10/28 Tink AMPS 400, +2=418

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JenM

JenM

Member Since 2013
Yesterday: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=127547&p=1315803#p1315803

Well, not sure how he had such a nice surf yesterday - but we sure are bouncing now! :roll:

Ya know... someone should invent a little microchip that reads BGs. It could transmit in real-time to your smartphone. Then we'd all know what our cats are doing at any given moment with NO POKES!!! When you invent it - don't forget who gave you the idea. :cool:
 
Interesting. That would be handy as well - though I'd be more interested in more easily (and always) accessible numbers rather than automatic dosing. The insulin shots don't bother either of us. It's the constant ear pokes (or my inability to know his numbers while I'm at work all day) that bother both of us. We'd never have to do a curve again - we'd have one every day! And days like yesterday - I'd know exactly what happened (he went from AMPS in the 400s to a PMPS of 93). I know some cats experience long cycles - but Tink does not. In fact, even on Lantus, as far as I can tell, he nadirs around +3-+5 most of the time.
 
Hi Jen:

Just got caught up on yesterday's condo. Hoppy is adorable and I LOVE his story. He was blessed to find you and you are blessed to have him. :-D

Tink, Tink, Tink! What are we going to do with you? You just can't stress you Mamabean out this way. If you give her a heart attack, who will take care of you? Settle down now and try to think yellow and blue. Much better for a handsome boy like you than pink and red.

I'm no a dosing expert, but I just wonder if you've explored the possibility of using R to help with the bouncing? I know a lot of people here use it. I'm not smart enough to figure it out. It may not be appropriate for Tink, but I was just trying to think about ways to control those awful ups and downs. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Sending safe sliding vines.
 
That's definitely a thought. Though in many cases, the bounces are in the morning and I wouldn't feel comfortable giving him R and then leaving. But definitely something to think about. I think I'm out of refills (just got my last pen) so will likely need to consult the vet soon anyway. Might mention that if things haven't smoothed out by then. I keep thinking he'll settle in - but we've been on Lantus quite awhile now and we're still AWFUL bouncy.

Granted... if I could get him to stay out of carby contraband, it would help. After his macaroon binge last week, DD was making a boatload of cupcakes (she works at a daycare) this weekend. Tink managed to use his ninja skills to get on the counter and get one lick of frosting before she chased him out. He's QUICK I tell ya!

The list is ever growing.

Couscous
Pizza
Tomatoes
Macaroons
Frosting.

What am I gonna DO with this CAT?!?! :shock:
 
Tink's appy amazes me!!! Makes me feel lucky that I just have to worry about Trixie's attempts at kibble raids.

I like your chip idea....you should find someone to pitch that to. What a stress-reliever it would be for all of us!!

Have a great evening, guys!
 
There are a couple things you could try …. I am assuming we are not dealing with IAA here.

You can switch to Levemir because a great deal of cats smooth right out after the switch. While Lantus and Lev are similar in some ways, the ph is diff and the release methods are diff, so it's worth a consideration.

Also, there have been a few cats in the past who level off a bit when they are food manipulated….. it's not easy if you are not around much of the time with work and such, but how you can drive the numbers could be by seeing when the drops happen, then give several mini-meals/snacks.

If you see a big drop by +3, then instead of giving the entire am shot meal at once, divide it into smaller portions, feeding maybe 1tsp every hour…. you may find that it slows the drops, and lessens or eliminates the high bounces.

ETA: re: the R….. if you test right when you get up, and give TOR (touch of R), then you will see the results by the time you are needing to leave in the morning. R is in and out of the body within 4hrs, so provided you rise a couple hours before leaving for the day, R is Doable for you. You do NOT need to give lots of R; TOR is just that…. just a touch, maybe a 0.25u to give a nudge to the numbers.
 
julie & punkin (ga) said:
he has an appy like an acro cat!
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I've yet to do my acro cat research - but I do worry about this. Are there other symptoms I would look for? Or would this have been evident on his blood panel?

Amy&TrixieCat said:
Tink's appy amazes me!!! Makes me feel lucky that I just have to worry about Trixie's attempts at kibble raids.
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Oh, he tries to raid kibble too. There's no cat kibble anymore, but the dogs still get it. I can't afford to feed 60 lbs of dog on canned food. My heeler mix eats in her kennel, which is in the living room. She wont eat anywhere else and usually doesn't eat right when she's fed. She likes to bury the bowl with a blanket until she gets hungry. Unfortunately, this inevitably leads to kibble in (under, next to) her kennel. The second she is not IN her kennel, Tarzan's greedy little paws are reaching into the kennel to see what he can find. Tink usually sits back and watches until Tarzan strikes gold - then he's all over it. I even used safety pins to attach a sheet to the kennel (we use it as a cover at night, but I leave it covering 3 sides all day so they can't get the kibble). Well, Tarzan has figured out how to pull hard enough to bend the pins. UGH. I think I'll try attaching cardboard to the sides (under the sheet) - or wood if I have to. Little demons!!!
 
it's not something you need to worry about jen. I was joking about it. Even if he had acro, his dose is well within normal amounts and you wouldn't do anything anyway. No, it doesn't show up on regular blood panels, but seriously - don't think twice about it. Gayle searches for acro when she gets on the board and that's why she posted to you - i'd made that joke.

