1/29 Ozzy AMPS 315, +3.15 246, +7 226, PMPS 316, +2, 208 +4 106, +5 102 LABS POSTED ON SS

[Ozzy Pawzbourne]

Breaking the Bounce

Good Morning. Ozzy's back to bouncing again. Kind of disappointing because I thought maybe I could prevent it by making sure he didn't drop too low last night. But that was probably silly thinking. Just feels like we are getting longer set backs with the frequency of the bounces and having to wait for him to clear them. Seems like he's spending more time in higher numbers from bouncing than in the blues and greens lately. Sound familiar @Adrian and Chino? I getcha now babe! I wonder how many cycles it will take for him to clear this bounce.

AMPS =315
+3.15 =243

We went ahead and held the dose and are shooting through the bounce. Will decide in the next couple cycles if we will bring him back down to .25U. We decided this because this reduction would be a 50% reduction in insulin. When we were at higher doses, each reduction was only around 20 -30% but going from .5U to .25U is a huge decrease. We don't want him to stall out or have to go back up in dose.

In other news: Ozzy held down his FF Gravy Lovers HC snacks last night and there was no more vomiting all last night! Ya!! That was a miracle after the AM cycle yesterday where he threw up 4 xs. Since he was doing so well for the last few days, and I realized that he threw up after eating the same weruva (chick and liver), it was easy to spot that it's the liver in the weruva that did not agree with him. I looked at the ingredients on the can and the paw lickin chicken variety has all the exact same ingredients except the liver and he does fine on those. Wow...who knew a little liver could be the culprit. He does fine on the ziwipeak brands with liver. So something just doesn't agree with him on this variety of weruva and I finally feel like we have a little victory over the food craziness!!

Also in other news: the SEB arrived this morning before I even got up. THANK YOU AMAZON, I LOVE YOU! You just seriously can't beat Amazon. So now I have to go back to some notes from others and see the to best way to prepare it. I am actually going to start taking it myself just like I have the aloe vera juice. One for me, and one for my homies. Haha! The brand of SEB I got is organic gluten free and was only $22 for 16oz which is a good deal when I compared to other sources. I have already opened the bag and took a whif, and my-oh-my it's heaven. It smells so sweet and nutty and aromatic, almost like a molasses or something. I wonder if you can bake or cook with it in some other way.

Looks like Ozzy will be on a pokey break for most of this cycle today.

 

[Doodles & Karen]

Unfortunately we can try to feed curves and reduce bouncing but cats bounce until they don't and some bounce all the way OTJ. I'd hold the dose until he drops below 50. Don't get too hunt up on the % of the reduction at this point. At lower amounts of insulin it's not as relevant and it's the way the protocol was written. Of course you can try doing .50s next and go down from there.

Ozzy is bouncing but trust me it's not that bad. I like to share Ivana's SS. This little girl basically bounced until OTJ Ivana 2015 , Ivana 2016 and apparently there are others who were worse!

Have a good day and hope he comes down soon.

 

[Ozzy Pawzbourne]

We tried the SEB in one of the kitties snacks this am. Added 1/4 tsp SEB to some water and mixed it up and poured it in both kitties food and tried to hide it in there well. They both ate their fuds just fine and I was kinda suprised. I made a glass of water for myself with some mixed in and I have to say, it didn't taste so bad but was not very enjoyable to drink. I only got down a few swigs. Wouldn't stop me from drinking it but I can't say it was yummy. Glad my kitties will eat it in their food because I would hate to have to syringe feed it to them plain. We are also trying as hard as possible to get Ozzy to take his supplements (probiotocs, SEB, and aloe vera) in his food so we don't have to make a habit of syringe feeding him. He is doing pretty amazing at this so far so we are pleased.

How often should we be giving the SEB a day? I was thinking once in the am and once in the pm.

