6/3, Susie, 255 AMPS

Morning, Summer! :bighug: My experience: what we saw with Zen was that he'd dip into the 50's between meals (and we typically fed every couple of hours) and we'd have to use our understanding of his cycle to know if he was on his way up, on his way down, or staying flat. If he was on his way down, he might be earning a reduction that day. If we were able to monitor closely, we would let it happen and see where he went. If we weren't, we'd give him LC and test again in 20 minutes, and see where he was. If he didn't come up up, we'd give him a couple tsp of MC, and wait another 20, and test again. And if at any point he continued to go down, we'd give him 1 tsp of HC, wait 20 minutes, and test again.

On those days when we'd have to intervene with anything other than his usual food at his usual times, we knew he was on the verge of earning a reduction, and so the next day, we'd hold off on giving the additional food to see what his body did (and if he truly did earn a reduction), but we were at the ready with the MC, the HC, and the Karo if we needed it. For me, the bottom line was that you kind of felt like you weren't feeding the cycle anymore with his usual LC food, and you'd flipped into fighting the cycle a little bit.
 
Susie has had few days when she was in the low greens so it would be hard for me to know what she was going to do except for looking back at past days. I believe I understand what you are saying. Right now I feed Susie 1 oz l/c at AMPS, 1 oz l/c at +3 and 1 oz of l/c at +6 which is/was her nadir (maybe +4 - undetermined). She has been known to drop rapidly from AMPS to +2 so if I had to intervene at +2 with l/c then that would be outside the standard time of my feeding. I guess if we ever get back to low greens again it will just be more experience for me and I'll pick up on what she is going to do a little better. Thank you!
 
Summer and Susie said:
Question: If you feed to keep low numbers up then how will you ever know when your cat should have a reduction?
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You want to keep them on a dose that they are seeing good numbers in for as long as possible. If that means feeding low carb and the occasional MC and HC, it's fine.
When you find that you have to keep propping them up with higher carbs, that means it's time for a reduction. Sometimes, even HC will not work to keep them over 50.
 
Summer and Susie said:
except for looking back at past days.
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Yep, that's exactly what we do.

I believe I understand what you are saying. Right now I feed Susie 1 oz l/c at AMPS, 1 oz l/c at +3 and 1 oz of l/c at +6 which is/was her nadir (maybe +4 - undetermined). She has been known to drop rapidly from AMPS to +2 so if I had to intervene at +2 with l/c then that would be outside the standard time of my feeding.
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Yes! That's exactly how we viewed it. :woot:
 
Bandit's Mom said:
You want to keep them on a dose that they are seeing good numbers in for as long as possible. If that means feeding low carb and the occasional MC and HC, it's fine.
When you find that you have to keep propping them up with higher carbs, that means it's time for a reduction. Sometimes, even HC will not work to keep them over 50.
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Thanks, Bhooma.
 
If a cat needs a reduction, they will earn it even if you are feeding. Like Bhooma said you want to try and keep the cat in good numbers so their pancreas can heal. Sometimes it's good to feed to keep them from dropping and earning the reduction. However, if you are struggling to get the numbers back up, that's a sign the cat needs the reduction and will probably earn it soon. I hope Susie gives you more blue tonight.
 
That is what I worry about. The struggle to get the numbers up when they are low and I am feeding. It is okay. I will be more prepared this time if it happens again.
 
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