12/16 Asia PMPS 164, +4 48, +4.5 38, +5 74, +5.5 78, +7 55, +8 54

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Stacy & Asia

Stacy & Asia

Member Since 2017
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/12-15-asia-pmps-290-1-275.188082/

+11 295. We all have to leave at +4.5 today and won't be back likely until +11. Don't know what to expect from this cat, was going to go with the safest option and skip her shot, but she's almost at 300, so that would be a very black day if I did. :blackeye:

I have an auto feeder and I can load it up with FF gravy 15% and hope that keeps her out of trouble. I would know more after +3, but if she's headed down too much, there would be little I could do about it.

Thoughts?
 
This is a tough call and I share your apprehension.

On the one hand, nothing in Asia's SS indicates that she's in danger of going too low when the AMPS starts out higher like this.

On the other, this is not a normal cycle. Yesterday was a bounce cycle from the 14th when she spent the whole day in beautiful greens. So we don't know when she's planning on breaking the bounce. If she breaks it this morning on a full dose, especially with her normal early cycle dives, that could be something that warrants closer supervision than not.

It's not ideal, but have you considered a middle ground, like a half dose? That way, she'd have some insulin in her, enough to try to keep a lid on things without taking her too low like a full dose might or letting her numbers rocket into the stratosphere that would result from a no shot.
 
AZJenks said:
It's not ideal, but have you considered a middle ground, like a half dose? That way, she'd have some insulin in her, enough to try to keep a lid on things without taking her too low like a full dose might or letting her numbers rocket into the stratosphere that would result from a no shot.
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I've considered it, and I've done it a couple of times before. It only makes me feel better that she's not getting the full dose, but in reality, it looks like it doesn't work on the immediate cycle anyway and messes with the depot. :confused:
 
That's a tough one. With that number, I'd be inclined to shoot, but we don't know if Asia plans to break the bounce. If the AMPS is higher than the +11, take that into consideration. :bighug::bighug:
 
Ugh! I really hope she doesn't have an trickery up her sleeve today. I shot her. DH said, she needs the shot, worse comes to worse you can leave at bows and go home in between shows. Yuck. This part sucks. Behave today, Asia, if ever a time for you to listen! :confused::confused::confused::confused:

I think I will be loading up the auto feeder with gravy/honey and if it keeps her high all day, so be it. It's not going to put her into black like a NS would.
 
I would do a +1 and +2 and see where she’s headed. If she’s dropping, go ahead and give her carbs and see if you can get her stopped at a higher number.
 
Wow, look at those greens, Stacy! I feel like I'm looking at Girlie's SS with the 15% carb food giving you greens - amazing. You must be so pleased! :D I wonder where she'll take you tomorrow? I hope you can get some sleep, though... I find it difficult to go to sleep when I see greens; I'm always afraid of the lime green popping up...:nailbiting:
 
Girlie's mom said:
Wow, look at those greens, Stacy! I feel like I'm looking at Girlie's SS with the 15% carb food giving you greens - amazing. You must be so pleased! :D I wonder where she'll take you tomorrow? I hope you can get some sleep, though... I find it difficult to go to sleep when I see greens; I'm always afraid of the lime green popping up...:nailbiting:
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Sleep? What's that? :rolleyes:
 
48 to 38, that's a new one after FF and honey! I'm starting to feel like I should carb load at AMPS/PMPS regardless of the number...well okay, if the number is under 300. :banghead:
 
+5 100, never seen such a food bump as that before, tested again, 74, going with the 74 because it makes more sense.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Glad she saved this funny business for when you were home. Good catch. Congrats on the reduction.
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Oh yes! Me too!!! I left a gluttonous amount of MC/HC food out today, but still, nothing said she had to eat it since nobody was around to remind her. She tends to be a snacker when we are around, but when we've been away and had cat sitters come twice a day, they report she cleans her plate while they are there. I think she eats out of boredom/loneliness. And yay, another reduction! I can hardly believe it myself!
 
