Seeing progress. Hopeful cat dad

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Aaron and Jasper said:
Feeding has become a nightmare, he has all of his fight back :p here is an update from last night/this morning. The black dot could potentially be a raised "stressed" result as it took me quite a few tries that time, unfortunately (and the intake obviously, just noting.) Am gearing up for fluids now. The 197 made me very happy!
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Great news. With numbers like these, we will hold off on the R. Great job testing. Is he not interested in eating on his own yet?

I know you are busy but the Spreadsheet is the place for these numbers. Can you please keep track of them there? The reason is because the SS stays with your signature so every time you post, we can always see the SS. However, the pictures you take do not so if I want to look back to see his numbers, I have to scroll back through the thread to find the photos....time consuming.

Is there any reason why you don’t want to use the SS? If you have questions on its use, just let me know.
 
Aaron and Jasper said:
He didn't want to eat, no. And okay I filled them in
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Thank you!

I’ve got to run one of my kitties to the vet and I’m not sure how long I’ll be but you can let him go on the testing until +3. If you have any questions, post and change the thread title to add “need help pls” so it will catch some attention. If I have to wait long at the vet, I’ll check back in.

I hope he starts to eat on his own. We can give you some tips on that.
 
I'm curious about how much fluids I should give him per sitting? Marje I thought your video was excellent btw, Gus was adorable and the video was well informed, so thank you. They were busy at the vet when I picked up the bag. The only thing on my paperwork is 10ml/hr? Give him 1/10th of this bag and then do it again in an hour regardless of bubble? I think the 10ml/hr was intravenous
 
Aaron and Jasper said:
I'm curious about how much fluids I should give him per sitting? Marje I thought your video was excellent btw, Gus was adorable and the video was well informed, so thank you. They were busy at the vet when I picked up the bag. The only thing on my paperwork is 10ml/hr? Give him 1/10th of this bag and then do it again in an hour regardless of bubble? I think the 10ml/hr was intravenous
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If the bag is 1000 ml then 1/10th is 100 ml. You would not want to do that more than once a day and that might even be a bit on the high side.

I would call the vet and verify the amount per day. It does sound like they were talking about the way they administered it via IV, it will be different subq.
 
They said 100 ml a day, hopefully around the same time. +3 test was 209, he's staying low 200's. I'm eager to start the fluids but don't want to set 2pm as "the time"
 
Also, I'm feeling so bad for his little ears :/ is the pad of the foot more comfortable for them? Not that it really could be, I understand. Sharing the load between the two? What's the general consensus around here
 
Aaron and Jasper said:
Also, I'm feeling so bad for his little ears
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A little Neosporin with pain relief ointment (not cream) will help heal those pokey holes up quicker. His ears will get used to it too....as you poke more and more, new capillaries will grow in and it'll get easier and easier to get that precious blood drop.

I've been poking China over 5 years and you'd have a hard time telling which ear I poke! (I can only get blood out of 1....the other is like getting blood from a turnip)

You can use the pawpad, but a lot of cats don't like having their feet messed with (worse than having their ears messed with)…..it depends on the cat. I also worried about the possibility of infection from litter boxes
 
Aaron and Jasper said:
They said 100 ml a day, hopefully around the same time. +3 test was 209, he's staying low 200's. I'm eager to start the fluids but don't want to set 2pm as "the time"
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It’s ok to vary the time but I’d try to do it after mid cycle as it’s less likely to affect his BG.

Are you warming his ears before you poke and massaging them a bit?

I’m at vet, waiting, but when I get home I can post some testing links.
 
Jill & Alex (GA) said:
A compilation of testing links: Hometesting Links and Tips.
Be sure to check out Marje's Testing and Shooting Tips.
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Thanks for posting that, Jill. We were gone longer than I expected.

Aaron...looks like Jasper is having a good day. I’m liking that +7 and I hope he can stay nice and flat. I’ll be around the rest of the day and evening so we’ve got a couple sets of eyes watching in case he gives you a blue number at PMPS.

Because of his DKA, we will encourage you to shoot but if you get a 150 or below, it might be good if we make sure one of us can hang out with you tonight on the board in case he goes lower; I am certainly available.

The Royal Canin Glycobalance is 14% calories from carbs so that might help bring up any lower numbers as his BG improves over time. And as numbers do improve, you might want to have some HC food with gravy around....like some of the Fancy Feast varieties with gravy and some Karo or honey. It pays to be prepared if numbers start to dip lower. Even though he might not be eating much or any on his own right now, sounds like you can syringe him.

Once he’s doing much better and is eating well, we can help you find a better, canned food for him that isn’t much less expensive and lower in carbs. Many members here have had great success in gradually getting kibble addicts onto canned food but it’s not a “cold turkey” thing as it can cause a big drop in the BG.

