KPassa
Member Since 2012
And my responses to my previous condo as well as my first post so I don't end up with three threads going at once. :lol:
Thanks everyone for all this great info! For his AMPS, I've begun giving him a bite to eat first thing and then testing, then giving him the remainder of his breakfast with his insulin shot. That seems to be working a little bit better for us. I still have an angry, huffy, sometimes growling kitty, but at least he's no longer crying or squirming. I can test him any time later (even just an hour) and he's sitting in my lap, purring. I guess he's just not a morning cat and needs his
On Friday, we had our first vet visit since I started home testing and I was a bit trepidatious as to what the vet might say. It turns out he was scared that I had gone off my own and started looking up "cures" on the internet or something. But when he saw a copy of my spreadsheet with all of Mikey's numbers, he was so pleased that he said that we don't even need to continue doing the bi-weekly follow-up for regulation since I was doing a pretty good job of it myself already. He also took the copy of the spreadsheet for himself and made a few notes on it, saying that this was the first time he'd seen anything so efficient. Then he gave me his email address and asked me to email him the link to Mikey's spreadsheet as well as any other links I've found. My vet has come through for me again and has proven it's been more of a lack of information rather than willful ignorance on their part! :mrgreen:
As mentioned in previous posts, I've been having a really hard time gauging how much food I should give him. There's conflicting information regarding the proper feeding amount for diabetic cats, having set meals vs. free feeding, if set meals then how many per day, etc... and on top of it all, those recommendations are for adult cats! It seems I'm a pioneer on this with kittens. :? So, last Thursday, I once again adjusted his food consumption by increasing it back up to where a kitten should be and allowing him to free feed instead of trying to modify it for a "diabetic" kitten and/or regulate it to X number of set meal times. But, I'm already starting to see again what I had seen before when he was first diagnosed and the vet recommended decreasing his food amount until he stabilized on the insulin: a bloated little belly and a tendency to overeat. It's also worth mentioning that at the vet visit, Mikey had gained an entire pound (now up to 5.5) when he'd been stuck at 4.5 since the beginning of September up until I had weighed him last week. Hopefully that weight was him growing up into a big boy and not growing out into a fat cat. ;-)
I also lowered him to .75u last Monday (not smart to change two things around the same time, I know). Since then, his numbers seem to have stabilized (no more super highs and super lows), but it's still consistently over 220. I'd like to get more +4 through +9 AM readings because that's always been where he's dipped super low and I only have 1 day's worth of that data since the food/unit change. I'm working from home tomorrow, so it's easier to test him more consistently throughout the day that way. Does it look like I should I raise him back up to 1u or should I wait a few days longer to establish more of a pattern on the .75u dose with the increased food amount?
Thanks everyone for all this great info! For his AMPS, I've begun giving him a bite to eat first thing and then testing, then giving him the remainder of his breakfast with his insulin shot. That seems to be working a little bit better for us. I still have an angry, huffy, sometimes growling kitty, but at least he's no longer crying or squirming. I can test him any time later (even just an hour) and he's sitting in my lap, purring. I guess he's just not a morning cat and needs his
On Friday, we had our first vet visit since I started home testing and I was a bit trepidatious as to what the vet might say. It turns out he was scared that I had gone off my own and started looking up "cures" on the internet or something. But when he saw a copy of my spreadsheet with all of Mikey's numbers, he was so pleased that he said that we don't even need to continue doing the bi-weekly follow-up for regulation since I was doing a pretty good job of it myself already. He also took the copy of the spreadsheet for himself and made a few notes on it, saying that this was the first time he'd seen anything so efficient. Then he gave me his email address and asked me to email him the link to Mikey's spreadsheet as well as any other links I've found. My vet has come through for me again and has proven it's been more of a lack of information rather than willful ignorance on their part! :mrgreen:
As mentioned in previous posts, I've been having a really hard time gauging how much food I should give him. There's conflicting information regarding the proper feeding amount for diabetic cats, having set meals vs. free feeding, if set meals then how many per day, etc... and on top of it all, those recommendations are for adult cats! It seems I'm a pioneer on this with kittens. :? So, last Thursday, I once again adjusted his food consumption by increasing it back up to where a kitten should be and allowing him to free feed instead of trying to modify it for a "diabetic" kitten and/or regulate it to X number of set meal times. But, I'm already starting to see again what I had seen before when he was first diagnosed and the vet recommended decreasing his food amount until he stabilized on the insulin: a bloated little belly and a tendency to overeat. It's also worth mentioning that at the vet visit, Mikey had gained an entire pound (now up to 5.5) when he'd been stuck at 4.5 since the beginning of September up until I had weighed him last week. Hopefully that weight was him growing up into a big boy and not growing out into a fat cat. ;-)
I also lowered him to .75u last Monday (not smart to change two things around the same time, I know). Since then, his numbers seem to have stabilized (no more super highs and super lows), but it's still consistently over 220. I'd like to get more +4 through +9 AM readings because that's always been where he's dipped super low and I only have 1 day's worth of that data since the food/unit change. I'm working from home tomorrow, so it's easier to test him more consistently throughout the day that way. Does it look like I should I raise him back up to 1u or should I wait a few days longer to establish more of a pattern on the .75u dose with the increased food amount?