BTW...no vomiting on PM cycle last night and no vomiting so far today including acid tummy liquid. Definately believing all that mess was/is food related. Who knew my fattie kitty lover of all food would end up with such a sensitive tum tum. Figgie has done fine on all the brands. Oh, I should correct myself: Ozzy is no longer a fat cat. I am so happy he is on his way to better health, but I do miss his little round pumpkin self. His body has totally changed with his weight loss.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

For a while, mixing SEB with home made chicken stock made it more palatable for Neko. I hope you can continue mixing it in the food, that's so much easier.

 

[Ozzy Pawzbourne]

Good tip Wendy, thanks. We will try that.

 

[Beth 73]

Hey Jo, checking in on you. Responded to your yesterday thread on your food pop photo. You crack me up. And yes, SEB is the bomb. I have some in my purse for when we go out to eat . We eat simple here at home and sometimes restaurant food can be happy in my mouth but way not happy in my GI tract.

 

[Beth 73]

We tried the SEB in one of the kitties snacks this am. Added 1/4 tsp SEB to some water and mixed it up and poured it in both kitties food and tried to hide it in there well. They both ate their fuds just fine and I was kinda suprised. I made a glass of water for myself with some mixed in and I have to say, it didn't taste so bad but was not very enjoyable to drink. I only got down a few swigs. Wouldn't stop me from drinking it but I can't say it was yummy. Glad my kitties will eat it in their food because I would hate to have to syringe feed it to them plain. We are also trying as hard as possible to get Ozzy to take his supplements (probiotocs, SEB, and aloe vera) in his food so we don't have to make a habit of syringe feeding him. He is doing pretty amazing at this so far so we are pleased.

How often should we be giving the SEB a day? I was thinking once in the am and once in the pm.

BTW...no vomiting on PM cycle last night and no vomiting so far today including acid tummy liquid. Definately believing all that mess was/is food related. Who knew my fattie kitty lover of all food would end up with such a sensitive tum tum. Figgie has done fine on all the brands. Oh, I should correct myself: Ozzy is no longer a fat cat. I am so happy he is on his way to better health, but I do miss his little round pumpkin self. His body has totally changed with his weight loss.

And you can buy empty capsules to fill with the SEB for you and Bob . I don't know if i could gag down a glass of that...altho I do love my earthy Essiac tea the DH thinks tastes like dirt

 

[Ozzy Pawzbourne]

We eat simple here at home and sometimes restaurant food can be happy in my mouth but way not happy in my GI tract.

Oh I hear this! That steak and mashed potatoes looked much better to my mouth than my tummy! Great tip on putting them in capsules. Might be a much better option for me. Not sure how often I can drink that. Poor kitties! They are troopers!

 

[Adrian and Chino]

Breaking the Bounce

Good Morning. Ozzy's back to bouncing again. Kind of disappointing because I thought maybe I could prevent it by making sure he didn't drop too low last night. But that was probably silly thinking. Just feels like we are getting longer set backs with the frequency of the bounces and having to wait for him to clear them. Seems like he's spending more time in higher numbers from bouncing than in the blues and greens lately. Sound familiar @Adrian and Chino? I getcha now babe! I wonder how many cycles it will take for him to clear this bounce.

Hopefully not too long... it used to take Chino 3 days, but lately he's been going lower at night, bouncing all through the AM cycle, dropping again at night, bouncing in the AM... etc. Hmmm, kinda looks like he might be learning that from Ozzy.

In other news: Ozzy held down his FF Gravy Lovers HC snacks last night and there was no more vomiting all last night! Ya!! That was a miracle after the AM cycle yesterday where he threw up 4 xs. Since he was doing so well for the last few days, and I realized that he threw up after eating the same weruva (chick and liver), it was easy to spot that it's the liver in the weruva that did not agree with him. I looked at the ingredients on the can and the paw lickin chicken variety has all the exact same ingredients except the liver and he does fine on those. Wow...who knew a little liver could be the culprit. He does fine on the ziwipeak brands with liver. So something just doesn't agree with him on this variety of weruva and I finally feel like we have a little victory over the food craziness!

