8/29 Emma PMPS 238, 47@3.33, 67 @4.20

[Manuel]

https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/8-28-emma-amps-266.267673/

Emma was meowing at me for food three hours after PM shot so I decided to test her... 47. I gave her some honey, gave her HC dry food and tested her right away again and she was at 50.

So far:

PMPS: 238; gave 1.00 as usual but with more wet food as per previous thread
+3.33: 47; gave some honey right away and some hc dry food
+3.43: 50; this was my retest to rule out faulty strip. Gave more dry food
+3.93: 49; test 25 minutes later, just a few minutes ago.
+4.20: 67. I'll wait out another hour.
+5.43: 101. Finished.

 

[Bandit's Mom]

She has earned a reduction to 0.75U from tomorrow.
You want to test 2 hours after the honey/HC dry to ensure she stays over 50 after the carbs have left her system.

 

[Manuel]

She has earned a reduction to 0.75U from tomorrow.
You want to test 2 hours after the honey/HC dry to ensure she stays over 50 after the carbs have left her system.

Thanks! I'll bring her down to 0.75U of insulin and keep up the new regime of 66% calories from wet food.

I'll stay up to test to make sure she's staying above 50 and not just riding a high from the honey and HC dry.

 

[Manuel]

Alrighty. She tested 67 at fifty minutes after her scare, when I gave her honey and HC food. I'll wait another hour or so to round it out to 2.

 

[Manuel]

Final score

PMPS: 238; gave 1.00 as usual but with more wet food as per previous thread
+3.33: 47; gave some honey right away and some hc dry food
+3.43: 50; this was my retest to rule out faulty strip. Gave more dry food
+3.93: 49; test 25 minutes later, just a few minutes ago.
+4.20: 67. I'll wait out another hour.
+5.43: 101. Finished.

Thank you, Bhooma, for your sage support! And thank you, @Sugar’s Mama for keeping a watchful eye. Bonsoir!

 

[Bandit's Mom]

Looks good. Good night!

Did you increase the % of wet food today? If that why her numbers were lower?

 

[Sugar’s Mama]

I was silently cheering on Emma! Happy to see the ‘final score!’

 

[Manuel]

Looks good. Good night!

Did you increase the % of wet food today? If that why her numbers were lower?

Good evening (I think!). Yes, I suspect that is why. For quite a while I was doing 50-50ish wet and dry calories. Then, I tried doing 62% wet on days where she is under Pred influence (= higher BG typically) and all worked beautifully. Then, in the previous thread we thought it might be worth trying to increase the wet food across the board, this time to 66%. Two cycles later…

Frankly I think Emma wouldn’t have dipped last night if I could have front loaded the dry portion, at shot time instead of later. But I can’t stay up or be home for a wet snack at +5 regularly and I don’t think it’d be good practice to do it irregularly? I guess I could do some dry food at feeding and some wet at +2 but really the dry at +2 usually helps! I guess over time she’ll just adjust.

 

[Bandit's Mom]

Good evening (I think!). Yes, I suspect that is why. For quite a while I was doing 50-50ish wet and dry calories. Then, I tried doing 62% wet on days where she is under Pred influence (= higher BG typically) and all worked beautifully. Then, in the previous thread we thought it might be worth trying to increase the wet food across the board, this time to 66%. Two cycles later…

It's good that you are gradually increasing the % of low carb wet food if her tummy can tolerate it. Her insulin needs will reduce quite a bit as your transition the carbs from her diet. it makes no sense to feed carbs and then give insulin - unless of course, the only food she can eat is high carbs! She has to eat.

Frankly I think Emma wouldn’t have dipped last night if I could have front loaded the dry portion, at shot time instead of later. But I can’t stay up or be home for a wet snack at +5 regularly and I don’t think it’d be good practice to do it irregularly? I guess I could do some dry food at feeding and some wet at +2 but really the dry at +2 usually helps! I guess over time she’ll just adjust.

There are a couple of things you can do. It does make more sense to front-load the carbs when the insulin action is strongest. Feeding carbs later in the cycle can put the brakes on insulin action and reduce duration. Have you thought about getting a timed auto-feeder? A lot of people her use one. That way you can make sure she has wet food available when you are not at home or asleep. The other thing I would suggest is getting a +2 in every cycle (if you can). That can act as an early indicator of what the cycle is going to look like and you can feed accordingly.

