generally below 200-250 (11.1-13.9) and often near 100 (5.6), no hypoglycemia]
    • Tightly regulated [generally below 150 (8.3) and usually in the 60-120 (3.3-6.7) range, no hypoglycemia, still receiving insulin]
    • Normalized [60-120 (3.3-6.7) except perhaps directly after meals -- usually not receiving insulin
Click to expand...
 
Wendy&Neko said:
There is no single definition of "regulated". Do you mean tightly regulated? From the FDMB FAQ:

That FAQ is a little old now, and I think we'd define tightly regulated a little lower. Personally, I aimed for as much time as possible under renal threshold. That number varies by cat.

As cats become better regulated, they don't need as much food. I used the scale to determine if food amount needed to go up or down.

Sorry, not clear on what you are asking. I fed enough food to maintain Neko's weight. She got the same amount of food regardless of whether she was earning quick reductions or not.

Know your cat's nadir, onset, duration and reaction to different carb levels of carb food at different points of the cycle. Try to spot patterns in their blood sugar. If Neko was flat at a certain point in the cycle, it was fine for me to sleep.
Click to expand...


Wendy, the question about balancing his food with quick reductions was about last week. Sprocket on sunday night suddenly went to 43 at +4.2. Then next day he slowed down his eating from @9-10oz/day to @5-6oz/day. He earned 3 reductions by friday. But he didnt look good. Like it was too much for his body to handle. By friday he even refused dry food mix(zero & evo), which was my last resort. Then i got worried, called vet. She said skip dose that night to get him up some to make him feel a little better but he went sky high instead within 6 hrs after no shot timeframe. And got his appetite back alot within 2 days later.
So not sure why he went sudden but it was too fast for him. Does that usually happen?
 
Sorry, still don't get what you are asking. Is what too fast for him? Looking at the SS the night he went to the 40's, you fed gravy. Any chance that gravy upset his tummy? Or it could be he just isn't feeling good yet in normal numbers. If he is used to high numbers, he may feel better there. Only way to change that is more time in good numbers.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Sorry, still don't get what you are asking. Is what too fast for him? Looking at the SS the night he went to the 40's, you fed gravy. Any chance that gravy upset his tummy? Or it could be he just isn't feeling good yet in normal numbers. If he is used to high numbers, he may feel better there. Only way to change that is more time in good numbers.
Click to expand...


Idk. From tuesday am through friday he ate like a bird as his bgs were lower. During those days he had 2 more reductions. He started eating less than normal. I was told he was in good numbers but I was worried because he was so tired n was acting weird. He acted like the drop of needing less food and lower bgs was very hard on his body. By friday he didnt even want dry food. Thats not him.
So not sure if this is normal when cats reduce their own food intake?
What good is low safe bgs if the cat feels horrible?
So i was worried. He wasnt acting right.
 
Darnell & Sprocket said:
Idk. From tuesday am through friday he ate like a bird as his bgs were lower. During those days he had 2 more reductions. He started eating less than normal. I was told he was in good numbers but I was worried because he was so tired n was acting weird. He acted like the drop of needing less food and lower bgs was very hard on his body. By friday he didnt even want dry food. Thats not him.
So not sure if this is normal when cats reduce their own food intake?
What good is low safe bgs if the cat feels horrible?
So i was worried. He wasnt acting right.
Click to expand...
Low is good but Toro was not himself when he was on the bottom low, too. So we try to keep him a little bit higher (but in safe regulated range) and he's fine now.
In the end, in our opinion, the quality of life is what matters most.
 
I'm having a great deal of trouble following your dosing strategy. First, doses are in units not "mm" -- millimeters are a distance or pressure measurement not a liquid amount. That aside, when you are discussing Sprocket's appetite/numbers, are you referring to this week or last week? This week the numbers are not low. I'd strongly encourage you to look at a lot more spreadsheets. I think you are responding to what are reasonably normal patterns in Sprocket's numbers a bit too aggressively.

Some cats do feel a bit "off" if there are swings in their numbers. A former member here mentioned that a friend of her's whose diabetic had commented that when she was first diagnosed, she felt better in high numbers -- it was what she was used to. As progressed through treatment, there were wide swings in her numbers which made her feel awful. As her numbers became stable in lower/normal range, she felt better as her body adjusted to being back in normal BG range. It may be the same for Sprocket.
 