Good detective work there!

 

[Marje and Gracie]

Glad you got the SEB. As a reminder, be sure and separate it from all supplements or any meds by two hours. So that means you can’t put the probiotics and the SEB in food within two hours of each other. I have to laugh a bit because 16 oz of SEB is going to last you a looooonnnnnnngggggggg time unless you use it a lot for yourself, too. I usually buy an ounce at a time and it takes a while to go through that even if I give it every day.

To answer your questions yesterday, usually the total T4 doesn’t come back as fast as the other labs. Sounds like Ozzy’s did. If the total T4 is in the low or mid normal range, there is really no reason to do a fT4 on a cat or even a T3. The fT4 needs to be done by ED (equilibrium dialysis) which is more expensive and takes longer than just doing at tT4. When I had hyperT cats, I always had my vet draw the blood and then send it to Dr. Dodd’s lab (HemoPet) because she does a tT3 and tT4 as well as a fT3 and a fT4, she’s cheaper, and it’s her specialty. She does a good job of interpreting the data. Not that you need it but just info. If his tT4 was in low to mid normal range, I wouldn’t worry about it.

As far as the dilute urine goes, that is true for FDs if they are unregulated and drinking a lot of water. Otherwise, it isn’t true just as what she said about sugar in the urine, unless a cat is in remission, is not true. There is what we call the “renal threshold” and it varies by cat but it’s usually somewhere between 200-250 on the lab equipment and lower on a human meter. At that point or above, the cat spills glucose into their urine and it’s ECID. I got urine glucose test strips and found that Gracie’s renal threshold was about 225 on a human meter. Below that, she had no sugar in her urine.

Urine specific gravity can vary during the day but if I had a cat who was not drinking a lot of water and had a low USG, I would catch a regular sample (it doesn’t need to be clean or sterile) of the first pee of the day and run it by the vet and let them do the USG, provided they have a refractometer. Since you are an Amazon freak , you can do what I did and buy a handheld refractometer (ok, yes, as a biologist I love to have stuff like this) and do it yourself at home. It’s super easy. The first sample of the day should be concentrated unless the cat has been drinking ALOT of water or you are giving fluids. It is good for you to add water to his food but you’d have to add a bunch of water...lots...to affect the USG. I always added 1-2 tsp of water to each of Gracie’s ten minimeals a day and it never affected her USG. That was in addition to what she just normally drank and she was always a good water drinker.

 

[Ozzy Pawzbourne]

@Marje and Gracie Labs are posted.

 

[Ozzy Pawzbourne]

I am a little annoyed with my vet because she told me all was well and his pancreatitis test was negative so I was all relieved. Then I combed over his test results and did not see any results for this test. I looked at the last page and it states the specific FPL is still pending. Didn't she read the report herself first? I really don't think a vet or Dr. should say that a test is negative, especially an important test about your health, unless they can confirm that it is. She told me yesterday that my cat does not have pancreatitis. This really urks me!!! Of course I hope the test comes back with good results, but that kind of communication is wrong in my opinion.

@Marje and Gracie Couple questions on the labs when you have a moment to look at them:

• What are your thoughts on the low amylase result? The vet said that with pancreatits this number would be elevated so we can rest assure that pancreatits is not in the mix. I tried to do a little research myself and saw that a low value could indicate pancreas destruction and/or insulin deficiency. Ozzy's tests were normal before so I am not sure why this is coming up below normal now.
• Total protein in blood is right on the end/low side of the reference range. What does this mean? Is there something we should be looking to do to improve this?
• What do you think about the notes on the platelets? Vet said the number was low but normal due to clotting.
• Ozzy's neutrophils came down significantly since his last tests, but his Eosinphils have continued to rise (doubled since last test). Anything else besides parasites to consider? What about Ozzy's GI problems as of late? Also read this could be due to the growth of a tumor.
• Urine has trace protein. What does this mean/should we be concerned?
• Also, what about the WBC and RBC in his urine? There were no references ranges on this test, but it seems the numbers are on the high side compared to the other labs reference ranges (especially the RBC). Could this be from the sample technique (cystocentesis)? The results did show that there was trace blood in his urine. Should we be concerned?

