1/15 Missy AMPS 187, 77 +1.75, 66 +2.25, 126 +3, 185 + 3.5, 214 +4, 207 +5.75, 261 +7.75, 326 +10

I already gave her 1/2 teaspoon of corn syrup maybe less. I diluted a bit with water. I started calm and gave her 2 tablespoons of Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers. But after 20 min that did nothing. She went lower. All my interventions and she still keeps going lower.

After corn syrup 15 min she was still 66.
What do I do from here? How often do I test?

I’m using syringe to give corn syrup. When should I rub on gums?
 
Test in 20-30 minutes after you fed her. It takes that long for the food to lower the carbs. 66 is safe. How is she acting? Is she hungry and willing to eat? You don’t need to syringe or rub the syrup on her gums if she will eat. Just add it to her food.
 
Please remove the 911. I’ll keep checking back. You can change it to a ? If she drops under 50 put back the 911.
It’s scary to see lower numbers I know. Wait until it happens at preshot! My first 60 was at my vet’s office on a pet meter at +7. I was freaked but my vet was not at all worried. I wasn’t home testing. I promptly brought my meter in to him at my next visit a few days later.
 
She ate the medium card Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers. That was at 50 minutes ago. It didn’t help. After 20 min she as lower.
I tried a high carb gravy. She didn’t want to eat that. So I just went with some corn syrup. I hope I did the right thing. Posting on here is difficult for me because I needed to update my spreadsheet and it won’t update from my iPhone so I just followed my gut and gave her a bit of corn syrup.

I was also worried how quickly it dropped. This happened I believe in January 5th or 6th.
What do I do if BG doesn’t raise and it keeps dropping?
 
Sorry I didn’t answer you other questions.
She is resting, laying down in her bed. Seems fine. Isn’t acting strange maybe a little lazy lethargic but she can look like that if she’s sleepy.
 
I will stay with you. If she stays above 50, it’s a successful cycle. People following TR shoot 50 and over once they have data. It’s scary at first for everyone. Max dropped into the 30’s and once I recorded a lo, no number. He never had a symptomatic hypo. We will keep feeding small amounts and testing every 20-30 until we see a rise. Meter variance is 20% so she’s safe. When is your next test?
 
Last edited:
I just tested her again it’s been 25 min. She is now at 126. I hope it’s ok and she hasn’t spiked too high now. I would like to ride this low out. I’m learning. I will do better next time.

I know with corn syrup they can spike snd then crash again. How often should I continue to test?
 
Tammy Walton said:
I just tested her again it’s been 25 min. She is now at 126. I hope it’s ok and she hasn’t spiked too high now. I would like to ride this low out. I’m learning. I will do better next time.

I know with corn syrup they can spike snd then crash again. How often should I continue to test?
Click to expand...

We have all done this. Panicked at normal numbers and thrown enough carbs to send the kitty to the moon. You will get used to it with time :-)

My suggestion is that you follow TR and hold the dose.

Test again after 2 hours to see if she stays up after the carbs have worn off.

Am headed to bed. Tag or PM @tiffmaxee if she dips again (unlikely).
 
I agree with Bhooma but you hold the syringe. Have you looked at other people’s spreadsheets? You will see that cycles stay in the single digits and the cats are safe.
 
 
I don’t know what to do. She is going for a ultrasound of her pancreas next week. Vet wants to make sure nothing else is going on that could keep her from getting regulated. I feel like I need to see how her pancreas is before I make a decision. Just waiting to for appointment date. I don’t know what to do. Bandits mom and a few others are encouraging me to do TR because she has a history of ketones. Their concern is the SLGS will be a rollercoaster of increases and reductions. Which is what I’m seeing again now. This happened Jan 5th. She had a reduction of .25 to then giving .75 units. But her numbers were too high afterwards.

