5/30 - Shen - AMPS 146, +2 81, +4 65, +6 80, PMPS 77, +2.25 80

[Nimi S]

Link to previous condo - https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/thr...-4-75-95-pmps-90-2-120-4-5-89-6-75-73.277899/

Hello! How's everyone been?
I took a break from posting (again ) but have been lurking here and reading other kitties' updates. The posts on the Welcome forum help me to refresh my learning on FD protocols, which I think I can't have enough of.

Bhooma @Bandit's Mom I see you went on a holiday! Hope you had fun The heat in Bombay this time has been unforgiving Hope you went to a cooler place.

I've only slowly started going out (apart from vet visits ) a few times post +6 but I've almost always ended up coming late and delaying the PM shot, which makes me wary of going out at all I took Shen along with me one day when I had to pet-sit a friend's cats. I haven't been able to get myself to trust my family with testing and shooting Shen.

I sense myself becoming a little complacent now that I've got a hang of things. Should I be more aggressive or is this pace fine? I find myself wondering if there's anything I could do to improve things but I've also been trying to catch up on my sleep. I already have the worst sleeping habits

I do think I could improve a bit in terms of measuring the smaller doses accurately since I'm sure there's some degree of variation in all his shots at his current dose of 0.25U. I also wanted to experiment with his feeding amounts and timings to reduce the frequency of feeds from 6 per cycle to 4. But I feel like we've got a good thing going on right now and don't want to mess it up. Any suggestions? Or do I let sleeping dogs lie?

On that note, here's a sleeping Shen.
Have a great day, everyone!

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Sleepy little boy, he looks so cozy , Surf safely tonight Shen

 

[Bandit's Mom]

Bhooma @Bandit's Mom I see you went on a holiday! Hope you had fun The heat in Bombay this time has been unforgiving Hope you went to a cooler place.

I did. When I got back to Mumbai I thought my skin was burning from the inside! By the end of the summer you are just waiting for the monsoon and when it rains cats and dogs, you can't wait for some sun!

I've only slowly started going out (apart from vet visits ) a few times post +6 but I've almost always ended up coming late and delaying the PM shot, which makes me wary of going out at all I took Shen along with me one day when I had to pet-sit a friend's cats. I haven't been able to get myself to trust my family with testing and shooting Shen.

You have to take time out for yourself or you will burn out. The best thing that's happened to us recently is we found a petsitter who is a vet's assistant. When we travel she comes and stays at our place and takes care of our 2 cat-brats. She's able to give shots, fluids and meds. She can't test...so Bandit gets a vacation dose. In Shen's case, it looks like his nadir is around +4, so you can leave after that. Even if you have to leave before, you can always leave some higher carb food for your folks to feed him.

I sense myself becoming a little complacent now that I've got a hang of things. Should I be more aggressive or is this pace fine? I find myself wondering if there's anything I could do to improve things but I've also been trying to catch up on my sleep. I already have the worst sleeping habits

What you're doing is totally fine. In fact, in the PM cycle, you can take a break after +4. He's looking great and it's all your hard work!

I also wanted to experiment with his feeding amounts and timings to reduce the frequency of feeds from 6 per cycle to 4. But I feel like we've got a good thing going on right now and don't want to mess it up. Any suggestions? Or do I let sleeping dogs lie?

You could always experiment with feeding less often. You could feed only at +4 and not +5. Start by cutting down snacks post nadir. The only thing you need to watch for is if he gets stomach acid build up from long gaps in food.

ETA: Did the UTI go away?

 

[Nimi S]

I had my long-ass reply typed out and then one of my cats decided that she had to jump on the PC cabinet and shut down the PC. Cats!

I did. When I got back to Mumbai I thought my skin was burning from the inside! By the end of the summer you are just waiting for the monsoon and when it rains cats and dogs, you can't wait for some sun!

That's why winter is my favorite time of the year!

The best thing that's happened to us recently is we found a petsitter who is a vet's assistant. When we travel she comes and stays at our place and takes care of our 2 cat-brats. She's able to give shots, fluids and meds. She can't test...so Bandit gets a vacation dose.

Bandit and Budge's pet-sitter sounds lovely. I do have a friend who can help with the testing and shooting and can come around if/when I have to be away, but right now she's dealing with sick cats of her own. Guess I have to start teaching my family a few things at least

In Shen's case, it looks like his nadir is around +4, so you can leave after that. Even if you have to leave before, you can always leave some higher carb food for your folks to feed him.
What you're doing is totally fine. In fact, in the PM cycle, you can take a break after +4. He's looking great and it's all your hard work!

Thanks for the hint and tip about the +4. I do know that the +4 is point in the cycle I need to look out for but I can't seem to relax till +6 has passed.
I do need a break so I'll start by easing up a bit after the +4s.

You could feed only at +4 and not +5. Start by cutting down snacks post nadir. The only thing you need to watch for is if he gets stomach acid build up from long gaps in food.

Sometimes, if Shen's BG is high enough at +4, I skip the +5 snack and give one at +6. The issue with not feeding Shen after his nadir or even after +6, is that he invariably comes looking for food at +10 and then doesn't stop begging till his shot time. It's more of an issue at night than during the day since he mostly sleeps till his PM shot time. For some reason, feeding him snacks post +6 has more of an effect on his AMBG than his PMBG.

Did the UTI go away?

So, I hadn't been able to get up early enough in the morning to catch Shen's first urine of the day. When I did, I would somehow miss catching him. Today finally I got some to get a routine urine test done.
But the results have thrown up a really insane bacteria count (18-20/hpf), much higher than when he had the UTI (2-3).
So I'm going to take him to the vets tomorrow to get a cysto done, in the hope that today's sample was contaminated from being a free catch.

He isn't peeing as much as he was doing 7-10 days ago but it's still not in the pre-diabetes range.

I've updated his urine labs in his SS but the other values are mostly in the normal range

ETA: Shen hasn't drooled since around 10-12 days. He wasn't getting any medication for his teeth since I stopped using the oral mouth gel after the initial couple of days of use. I think the antibiotics for his UTI must have taken care of whatever it was that was causing the drooling, if it wasn't the UTI itself. I never could figure out what induced the drooling. ECID, I guess.