10/24 Chewie AMPS 113/ +2 88/ +3 81/ +4 78/ +5 79/ +6.5 94/ +8 111/ PMPS 103/ +2 90/ +4.5 82/ +7 86

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

Yesterday

Good morning everyone
I planned on not feeding Chewie at +2 after seeing her number, just to see where she would be naturally at +3, but she started begging with the cutest big eyes in the kitchen, so in the end she got 1 tsp of 4% Chicken Fricassee. Looking forward to seeing where she is in an hour.

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

good morning Virginie and Chewie! Happy surfing today.

 

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

Thanks Kyle give Hendrick and all your kittehs a scritchie for me! (unfortunately they would only get a hiss from Chewie haha)

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

ok, Roxy and Hendrick scritches applied, now on to Kayla, Shylo, Oreo, and Chester

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Great cycle so far , sufrs safely Chewie.

 

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

Very happy about it I didn't feed at +4, except for half a tube of churu, trying to keep her surfin' until her lunchtime at +5

Also just made an appointment to establish care with a vet service who does house calls. I was able to enter her dose of insulin in their "new patient info" form, so hopefully they won't give me any grief.
They have great reviews, and the appt (Nov 1st) should be just in time to get her insulin refill. Mark's Marine Pharmacy is also trying to get a prescription for 3 pens from my old vet, but no update so far, it's so frustrating.

 

[Angela & Cleo]

Could switching from a 8% food to a 4% food have had any role to play in this change? Back in Portland she ate half raw (very low carb, either turkey or rabbit, no veggies or grains added), half Koha turkey (which is listed as 8% carbs in the food chart).
Then since we arrived in Virginia she has been more picky and I have switched to Wellness Complete Health - both the flavors she eats are 4%.

Hi Virginie! I saw this post from you yesterday. Chewie could be carb sensitive and that might make a difference coupled with getting to a good dose to break through some of the glucose toxicity. Were you feeing the Turkey Stew - which is 8% or the Turkey Pate which is less than 1%?
See the attached from KOHA's nutritional info website.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19KjfFf4ppmTxLCzpYWeF8Nh5uQO7Nr9b/view?usp=sharing, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i_g0OgChqw1hIa5SfpkA7VcL-9eBZynp/view?usp=sharing

 

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

Hi Virginie! I saw this post from you yesterday. Chewie could be carb sensitive and that might make a difference coupled with getting to a good dose to break through some of the glucose toxicity. Were you feeing the Turkey Stew - which is 8% or the Turkey Pate which is less than 1%?
See the attached from KOHA's nutritional info website.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19KjfFf4ppmTxLCzpYWeF8Nh5uQO7Nr9b/view?usp=sharing, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i_g0OgChqw1hIa5SfpkA7VcL-9eBZynp/view?usp=sharing

Ugh, if she IS carb-sensitive I'm glad I accidentally figured it out! I hate that she may have spent more time in horrible numbers than necessary because of her food... I based myself on this food chart though, it might be out of date? You are saying the turkey pate is less than 1% but the chart is saying it's 8%? It was definitely not the stew.
https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

 

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

Hmmm so maybe not an issue? The chart you linked me to seems way more recent than the one I have been using!!

I guess I should delete it from my favorites.. it lists Wellness Complete Health chicken pate and turkey pate as 4% carb each, but the Wellness website has way lower dry matter carb percentages:
https://www.wellnesspetfood.com/sites/default/files/media/documents/WPC WCC CH Turkey Q3-2020.pdf
https://www.wellnesspetfood.com/sites/default/files/media/documents/WPC WCC CH Chicken Q3-2020.pdf

 

[Angela & Cleo]

The Dr. Lisa's chart is WONDERFUL however, it is from 2017, I think or maybe 2018. A lot of companies have changed their food formulas and profiles since then. Probably because Dr. Lisa did an amazing job getting the nutritional information to put together the chart and forced these companies to actually do better.
Here is a link https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aqmnoTbHkDckpbds_4CSn9wi-dBAMJp-?usp=sharing with info updated as recently as September 2022. It was created for CKD cats but the information in this link is mind blowing.
This list has Koha Limited Ingredient Turkey Pate at 1% Carb on an ME basis.

So if it was the Koha LI Turkey pate you were feeding before the cross country move, then I would reason that the change in her numbers is more than likely getting to a GREAT dose that was able to breakthrough the glucose toxicity. Another reason TR rocks!

There's a thread that discusses "no carb vs. low carb" and how every cat is different on how they respond. Some kitties actually did better with a slighter higher carb % (ie 4-5) than when they were on 0%. ECID. If you want I'll post the link to the thread.

