2/14 Disco AMPS 288/+6.5 300/+9.5 318/+10 284/+11 208/PMPS 281/+1 309/+2.5 213

Teri & Disco NoFurNo (GA)

Teri & Disco NoFurNo (GA)

Member Since 2019
Yesterday, 2/13: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...3-45-13-5-75-14-93-15-94.225622/#post-2526606

Here I say, I'm retired and can be there for Disco, and then I let myself be later with his +10 test and could possibly have steered him away from crashing last night. @Sienne and Gabby (GA) have graciously said to PM them when I am in trouble, which is above and beyond as I know people have lives and jobs and need to sleep, too...

I hope that I can become more comfortable shooting low numbers and I know how hard it is on him to come back from missed dosing and get into those healing green numbers. Thank you to the experienced members guiding me and not being too rough on me, I have regrets on my performance but will strive to do better...
 
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Aw, don't beat yourself up about this, certainly not about last night! Two points: one, by the time he started responding to food and coming up a bit, you would have ended up shooting pretty late if you waited until you had a food-free rising number. And two, you are still in data-gathering mode here. You're learning what Disco likes to do, and how best to manage his FD, which isn't necessarily going to follow the same rules as anyone else's dance. Heck, even the same cat can do things very differently at different times-- moving nadirs, etc.

So, now you have a bit more information, and can try a few new things. Maybe next time if you're late on the +10 but suspect he's headed down in a way that is going to make shot time a problem, you can go ahead and feed him even though you're within the 2hr window. It might mean that you have to shoot late while you are waiting to be sure he's safe with a food-free pre-shot, but it might prevent going below 50 and allow you to shoot.

This is the kind of thing that makes this dance so hard. We all like rules that we can follow, but sometimes the kitties have other ideas about how to do things, and different rules come into conflict! We say "every cat is different" so often it's a cliche around here, but it really is true. It just takes time to learn each kitty's dance steps-- you're doing it, don't worry!
 
Nan & Amber (GA) said:
Aw, don't beat yourself up about this, certainly not about last night! Two points: one, by the time he started responding to food and coming up a bit, you would have ended up shooting pretty late if you waited until you had a food-free rising number. And two, you are still in data-gathering mode here. You're learning what Disco likes to do, and how best to manage his FD, which isn't necessarily going to follow the same rules as anyone else's dance. Heck, even the same cat can do things very differently at different times-- moving nadirs, etc.

So, now you have a bit more information, and can try a few new things. Maybe next time if you're late on the +10 but suspect he's headed down in a way that is going to make shot time a problem, you can go ahead and feed him even though you're within the 2hr window. It might mean that you have to shoot late while you are waiting to be sure he's safe with a food-free pre-shot, but it might prevent going below 50 and allow you to shoot.

This is the kind of thing that makes this dance so hard. We all like rules that we can follow, but sometimes the kitties have other ideas about how to do things, and different rules come into conflict! We say "every cat is different" so often it's a cliche around here, but it really is true. It just takes time to learn each kitty's dance steps-- you're doing it, don't worry!
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Of course, I didn't think of the fact that I could feed him to steer him and then just test 2 hrs later, for example last night when I tested him at 10.75 and he had dropped from 258 at +6 to 148 at 10.75, if I had fed him to steer him, it possibly would have brought his number up and I could have shot him at 12.75 and not skipped, right? Also, when feeding to steer, it's LC right? and is it just a couple of teaspoons?
 
Look at that, he's already starting to come back down!

Teri (Disco NoFurNo) said:
Of course, I didn't think of the fact that I could feed him to steer him and then just test 2 hrs later, for example last night when I tested him at 10.75 and he had dropped from 258 at +6 to 148 at 10.75, if I had fed him to steer him, it possibly would have brought his number up and I could have shot him at 12.75 and not skipped, right? Also, when feeding to steer, it's LC right? and is it just a couple of teaspoons?
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Yes, that's the basic idea. Who knows if that experiment would have worked-- it's kind of uncharted territory in a way, not an established procedure. But given that Disco has done this to you a couple times now with the falling numbers at pre-shot, it's just an experiment to try if he does it to you again!