 

[Manuel]

It's good that you are gradually increasing the % of low carb wet food if her tummy can tolerate it. Her insulin needs will reduce quite a bit as your transition the carbs from her diet. it makes no sense to feed carbs and then give insulin - unless of course, the only food she can eat is high carbs! She has to eat.


There are a couple of things you can do. It does make more sense to front-load the carbs when the insulin action is strongest. Feeding carbs later in the cycle can put the brakes on insulin action and reduce duration. Have you thought about getting a timed auto-feeder? A lot of people her use one. That way you can make sure she has wet food available when you are not at home or asleep. The other thing I would suggest is getting a +2 in every cycle (if you can). That can act as an early indicator of what the cycle is going to look like and you can feed accordingly.

Makes perfect sense. I do have a timed auto-feeder, but I thought maybe wet food would spoil. I suspect food coming from the fridge would be fine, especially at +2, but +5 might be pushing it. I'll search around the forum to see what others have done. I can't always get a +2 every cycle because I work mornings this semester, but in the evenings I could do +2.

 

[Bandit's Mom]

Makes perfect sense. I do have a timed auto-feeder, but I thought maybe wet food would spoil. I suspect food coming from the fridge would be fine, especially at +2, but +5 might be pushing it. I'll search around the forum to see what others have done.

Some people make "cat-sicles" by adding water to canned and freezing in ice cube trays and use those in the auto-feeder. Especially for later time slots. When the food melts, it's like offering a fresh meal. Just remember to program the auto-feeder to open to an empty slot 2 hours before shot time so that your pre-shot test is not influenced by food.

I can't always get a +2 every cycle because I work mornings this semester, but in the evenings I could do +2.

I don't suppose you have the flexibility to move her shot time so that you can get a +1.5 or +2 before you leave for work?

 

[Manuel]

Some people make "cat-sicles" by adding water to canned and freezing in ice cube trays and use those in the auto-feeder. Especially for later time slots. When the food melts, it's like offering a fresh meal. Just remember to program the auto-feeder to open to an empty slot 2 hours before shot time so that your pre-shot test is not influenced by food.


I don't suppose you have the flexibility to move her shot time so that you can get a +1.5 or +2 before you leave for work?

I have the blessing of an ever-hungry cat; there would never be food left over in the two hours before pre-shot.

I'll look into cat-sicles! Which sound rather more gruesome than your explanation suggests. Because I teach early mornings, I can't really get a +2 test every day, but sometimes my wife works from home and I could ask her to take one. We could get one of +2 or +5 on most days. I know of course that ideally we'd test all the time, but for Emma in particular would you say it's preferable to test at +2 compared to +5, say, just to know what kind of curve she's having? (And how would I tell?)

Much obliged, Bhooma. I honestly thank God for y'all.

 

[Bandit's Mom]

We could get one of +2 or +5 on most days. I know of course that ideally we'd test all the time, but for Emma in particular would you say it's preferable to test at +2 compared to +5, say, just to know what kind of curve she's having? (And how would I tell?)

A test at +2 can act like a crystal ball of what the rest of the cycle is going to look like.

• If the +2 is about the same as the PS, it's usually going to be a pretty normal cycle - gradually down to nadir and then gradually back up to the next PS.
• If the +2 is a lot higher than the PS, that usually means there's a bounce starting and it's usually OK to take a little bit of a break from testing.
• If the +2 is (a lot) lower than the PS, that's your early warning that it could be an "active" cycle and numbers might go a lot lower later in the cycle and it's important to try to get more tests.

Also, by testing at +2, you can feed a little higher carbs if there is a big drop at +2 and attempt to "flatten the curve".

 

[Manuel]

Thank you. Emma almost never is about the same at +2; she dips, and the only question is whether she dips a LOT or not. Recently she hasn't dipped a lot early on, based on my +3 tests in the evening. But I'll try to get more +2 tests in instead of worrying about +4 and +5 before I sleep; the quick drop may be a good indicator about whether I'll need to stay up and test.

Speaking of which, thank you and have a good day/night!