12/29 Cosmo AMPS 182, +2.5 128, +3.25 171, +4 173, +5 207, +7 173, PMPS 367

A few of us experienced members discussed this and Wendy suggested a move to Levemir and I like her idea
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Interesting...I don’t know much about the difference between Levemir and Lantus, other than they are both depot insulins, but act differently. Other than ‘differently’ I don’t know more. I’m curious why it might be better? Totally willing to consider switching, if it might help :)

But I’d be sure and get a +2 every cycle just in case he wants to get cheeky again.
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We always get a +2, especially at bedtime, but I must have forgotten to enter it a few times :facepalm: I’ll try to look back on the meter to grab the number. The +2 must not have been exciting to warrant another test overnight.

I don’t know how helpful this will be but my vet suggested we do Nutriscan to identify any potential food sensitivities (not allergies) so we could feed the best proteins early on and, hopefully, avoid any intestinal issues down the road.
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Super helpful! We are always worried to try a new food for both his sensitivities and megacolon. Changing a food has always been risky for him. We know he is a little allergic to something in his food right now, based on some skin irritation, but way better than before. He has had a bald belly and some spots on his arms and legs from over grooming/scratching. He also has a bit of a sneeze/congestion.

We are feeding mostly MC wet, and are weaning the dry. He eats RC intense beauty (13%) with less than 1/8 cup of RC gastrointestinal fiber response dry food (works out to about 11 pieces per meal, or 60 pieces per day). The dry is a miracle food for megacolon kitties, according to the megacolon group we are part of. The great news is that Cosmo has not had any problems in that dept. since July!
The gastro wet is super high carb (29%) and we only use this one when Cosmo is having one of his famous dropsies and needs to come up.

We were feeding MD wet and gastro kibble in the Summer/fall, but Cosmo refused it in Oct/Nov and so we went with a food by the same brand and tried to match the carb and proteins as best as we could and that is why he is on RC intense beauty. I am happy to adjust the wet down to a better carb or even raw, I’m just worried about eliminating the little bit of dry that is regulating his BMs. We could consider a further reduction of it though...
 
So...Cosmo is probably having one of his dropsie days today, which means going under 90 is a possibility (maybe). Should we make him earn reductions 2 or 3 times like a long term diabetic? If he bounces, shooting through the bounce tonight?

Love the blue preshot. I wish we could get him to stay down more often.

just thinking outside the box...for unique circumstance ideas.
 
thebigfuzz said:
Interesting...I don’t know much about the difference between Levemir and Lantus, other than they are both depot insulins, but act differently. Other than ‘differently’ I don’t know more. I’m curious why it might be better? Totally willing to consider switching, if it might help
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LANTUS and LEVEMIR: What's the Difference? for more on the details, but essentially Levemir has a later onset (typical is +4) and nadir is later (typical +8).

For some cats, Levemir seems to have a bit better duration. Better duration can mean a lot flatter cycles. Flatter cycles means less bouncing from big drops. Also for some cats, the acid base of Lantus stings so for higher dose cats, Levemir is better from that perspective. Note, some lower dose cats also react to the sting, but I've also seen larger dose cats on Lantus, that part is ECID and I think not so relevant for Cosmo. You still get the cartridges in a 5 pack, stopper is a different colour, but everything else is the same. You do have to be a newbie for the first little while when you switch, learning how the cat works the new insulin. And it can take them a month or two to really settle into using Levemir. Patience pants are essential. :)

Since Cosmo is dropping, do you have something higher carb you could feed to prop him up and safely keep him above 90? I'd love him to spend more times around where he is now, and get used to those numbers.

The Nutriscan website said to get the pet to chew a rope. Can't imagine that with a cat! Maybe I was reading the dog page. Might be interesting to get those results here too.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Since Cosmo is dropping, do you have something higher carb you could feed to prop him up and safely keep him above 90? I'd love him to spend more times around where he is now, and get used to those numbers.
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I would love that too! He just ate his MC snack with 11 pieces of kibble, and will test in an hour (30 mins from now). We always have the 29% gastro wet we could give. Will do that to coast him in blues for as long as we can today.

I’ll have a read through the link, thanks!!!
 
@Wendy&Neko we have about 2 weeks left of his lantus vial. If we switched, Would we still inject 12 hrs apart and around the same dose?

DH, Cosmo ;) and I are talking and we think the nutriscan and levemir are good ideas...especially the nutriscan, because we are always worried and over research when thinking about changing his food - given how sensitive his GI tract is and the problems with it. Knowing what he is sensitive to will really help us select a wet food.

When we switched to RC intense beauty, I was really trying to get as low in carb as I could, and match as many ingredients as I could and he seemed ‘ok’ with pork - which is amazingly hard to find in a wet food :confused:
 
thebigfuzz said:
Thanks Lyla! It’s a good day :) Hope you are able to rest a bit with the skip this am?
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It is definitely a good day! Paws and fingers are crossed that Cosmo will have more of them soon. You, DH and Cosmo are working hard to get that to happen, that's for sure:).

I rested:). No nap. Just took it easy, did some chores, worked out and stayed away from my computer for a while. Butters slept off her gravy hangover. It was very enjoyable for both of us!
 
Ah look at that nice blue beach stroll today...now don't go sticking yourself up in that lemon tree nest for long. Luci has her spot reserved there it seems...I do wish she'd come down from there...but perhaps it was just too much surfing last night that made her stick around the lemon tree today...

Looking good there Cosmo!
 
Sue and Luci said:
Ah look at that nice blue beach stroll today...now don't go sticking yourself up in that lemon tree nest for long. Luci has her spot reserved there it seems...I do wish she'd come down from there...but perhaps it was just too much surfing last night that made her stick around the lemon tree today...

Looking good there Cosmo!
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Can you ask Luci if she is willing to make Cosmo a spot in the Lemon tree with a view of the beach overlooking the water? With a seat belt so he can’t fly to the moon :cool:
 
You guys are too funny! My day off consists of working with my boss on Facetime!! And painting two more walls of our bedroom..oh and running to the hardware store to get paint..and..well what didn't I do? :rolleyes::facepalm::p:D
I want a day off like YOURS!! Couch surfing, eating and napping!!! OMG!! :joyful::joyful:
 
thebigfuzz said:
we have about 2 weeks left of his lantus vial. If we switched, Would we still inject 12 hrs apart and around the same dose?
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Sorry, was off zooming with friends. :p While you did a fantastic job keeping him flat and blue. :cool:

Sounds like timing is perfect for the switch! Yes, you still inject 12 hours apart, nothing changes there. What you do change is the dose. Some cats (never predictable of course), have a strong reaction to the insulin switch. For that reason, we start at about 70% of the Lantus dose, so that would be 2-2.25 units. Most cats eventually need a similar Lev dose, we just like to get there without the drama that can happen.
 
Well...I kept him in blues as long as I could today :) and he tried his best too!

@Wendy&Neko Thank you! I have reached out to our vet about the switch to Levemir to get her onboard. :) I think she will be ok with it. She is a good one, I think.
 
I’m glad you are going to try Lev. I looked it up nutriscan for Mocha. You just have to get them to saturate the swab with saliva. I didn’t do it because I was able to feed her novel protein.
 
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