? 22 Nov | Girlie AMPS 463; +7.5=115 Need antacid advice

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Girlie's mom

Girlie's mom

Member Since 2017
Condo: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...ps-85-6-160-pmps-362-still-not-eating.186941/

Flat out with work and trying to get materials together for job applications: won't be on much until after 28 Nov, I don't think.

Updates:
  • Last night wasn't so bad, but high AMPS this AM
  • Vet won't give me Humulin/Novolin
  • Still won't eat this am; only had 1 tsp yesterday am; finally ate some an hour after Ondansetron wafer in PM
  • Ongoing poo issues as well; had a small poo sometime last night/early am. Hard to deal with constipation issues as won't eat so can't get enough Miralax in; I suppose I could syringe that into her? She's gonna love that with a sick tummy as it is
  • Have to go in to work so she's going to have to deal with this on her own for now; will be interesting to see how that goes
  • Don't want to give Mirtazapine if don't have to as clearly sore tummy; SEB on order; also, Mirtz kicks in ca 1/2 hour later and that's too early for her Levemir onset and it only lasts for ca 2 hours: not sure how to work that one out

I will be glad when it's 30 November and the job stuff (round 1) is over. :woot:
 
Okay: vet has prescribed Losec/Omeprazole tablets but only 1/2 of a 10 mg tablet per day. Chemist says NOT to cut it in half as that will affect the properties, but that it could be dissolved and given by syringe; the other half the next day.

Pretty cranky with the vet right now. What alternatives do you all use for antacid, basically? We don't have Pepcid here in Australia; not sure what the equivalent would be here. Am ordering SEB that was recommended from overseas: not sure when that will arrive.

Not one of my happy days. At work all day: she dove from AMPS of 463 to AM+7.5 = 115. No idea whether that was a deep dive or not as not home to monitor.

Will probably have to do a) a reduced dose tonight and/or b) syringe feed her MC/HC food at preshot so that - hopefully - she doesn't dive in the evening as I have to sleep. Loading her up with food that early before onset of Levemir doesn't seem good to me: any advice from Levemir users?

Very close to having what I fondly refer to as a "nervous breakfast" with the stress of all of this. Sorry to complain - just too much all at once.
 
Pepcid is fatomadine, not sure if you have it by another name there. Ranitidine, sold here as Zantac is one alternative. Here is the link to treatments on Tanya's site. I hope you can find something that works. :bighug:
ETA: the site lists the Australian names.:)

If I absolutely needed sleep, Neko would get higher carb meals, even if before Lev onset, but ECID. I also got pretty quick on getting up, testing, and feeding and back to sleep. Or worst case, I would do a temporary reducie or BCS.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Pepcid is fatomadine, not sure if you have it by another name there. Ranitidine, sold here as Zantac is one alternative. Here is the link to treatments on Tanya's site. I hope you can find something that works. :bighug:
ETA: the site lists the Australian names.:)

If I absolutely needed sleep, Neko would get higher carb meals, even if before Lev onset, but ECID. I also got pretty quick on getting up, testing, and feeding and back to sleep. Or worst case, I would do a temporary reducie or BCS.
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Thanks, Wendy. My problem: I can't get back to sleep easily. Problem 2: Because of where she is right now with not eating, I have to hold the bowl up for her to tempt her to eat or she won't eat.

When you're away like I was all morning at work and then I come back to a stupendous drop like this at +7 in the cycle, knowing that her onset was probably +4 and she had maybe 1/16th of a tsp of food for her AMPS but - at some point - did eat some 6% (1/2 tsp) and 8% (1.5 tsps) I left out while I was away, was I right to give the 12%? Not sure this late in the cycle, etc., etc.

So stressed out with work, her, etc. can't think straight.

Now back to work dramas!
 
