04/20 LOW numbers! Nam-kha AMPS 247 +1 178 +4 79 +10 227 PMPS 236 +2 43 +3 41 +4 74 +5 61

Status
Not open for further replies.
Responding on today’s thread things from yesterday’s thread.

Ack! Sorry, I saw March and the year didn’t register! :facepalm: Don’t worry though, remission is always a possibility with more time than 4 months. I would believe going from shooting blind to home testing will make a huge difference in terms of regulation which is also be a huge factor for remission.

I understand about the kibble addiction, it can be hard to break! :p Have you ever tried the freeze dried chicken (or other protein varieties) treats? Many cats go nuts for them. You might be able to crush some over the wet food and she will eat it more enthusiastically. There are also freeze dried raw food, which could be crumbled on top as enticements.

Just get tests when you can on work days, and extra ones at night and on the weekend so you can find how low the dose is taking her. As time goes on, you should see patterns emerge (like for my cat, I know which hour to look for where she likes to drop). You can keep her safe while you are at work by leaving food out. Many of us have timed feeders and they work very well.
 
@Stacy & Asia it's nice to know that remission is possible! I hope with time she feels better.

I tried the freeze dried two days ago, she wouldn't get near it :banghead: haha ! She doesn't like it.

I went home during a break and she's at 79 at +4! It's pretty low.. I left some food, she wasn't interested in eating right now.
 
It’s always possible. We’ve had cats go into remission after being on insulin for a year or more, never give up hope there. :bighug:

Keep playing with foods and enticements, you’ll find something that works for her. My civvie, Toki will eat almost anything with Parmesan cheese sprinkled on it. :joyful: Bonito flakes is another cat popular one.

It’s good you left food out. You will have to play around with different carb levels of food to see how Nam-kha responds, so that you know what type of food to leave out when she could go low in a cycle. Some people buy different varieties of different carb foods (many cats enjoy the higher carb foods and will eat them readily because they have gravy), I have started adding potato flakes to Asia’s regular low carb food when she needs extra carbs to keep her numbers from going too low. Some people add a drop of honey or syrup. It is perhaps a bit much to wrap your head around this early in your FDMB journey, but do you know about manipulation of the curve with food? You can read about it here:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/8-10-tashie-pmps-high-questions.101989/#post-1087990
 
What a nice day for Nam-kha! I'm pretty sure she went lower than 79, because usually her lowest point is between +5 and +6. But anyway, I'm happy to see her in the green :)
 
don't assume that since she doesn't like one freeze dried treat she won't like another one.
My sweetie Shadow would not touch freeze dried chicken, but when I bought freeze dried turkey, that was a hit.
turkey has more flavor and higher fat content. She also just loved freeze dried shrimp which you could add water to and make them wet.
Also freeze dried salmon was sometimes a hit.
 
Do you have higher carb food on hand? Alternatively, you could give her a drop of honey or sugar syrup. Don’t feed her too much, just a couple teaspoons is good.
 
I do, but she doesn't want any. I've tried two different wet food, and gave her dry, but no.
 
When was the last time she ate? Do you think she’s just full from her last meal still? I’m not sure where is her lowest point in the evening cycles, but judging from the daytime ones, it could be around +5 or +6 so you want to make sure her numbers stay up enough to carry her through the lowest point of the cycle.
 
Cyndy said:
Ok, she's licking gravy from some wet food. Does it count?
Click to expand...

It sure does, the gravy is where all the carbs are, so you can give a spoonful or so of gravy and test again in 20-30 minutes. Do you know the carb level of the food the gravy is from by chance? What’s it called?
 
She ate around 6:30, it's now 9:05pm here. She didn't eat a lot..

I put a lot of gravy on her wet food and now she's eating... ouf.
 
Stacy & Asia said:
It sure does, the gravy is where all the carbs are, so you can give a spoonful or so of gravy and test again in 20-30 minutes. Do you know the carb level of the food the gravy is from by chance? What’s it called?
Click to expand...