I just don’t know how she would react if I gave her a full 1 unit after experiencing a low like this. I know her low wasnt hypo but she was dropping fast. It’s such a hard decision. I honestly don’t know what to do. I’m thankful I was home as this low happens at + 1.75. What if I had to go out. I feel house bound like I can’t leave her. And clearly today I’m so grateful I was home.
 
 
Missy is newly diagnosed so I don’t know why your vet thinks there’s another issue. Nothing wrong with checking though. Is she acting ill? Any other medical issues?
 
Hugs for Tammy :bighug::bighug::bighug:

I think you should give yourself some credit and know that you are doing a great job so far :) You are testing and learning and looks like ketones are doing better too!

I have had 2 diabetic cats - Elie, who went into remission quickly after following TR and Cosmo, who has some other medical conditions to contend with so we follow SLGS. I remember how anxiety filled it all seems at first, so please know that you are doing great.

We can forget that we want kitty in those safe greens and pretty low blues. Those are healing, normal numbers, even if scary at first. Right now, the numbers are fluctuating a bit for you (which is normal at first) between bounces and bounce breaking cycles that can have a bit of momentum like this morning. Eventually being able to shoot lower numbers (above 50 if you choose TR) will help keep the cycle flatter. Shoot low (but safe) to stay low. For now, you are testing and monitoring for safety and learning your kitties trends...that’s great!

I am from BC too and sometimes I wish my meter would just show US numbers...72 sounds less scary than 4 :eek: at least at first. Eventually, I think it gets easier to handle the mmol/l single digits :)

you are doing great! Keep up the good work!
 
I’ve taken her to Emergency two times now in the last month. First time was Dec 30th due to high ketones. She had no symptoms I just discovered during random checks.
She was diagnosed diabetic Dec 2nd. Vet prescribed insulin. After I brought this to his attention he said yes you’re right don’t give her that insulin. He found out I was home testing and he didn’t think her BG was consistently high enough to treat. Again obviously wrong :( It was always hovering around 280ish, sometimes 300. This was untreated.
After ER trip that vet said she needs insulin so again that was Dec 30. So I was relieved. She gave her Lantus and 1unit to start/12 hours.

I was getting way better info and support from ER vet.
The other day Missy has been having dry heaving episodes. I’ve brought to my vets attention back in the summer. He shrugged it off as hairballs and gave her hairball remedy which is full of sugar :( I keep learning more and more now and discovered the dry heaving could be due to asthma. So I decided to take her back to ER for exam and X-ray to make sure her heart and lungs were ok. So I didn’t have to go to ER but I did because I wanted Missy to be evaluated by the same vet that saw her before.

My vet was concerned with two ER trips. Unfortunately with Covid as well my vet is extremely hard to get into so I didn’t want to wait for days.
So that was the reason for trips to ER.
ER Vet found no issues with her heart and confirmed she does NOT have asthma. vet recommended a follow up ultrasound on pancreas just to make sure no inflammation or other issues. And she wanted another X-ray of her stomach because she thought she saw sand in her tummy.

Missy also had pancreatitis 2 times approx a year and a half ago. Two bouts of it 2 weeks apart. My vet never told me to watch her now for diabetes. I wish I had known. She lost hair on her ears, was losing weight and I was like something is not right and that’s how she got diagnosed. She was also always hungry.

ER Vet mentioned she could still have some glucose toxicity because we don’t know how long she was diabetic for.
It’s been a very confusing time for me. I’m always used to be able to trust my vet. He’s been our vet for over 15 years and I think has always been great. Now I feel like I can’t trust him. He prescribed wrong insulin, told me I didn’t need to home test, actually didn’t even mention home testing, didn’t mention changing her diet, and after a few days on insulin was going to up her dose to 2units. So I don’t know what I’d do without all your support because my vet just doesn’t seem to be very up to date on diabetes in cats. That is pretty much Missy’s history.

I just retested her and at +3.5 she’s up now to 185. So I really hope I didn’t spike her too much. Leaning as I go along through all of this. I was calm at 77 until I saw it keep dropping to 66 and eating medium card food did nothing.

