07/24-Dolly-AMPS 98 -74@2 -56@4 -63@5 -67@7.5 -PMPS 105 -106@2.5

https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB...5-pmps-111-92-2-5-54-3-5-67-4-68-4-75.250256/


Good Morning


Sending healing prayers to all the kitties and their caretakers that are not feeling their best

 

She’s looking good but looks like you need more sleep.

 

Hi Elise, 5 hours the last two days, I have reached Zombie mode, not a good look Have a nice weekend Elise.

 

Hi Adrienne, hope you are able to get a nap in this afternoon. Dolly is looking really good today. Stay steady for your mama, pretty girl.

 

Hi Katherine. Just looked at Ruby’s SS and wondered if you tried switching the prednisolone to nighttime, I know you had mentioned that recently, at least I think you did Hope you are relaxing and enjoying your Saturday. I am so glad you said what your job was, I was so curious but didn’t feel it was right to ask. That sounds so interesting, something I know nothing about, but you obviously enjoy it. It’s a wonderful thing when you like what you do for a living. I loved my job. I was the head of quality for a pharmaceutical printing company. It was pretty intense. We printed the labels and inserts for the major pharmaceutical companies. I retired in 2015.

I hope you have a wonderful rest of your weekend. Going to try and nap, usually can’t. Hope Olive is doing well and Ruby is feeling good.

 

Thanks for remembering that I wanted to change the pred to PM. I've been hesitating because there's been talk as of late about the possibility that DBF might have to start working at the office again. If that's the case, then keeping her higher during the day would be safer as no one would be home from 9 AM-7PM. If I changed her pred to a PM dose and no one is home, I'd have to get a sitter to come and that's $$$$. So no change for now.

 

Adrienne, if Dolly won't cooperate for a late night test, you might be better off just feeding her some MC or HC and getting some rest. Remember, we can't help anyone else on the plane if we don't have our oxygen airbag on first.

Her numbers are looking fabulous...but mama can't become a Zombie to get her there.

Take care of yourself! Where have I heard that today??
Hmmm???

 

As usual, you make me laugh. I don’t like giving her mc or hc because it’s temporary and I fear she may drop again while I am sleeping. I leave food out, she won’t eat from her auto feeder. Also, she is the laziest cat. I have her night food in our bedroom where she usually sleeps and she knows it’s there. Since she has been mad at me she’s not going to bed with me like she usually does. If the food is in my room and she decides to sleep elsewhere, she won’t eat if she has to travel too far It’s not as if she is on a high dose. I guess I could take an unearned reduction and see how she does. Not sure if I am making sense. Brain stopped working. Nothing new . More insulin would bring her numbers down, less could raise her RIGHT?? Everyday with her is different. One day she’s in the high greens, low blues. Today, all low numbers. Can’t figure her out. I need Oxygen

 

Nice greens today. I hope you can get some sleep tonight.

 

Hi Carla. Hope you, Furball and the “gang” (?) are having the very best day.

 

I would give just about anything to not have to test her anymore today. She is not doing well with testing at all. I’m not sure why she goes through these rough patches with testing and with me. Trust issues get serious. Thoughts.
@tiffmaxee @Bandit's Mom @Sienne and Gabby (GA)

 

She seems to be pretty flat tonight at +2.5. You might just be okay not testing her more tonight.
Is she eating okay tonight?

 

Yes. She’s been eating off and on since preshot. She is so unpredictable but I almost feel her emotional health is so important right now and I know she will eat if she drops. I wish I understood why this happens. It will suddenly disappear and she will be fine again.

 

I know there are no guarantees on her not dropping low. Thank goodness she has never dropped below 40 and the 40’s are rare for her. I just can’t bare to see her wanting to be near me, rubs her body against my face and suddenly realizes it’s not safe, moves away (about a foot) and turns her back to me. It’s all so strange and sad. Thanks Bhooma for responding.

 

I had hopes she would go to bed in our room and where her food is. But she is back in her new hiding place in another bedroom where I can’t monitor her and food is not nearby. She knows where I have her food but I had Hope “Rome would be built in a day” tonight. I could feel safe for her being nearby. I could hear her if she was not okay. I took her off the Orbox, she was having side affects like poor appetite and lethargic. Vomited last night. No pain meds, she did not always seem right on them. I am monitoring her pain as best I can. Oh well I can only pray now she will be okay. She is alert. Goodnight, it’s midnight. Pretty much past her nadir.

 

Lowering the dose will cause her numbers to go up - at least that's what we'd typically expect...unless her depot is full...then it might take a day or three to show up as steadily higher numbers.

Find something you can both live with comfortably. I've had to decrease Luci's dose sometimes so that she's safe and I can (fill in the blank) sleep, get surgery, go to meetings, etc. Sometimes life gets in the way - and Luci isn't a candidate for remission - not likely to go there so why take a chance of a hypo? The risk of that doesn't outweigh the benefit...