How did the subq session go? Thanks for your comments about the video and Gus. I hope it helped you....it will get easier with time but let’s hope Jasper will recover quickly and won’t need subs very much.
 
Subs went okay, obviously just beginners difficulties. He moved after a while and pulled it out but he didn't freak out. I' unsure if he got the full 100 only because of the bag. Do you gauge when to stop while the bag is hanging? Or lift it up to gauge it? Obviously two completely different volumes as the bag expands.
 
Aaron and Jasper said:
Subs went okay, obviously just beginners difficulties. He moved after a while and pulled it out but he didn't freak out. I' unsure if he got the full 100 only because of the bag. Do you gauge when to stop while the bag is hanging? Or lift it up to gauge it? Obviously two completely different volumes as the bag expands.
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Certainly to be expected. We all had beginner’s difficulties and even as many times as I’ve given them to various cats, I’ve still had the needle pop out. It’s fine if he didn’t get all 100 mls....even 50 helps.

You gauge how much you’ve used when the bag is hanging. I know there was a ton of info in the video but, each time, you want to mark on the bag, as it’s hanging, where your endpoint for that session is. Just use a Sharpie. That will help.
 
Update. I'm excited about the 141, however, he still wouldn't eat the food offered to him after fluids or as of yet. I certainly will, but force feeding him is a pain at this point. His pm is due in an hour, advice on feeding/if I should dose him?

Should I be at all worried or is that a good number? (all considering)

Is there any way this could still be a failure of some sort? Or would we see signs other than blood if it were kidney problems? (as far as the appetite) I only ask because it wasn't eliminated by blood test for me
 
Aaron and Jasper said:
Update. I'm excited about the 141, however, he still wouldn't eat the food offered to him after fluids or as of yet. I certainly will, but force feeding him is a pain at this point. His pm is due in an hour, advice on feeding/if I should dose him?

Should I be at all worried or is that a good number? (all considering)

Is there any way this could still be a failure of some sort? Or would we see signs other than blood if it were kidney problems? (as far as the appetite) I only ask because it wasn't eliminated by blood test for me
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It would be best to give him his 2u as long as you can be sure and syringe food into him. If you are worried about that, if you don’t have enough test strips to potentially test often tonight, if you are too exhausted, then you could shoot 1.5u. But you’ll still need to be able to get food in him....you can’t afford to skip a shot.

You shouldn’t be worried about such a great number. It’s possible it dropped due to fluids.

Without labs, I can’t tell you if he’s got a kidney or other issue going on but the BG, by itself, doesn’t throw up a flag to me that he could have some other type of issue going on.

If you have any blood tests from the vet, there is a lab tab on the SS and you can load the values there and I’ll look at it for you and see what I can tell you. I’m pretty good with labs.

You’ll need to be sure and get a good meal in him after you shoot and please be sure to count on testing at +1 and +2.

Edited to add: did you see my post about having some foods with gravy like Fancy Feast? You can drain the gravy off and syringe it to him if his numbers get lower. Do you have any syrup (not sugar free) or honey there?

 
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98 :( should that alarm me? I have fancy gravy/honey on hand. I gave him a full bowl of food (watery, blended tuna/Sheba bag/soggy glyco)
 
He’s still in safe numbers but he’s likely going to have an active cycle. We want to be sure we don’t get him too full.

Did you feed him the full bowl of food before the 98 or after? If you gave it before, you might want to give him just a tsp of gravy now so we can slow him down just a bit. You want to be sure and test at +2.

If you fed the full bowl of food after you got the 98, let’s see what he is at +2.

Question: shot time is 10:30, right? So aren’t you just about at +2 now?
 
Yes, will do. And yes it was, my lan went in closer to 11 so I was trying to be accurate with the hours. 2 hours since the lantus will be half hour from now
 
Aaron and Jasper said:
Yes, will do. And yes it was, my lan went in closer to 11 so I was trying to be accurate with the hours. 2 hours since the lantus will be half hour from now
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Perfect! I’m going to make a tiny adjustment on his SS so you’ll see how we do it if we shoot off the normal 12 hours.

I’ll be waiting in 30. Good luck with the gravy.
 
Aaron and Jasper said:
Gravy took a second to separate, was in for probably 20. 92 at +2
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Good! Much better. He’s at onset time about now. I’d like to give him an hour before the next test but I also don’t want him to drop anymore. OTOH, I don’t want to skyrocket him and I don’t want him to get too full.

When would you normally feed him again?
 