Appreciate any feedback and advice on the above from you or any others!

Thanks!

 

[Ozzy Pawzbourne]

@Marje and Gracie

Glad you got the SEB. As a reminder, be sure and separate it from all supplements or any meds by two hours.

Ok, well I blew that twice today. Will make sure to put in in the +2 snack tomorrow. Thanks for the heads up!

I have to laugh a bit because 16 oz of SEB is going to last you a looooonnnnnnngggggggg time

I could not find it loose....I called about 10 stores around my area and NO ONE even sold it, so I had to resort to online. I am totally impatient and wanted it right away, and only Amazon can deliver on that promise. I don't know what I'm going to do with such a large bag. If anyone wants some, let me know. It doesn't expire until 2019. I was amazed at that bark powder's ability to absorb water! Whoa...it took over 10xs its weight in water and I could probably add more.

As far as the dilute urine goes, that is true for FDs if they are unregulated and drinking a lot of water. Otherwise, it isn’t true

I don't see a reference range for specific gravity on the tests so I'm not sure how the vet determined it was dilute (unless she knows the ranges). When comparing to the ranges of the other labs Ozzy's done, it's in normal range. As I mentioned above, we add water to his food, but you made it sound like we had to add a ton for his urine to be dilute.

Since you are an Amazon freak , you can do what I did and buy a handheld refractometer (ok, yes, as a biologist I love to have stuff like this) and do it yourself at home.

Ok, I'm not sure if I'm ready to take it to this level... but never say never. You are really really committed Marje!!!

 

[Ozzy Pawzbourne]

I know this may sound really bad, but I really miss my fat cat. Ozzy was always such a little tub o' love and a little round pumpkin. He has lost so much weight. He is now about 15.5 lbs down from about 18-19lbs. Most of his weight was lost with the DKA episode, then he gained a little back when he was home with me for 3 weeks straight and I fed him like crazy and then realized oh crap...he's gaining weight back. Then we switched foods recently and it is both low carb and low cal so seems he's leveled back out. When he was weighed at the vet yesterday, he was pretty much the same weight as when we brought him back from his 12/5 recheck visit. We have started adding in a little higher calorie food because I definitely don't want him to loose any more weight. Some folks may think that 15.5lbs is a lot, but he's a maine coon, one of the largest breeds of cats. He looks skinny at this weight.

Anyways, I guess it is just a little bit of a shock to me how much he has changed physically and he just feels so little and small in my arms to me now. I don't care what his weight is, I just want him to be healthy and sometimes he looks kind of frail to me. His fur is also not looking as good as it was back in early December. Not sure why...he is getting better nutrition now than he was then. Maybe all the tummy problems could be affecting it.

Anyone else have a hard time seeing the drastic physical changes their kitty went through with diabetes or have their kitty lose a ton of weight?

 

[Marje and Gracie]

His USG when he was in DKA was 1.054. Excellent. Anything below 1.040 is getting to be dilute. Ozzy's recent USG was 1.018. That's pretty dilute. If he were mine, I'd want to test the first urine of the day and see if he's able to concentrate his urine. If he's not able to concentrate his urine, there's something going on.

Before the SDMA, a low USG was often thought to be a potential early indicator of chronic kidney disease long before the BUN or creatinine would show it. But his SDMA is 8 and his creatinine/BUN look good. It's up to you whether you want to just ask your vet if she has a refractometer and can do a quick in-house USG of an first morning sample. I'd just be curious.

I wonder if he might be drinking more than you think plus the water you give him? Still, his USG early in the morning should be above 1.040.