 

I have a couple of thoughts.

First, I would not stop an antibiotic without talking to your vet. If the Orbax is causing side effects (vomiting, Dolly isn't feeling well on it), maybe there's an alternative. Just like with humans, if you stop an antibiotic too soon, you risk the infection coming back.

It's likely that this happens because Dolly's pancreas is working and it secretes insulin. Her pancreas may not be 100% functional but it's got some kick. Alternatively, it may be a matter of other factors like activity, stress, etc.

I just want to make sure that you realize the you have another option re. dose reductions. If Dolly is in normal numbers (and mostly green) for a week, you can reduce. Dolly's numbers are great! The numbers are pretty flat and from what you said, she will spontaneously eat if her numbers are dropping. Why not try cutting back on tests and see if the data is just as consistent?

I also don't think you need to test quite as much -- and trust me, coming from a testaholic, it's very odd for me to say that to someone. This may also sound odd as well, but sometimes sitting down with your cat and explaining why you're poking (and not that it's for your own good which no human wants to hear), helps. At some level they do understand what we're saying even if it's communicating how much we care. It may also be a matter of more treats -- a treat before and after a test and any other time that Dolly seems to need to be told she's a good girl.

 

Thanks Sienne. As for the antibiotic, Dolly has chronic sinusitis and occasionally antibiotics help, she been on tons the last 8 years. She was given the Orbax (been on it before) because I called the vet and spoke to them, not due to an infection found in lab results. The first two days she seemed to feel better then the poor appetite started, unusual for her for quite some time now, and very lethargic. When she vomited the antibiotics the other night I decided to stop them. As for the appetite, there is so much improvement and she is not just laying around all day (it's not so much the laying around, she's a cat, it's the out of it, lethargic look in her eyes, her face.)

As for talking to Dolly, maybe not your words, but I talk to her throughout the day telling her all day how much I love her, that I would never do anything to intentionally hurt her, that she is my very best girl. I take time to scratch her back once she on the table, her new love, and kiss the top of her head, always talking. It's almost a constant dialogue of what do you want for dinner, do you want to play, can I rub your ears. I sit on the floor and entertain her by playing with her toys, she just watches me. The thing is this happens every now and then, then it suddenly disappears and Dolly is back minus the fear and extreme trust issues, she has never been, since day one 8 years ago, completely trusting. I don't know why they begin or end.

I am taking her to a Neurologist in August. Her painful walking does not seem to be Orthopedic or major Arthritis. Her x-rays were viewed by an Orthopedic surgeon. She has always had neck twitches and then developed a paw twitch a couple years ago, vet called them mini seizures but not to worry. The paw twitch got worse this last month then disappeared altogether. She has always spaced out, like in her profile picture, eyes fixed, in another world, then suddenly comes out of it. Maybe this is all neurological.

I guess because Dolly has been dropping into the 50's almost every day and night the last several day's I try to prevent limes by sometimes giving a little mc, 11% even though she has not dropped below 50. If you could tell me how often to test or when, I try to keep her afternoons test free if her numbers look good after her nadir. I will start giving treats before her tests.

I don't know Sienne. All I truly want is a happy cat or whatever she wants to be. The fear and lack of trust she had when we adopted her has never completely left her. We have always called her "our special needs KITTY" (not to disrespect anyone with special needs) She has always been different from any other cats we've had. Requires a lot more attention, a lot more everything, which she gets and always has. Maybe this is all Neurological. Thanks so much

 

I wanted to add that I have not been away from Dolly for more than a few hours in over 5 years. When I had my accident back in March, I was in the hospital for a week. Her whole life as she knew it changed. I was just gone and my husband became her caretaker. Dolly and I have always been attached at the hip. I can’t imagine how she felt, abandoned, I have no idea. I tried talking to her through the phone but my husband said she would just run away. When I got home she was very leery of me. I couldn’t walk yet so I was in bed. Eventually she came around. But has she ever gotten over it, I don’t know. She does have a long memory.

 

unless you know her circumstances before Dolly came to live with you, there's no way to know if she was abused. If that was the case, it may explain the fear and lack of trust. It may also explain the cause of a neurological problem (e.g., if she got kicked or worse). The good news is that she seems to snap out of it. Your post above makes one wonder if she'd been abandoned and/or harmed in some way. And if you ever need to be gone again, make sure you or your husband gives her something that smells like you.

It looks to me like Dolly has a relatively early nadir -- around +4, give or take. You might want to get the earlier tests to make sure she not dropping too fast and then begin to cut back on the tests later in the cycle.

 

Thanks Sienne. We always felt she might have been abused. Her voice box is broken, she does not meow or make normal cat sounds. Her spine is totally crooked. May be birth defects or injury. I do try to make her afternoons mostly test free. I appreciate your help.