At what point should I follow with high protein food so she doesn’t crash again?
again here are her numbers
AMPS 187 +1.75 77, +2.25 66, +2.50 66, +3 126, +3.5 185.

Thanks for your help. I really hope I didn’t screw up here.
 
thebigfuzz said:
Hugs for Tammy :bighug::bighug::bighug:

I think you should give yourself some credit and know that you are doing a great job so far :) You are testing and learning and looks like ketones are doing better too!

I have had 2 diabetic cats - Elie, who went into remission quickly after following TR and Cosmo, who has some other medical conditions to contend with so we follow SLGS. I remember how anxiety filled it all seems at first, so please know that you are doing great.

We can forget that we want kitty in those safe greens and pretty low blues. Those are healing, normal numbers, even if scary at first. Right now, the numbers are fluctuating a bit for you (which is normal at first) between bounces and bounce breaking cycles that can have a bit of momentum like this morning. Eventually being able to shoot lower numbers (above 50 if you choose TR) will help keep the cycle flatter. Shoot low (but safe) to stay low. For now, you are testing and monitoring for safety and learning your kitties trends...that’s great!

I am from BC too and sometimes I wish my meter would just show US numbers...72 sounds less scary than 4 :eek: at least at first. Eventually, I think it gets easier to handle the mmol/l single digits :)

you are doing great! Keep up the good work!
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for your encouragement. I feel like I messed up today. But learning as I go. I will know better next time. I’m so happy to have everyone’s support on this site. It’s people like you that really help lift my spirits. Thank you!! ♥️:)
 
Learning is sometimes making mistakes...don't beat yourself up over that.

Just try to read as much as you can from the stickies...look at other people's condos and see what their numbers look like. You'll learn soon what a truly alarming and dangerous number is and when it's not. As mentioned earlier numbers above 50 on a human meter are wonderful and we all wait for them...it means your kitty is healing.

Next time you'll feel differently about seeing that blessed green number! :) Hang in there...we all felt this way the first time we saw a green number on that SS... :bighug:
 
Tammy Walton said:
I really hope I didn’t screw up here.
Click to expand...
You didn't screw up :bighug: You are learning! Take notes, keep them in your remarks so you can refer back to them the next time you see these numbers. You can then adjust and learn :bighug: Every single day is data gathering and then you take a step back and look at trends over a few days. Soon enough, you'll start to spot trends for Missy yourself!

Tammy Walton said:
At what point should I follow with high protein food so she doesn’t crash again?
again here are her numbers
AMPS 187 +1.75 77, +2.25 66, +2.50 66, +3 126, +3.5 185.
Click to expand...
Those greens can be alarming at first but they are safe numbers! In fact, I've been wishing for the 60s for Jax (he took it a step too far today lol) - it's a great nadir. Missy didn't crash - she just visited some nice normal, healing numbers! The longer you can keep her surfing between 50-100, the better as she'll get used to those numbers and won't bounce as much.

I always found it helpful to study SSs like others have mentioned. I also found it super helpful to study what people fed their kitties at different numbers. I actually think @Butters & Lyla was one I studied a lot because she's always had good notes - we definitely feed our kitties numbers differently (ECID...and Jax...as Lyla says...is a big boi :p) but it helps see the amounts and carbs being used. Jax decided to kiss the sharks today (sharks = any number <50 :p) and here's how our afternoon has gone - I keep all of this in my remarks section too.

AMPS 120 *mini-meals: mixed 2.5T(1% chicken) + 1.5T water + 1/8t egg yolk + 3/16t miralax
+3 69 *2.5t LC + 1.25t water
+5 50 (second strip 48) *1t MC (15%)
+5.5 61 *1t LC
+6 66 *no food
+6.5 55 *1t MC, 1t LC
+7 64 *1t LC (no food at +7.5 & +8)

A few notes: I know Jax will usually come up from <50 with MC - I save my HC if he doesn't come up OR if I have just taken a reduction and the depot is being a nuisance - this learning came with A LOT of experimentation and a lot of learning about a typical Lantus cycle (earlier in the cycle means I'll be heavier handed with carbs since Lantus still has work to do while later in the cycle Lantus is waning so I like to take advantage of the natural BG rise). A second note - if I needed to go somewhere today or couldn't test, I would have fed more MC or even a bit of HC (by a bit, I mean a teaspoon or two).

