Treating Ziggy (Thread #3)

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That's a nice bit of blue on your SS! :cool: There's plenty of room for him to drop safely. I suggest you do to 3.75 u tomorrow AM and get a before bed test on that dose tomorrow night. You don't want him to stay in high numbers any longer than necessary. He can get stuck there and it can be harder to get him down. Also, he'll feel better in lower numbers and it should help with the cement paws eventually.
 
Bumped Ziggy up to 4 last night. Good pre-bed numbers but those black spots on his AM/PM tests are awful to look at. :banghead:

Every time I open up his feeder, I find that he missed his 4am/pm snack. No wonder he wakes me up at 5am lately begging for food. If only he’d look in the kitchen! :p
 
That drop to blue last night from a high PMPS is probably the cause. Try to get a curve in this weekend at the 4 u dose. :) How is he feeling overall?
 
He’s been doing pretty well! He’s got his old goofy energy back and loves playing with his toys. He pees a lot, but that’s to be expected. His appetite is a little bit low lately — he’ll beg for food, eat about half of his dinner, then graze on the rest for the next couple of hours.

He’s been a little tough to test these past few days, since he wants to play with the glucometer and lancing device. He also wants to play with the syringes!
 
Ouch! Ziggy tried to bite me while I was giving him his shot this morning. :nailbiting:

As soon as the needle goes in, he tenses up and starts squirming, and usually starts meowing in pain. This time he looked back and lunged at my hand with bared fangs. It’s definitely getting a lot harder each time.
 
Natalie, when insulin time came , I would give Elmo his most coveted treat, baby food meat, while I gave him his shot to distract him . Just a thought :bighug:❤️ That and early on we shaved a spot on each side so I was sure to be hitting just skin and not muscle . Just another thot ❤️;)
 
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Ouch, do you think you're getting just under the skin or are you possibly hitting the muscle tissue? I have a really hard time with Pepper when she tenses up, which increases the chance of hitting muscle.

I'm not familiar with Vetsulin, but it also could be you're on a high enough dose for it to sting. : /
 
Natalie and Ziggy said:
Ouch! Ziggy tried to bite me while I was giving him his shot this morning. :nailbiting:

As soon as the needle goes in, he tenses up and starts squirming, and usually starts meowing in pain. This time he looked back and lunged at my hand with bared fangs. It’s definitely getting a lot harder each time.
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All this started when you changed syringes isn't it could it be you got a bad lot and they're not sharp enough maybe change syringe brand
 
I think it might be the dose, yes. The needle, too, but he tends to react most after I’ve injected.

He tried to bite me as I was injecting his PM dose, but I pulled it out just in time! He’s going to get me eventually, though. He’s really wary of shots now and doesn’t get distracted by the food when it’s time for his dose. Once I start touching him, he stops and waits, then lunges for my hand once I inject. His teeth are bad, so I’m worried about getting an infection.

At least he’s patient with testing. :)

Anyway. It’s payday tomorrow, and Ziggy needs a new vial of insulin soon!
 
One thing I’m wondering is when do I know to reduce Ziggy’s dose from 4u? His number this morning is 312, which is very good for him. I’m a little worried about giving him his usual dose with that number.
 
This is what I found on here about vetsuli
  • If your cat’s BG is a bit below 200 mg/dL [11 mmol/L] on a human meter, consider ‘stalling’.
  • Stalling is waiting - without feeding your cat - for 20+minutes, then retesting to see if the BG has risen to a suitable level.
  • If using a pet meter, such as Alphatrak2, you may want to raise number above 200 mg/dL. (If in doubt seek advice from your vet.)
  • You are looking for a number that is rising, not falling, and is high enough to give insulin.
  • Note: As you gain experience with home testing, and have gathered data to show how your cat responds to insulin, you might consider it safe to reduce the ‘no shoot’ threshold, and to give insulin at lower pre-shot numbers.
 
Natalie and Ziggy said:
One thing I’m wondering is when do I know to reduce Ziggy’s dose from 4u? His number this morning is 312, which is very good for him. I’m a little worried about giving him his usual dose with that number.
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You’d think about reducing if his nadir number is lower than about 90 - 100. The pre shot number is mostly used to decide if it’s safe to give insulin. If it’s under 200 or so you might be considering a reduction if you don’t have enough data to go on. The nadirs are really important in assessing a dose so that’s why we keep mentioning middle of cycle tests and extra testing on days off.

I’d actually recommend bumping him up to 4,24 u today and doing a curve this weekend.
 
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Thank you for the tips! I've bumped Ziggy up to 4.25U. Just finished giving him his shot and narrowly avoided getting bit (he did me-yowl and swipe at me though).