Toro & Ovi said:
Low is good but Toro was not himself when he was on the bottom low, too. So we try to keep him a little bit higher (but in safe regulated range) and he's fine now.
In the end, in our opinion, the quality of life is what matters most.
Click to expand...


Exactly. Did Toro reduce his food intake fast too?? Or were you able to keep him eating as he dropped?
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
I'm having a great deal of trouble following your dosing strategy. First, doses are in units not "mm" -- millimeters are a distance or pressure measurement not a liquid amount. That aside, when you are discussing Sprocket's appetite/numbers, are you referring to this week or last week? This week the numbers are not low. I'd strongly encourage you to look at a lot more spreadsheets. I think you are responding to what are reasonably normal patterns in Sprocket's numbers a bit too aggressively.

Some cats do feel a bit "off" if there are swings in their numbers. A former member here mentioned that a friend of her's whose diabetic had commented that when she was first diagnosed, she felt better in high numbers -- it was what she was used to. As progressed through treatment, there were wide swings in her numbers which made her feel awful. As her numbers became stable in lower/normal range, she felt better as her body adjusted to being back in normal BG range. It may be the same for Sprocket.
Click to expand...

Sorry for confusion. I will try to explain better. From 21st-24th is when he felt off and suddenly reduced his own food intake. I do remember when he started going in the 100s he would sleep alot now when he is in 100s he plays more n is social. But going under 100 plus the food reduction seemed too much too fast. Is there something I can do to help the transition for him??

The 'mm' is the caliper reading but I have the units with it too. I had to do that because the relion syringes have been marked wrong alot lately. I called the company n they want me to keep the crooked lined syringes n send them back to them so they can figure out whats going wrong. So now I use caliper too so it will always be same dose as he didnt have a few times and I am lucky that I am able to monitor well or he could have seriously gone hypo.

So does that make more sense now??
I hope so.
 
Darnell & Sprocket said:
Exactly. Did Toro reduce his food intake fast too?? Or were you able to keep him eating as he dropped?
Click to expand...
Toro is usually lower at night time. A +4 at night gives us the idea where he is. If he’s very low we feed him Friskies Pate which he loves and eat it eat regardless of when we offer. All other times he stays on FF pate.
 
Toro & Ovi said:
Toro is usually lower at night time. A +4 at night gives us the idea where he is. If he’s very low we feed him Friskies Pate which he loves and eat it eat regardless of when we offer. All other times he stays on FF pate.
Click to expand...

Nice! Sprocket is fussy with food. One minute he will eat next nope then yes again.
Will barely touch any FF anymore. Friskies is good so far but depends on flavor.
How many ounces a day does Toro eat a day?
 
I haven't had any appetite issues with Asia, but exactly like you described, in the beginning, Asia was very happy in high numbers (pinks) and would be very sleepy in low numbers. Thankfully that has changed, it just requires them spending more time in healthy numbers and making it their new normal again. It is frustrating when the numbers say good but their personality says not so good, but it should adjust with some time.
 
Darnell & Sprocket said:
Nice! Sprocket is fussy with food. One minute he will eat next nope then yes again.
Will barely touch any FF anymore. Friskies is good so far but depends on flavor.
How many ounces a day does Toro eat a day?
Click to expand...
Toro is 14 pounds. We feed him 240 grams of FF per day( 3 cans). If he’s very low at +4 we take the FF leftovers and we replace then with 1.5 times (of the leftovers) more Frieskies just to be sure is enough for the rest of the night. He’s in a twice per day ( +1- +2) feeding because of our schedule - some people may disagree with this but that’s what we can do because of our schedule.
 
Last edited:
Toro & Ovi said:
Toro is 14 pounds. We feed him 240 grams of FF per day( 3 cans). If he’s very low at +4 we take the FF leftovers and we replace then with 1.5 times (of the leftovers) more Frieskies just to be sure is enough for the rest of the night. He’s in a twice per day ( +1- +2) feeding because of our schedule - some people may disagree with this but that’s what we can do because of our schedule.
Click to expand...
As long as it works & he is safe. Thats what matters.
My boy was at 9oz but now went to @10-12oz again. Still working on dose n food
He keeps me on my toes.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top