11/18 Michelangelo AMPS 272, +5/269

[KPassa]

Previous Condo

Has anyone else noticed their cat's skin seems to occasionally ripple/twitch? I've been noticing it since I started him on the insulin and, whenever it occurs, Mikey gets in his arched-back, sideways-hopping, playful-attack, cat-outta-hell, running about mood. It doesn't seem to matter what his numbers are at. Yesterday when I noticed it happening, his BG was at 243, whereas the day before, it was at 306. Just curious if this is a process or effect of Lantus.

I just saw you have pictures of Mikey up. OMG! He's just adorable!! He looks a lot like my civvie, Gizmo. (Giz is a Norwegian Forest Cat and they look a lot like Maine Coons.) There are photos from the time that Gizmo was under a year to now -- he's almost 4 yo.

Part of Mikey's weight issues may be diabetes related. Until you start getting the diabetes stabilized, glucose -- the basic nutrient that all food is metabolized into -- isn't getting into the cells. Insulin, whether it's produced by the pancreas or if your injecting it -- is what helps glucose get into the cells. If you're diabetic, glucose is floating around in the bloodstream and not getting into the cells where it's needed. If's for this reason that diabetes is sometimes referred to as the "starving" disease. In spite of having a voracious appetite, a kitty is losing weight until the disorder is discovered and treated. It's a very good sign that Mikey is gaining weight.

Gizmo is adorable and they do look a lot alike! Hopefully Mikey won't be as hairy because it doesn't get too cold where we live. :razz:

Before Michelangelo, my previous two cats were a (healthy) 20 pound orange tabby named Patrick (who had fluctuating weight issues due to his early battle with hepatic lipidosis when he was about 3yo. and could top out at 25 pounds) and a teeny, tiny black calico (no white) named Jezebelle who never topped 5 pounds and was consistently around 3.5 pounds her entire life (looking back, I now suspect she probably had hyperthyroidism from the Hills Prescription I was conned into buying them for most of their lives). They were an odd couple with their disparate sizes, so I've lost all concept of what a "normal" cat should look like/weigh. It's been quite an interesting adventure watching Mikey grow and I'm glad he's growing again.

 

[Ann & Tess GA]

Oops! I just posted this in you yesterday's condo when I didn't see you yet.

You might want to consider going by the calories Mikey is consuming rather than just the volume. Some foods are a lot more calorie dense than others. For instance FF runs from 22 to 32 kcal/oz., Wellness is about 40 and some raw foods are as much as 65. Kittens can consume twice the calories as adult cats. This is a great site on cat nutrition Max's House w/ a really good chart on calorie consumption for different growth stages. Right now Mikey needs about 45 kcal/lb of weight, but that will go down as he grows. Some catfoods list the calories per can on the label but most don't bother. Go to Dr. Lisa's list, just divide the calories per can by the size of the can.

Tess gets pretty much the same thing every day, so that keeps the calculation to a minimum. A lot of us mark the tops of the cans w/ a marker for carbs, you could add the calorie there as well for a quick reference.

On the skin twitches, maybe some irritation, Tess does it occasionally when I give her a shot. Or it could just be excitement and a precursor to a pounce.

 

[KPassa]

You might want to consider going by the calories Mikey is consuming rather than just the volume. Some foods are a lot more calorie dense than others. For instance FF runs from 22 to 32 kcal/oz., Wellness is about 40 and some raw foods are as much as 65. Kittens can consume twice the calories as adult cats. This is a great site on cat nutrition Max's House w/ a really good chart on calorie consumption for different growth stages. Right now Mikey needs about 45 kcal/lb of weight, but that will go down as he grows. Some catfoods list the calories per can on the label but most don't bother. Go to Dr. Lisa's list, just divide the calories per can by the size of the can.

Yes! Thank you for the links. I've been tracking his feeding times and the amount I give him over the last few days to see what impact they're having on his numbers. On average, he consumes 3-4 FF a day (only the Classic Turkey, Chicken, and liver varieties because he's allergic to beef and I try to keep him away from too much seafood) with one can of either Evo or Nature's Variety (chicken because he's also allergic to venison) for munching on through the night (so more like a half can each day). I try to make sure he eats around every two hours and sometimes, I swap out a can or two of FF with 1 to 2 frozen Nature's Variety raw chicken medallions when I'm at work. I have no problem keeping him over 300 calories a day because he's a hungry, hungry boy, but I do make sure I keep him under 400 calories a day. The one day I let him eat however much he wanted, he was able to consume over 600 calories!!

I have noticed in the last couple of days that he's been leaving food in the dish again, so I think he might have finally satiated his diabetic hunger and it's becoming easier to not have to constantly feed him (I've started skipping snack-time once or twice a day). Hopefully, this will help stabilize his numbers...at least until his next growth spurt! :lol:

 

[KPassa]

Oops! I just posted this in you yesterday's condo when I didn't see you yet.

Tess gets pretty much the same thing every day, so that keeps the calculation to a minimum. A lot of us mark the tops of the cans w/ a marker for carbs, you could add the calorie there as well for a quick reference.

On the skin twitches, maybe some irritation, Tess does it occasionally when I give her a shot. Or it could just be excitement and a precursor to a pounce.

Yeah, I was a little late getting on here today. I try to post his numbers daily, but you know how life is sometimes. :lol:

I LOVE the marker idea! I have a lot of the calories/carbohydrate information already memorized for what he consistently eats, but it would make things so much easier like when I confuse the calories from the Kitten Turkey with the Chicken Feast, for example. Sure, there's only one calorie difference per can, but I'm a computer geek by day, so I love accuracy and am not a fan of "close enough." This will now help me track the exact daily calorie/carbohydrate count without having to look it up every time I forget.

Since his nadir seems to bounce around +/-2 a bit, I'm trying to figure out if there's any correlation between when the fur ripples/skin twitches might occur and when he hits nadir. I figured I'd ask around to see if anyone already knew so I wouldn't be reinventing the wheel. ;-) What can I say? I'm an information junkie.

 

[Wendy&Tiggy(GA)]

My guys do the skin twitch too sometimes, I liken it to their skin crawling.. Cos they sometimes don't like the feeling of the shot... Don't think it's anything to worry about though.

 

[Wendy&Tiggy(GA)]

Hows everything going? No posts since yesterday? Hope all is ok..