2/14 Max AMPS 142 (no shot) - Next steps?

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hollyall

hollyall

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Happy Valentine's day! Hope it is a day of sweet numbers for your kitties (borrowed that from Kristen). Max did really well yesterday and now I'm in unfamiliar territory again. Yesterday, with no AM or PM shot, he seemed to stay in the high end of normal on his own. Hope this means his pancreas is healing and starting to work better, but maybe it just means the diet has helped with the carbs so what little his pancreas can do is enough. Now, what do I do? I'm going to of course watch and test him. Do I continue with no shots and watch and see how he does? Or does he need a little something (.1u) to help him when he creeps up to the 170's? Looks like his #'s get a little higher when he eats before eventually going back down. Based on yesterday, it seemed to take about 1 ½ hrs to go back down. Any thoughts would be most appreciated.

2/13: AMPS 143, +1/2 138 (no shot), +1 (fed), +2 162, +6 121, +10 141 (fed), PMPS 173, +1 164 (fed), +2 180 (½ hr after meal), +3 166
2/14: AMPS 142 (no shot); Max's last meal before AMPS was at 4am
 
Sue, just saw your post on my thread from yesterday on what to do next. Thanks so much for the advice. I will see if I can find the thread on administering a literal drop of insulin. I'll watch Max's numbers closely and see when I feel brave. My best time to watch and test frequently is weekends, but if Max needs a little boost, I don't want him to have to wait til the weekend. Decision, decisions. Also, good to know the normal range for cat BG.
 
One more idea, Holly, is to really lower the carbs on his food and see if that makes enough of a difference. So, if you are now feeding 7% carbs, can you find a non fish alternative that is 2-3%. Sometimes, with some cats, that is enough to nudge the bg levels down.
 
Wow, Max is doing great. The Wellness Beef & Chicken has 2% carbs, I agree that anything you can do to help give him a better chance of going OTH is worth trying.
 
I've got Max on Fancy Feast - Classic Chicken Feast right now, which I believe is 3% carbs. I've heard that Blue Buffalo Wilderness - Chicken is 1%, so maybe I'll try that. Just need a little something and hopefully I'll have Max over the hump. Paws crossed! I looked at a couple threads on administering just a drop of insulin, and it looks tough but doable. I think I'll try the food first and then the drop if needed. Thank you everyone for the ideas and encouragement! Just a little over a week ago Max was on 4u twice a day. I can't believe the difference, and it's all from the solid advice and experience of this forum. Truly, there aren't enough thank you's.
 
I wouldn't stress about giving him a drop of insulin, or even up to 0.2 or so if the #s creep higher. Unless he gets himself below 100, you've given it enough time that I would say give him a little insulin to help his pancreas over the hump. When he starts bringing himself down into greens, then he may not need insulin at all.

For your own sanity you might want to set some decision points that make sense to you - some at this stage go with a no-shoot of 180 to allow for a little more pancreas action/movement (e.g. if a cat is fluctuating quite a bit on their own), others stick with 150. Another thing to set might be timeframe - if he goes without a shot for longer than 16 hours (making this up as I go just as an example) but doesn't get his #s lower than 140 even with feeding, then give a drop of insulin.

It's guesswork really, but if he is in the mid-100s for a length of time it is most likely taxing his pancreas, so the longer he rides like that, you may be losing a little ground. What you want basically is some surfing in the mid-greens, ideally in the 50s - 70s, to really promote healing (as I understand it....). So I wouldn't be scared of giving him a little insulin to get him in those perfect #s. Often we've seen cats at this stage where just one or two more shots to get them in those #s are all the boost they need. [anti-jinx!!!]
 
Thank you for the advice Joanna. You've given me good information to think about. I knew low numbers were good but didn't realize the healing properties of the greens. Newbie me gets scared when Max drops to the low greens. I changed his food last night to one that is slightly less in carbs, and Max got a 60 this morning all on his own! I'll watch his numbers though cause I don't want them to creep up without insulin support. Feels so close...paws crossed.
 
Great number. 60 fits into the "normal range". If he is really sensitive to carbs, lower carb food can really help you in this process. Nice!
 
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