Stacy & Asia said:
I left a gluttonous amount of MC/HC food out today, but still, nothing said she had to eat it since nobody was around to remind her. She tends to be a snacker when we are around, but when we've been away and had cat sitters come twice a day, they report she cleans her plate while they are there. I think she eats out of boredom/loneliness.
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I've noticed something similar with Quintus. When my neighbours come and check in on him, they often report that he gets up and eats. My hypothesis is the follow: old cats sleep a lot (right?) and cats in general sleep to pass the time (that is why one can have a bored to death cat in one's household and not notice something is deeply wrong, because they just sleep to pass the time, and we expect cats to be big sleepers). If nothing is happening around them, they're going to keep on sleeping. So when I'm away and nobody is there, Quintus sleeps. If he wakes from his nap and is particularly hungry or thirsty, he'll drink or eat. But that takes being really quite hungry or thirsty. So when somebody comes in, and it wakes him up, and he's feeling a little peckish, well, he goes for a nibble.
 
Stephanie & Quintus said:
I've noticed something similar with Quintus. When my neighbours come and check in on him, they often report that he gets up and eats. My hypothesis is the follow: old cats sleep a lot (right?) and cats in general sleep to pass the time (that is why one can have a bored to death cat in one's household and not notice something is deeply wrong, because they just sleep to pass the time, and we expect cats to be big sleepers). If nothing is happening around them, they're going to keep on sleeping. So when I'm away and nobody is there, Quintus sleeps. If he wakes from his nap and is particularly hungry or thirsty, he'll drink or eat. But that takes being really quite hungry or thirsty. So when somebody comes in, and it wakes him up, and he's feeling a little peckish, well, he goes for a nibble.
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I think old cats do sleep a little more, but cats in general sleep around 18 hours a day anyway, which is crazy compared to humans. Fortunately, I think just like us, their bladders wake them up, they go to the litter box and then since they are up, why not go eat too? I read a tip on here somewhere and it works for Asia. If you really need your cat to eat, wake them up and put them at the food bowl, I don't know if its instinct to wake up and eat or what, but it has worked really well. I know some cats come running at the sound of their food being prepared, but Asia has very little hearing left, so that's not the case for her (and she never did anyway, she's always been "oh, food, okay, maybe a little later"). :joyful:
 
Stacy & Asia said:
I think old cats do sleep a little more, but cats in general sleep around 18 hours a day anyway, which is crazy compared to humans.
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Old cats do indeed sleep more, but what we know is that when a cat is unwell, they pass the time by sleeping. A lot of the old wisdom about old cats sleeping all the time comes from before we realised how much old cats suffered from arthritis (80% of cats over 8 years old or something). Put an old kitty on anti-inflammatories for two weeks, and if they start jumping on chairs and going outside again, they weren't sleeping "because they're old" but because it hurt to move around.

When I started taking my cat behaviour classes, it chipped even more at this received wisdom. I've written about it in French on my blog, but basically, the default behaviour of the unwell cat is to sleep. This makes it a very practical pet, because it can take a lot of passive abuse without bothering us. Not saying cat owners knowingly abuse their kitties, but after discussing with the vet who was giving the course, I came out horrified at how much unknowing abuse there is going on with cats, particularly cats kept in environments which are way too poor for their needs as small predators (tiny flats, alone most of the day, locked out of the bedroom at night). His guideline is that a healthy cat should have at least 4-6 hours of activity a day: "hunting" for food and other hunting-related behaviors (watching cars go by on a busy road is fine), eating, grooming, playing, socialising. Most cats never get anywhere near that.

Old cats, clearly, have different needs. But they still need more activity than we imagine, and it's not that they're sleeping so we shouldn't bother them, it's often more that they're sleeping because nothing interesting enough is going on. The course the vet is giving on old cats is in April, I'm really looking forward to it and hoping Quintus will still be around so he can benefit from what I will learn!

Stacy & Asia said:
If you really need your cat to eat, wake them up and put them at the food bowl, I don't know if its instinct to wake up and eat or what, but it has worked really well.
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Oh, definitely. I always do that with Quintus if he seems to not be eating enough or if I'm worried about his food intake. I know he's feeling poorly and his old paws hurt, so I gently pick him up from his nap and put him down in front of his bowl. Sometimes I need to pet him or find a way to get his nose closer to the food (lifting up his middle a little usually does the trick). When he was on kibble I would shake the kibble -- the interesting noise is stimulating. When Bagha was old I would shake the kibble around to make it move -- much tastier like that! (Even blind Quintus finds moving kibble more interesting.)
 