Food steering is one of the hardest part of this whole process, because it's so individualized and the only way to figure out what works and what doesn't is... trying it. The nice thing is that it's a comparatively low-risk thing to experiment with. As long as you're holding to the overall rules about keeping Disco safe, the worst thing that might happen is you overshoot and wind up shortening the duration of the insulin or staying in higher numbers than you'd like, etc.
 
Don’t be too hard on yourself.:bighug: Your FD journey with Lantus is relatively short so far. It is one grand experiment where you have to learn Disco and his response to food and Lantus, by trying and learning. It’s often also harder to see what is happening with your own cat than others. Whereas I can look at his spreadsheet and roll my eyes at his antics, cause I may have see this sort of thing before, you don’t yet have that luxury yet. It also can help to have a bit of distance from the situation in order to see the trees in the forest.

My favourite saying to myself when I was doing this dance was “every cycle is a do over”. Live and learn.

As for “unfortunately” last night, it is because now you go down in dose. Given that he was just starting to see green on 2.75 units, and hasn’t spent much time in healing numbers, the 2.5 unit dose may not be much better this time. Which means you may have to go up again. Of course, cats do like to surprise us and I am going to formally challenge Disco to prove me wrong. :p They like to do that.

And sorry for the short answer only last night. There were several kitties in similar situations, all around the same time. And it’s past the full moon.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Don’t be too hard on yourself.:bighug: Your FD journey with Lantus is relatively short so far. It is one grand experiment where you have to learn Disco and his response to food and Lantus, by trying and learning. It’s often also harder to see what is happening with your own cat than others. Whereas I can look at his spreadsheet and roll my eyes at his antics, cause I may have see this sort of thing before, you don’t yet have that luxury yet. It also can help to have a bit of distance from the situation in order to see the trees in the forest.

My favourite saying to myself when I was doing this dance was “every cycle is a do over”. Live and learn.

As for “unfortunately” last night, it is because now you go down in dose. Given that he was just starting to see green on 2.75 units, and hasn’t spent much time in healing numbers, the 2.5 unit dose may not be much better this time. Which means you may have to go up again. Of course, cats do like to surprise us and I am going to formally challenge Disco to prove me wrong. :p They like to do that.

And sorry for the short answer only last night. There were several kitties in similar situations, all around the same time. And it’s past the full moon.
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No apologies needed, I never cease to be amazed on how you juggle this 'side-job'.
 
Nan & Amber (GA) said:
Speaking of food-steering: Disco has dropped 150pts in the last hour (250 in the last two hours). If you haven't already done so, I'd give him a little midmorning snack to see if it helps level him off a bit.
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Yes, every time I have spot tested him, I have fed him 1/2 of one portion of Sheba Purrfect Portions Pate, which is about 2 tsps, so I thought the drop would slow but not so far...
 
Just did a +6.5 and is 300, down a tad from the +5.5 of 324. The last snack Disco got was at 10:49am, the +3.25. Should I give him a snack now? Or wait to the next test at +7.5 or later? I went ahead and fed he 2 tsp of Sheba Purrfect Portions Pate.
 
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Sorry, work interfered for a while.

All pretty flat so far. At the moment, I don't see any need to keep feeding to try to slow him down-- he's done it.

Keep in mind, too, that today isn't going to be a typical cycle no matter what!
 
Nan & Amber (GA) said:
Sorry, work interfered for a while.

All pretty flat so far. At the moment, I don't see any need to keep feeding to try to slow him down-- he's done it.

Keep in mind, too, that today isn't going to be a typical cycle no matter what!
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That's ok...gotta pay the bills (by workin'). I'm kind of just doing these frequent tests today for data and because I am home all day. And although I am going out for a Valentine's dinner with my mom and brother, I am going to take Disco like I did on that Saturday (2/8) when he had his first crash, as he has a back seat tent w.litter box, microwave heat pad and burrow bed. He is not stressed by travel and the restaurant is here in town (I could even run home, test him and go back--may do that instead. I don't leave the house until 5:30pm, so I should know where he is headed but of course, that's not a given. Thx for your attention today!
 

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