Just for clarity in details, the liquid bowl at 0-.5 was probably 50% of a typical meal (after the blending) and the gravy was only a syringe full, wasn't all of the gravy that was in there. Had he eaten a full bowl of his dry food I typically wouldn't be feeding again until 10-11 tomorrow (whole bowl)
 
Too full is a worry, but him puking up what I've given him is also a worry. I thought he was going to send the gravy back up. Tests don't hurt my feelings (just his ears) I'm just reading next to him, so the frequency doesn't matter, I can go to half hours
 
Aaron and Jasper said:
Just for clarity in details, the liquid bowl at 0-.5 was probably 50% of a typical meal (after the blending) and the gravy was only a syringe full, wasn't all of the gravy that was in there. Had he eaten a full bowl of his dry food I typically wouldn't be feeding again until 10-11 tomorrow (whole bowl)
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With FDs, we find more, smaller meals work well but we can discuss that after he’s eating.

Since we want him to keep food down, the most conservative thing is to test him 30 mins after the last test. The gravy will have had plenty of time to work. If he’s dropped, then we can feed.
 
Perfect!

Gravy does wear off. Do you know how many mls of gravy you gave him in th syringe?

I’m thinking you might want to feed him a little more of his regular liquidy food in 30 mins and then test at +3.5. If he’s coming up still, you can give him a bigger break.

What do you think about that idea or is there something else you’d prefer to do? You’re with him and know what it takes to feed him but since he’s new to these numbers, we aren’t really sure what will happen when the gravy wears off.

My goal is to keep him above 100 and give you a nice mid to high blue number in the morning although I won’t be up when you shoot.
 
Can I prick the spot on his arm that is already shaved at the moment?

Not sure about the gravy. I'll do just that, I'll feed again at +3 and test at +3.5
 
Aaron and Jasper said:
Can I prick the spot on his arm that is already shaved at the moment?
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Ive never done that or known anyone who has. It might have too many nerves and might already be sore from the IV. Are you switching ears? You can also poke on the inside of the ear (side without hair) as long as you stay along the edge. Did you see the photos on the links that show the sweet spot?
 
Yeah I've been doing all inside sweet spot, both. I'm up to 25 tests though not to mention the ones I've botched. Just feeling bad is all, it has to be done though
 
Aaron and Jasper said:
Yeah I've been doing all inside sweet spot, both. I'm up to 25 tests though not to mention the ones I've botched. Just feeling bad is all, it has to be done though
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I know....I hated every poke that I had to do on my sweet baby for 5.5 years. She was always so great...she’d even sleep through it...but it broke my heart.

I hate to poke him too much but we just don’t know what he will do and he’s got 2u of insulin in him. Let’s hope he’s up enough at 3.5 that we can give him a nice break.

You are doing great.
 
Yeah not what I wanted to see either. He responded well to the gravy before so I’d give him twice as much and retest in 30. Let’s try to carb him up.

I’m sorry.....I know you are really dead tired...you’ve been doing all this by yourself.

He’s still st a very safe number so don’t be scared. You’ve got syrup and testing and those will help keep him up.

I’m not going to go to bed until he’s up and staying up so I won’t leave you to deal with it alone.
 
I did more gravy but it only had probably 15 minutes. Should I be looking at honey? Has 2 units been too much since he was diagnosed?
 
Aaron and Jasper said:
70
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And that was with 2 syringes of gravy? At least he’s stopped :)

I’m hesitant to use honey at 70 because it really wears off fast. I like to save it for numbers below 50. Do you think he could take a couple more syringes of gravy or can he keep down some food with gravy?

It’s probably worthwhile to drop his dose to 1.75u and see if we can keep him in blue numbers so you can rest and so you aren’t fighting green when he doesn’t want to eat. We can take him back up if we need to. I’d reduce his dose to 1.75u in the morning.

If you can get a couple more syringes of gravy in him or a little food with gravy, let’s try and let him go an hour after you feed. What do you think about being able to get gravy or gravy/food in him and have him keep it down? If you think he’s too full, then just gravy.
 
Ok. That’s a good idea. I’m hoping with the food and gravy and getting near nadir, he will come up and stay up.

I’m going to nap, too, but I’ll set my alarm and be back in an hour.

He’s such a lucky kitty to have you. See you in an hour.
 
Aaron and Jasper said:
Sorry this is effecting your sleep as well but thank you. +5.5 was 78
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No worries.....and you are welcome.

I wish he was up a bit more but glad he’s not down. My thought is to give him more gravy and you try to get a couple hours sleep. The only reason I wouldn’t leave him until AMPS is the gravy could wear off. He is close to nadir and should head up but they don’t always read the rule book.

What would you be comfortable with?
 
Aaron and Jasper said:
I guess another thing of gravy and test at +8? (2 hours 15 min)
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Ok. I’d give a little more gravy than you have been.

Would you like me to wake up then? There should be a lot more people on the board by then as it will be 7 EDT. But I’m happy to wake up again if it helps you.
 
You're okay marje, thank you. I really hope he doesn't fall that low, if he does there's honey. I'm just my wit's end I thought I was close to being out of the water
 
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