27 Sept TUCKER amps: 5.1 (92)

Tucker

Member Since 2018
Tucker is playing games with us. He hits very low numbers first thing in the morning when Claire is going to leave for work. I'm away for 5 weeks, leaving in 16 hours..........so there isn't the chance of having me home to monitor his BG levels and give him carbs if he dips too low. So we have reduced his am dose to 4.25 and then his BG rises. Claire gets home around 6:30 to do the second test and shot. If he is up in the range of 15 (275) our vet says to give him 4.5. I'm not sure if this is the best thing to do or not? I don't want Claire worrying at work that Tucker is going to fall into a coma, so he is going to have to compromise and not go into the greens before work, and to do that he has this little dose reduction in the morning. Does this make any sense or is this going to mess our boy up??
 
Yes it makes good sense!!!
It is a good idea to decrease the dose while you are away. That is what is recommended here. Much better for Tucker to be in a bit higher numbers then lower numbers.
I would definitely NOT increase the evening dose if his BSL is higher as your vet suggested. Lantus needs consistency and swapping back one forth with doses will just stuff everything up.
You will just have to accept that he is going to be in a bit higher numbers while you are away, but that is much safer than to have them drop low even once. He will get back on track when you get back.
Tell your daughter to post if she is concerned ..... give her my phone number and she can text me if no one is around online and I will go online.
You and DH have a fantastic time..........we expect the odd "postcard" from you please:)
 
Do you have an autofeeder that can be left out for Tucker to get some food around the middle of the cycle each day when your daughter is at work? Or would the other two scoundrels get it?
 
Hi there, and I agree with Bron, reduced dose for safety when no monitoring can be done and keep the dose the same from AM and PM. Like Bron said Lantus needs consistency and with switching up dose from AM to PM the depot gets confused .

How wonderful that Bron can help your daughter out with concerns and questions while you are gone. Safe travels to you!
 
Hi There, Thank you for all of the advice. It's 2:30am here......I started packing at midnight and the uber will be here at 4:30....so is it really worth trying to go to bed at this point?!
Claire took charge the last few days. I just did a +8 BG test and it was only 6.1. It is so strange that he is high at dinner time but seems to go low over night and in the morning. He is SO HAPPY right now. He had his test and then a big bowl of roasted chicken. He is purring his head off sitting on my suitcase and I'm feeling extreme guilt about leaving him when he needs me and also putting this pressure on my daughter. If you were going to stick to one dose for the whole 5 weeks we are away, would it be 4, 4.25 or 4.5, judging by his spreadsheet?
I've sent Claire the link to this group and she has my password so she can post for help if she needs it. I'm not sure if she will be on the spreadsheet, but I hope she uses it.

First stop: Huntington Beach, California to see the family. Thanks for helping Claire out and for helping to keep our Tuckity Tuck Tuck safe. :)
 
I really hope Claire can keep the spreadsheet updated. It will be really useful if we need to help out.

I would stick with another 2 doses of 4.25. If Tucker goes lower, then you know me (Mr Conservative), I would reduce the dose to 4.0.

Have fun in California. I was raised in San Jose and also spent 4 years in Eureka (true northern California).
 
Hi, this is Claire. Tucker has been a little less receptive towards me than he is with Mom, but the lowest he's gone in the past two days has been 5 and the highest 13. He's currently sitting on 6.3 and I've been maintaining a 4.25 shot. He's been very perky and playful on that so so far so good.
 
Hi Claire and welcome to fdmb!!!:)
Great to see you posting.
Tucker will soon get used to you being there, not Mom. Tell him he is very lucky he can stay at home to be looked after and not have to go to a stranger for the 5 weeks;):D
Looks like the 4.25units is a good dose for Tucker at the moment. And I see you are updating the SS. That is really helpful for us.
Are you able to get any inbetween tests at all? Maybe the weekend or evenings? That tells us how he is going on the 4.25 units.
It is wonderful you can take over and do this for Tucker while your Mom and Dad are away.
Bron :)
 
Hi Claire
Welcome to FDMB. So far, so good with Tucker. I am hoping you will maintain the spreadsheet. It is very helpful to us when a situation occurs.

As Bron suggested, it is also helpful to have (shot + 6 hr tests) whenever possible. Even if those are only on the weekends. It helps us determine dose effectiveness.
 
Those numbers look very good. Glad to hear that Tucker is being a good boy.

It took me probably over a month to become an expert BG (blood glucose) tester. Now, after 3 years, Leo basically comes over to the kitchen blanket and lays on it, waiting for the test. Why? Because he knows it is treat time!
 
Hi Claire,
You are doing a great job!
Are you able to get any tests in the evenings?. It would be interesting to see if he is dropping low overnight as he is bouncing a bit in the mornings the last two days.
 
I have, and it's always less than a point than his dinner testing number. I'll add them to the spreadsheet too. He was high at 13.6 this morning at 7:30, and now at 10:50am he's 9.
 
Hi Claire - As I told Patty, I will continue to monitor Tucker and help here. I'm pretty busy at work for these two months. You may notice that your new posts may show that I put a "like" on them. That means I read them (and like) them. But not always responding with a comment.

We are lucky that Bron is mostly in the same time zone. But I never understood that 1/2 hour time zone difference for Adelaide (where you are). Maybe they just wanted to be different.
 
Thank you Jeff, always appreciative of extra help! No idea why the timrzone needed to be different, but I'm glad Bron's is similar.
 
Tucker is looking good.

If you ever start a new thread, you can get our attention by "tagging us". It's easy. Just put an @ sign in front of our name. That way we auto-subscribe to that new thread. Example:
@JeffJ - I just tagged myself to this thread
 
Good to know Jeff, and I'll keep updating Tucker's chart. He's been very high so I went for 4.50 this morning and he went back down to 11.8 so I'll keep an eye on him!
 
Hi Claire,
Looks like you are doing a great job looking after Tucker. I check his SS each day to see how he's behaving himself.
Have you been able to get any inbetween tests at all?
I think if you went back up to 4.50 and stayed there for any length of time you would find he would drop low again and you would be dealing with green numbers. This is what he has done in the past......
Hope Patty and your dad are having a fabulous holiday.
 
Hi Claire - yes you have been doing a good job with Tucker. He is such a lucky kitteh.

Like Bron said, it is easy to see high numbers at the start of each cycle, then think "hmmm maybe I should increase the dose". Instead we want to base dose increases from observations of the nadir at +6 or +7 hours. Tucker did have issues at the high insulin, so this is really something to carefully monitor. If you can't, then I would keep the doses a little lower to avoid a hypo.
 
Hi All, Thank you for supporting Claire whilst we bounce between locations and dodgy internet. The trip has been eventful (mostly in good ways). We saw family in California for 10 days, were in London for 5 days, Paris for 8 days and now we are in Narbonne, France until next Tuesday. After that it's just 4 days in Hong Kong and a quick jaunt back to Adelaide! We are sure missing Tucky, Daisy and Teddy (but especially Clairey!)
 
Patty - you are making ALL of us so jealous with your whirlwind worldly vacation. That is awesome.:cool:

Claire - you are making us all jealous because you are such a good caregiver for your Mom's sweet kittehs including Tucker.:D

and Tucker is being a good boy with his numbers, so that is great for everyone. :bighug:
 
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