 

[Angela & Cleo]

Hmmm so maybe not an issue? The chart you linked me to seems way more recent than the one I have been using!!

I guess I should delete it from my favorites.. it lists Wellness Complete Health chicken pate and turkey pate as 4% carb each, but the Wellness website has way lower dry matter carb percentages:
https://www.wellnesspetfood.com/sites/default/files/media/documents/WPC WCC CH Turkey Q3-2020.pdf
https://www.wellnesspetfood.com/sites/default/files/media/documents/WPC WCC CH Chicken Q3-2020.pdf

Actually, Wellness also gave you the ME basis to both of these if you scroll all the way to the bottom of each.

Turkey:
kcalories
%
kcal- Protein39.28%
kcal- Fat59.59%
kcal- Carbohydrates1.12%

Chicken:
kcalories
%
kcal- Protein
39.17%
kcal- Fat
60.25%
kcal- Carbohydrates
0.58%

 

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

Thanks @Angela & Cleo for the updated link! I bookmarked it and deleted the old one.
Would also love reading the link about carb sensitivity. I thought I was feeding Chewie about 4% this entire time, in fact she is on very low carb!
But, she seems to be doing great on it, so I should probably not rock the boat

 

[Angela & Cleo]

Thanks @Angela & Cleo for the updated link! I bookmarked it and deleted the old one.
Would also love reading the link about carb sensitivity. I thought I was feeding Chewie about 4% this entire time, in fact she is on very low carb!
But, she seems to be doing great on it, so I should probably not rock the boat

I would DEFINITELY hold onto Dr. Lisa's chart. It has a wealth of information aside from carb%.
And if I were you, I would NOT rock the boat either.

 

[Angela & Cleo]

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/feeding-lowest-zero-carb-vs-lower-carb-foods.144220/
Here's the thread on lowest carb vs. lower carb. Interesting read. It reinforces the Know Your Cat motto.
Let me know if you need anything else.

 

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/feeding-lowest-zero-carb-vs-lower-carb-foods.144220/
Here's the thread on lowest carb vs. lower carb. Interesting read. It reinforces the Know Your Cat motto.
Let me know if you need anything else.

Thank you so much! Need to take a look at ALL this stuff and hopefully digest it into some synthetized big picture

 

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

94 and really over my $h*t at +6.5, so I'm giving her a break until +8. She seems to be on the way up anyway.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

I go away for a couple days, and look at the difference in Chewie's SS. You noticing any difference in behaviour to go along with better numbers?

Great news that you found a vet that will do home visits.

BTW, I wouldn't get hung up on a few points difference in carb % between foods. Margins of error in manufacturing process can any one can of identical food can be out a couple percent from another.

 

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

I go away for a couple days, and look at the difference in Chewie's SS. You noticing any difference in behaviour to go along with better numbers?

I can't enough of all that green hehe
Behavior-wise, she is a lot less ravenous, drinks and pees a lot less, and sadly she is back to being the picky eater she used to be before diabetes - for months she has devoured whatever I gave her, now Her Majesty turns up her nose if I dare give her the same food two meals in a row it throws a bit of a wrench in my feeding plans, but I take it as a sign that she is slowly coming back to her normal baseline. Bossing the servants around.

She did better today in the greens than the days before. Less lethargic. Progress!!

 

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

103 at PMPS - will she keep rising and stay in the blues like previous days? Or go down and make me guzzle coffee at midnight?

 

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

90 at +2 after a full dinner… what’s the procedure for night greens? Do you test every two hours when they are in the upper greens?

 

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

She was begging for food and lying down on my IBD cat’s microchip feeder (loaded with gravy FF lol), so I’m feeding her second dinner now, at +2.5. It’s a full serving of LC, so I will retest in two hours. If she is still low then, we will be in for a long night!
Ideally you want to bump with tiny amounts of food so they stay above 65-ish?

 

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

82 at +4.5, gave a freeze dried treat and will retest in 2h

ETA: she was lying down on my other cat’s microchip feeder again, so I gave her 1.5 tsp LC
Not sure if she’s doing that because she’s hungry or to mess with the other cat (they do not like each other).

 

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

86 at +7
Where’s the yawning emoji?

 

[Amy & Herman]

86 at +7
Where’s the yawning emoji?

Definitely need a yawning emoji! You did great - I spend many nights like you, someone more experienced will be able to help you determine how long you need to stay up and monitor him in these greens, I was always nervous Herman would be unpredictable so overdid the testing so I’m not a good one to give advice haha. Although I do suspect once you have more data with Chewie in these numbers you will learn when you can take a break from testing and when you need to lose sleep! Chewie has really come around!