Hope that helps some! You appear to be a great mama bean, open to learning, and have lots of love for Missy :bighug: Hang in there :bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
Last edited:
Could you please up date your spreadsheet and the subject line, so we know that Missy is now doing fine. Phew!

As others have said, reading what others do can be helpful. We've had a couple kitties today go under 50 :eek:, so it's good to read along and see what the person did or was coached to do. It took forever before Neko game me a low enough number I had to give higher carb food, but by then I'd followed along with others so much that I had a good idea what to do.
 
Hi everyone! Thank you to all of you that helped me along this morning. Your advice, expertise and words of encouragement means everything. I cannot thank you enough :p
Just when I kinda thought I was starting to figure this little girl out she throws me for another loop. This morning she had quite a fast drop from 187 to 77 at +1.75. What threw me off was she didn't respond to medium carb food like she did last time this happened. She actually went lower to 66 at +2.25. I didn't want to mess up her low numbers and I was trying to gently bring her up a bit but she refused a little bit of high carb food. I tested her again at +2.75 and she was still 66. This is when I kinda panicked. I gave her 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoons of corn syrup diluted with a bit of water. I know now I shouldn't have done this. I've read sooooo much, I've looked at other spreadsheets and peoples stories but until I can say I have experienced it myself I really don't know how I will react or deal with the situation I am in. My main concern was getting Missy to a safe zone in case she dropped even more. I will do better next time. I understand a little more everyday and I am starting to figure Missy out as well. Tonight at PMPS I will also test for ketones and pray her BG is not too high.

A few of you will be very happy to know that I have decided to go with TR. I am taking a step of faith here and want to do ultimately what is best for Missy and I can clearly see the rollercoaster SLGS can create isn't the best choice for her. So wish us luck.

One other question..... I am going through a whole lot of test strips. In Canada where I live the ones I am using are .84 cents each. This is for ONE TOUCH. Can anyone recommend a cheaper test strip and accurate meter...one that requires minimal blood sample. From what I have heard I am lucky that in Canada our insulin isn't as much as the US but we get ripped off on our testing strips.

Pretty soon I will be testing for her PMPS and I hope all will be well. ;)
 
A couple tips for cheaper strips. First, check out eBay - I've seen some deals there. Next, the Bravo meter bought on line, and lastly a monthly subscription to the One Drop. Lyla @Butters & Lyla is one of the people in Canada using it. I was lucky that Neko's diabetes journey was pre Covid, so I could do cross border shopping. Or get friends crossing the border to deliver.
 
You did a great job this morning, Tammy! IMHO, the very best way to learn how to handle low numbers is to experience them firsthand! It will get easier.

I don't know if you saw my response to your question in my condo yesterday. I replied in my today condo, so have a look if you haven't already.

I'll send you some info on the test strips.
 
Butters & Lyla said:
You did a great job this morning, Tammy! IMHO, the very best way to learn how to handle low numbers is to experience them firsthand! It will get easier.

I don't know if you saw my response to your question in my condo yesterday. I replied in my today condo, so have a look if you haven't already.