Yes I know, it has 23.5% of carbs. I got that just in case. It's "Pride by Instinct Titan's Tuna".
 
Glad she is eating. You don’t want her to eat so much that she is full should you need to bring her number up further. That’s a pretty high carb food, note it in your SS what you fed and how much so you know for the next time how she is affected by what level carbs. You don’t want to send her to the moon with the gravy, just a spoonful or so should be good to start with.
 
Easy does it with the food. You need her to be hungry so that you can continue to guide the numbers above 50 and keep them there until nadir has passed
 
About time for that next test, what’s her number now?

If she didn’t eat her usual amount of food before the shot, that could explain why she went so low. She seems to onset early, so a good idea to try to get a +1 or +2 every cycle so you know what she may be up to. As Sandy said, because she went below 50, you would reduce now to .75 starting tomorrow morning.
 
Test again in 15 minutes, the first round of gravy should hopefully show up by then, perhaps add a drop of honey or syrup to this gravy?
 
She's 4.5kg so 9.9 pounds. She's not eating. I even tried to defrost a shrimp, then put the shrimp in gravy + honey, but no. Shrimps are her favorite. But she's not a big eater..
 
If you can't get her to eat, you'll have to get honey in her some way. I have just dabbed it on my kitties mouth and she is offended enough to lick it off. ;)

What is her number now? Hopefully the first meal she had is showing up by now.
 
It's tricky if they are lackadaisical eaters. Asia was like this before, but I always had luck getting her to eat the gravy, didn't matter if she was full or not, she always seems interested to eat that. One time she just wasn't interested in eating (was nauseous), so I had to squirt corn syrup in her mouth with an oral syringe to keep her numbers up, not pretty, but it works.
 
She's back at 43. I did that with honey, I tried to open her mouth put some on her.. lips? (do you say lips for cats in english?).
 
Cyndy said:
She's back at 43. I did that with honey, I tried to open her mouth put some on her.. lips? (do you say lips for cats in english?).
Click to expand...

Yes, lips is fine. I think more honey this time, it's not enough of a boost and you don't want her numbers going down more. I would leave food out and see if she is interested to eat anything as well. Hopefully she will get hungry soon. You're doing great!
 
Okay, so should I try the syringe with honey? The food is still out for her, but she's stubborn and mad because I tried the honey on her before.
 
Yay! So it's good to note how much of everything you gave her, and now you now it takes a bit to make an impact. Well done! So the sugars can wear off quickly, it's the real food that sustains the numbers. I would test again in an hour and then one further. The general rule is that if the numbers stay up for 2 hours without sugar or high carb gravy, it's good.

It's always a bit of a panic the first few times you deal with this, but then you understand what works and how long it takes and you can handle it without so much worry. :bighug:
 
Thank you very much for your help :) I wrote everything down! Now I made myself a cup of tea, and I'm going to watch a movie with my husband. Nam-kha's with us, sleeping in her little bed.

We did not panic too much this time, we knew that we could monitor her and feed her. I also had a friend on the phone. Her husband is a vet (for bovines) but he was ready to come if needed.

But thanks again, this forum is amazing!! :o
 
I suspect, given what you describe here, that Nam-kha is a cat who doesn't feel very hungry in lower-than-usual numbers. She had a nice low blue-green cycle during the daytime today, and it might have put a dent in her appetite this evening, and explain why she ate less than usual. And that probably explains why she went low tonight: less food on board.

What I'm getting at is that in absolute terms, maybe this is a good dose for her, if she would eat normally despite the lower numbers. But she's not.

I'd take the reduction to 0.75, but bearing in mind the reduction might fail, and I wouldn't wait too long before raising the dose again if that happens.

Does this make sense?
 
Adding on to what Stephanie said, she may eat less in general when she spends more time in lower numbers, and thus need less insulin because of it. Cats with unregulated diabetes eat more because they can't make proper use of their food, so their brain is trying to fix that by sending hunger signals.

That sounds like a pleasant evening, enjoy your movie and Nam-kha, enjoy your nap, you earned it! :cat:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top