Even though he attacks as soon as the needle goes in, there have been no fur shots and he gets all of the insulin. I have no time to check to see if the needle has gone in properly anymore before he's fighting back. He does let me pet him afterward to check for fur shots, though.

What he does now is he takes a mouthful of food and drops it on the floor nearby so he can keep an eye on me when it's shot time. He doesn't trust me at all anymore. I don't think I'll be able to train my roommates to give him shots when I'm on vacation, sadly.

I told my parents about this and they suggested euthanizing him. Ummm, I don't think so.
 
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I'm disappointed with Ziggy's curve so far today. It almost looks like the shot didn't make it all the way in? There was no smell of insulin and no trace of moisture in his fur or on the floor, and I made absolutely sure it wasn't a fur shot...

I realized what I was doing wrong with his shots and began giving him his injections from a slightly downward angle, which is what I used to do. But since I started doing that, his numbers haven't gone down as much as they did. Maybe I'm just overthinking things!

EDIT: I wonder if maybe his Vetsulin is no longer as potent as it was? I've been using the same vial for almost three months now, but I just received a new one.
 
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Natalie and Ziggy said:
I'm disappointed with Ziggy's curve so far today. It almost looks like the shot didn't make it all the way in? There was no smell of insulin and no trace of moisture in his fur or on the floor, and I made absolutely sure it wasn't a fur shot...

I realized what I was doing wrong with his shots and began giving him his injections from a slightly downward angle, which is what I used to do. But since I started doing that, his numbers haven't gone down as much as they did. Maybe I'm just overthinking things!

EDIT: I wonder if maybe his Vetsulin is no longer as potent as it was? I've been using the same vial for almost three months now, but I just received a new one.
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I think it was the steep drop to +2 that cause him to bounce back up into red in the second half of the cycle. It looks like your insulin is still working. The curve data suggest that another dose increase to 4.5 u is in the cards sooner rather than later.
 
I'll bump him up to 4.5U in the morning, I think.

444 for his +4 PM shot! I don't understand, he's normally in the low 200s or high 100s at this point of night. It must have been a fur shot, but I checked and there was no wetness and I'm 100% sure it went in! I'm absolutely positive I did it right. Unless he dropped down so low at +2 that he instantly rebounded?

I went back to my old technique of injection, in which I tended his skin and shot at a downward angle, which he seems to not mind. Lately I've been tenting his skin and shooting from the side, which has just been making him mad. But I think going back to the old technique must be screwing things up, because his +4 numbers should not be this high. I'm so disappointed. His numbers just seem to be getting worse and worse, even as his behavior improves and he gains more weight.
 
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So, um, Ziggy attacked me when I gave him his shot just now.

No signs of a fur shot or anything, but as soon as I stuck the needle in, he hissed loudly and spun around and leapt at me with his claws out. Thankfully I got the syringe out before he turned, so he didn't get hurt. I did extra research today to make sure I wouldn't cause him pain when giving the shot, but clearly it didn't work. It's at the point where I have a millisecond to inject him before he's attacking. He's been hissing during every shot lately, but this is the first time he's reacted so violently.

He's improving in nearly every other regard.

EDIT: And now he's a big, friendly ball of purring fur <3. I've ordered the smaller needles!
 
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I gave him the leftover can along with his second serving this time. He always digs his face into the cans and just loves them. I gave him his shot while he was licking it and he didn’t even flinch! I think I’m going to try doing that from now on. :p

(Knock on wood, hope I’m not jinxing myself!)
 
The problem was that he caught on to what I was doing while he was eating, so he started to feel the shots more. When he’s licking the empty can, he doesn’t notice at all, although he did look back at me when I injected him this morning.

Fur shot today — so frustrating! I didn’t have time to check if the needle had gone through, because he looked ready to bite (it did go through; his underside was totally wet afterward). Coupled with extremely high numbers yesterday, it’s been an exhausting week.
 
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Ziggy's already caught on to the can trick, and now he's hissing at me before I can even try to inject. Hope those new needles come in soon! At least there was no fur shot this time (as far as I could tell).
 
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Thank you, Idjit's mom, and everyone for your support.

Just want to update with some good news: Ziggy's PM +4 test reads 149, which is his lowest number ever! I know that's just a nadir, or a near-nadir, but I threw him a little five-minute party anyway to celebrate. :cat:

oDEsYHRh.jpg

I will start a new thread the next time I post.
 
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Very nice number!!!

It sometimes happens when they start getting low numbers that they feel a little bit under the weather is like their body has to get used to function without the tons of glucose in it
 
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