1/24 Simon amps 119, +2 77 vet conversation

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kim and simon

kim and simon

Member Since 2012
Yesterday's condo

I'm at my part-time real job of drilling and filling people teeth. I think this job is easier than my full-time job of house/zoo manager :lol: DH tested Simon at +2 but can't be home for his +3-4, and that's when he usually goes lowest. DH has a harder time testing Simon--not really sure why--he keeps getting error readings of bad or used strips. I haven't had that reading and can't figure out why he keeps having that problem. Prayers and paws and claws crossed that he will surf nicely in that upper green range! nailbite_smile

Simon seems to actually like being tested because he gets cuddles and scratches before and after! He is not really the typical cat (my civvie Molly is a real cat who hides under beds). Last night Simon was asleep on the dog Logan's bed in our room and Logan was afraid to lie down on his bed. He just went back out to his other bed in the den. I think the 70 lb lab is submissive to the 13 pound kitty. As it should be :)

Our pet sitter for the weekend came by last night and got her instructions. She's a local med student and I was connected with her by the leader of a local medical and dental ministry I'm part of. She should have the shooting part down (probably better than me!) but I'm going to do the sample syringe, etc, anyway. I will only be gone for 4 shots. May need to lower him to skinny .5 or even .25 based on what he's doing right now. Go Simon, go!

Talked to our vet this morning after emailing him our spreadsheet. I sent him the data in the interest of collaboration and to keep him up to date. He had wanted a fructosamine this week but I wanted to show that it's not really needed. He felt like some of the 70-80 numbers were too low for Simon, but I feel like after talking to the good people of the FDMB that we are actually trying to get him in those ranges in order to lower his dose. I will continue to proceed according to the protocol of TR!
 
My DH gets more errors than I do, too. I think they may be so anxious to be done with the test that they tend to go for the drop of blood before it's big enough, therefore getting the error. I know my DH gets particularly edgy when Trix is extra-antsy at test time. Trix probably senses that, too, and it becomes a snowball effect.

Your vet sounds pretty typical. I'm sure most of their clients aren't willing to do what we are doing, so those low numbers make them nervous. Our vet told me that "170 was very normal BG number." Um, doc, maybe you need to go back to vet school??? Nah, I know it was because we were new to this, and she was worried about Trix going hypo. Now she knows we've got it all under control, but I'm fairly certain we're the only one of her clients that follow the protocol.

Sounds like you got a great pet sitter lined up - lucky you!

BTW, I don't think I've visited your condo before...or if I did, it was when you first joined up. "Welcome to FDMB!!!"

~Amy
 
I don't pop into many condo's lately. Just wanted to say Hi and good for you coming up to speed and doing what's best for your Simon. He's in good hands :)
 
Very nice numbers for Simon today. Don't vets nowadays just make you want to roll your eyes at them? :roll: :roll: Get with the program people! :lol:
 
Hi Kim, one thought with your Vet conversation. Your Vet may think Simon's numbers are low if they use the animal meter, aka AlphaTrak meter which has a 20-25% variance than the human meter. I assume you're using a human meter. For instance, Maggie had an AMPS of 254, but on the Relion Micro, her AMPS was 219, a 35 point variance.
Simon is looking very good.
 
Hi guys .. simon is looking very good! Keeping fingers and paws crossed he surfs here for awhile .. You should of heard the rant my vet went on with mocha's numbers .. And yes, she knew we were using a human meter (but according to her, there is no difference in numbers) she actually e mailed out mocha's SS to a few of her vet friends for more opinions on it ohmygod_smile Anyways, simon is looking great, keep it up! Have a great day!
 
seems to be common for vets to have heart attacks when they see under 100. i guess they don't know we've got a handle on bringing up the cats with high carbs, and if we're testing, we know what to expect and how to take care of it!

you're doing great - hope your pet sitter is good.
 
He made it through another day and I am learning to relax a little. My DH is not feeling very optimistic for the long-term (he says this is a large burden to be an indefinite commitment). He likes cats but he's not the crazy cat lady that I am :) I am really aiming for remission, but I know there are no guarantees. I think Simon has shown us that he is doing pretty well already.
 
It is great that Simon is doing so very well. I hope your pet sitter works out too, it sounds like she should!

I'll never forget the day I had Attie at the vet, the one who approves of home testing, and he wanted a "spot check," and Attie was running a bit low before we left for the vet. Attie threw him a 60 in the office! :lol: He was about to have a heart attack and kept looking at Attie expecting to see hypo symptoms. Since Attie can't eat canned cat food due to IBD I had preload a feeding syringe with a 1 ml dose of karo. I told the vet Attie was just fine at 60 and no action needed to be taken until he fell below 50. Attie just needed a few treats to hold him over and help him surf.

I think it was my calm demeanor and knowledge of how Attie was reacting that calmed down my vet. :lol:

They are so used to people who don't know what is going on, don't have record, and are not in tuned to their cat that the vet is programmed to take action.
 
I suspect that Ann is correct -- vet's look at BG results thinking in terms of either an AlphaTrack or a serum chemistry analyzer. If you look at the TR protocol from Univ. of Queensland, when using one of those meters, the results run 30 points lower than a human meter. So, a number lower than a 50 on your meter would be less than 80 on the vet's meter. No wonder he got nervous!!

(Ann wasn't quite correct. All meters have an allowable max of 20% variance but the AlphaTrack is calibrated 30 points higher than a human meter.)
 
Hi Kim. I don't know what meter you're using, but with my Relion Confirm, the strip hesitates and I need to push it in with a second click, or I get a error message.
I wonder if yours is doing that, and DH is not pushing the strip in far enough?
 
Barb, I do use Relion Confirm. I will assume that this means that I am more accomplished and capable when loading the test strip! Maybe I will really stress him out and let me watch him test! The error message he gets is not for too small of a blood sample, it is the error for a bad or used strip.
 
Hi Kim,
It looks like everything is well set up for your weekend away. Lucky you to find a good petsitter! Vets just aren't used to people who test their kitties. They assume that no one wants to do that. Also, they play it safe and the higher numbers are safe for them because they don't have to worry about hypo. Rusty's vet thinks 200 is a fine number. I no longer show her his spreadsheet. I just tell her he's doing OK! She's great for everything else.

Enjoy your evening,

Ella & Rusty

p.s. FD becomes a routine, like everything else. Your DH will get the hang of it. Simon is doing very, very well.
 
I do not mean to complain about our vet--he is actually great! Top 2% for sure. We may just have a miscommunication about the way of measuring BG, meter, etc. When diagnosed he gave me the printout of binky's food list and he got us started on Lantus, 1u bid. Did not ask to have Simon admitted for curves, etc, but encouraged me to take him home. So we totally had the right groundwork! I feel like he's probably the guy who will be open to looking at the journal articles when the time comes for me to present them.
 
Tee hee Vyktor's vet looked at me like I was looney tunes when I was all excited about some great green numbers he had got but they don't say what they're thinking out loud, one has even admitted that I know more about FD than he does now and I still have so far to go! That would be a worry if I didn't have the board assisting me!
 
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