1/28 Kai AMPS 495, +2 514, +5 530, PMPS 550 (Alpha 361)

Correct — he’s no longer on pain meds or antibiotics, though it’s possible some lingering pain or stress is still affecting his numbers. That said, he isn’t showing obvious signs of discomfort. He’s moving around more, sleeping in his usual cozy spots again, and his appetite is good (he cleaned his bowl tonight).

The only thing not improving yet is his blood glucose. It’s only been two days since he dropped to 75, so this could still be a bounce.

I did a side-by-side PMPS test tonight: ReliOn read 550, AlphaTrak read 360. While 360 is still high, it’s not unusual for Kai when he’s bouncing. It makes me think the ReliOn may be reading high and that he’s probably been more in the 300–400 range. Still high but a heck of a lot better than 500's.

I did speak with the vet, but the vet that did his surgery wasn’t available. The on-call doctor wasn’t very helpful and just advised me to continue monitoring since he isn’t showing worsening symptoms - basically “don’t focus so much on the numbers.” I understand that, but I also know my cat, and these numbers worry me.

Now I’m stuck trying to decide whether to wait another day or two in case this is just a bounce, or increase his dose to 2.25 tomorrow morning. @Wendy&Neko mentioned something similar in a previous post and that is what she had to do for Neko after a dental surgery. I know we can always reduce the dose again if needed, but I also don’t want to push him into another bounce — his liver and pancreas can be dramatic.

So I guess the question is: do I increase, or give it another day or two?
 
Since you did see a 75, which he's not used to, I'd wait another day and see if this is a bounce. Don't think of bounces as a bad thing. They mean the insulin is doing to job of getting him into numbers he's gotten out of practice with.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Since you did see a 75, which he's not used to, I'd wait another day and see if this is a bounce. Don't think of bounces as a bad thing. They mean the insulin is doing to job of getting him into numbers he's gotten out of practice with.
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That makes sense, thank you. I’ll give it another day and see how things look - he’s definitely not used to numbers that low, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this is a bounce. It’s just a little stressful and hard to think clearly when the numbers jump into the reds and blacks like that.
Thank you, Wendy ❤️
 
Maddie & Kai said:
Correct — he’s no longer on pain meds or antibiotics, though it’s possible some lingering pain or stress is still affecting his numbers. That said, he isn’t showing obvious signs of discomfort. He’s moving around more, sleeping in his usual cozy spots again, and his appetite is good (he cleaned his bowl tonight).

The only thing not improving yet is his blood glucose. It’s only been two days since he dropped to 75, so this could still be a bounce.

I did a side-by-side PMPS test tonight: ReliOn read 550, AlphaTrak read 360. While 360 is still high, it’s not unusual for Kai when he’s bouncing. It makes me think the ReliOn may be reading high and that he’s probably been more in the 300–400 range. Still high but a heck of a lot better than 500's.

I did speak with the vet, but the vet that did his surgery wasn’t available. The on-call doctor wasn’t very helpful and just advised me to continue monitoring since he isn’t showing worsening symptoms - basically “don’t focus so much on the numbers.” I understand that, but I also know my cat, and these numbers worry me.

Now I’m stuck trying to decide whether to wait another day or two in case this is just a bounce, or increase his dose to 2.25 tomorrow morning. @Wendy&Neko mentioned something similar in a previous post and that is what she had to do for Neko after a dental surgery. I know we can always reduce the dose again if needed, but I also don’t want to push him into another bounce — his liver and pancreas can be dramatic.

So I guess the question is: do I increase, or give it another day or two?
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The reason I asked about his pain is that I noticed after that 75, which was just 24 hours after stopping pain meds, his numbers went up quite a bit. You've looked at the grimace scale, haven't you?

I remember Wendy saying that you need to treat the numbers you see, and that's what I did for Jude when he had his last serious FIC flare (with some other complicating issues) at the end of last year. It's been kind of odd; it's like after that flare (when he had to go back on gaba, prozacin, and his temp shot up at one point to 105, so I had to put him on Metacam), his numbers just wouldn't go down, so I increased. Since then, he has reacted differently to the insulin than he did before that episode. He's super flat. Like sometimes he'll have a 2-5 point increase/decrease between shot and +3. It's like the illness or trauma had an effect on the way he's processing his insulin, if that makes sense.

Good luck with the dosing decision, Maddie! I know you want your sweet boy to get back into normal numbers soon.
 
Mary & Jude said:
It's like the illness or trauma had an effect on the way he's processing his insulin, if that makes sense.
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That is so crazy but also somehow doesn't surprise me because the feline body is so trippy sometimes.

Thankfully, Kai hasn't shown any outward signs of pain or grimace. But I've also considered, what if he is just masking it really well. I'm hoping the vet that did his surgery will get around to following up with me tomorrow so I can probe her about the possibility of it being pain induced spikes and maybe she will give him some buprenorphine just in case. And even if it ends up being just a bounce and he ends up not needing more pain meds, it's always good to have some on hand.
 
Maddie & Kai said:
That is so crazy but also somehow doesn't surprise me because the feline body is so trippy sometimes.

Thankfully, Kai hasn't shown any outward signs of pain or grimace. But I've also considered, what if he is just masking it really well. I'm hoping the vet that did his surgery will get around to following up with me tomorrow so I can probe her about the possibility of it being pain induced spikes and maybe she will give him some buprenorphine just in case. And even if it ends up being just a bounce and he ends up not needing more pain meds, it's always good to have some on hand.
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Or even gaba, though bupe is the best for relieving serious pain. Good luck!!
 
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