I'll send you some info on the test strips.
Click to expand...
Hi Lyla... Oh I don't think I did see your response. I know I sent you a message. I am so impressed by you and what you're doing for Butters. You keep amazingly detailed spreadsheets and I even showed my husband. He thinks I'm kinda crazy with how detailed I am with everything but you are amazing and I am so impressed. I admire your courage to care for Butters and do all you can to help her. I also appreciate the humour you put into your messages as well. i hope I will get there one day too as I feel like I am so serious all the time with this. I will go take a look at your response. Thank you for the encouragement.
Its been an exhausting day for me and I just did Missy's PMPS and it was 453 :nailbiting: yikes.... I hope that wasn't entirely my fault. I am anticipating a bounce due to the low she had today so this could be the norm for the next few cycles from what I have heard and this is how she also responded last time as well. I just tested her at +1.25 and she was 424. Oh boy.... now to figure out how often to test her tonight. :rolleyes:
 
Tammy Walton said:
I hope that wasn't entirely my fault. I am anticipating a bounce due to the low she had today so this could be the norm for the next few cycles from what I have heard and this is how she also responded last time as well.
Click to expand...
It is NOT your fault. You are going above and beyond! :bighug:

She will start clearing bounces faster and also bounce less as she gets used to lower numbers. She is also on a higher dose (1U vs 0.75U) so she just might clear the bounce faster than 6 cycles.
Don't stay up tonight testing. You need a break and to be well rested for the next time she goes low. :-)
 
It’s so comforting to me knowing we’re in different times zones and I have your support at night and others in the day. You’re awesome!!! Thank you so much. I appreciate you. :)
 
I just tested her at +2 and she’s now 410. She’s very sleepy but seems comfortable.

so her numbers are:
PMPS 453, 424 +1, 410 +2

:)
 
Got to bed and stop testing for the night! :-)

453 and 410 are flat. There is a 20% variance in meter readings. A test at AMPS should be enough. GOOD NIGHT! :-)
 
JaxBenji said:
You didn't screw up :bighug: You are learning! Take notes, keep them in your remarks so you can refer back to them the next time you see these numbers. You can then adjust and learn :bighug: Every single day is data gathering and then you take a step back and look at trends over a few days. Soon enough, you'll start to spot trends for Missy yourself!


Those greens can be alarming at first but they are safe numbers! In fact, I've been wishing for the 60s for Jax (he took it a step too far today lol) - it's a great nadir. Missy didn't crash - she just visited some nice normal, healing numbers! The longer you can keep her surfing between 50-100, the better as she'll get used to those numbers and won't bounce as much.

I always found it helpful to study SSs like others have mentioned. I also found it super helpful to study what people fed their kitties at different numbers. I actually think @Butters & Lyla was one I studied a lot because she's always had good notes - we definitely feed our kitties numbers differently (ECID...and Jax...as Lyla says...is a big boi :p) but it helps see the amounts and carbs being used. Jax decided to kiss the sharks today (sharks = any number <50 :p) and here's how our afternoon has gone - I keep all of this in my remarks section too.

AMPS 120 *mini-meals: mixed 2.5T(1% chicken) + 1.5T water + 1/8t egg yolk + 3/16t miralax
+3 69 *2.5t LC + 1.25t water
+5 50 (second strip 48) *1t MC (15%)
+5.5 61 *1t LC
+6 66 *no food
+6.5 55 *1t MC, 1t LC
+7 64 *1t LC (no food at +7.5 & +8)

A few notes: I know Jax will usually come up from <50 with MC - I save my HC if he doesn't come up OR if I have just taken a reduction and the depot is being a nuisance - this learning came with A LOT of experimentation and a lot of learning about a typical Lantus cycle (earlier in the cycle means I'll be heavier handed with carbs since Lantus still has work to do while later in the cycle Lantus is waning so I like to take advantage of the natural BG rise). A second note - if I needed to go somewhere today or couldn't test, I would have fed more MC or even a bit of HC (by a bit, I mean a teaspoon or two).

Hope that helps some! You appear to be a great mama bean, open to learning, and have lots of love for Missy :bighug: Hang in there :bighug::bighug::bighug:
Click to expand...
This really helps. I need to get better at charting food. I basically feed fancy feast pate. This has been all I’ve been feeding since she became diabetic and it was recommended by FDMB. I feed her small meals throughout the day.

how long have you been charting and caring for your kitty for? You seem to know your kitty so well. I hope I can figure Missy out like this as well one day soon. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top