The appy alone is common with any diabetic with high numbers and it sounds like Tarzan has the same appy. Pretty sure Tarzan's not diabetic, right? I have a 1.5 year old cat, Frodo, that's the same way. He tries to eat everything. I've seen far too many little vomit piles with weird things in them from him. I can't even have plants anywhere in teh house because he eats them. He ate a flower out of my daughter's bridal bouquet that was drying. the flower had pearl pins stuck into them, so i've been watching the litter box all week to make sure there's no blood coming through. dumb cat. :shock:
 
No, Tarzan isn't diabetic. He's just a jerk. :lol: He's a cool cat - TONS of personality - but seriously... he's a little a-hole. Even my daughter, who adores him, admits it. He TRIES to cause havoc - I've never seen anything like it. He's the cat that attacks ankles from behind the couch, climbs the curtains - but only once you're watching... steals food from the other cats and tries to run off with it, tries to get the dog in trouble... he's ridiculous.

I knew you were joking about acro - but I always like to know things I should watch for. Tink had pretty classic diabetes signs for awhile - but I didn't know the signs, so wasn't able to catch it early.

Plants... that's a whole food group I forgot to mention! I do have a handful of plants - the only one they USUALLY bother is my coffee tree. Poor thing started doing really well this year, but now it hardly has any leaves left! Tink gets caught chewing on it a lot - and I catch Tarzan & Venus sometimes too. I worry that it's probably not good for them... but there isn't much I can do about it. It can't be grown outdoors here.

So yes... the favorite foods list is more like:
Couscous, pizza, tomatoes, zucchini, macaroons, frosting, plastic bag handles (actually, he ate the upper half of a produce bag yesterday too - I was gone for like TWO SECONDS to let the dog out!), and houseplants. And dog kibble. And dog toy stuffing. :roll: My cat things he's a goat. :lol:
 
I have goats. And yes... that's probably true. My goats are actually rather picky. :lol: However, he is quite similar to a goat in that they'll only eat the things you DONT want them eating. :roll:
 
ETA: re: the R….. if you test right when you get up, and give TOR (touch of R), then you will see the results by the time you are needing to leave in the morning. R is in and out of the body within 4hrs, so provided you rise a couple hours before leaving for the day, R is Doable for you. You do NOT need to give lots of R; TOR is just that…. just a touch, maybe a 0.25u to give a nudge to the numbers.
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I have to address this as I consider it to be dangerous advice and since there are new members and others who read condos but don't post, I am not comfortable with leaving this advice out there.

First of all, no one should use R who does not know their cat's onset, nadir, and duration. Once the CG understands their cat's patterns, then they would need to overlay an R curve on their Lantus or levemir curve to be sure nadirs don't overlap. Cats respond differently to R and we would not start a cat on 0.25u of R right off the bat. Starting at 0.1u is generally safe and then when the CG can see the kind of response the kitty gets from that, a decision can be made as to whether the dose of R needs to go up or down. Better yet, a scale could be developed. Suzanne has one for Cobb. However, I have found that even 0.1u of R is often too much for Gracie and I only dose a drop which is probably less than 0.05u. I say this because I can dose 0.05u with my calipers and I will see "some" R in the syringe. With a drop, I just insert the needle into the vial, release the plunger and let it draw in a drop. I can't detect any R in the syringe.

Many of us who have experience using R find that its very wise to monitor closely the current cycle and for the next cycle or two because R can knock back the counterregulatory hormones and open the door for the basal insulin to do its job. I try to give R just as the bounce starts to prevent numbers from going higher but even a drop can sometimes not only stop the increase but bring numbers down, then the lev kicks in and before I know it, she's in normal numbers. For that reason, I would never shoot R, wait four hours, and then leave. As with Lantus and levemir, ECID is also applicable to R and to give blanket advice is inappropriate.

Sorry to hijack Tink's condo, Jen, but safety first and I don't want a member who doesn't post to get the wrong information on using R.
 
Not a hijack at all. Very good information. Certainly don't want poor info hanging around.

Even if I COULD monitor Tink constantly (which I can't, since I work f/t during the week), he's yet to establish a clear onset or nadir. Just last night for example he went very low WAY later in the cycle than has ever happened before. I thought we were pretty much "safe" beyond +4 - obviously I now know that's not necessarily the case. While I could see potentially using R for major bounces (he loves going red/black)... since I could only do so on weekends, it's probably not worth the hassle, risk or expense.
 
It might be worth it and we could help you with it. We can help determine when might be the best times to shoot it and when you should not. Also...if you buy Novolin R at Walmart, a 10ml vial is cheap....around $25 I think. Mine is almost two years old and still going strong and I've only used a tiny bit.

Let us know.....Julie, Dyana, Sandy, and I have used R. Suzanne is also a good resource.
 
Well darn! I didn't realize R had such a long shelf life. I tossed the vial I had (Humulin R, so not sure if that's the same thing or not). It would have been a year old now. :( Good to know it's cheap though. Sure wish the regular insulins would get cheap!! I finally got Tink signed up for one of those RX Savings cards that actually WORKED (the $25 Lantus card does not work here), but it only brought it down to $68/pen. I was paying $71 with my Costco membership. Woohoo! Saved 3 bucks. :roll: Not sure if I can get my vet on board with mixing insulins or not - but he seems to trust me so far, so we'll see.
 
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