3.15.15 Zoey 572 Dosecrease 2.5

[Rose]

I know I'm a cycle short, but her numbers are sooo high and her neuropathy is getting much worse. She's constantly hungry to the point that she does not let me sleep me at night. She can't walk around in the litter box very well so she wets outside of it. I've really got to get her numbers under control so that she can hopefully get over this constant hunger and start regaining some strength in her hind legs. For that week when she was in the blues and yellows, she was doing much better between meals and was even trotting a little. She has not lost weight so her hunger is not due to not enough food. She's getting 2 cans of food a day (plus tuna treats) and she is fed every 3 hours around the clock.

I find myself struggling to stay awake at my desk during the day and am worried that I'm going to nod off during a job, complete with snoring and my mouth gaped open. I may as well complete the picture with drool running off my lip onto my keypad.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

yesterday

 

[Angela & Blackie & 3 Others]

Good luck with the dosecrease, and I hope that this brings her AMPS #s down very quickly for you. I have been giving Blackie Zobaline for Diabetic Cats (found on Amazon.com, and not to be confused with Xobaline with an "X"), and it seems to be helping a bit with her neuropathy. They're very small tablets, and you can either give them orally or crush them and mix into food (I do the latter as she drools and foams at the mouth when pilled). Another option is to take Zoey to the vet to have vitamin B12 injections, as well. I'm sending tons of healing vines for Zoey, and positive vines for you.

I hear you about sleep. I'm not getting much, myself, due to feeding at 4:00 a.m., however I've grown accustomed to it. I hope that you can get more sleep very soon. Your feeding schedule for her sounds good... Have you considered readjusting her schedule a bit to add an extra hour or 2 of sleep for yourself? Just a thought, and perhaps worth a try, if you can.

Have a great day! Hang in there.

 

[Rose]

Oh, @Angela & Blackie & 3 Others .... what I wouldn't give to get an extra two hours of sleep. I forgot to mention that Zoey can tell time and she is the only alarm we need. At first, we found it very funny and cute that she knew when three hours had gone by and it was time for her food. Now, in the middle of the night, her consistency is downright annoying. The cat will shred the bedspread getting on and off the bed in search of food. She will scratch on doors, head bump you, push her dish around on the floor ... she. does. not. stop. She will be sweet and good until that 2 hour 55 minute mark and then time's up and no holds barred. Her neuropathy does not slow her search for food down. She has multi-level stools to assist her on and off the bed but my sheets are still shredded from her pulling herself up and this morning she chose to climb over the foot board/bench and flipped herself off when she tried to jump. I keep thick throw rugs over the top of the bed during the day to give her something to grab hold of. She's a big, insatiable, loveable mess. (And no, we cannot even think of crating her or putting her someplace else. THAT behavior is even worse.) And what's particularly annoying to me is that DH sleeps right through it all and she doesn't even bother to head bump him anymore. LOL

She's been on Zobaline now for just under a week. She gets one pill twice a day.

Thanks for the vines. Hope you have a wonderful day, too!

 

[julie & punkin (ga)]

I'm glad you've got the Zobaline - that can take a few weeks to show results, but many cats do very well on it. I've heard people say that the neuropathy was reversed.

Her drop today - from amps 572 to +6/187 is huge. That's about 400 points in 6 hrs. Anytime a cat drops too fast it can trigger another bounce, so i think you can expect that she may go back high again after that drop for as many as 3 more days. It's possible she went lower than the 187 today - sometimes when a cat is dropping fast like that they can gain a lot of momentum. If you see a drop like that again, I'd try to follow up with another test after the 187 to see if she kept going farther down.

You can't rush the dose - 4 shots at any given dose is a minimum that is only suggested if everything is over 300. It's probably better to wait and get nadir checks before you increase the dose, even if it means delaying until your schedule allows you to get a mid-cycle test in.

I understand the hunger. Punkin had acromegaly - some cats with acro will even eat non-food things. You can't ignore it, unless you're DH, apparently, hahahaha. I gave punkin plain cooked chicken breast in the second half of the cycle if he was starving. It's hard not to want to give them more food. You don't want Zoey to gain weight, though, unless she's underweight.

 

[Rose]

Hi, @julie & punkin (ga)

Yeah, I knew when I saw that big jump that it was going to maybe be problematic. I was hoping since her last four cycles were over 300 (and assuming since they were so high at beginning and end of cycle that they didn't dip to 200s) that the dosecrease would be okay to do. I probably should have had mid cycle numbers though to be sure.

I think the elevated a.m. 500-something number was due to her not wanting to have her blood drawn and insisting on being fed first. It was somewhat of a battle before I finally let her win the war and gave in to feeding her before the shot. That's the first time she's been that adamant about eating. When her numbers are yellow and blue for longer than they are red, she's far more relaxed and patient. The past few days have been such an about face with those high numbers that even my dh was noticing her uneasiness. Yesterday, after the dosecrease, she was back to stretching out on her side and being visually relaxed versus the meatloaf position she was in for the few days prior. Today she's still trolling for food but after she has a snack (tuna), she's satisfied for a longer period and she is moving around better and pushing off better with her hind legs.

I won't change the dose again without prior approval because I totally get what you said above and don't want to be the cause of a bunch of bouncing numbers. I'm hoping she stays where she's consistently in the blues and yellows longer than the purples and reds (and totally leave the blacks behind). At least in those numbers her neuropathy seems to be somewhat less pronounced and her hunger isn't quite as ravenous.

Zoey's weight has stayed the same ... so far. (Wish I could say the same for my own... these late night/early morning feedings are becoming problematic for ME! LOL)

I just can't imagine having to deal with a cat that will eat non-food items. I guess as bad as I think it sometimes is, it could always be worse, huh?

Thank you for checking in and sharing your thoughts. It's all very much appreciated.