When Radar has difficulty eating, I have found that feeding him meat baby food off my finger works just to get something in him. There were times that I had to feed him a whole jar of baby food from my finger or a spoon. :eek: and of course this happens in the morning when I really needed to get out the door to work. I hope the SEB comes soon. I found that mixing the SEB into babyfood worked well for my little guy. It's soooooo hard when the kitty won't eat. Sending lots of good wishes for better eating. :bighug::bighug:
 
Jan Radar said:
When Radar has difficulty eating, I have found that feeding him meat baby food off my finger works just to get something in him. There were times that I had to feed him a whole jar of baby food from my finger or a spoon. :eek: and of course this happens in the morning when I really needed to get out the door to work. I hope the SEB comes soon. I found that mixing the SEB into babyfood worked well for my little guy. It's soooooo hard when the kitty won't eat. Sending lots of good wishes for better eating. :bighug::bighug:
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Thank you so much! I haven't looked into baby food here in Australia yet. I know I have to be careful about making sure no onions and garlic are in it.
She does like Liverwurst, so I can always count on her just eating a little of that off my finger; that's my go-to right now, but I'll check out the baby food.

If only I were retired! That would make life more doable. But we persevere, eh?

There's also always syringe feeding; I haven't tried that with her yet, but if all else fails, we'll give that a go, I guess. :-)

I see you give Radar B12 injections; I've noticed that a lot of other people give B12. Is that a common thing to give FD cats?

Just took a look at your SS; I see you note that AM and PMPS numbers are sometimes food-influenced. Do you give food late in the cycle? Just curious! :-)
 
Girlie's mom said:
Thank you so much! I haven't looked into baby food here in Australia yet. I know I have to be careful about making sure no onions and garlic are in it.
She does like Liverwurst, so I can always count on her just eating a little of that off my finger; that's my go-to right now, but I'll check out the baby food.

If only I were retired! That would make life more doable. But we persevere, eh?

There's also always syringe feeding; I haven't tried that with her yet, but if all else fails, we'll give that a go, I guess. :)

I see you give Radar B12 injections; I've noticed that a lot of other people give B12. Is that a common thing to give FD cats?

Just took a look at your SS; I see you note that AM and PMPS numbers are sometimes food-influenced. Do you give food late in the cycle? Just curious! :)
Click to expand...
Baby food is a great life saver at my house for my own sanity. Radar loves the Gerber chicken partly because it has a very strong odor which seems to stimulate him to eat. If it comes straight from the fridge, I always zap it in the microwave for a few seconds to get the smell going and to make it more like a warm juicy mouse. :rolleyes: I have not needed to syringe feed Radar yet.... I'd rather let him be in charge of taking in the nutrition until he is unable to do so himself.... I'm sure that the day will come when I'll need to travel that path.

I have found that the B12 injections really help Radar with eating more consistently. I know that lots of people give their cats B12 to help with mobility issues that FD cats sometimes have. My vet got us started with the B12 as a support when we had to be out of town and Radar refused to eat at the kennel. Later we tried giving the B12 at home to help with eating and for us it has become a necessary part of his treatment plan.

Another thing you might consider is to add probiotics to Girlie's food. Radar improved considerably when we started giving him probiotics 2x a day.

As for feeding late in the cycle.... I know that the 2 hours before shot time should be free of food so I can get a "pure number" to safely start a new cycle with. However, with all of Radar's eating issues there are times when I break the rule. When I feed him really late in the cycle I usually go for raw food because in my experience, it seems to have the smallest impact on his BG. There are times though that I have given him baby food or a spoon of Tiki Cat instead and that's usually when his number will spike. You will need to experiment and get to know your cat's reactions to different foods at different times of the day and at different points in her cycles. Then you can make informed decisions based on data from your cat. When I was new to FD, I never broke the rule about no feeding 2 hours before shot time. When I was new to FD, I didn't KNOW my cat like I do now. But with lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of data combined with very careful note taking about when I fed and what exactly was fed and how much was fed, I learned to make decent predictions about the impact of the food at different times of the day and night. Then I felt more comfortable breaking the rule when I needed to. It certainly helps that there are times of the year when I have much more free time from work because I am a teacher. It is then that I can more easily stay up until the wee wee hours testing and feeding and testing again and then testing yet again. I know it's really really really hard to juggle the demands of work and a little furry one at home who needs you. I've been doing this crazy FD dance for almost 3 years and I can say with certitude that it really does get easier if only because of the experience gained over time. Breathe and know that your sweet kitty knows that you are doing everything you can to help her feel better. She is lucky to have you. :cat:

Sorry this has turned into a very long post... I hope some of it is helpful to you. Let me know if there's anything else I might do to help you. Although sometimes what one actually needs is just to be heard by those who understand. :bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
I know your stress. It is so hard. Hang in there. I think B12 shots popped up Yum's hematocrit a bit.
 
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