Yes, it is sad to see them slow down so much. Asia was quite the mouser in her day. We used to live off a nature preserve so those little guys would come inside occasionally and even without many teeth left, Asia would get them (most I would save from her and release, all but one). Toki is much younger and more athletically built, but she's pretty hopeless catching anything! She also used to enjoy some cat tv. There are YouTube videos with like 20 straight minutes of birds flocking to eat birdseed, it would drive her nuts, she'd look behind the iPad to see where they went when they flew off the screen! :joyful: Her arthritis has defiantly got her less mobile these days, I'm trying to address that as the catupuncture doesn't seem to help as much as I would like it (it does help, just not enough).

Asia still does her little spaz cat runs on occasion, which is so funny and delights me. It's like she gets a 5 minute reprieve from her old bones and tears it up around the house. I play with them every day, besides that they need it, often bad cat behavior is linked to being understimulated. She will play here and there, but for the most part, her favorite thing to do with waking hours is get pets and love. If she doesn't get enough pets or you're busy, she will come up and paw at you and meow to let you know she needs some pets! :joyful:
 
Stacy & Asia said:
Asia still does her little spaz cat runs on occasion, which is so funny and delights me. It's like she gets a 5 minute reprieve from her old bones and tears it up around the house.
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Oh, I so wish Quintus was still able to do that! Bad arthritis and blindness is a bad combination. He hasn't been able to properly run in years :(. The other day though, we had a little play session and he actually "pranced" a few steps in the direction of his prey. Hadn't seen that in a long time! I'm hoping that as he gets better BG-wise he'll be able to play more.

Stacy & Asia said:
often bad cat behavior is linked to being understimulated
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Spot on. Drives me nuts when I see questions on Quora like "how do I prevent my cat from bothering me when I'm in the kitchen" or "why does my cat attack my feet at night" when the poor thing is alone and locked up 22/5... (Don't go and look at cat questions on Quora...)

Stacy & Asia said:
If she doesn't get enough pets or you're busy, she will come up and paw at you and meow to let you know she needs some pets!
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Awww! Fripouille, my stepmom's cat, who boarded with me and Quintus a few times since last spring, does that. She's 19, deaf as a kettle, but if you don't give her enough petting she does the demanding paw of attention thing. Cute!
 
Stephanie & Quintus said:
Oh, I so wish Quintus was still able to do that! Bad arthritis and blindness is a bad combination. He hasn't been able to properly run in years :(. The other day though, we had a little play session and he actually "pranced" a few steps in the direction of his prey. Hadn't seen that in a long time! I'm hoping that as he gets better BG-wise he'll be able to play more
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I'm pretty positive you will see some good things when he is in better numbers and more stable in them. Several things I forgot Asia used to do, or even things she hasn't done in a long time, confirmed pre-diabetes time, have come back. It's not an amazing difference, but little things, like cleaning her face. Asia can't properly run either, it's more of an old lady booble sprint :joyful: a little clumsy, a lot adorable.

I won't look at those cat questions. A friend of mine is a somewhat well known kitten rescuer and I hear enough horror stories of people that reach out to her. I have an unfortunately extended family member that gets pets: cats, dogs, rabbits, whatever, like they are some sort of temporary home decor. Never has them longer than a year, who knows where they go, a shelter, a friend? but give her a few months and she has a new one...she has young children too, so they are learning this is acceptable. :mad::banghead:
 
+8 54, no sign of rising on her own and we are not too far from AMPS, have to go to the gravy & honey again. Just putting this out into the universe: Asia, this duration is awesome, can we do it in the 70-90 range though? I'm not too picky, anything near that without being so close to 50. I can't even catch a nap in here because the numbers are too scary. The sun will be up soon! :blackeye: <---- that's what I will look like "tomorrow" or rather, in a few hours when I'm supposed to wake up.
 
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