4/14 First day on semi-raw food.

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NadjaAndSam

NadjaAndSam

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I tested Sam +10 and he was 365. I ended up giving his shot then.
He ate his all time favorite nature's Variety rabbit, then I made the semi-raw food from catinfo.org. He sniffed it for a little bit and ate just a little :(
 
It takes some time for them to get used to raw. Copper eats anything, but was very picky on the raw food. I mixed it with his regular food very slowly and eventually adding more and more raw and less other food. Now he loves the raw diet and prefers it over the other FF food. I can't afford all the meals raw, so i only give raw two times a day. GOod luck with introducing the raw. It does take patience, but it is worth it. His fur is so shiny and soft and no dandruff at all. I'm sure its the food.
 
This is a good idea, i should try mixing the 2 as well :D thank you!
Yes Ineed to be more patient, I just wanted him to love it at first bite to make my life easier lol :D
I"m thinking if Housl also raise his dose becuase I don't think 0.5u is enough. :/
 
At the next meal try offering the raw first, if he's really hungry he might just chow down.if you can get him eating it, try to hold your dose a few cycles to see what happens. If he moves a little more that will be helpful to know so we can fine tune the dose.

If you have any of the dried meat treats try crumbling and sprinkling on the food, may make it more enticing for him!
 
Thanks CAthy i will try to do that! I have dried chicken treat from halo and I will crumble it. Sam only has 3 teeth left so it's hard for him to eat things. With the semi-raw food I didn't leave any chunks to help clean the teeth because he can't eat it, I processed everything but it's a consistency that he likes, he likes to lick things more than biting into them, once again probably because of his few teeth!
So how long should I give him before I decide to raise the dose? Today is his 4th day on 0.5u so if I find myself having to mix the raw with canned should I raise it soon? Tomorrow or MOnday?
 
True :-| it's +9 and he is already 455. I'm calling the vet right now. Sam has been too mellow for his personality, I'm worried :-| I don't know if there is something else going on with him or if 0.5u is simply too low.
 
Oh i hope Sam is alright. Let us know.

Also on the raw food, the texture is totally different for them so it may take time to get used to it. That is why i mixed it.
 
nadja, I know you are super concerned with Sam's progress, but please just hold out a bit longer. You're getting some pink PS, you are not dangerously high anymore, and it is 2 more cycles still to make sure the hormones clear.the best thing to do is try to get him to eat his new food. The drop in carbs might be enough to break through into lower numbers, and we just need to see what he does on the food and lower dose.
 
Thank you CAthy. yes I'm worried, he has been lethargic today, I took him to the vet. My vet is very supportive of home testing, he took a look at my notes and wants me to increase to 1u for 1 week and get back to him with my numbers. He said even though Sam got very high number there were still days where he got normal numbers. He said if in 1 week Sam gets mostly high number without any trace of a normal number to call him.
So you suggested to wait 2 more cycles so it will be 2 more days right? Sunday and Monday? I think I could do that.
He just had some of my food now, not too much but at least ate some!
 
Hey Nadja!

Sorry to hear Sam hasn't been okay- I've missed a bit the last few weeks. Definitely give the raw some time to work- Sneakers 'holds' things for days which was why I always waited at least 3 days before changing something to have it settle. She did go for it quickly enough but tends to tire of it as well after weeks of it- or almost a batch. Hey- its frozen and will stay frozen. After a week off I introduce it again and it becomes her favorite to eat again. It does change her poop besides her fur- more tan/brown than black and doesn't stink as much (so when she is on full FF I dread the litter box cleaning :lol: ).
 
Thanks Heather :] Today Sam isn't feeling very well so I took him to the vet. He ate just a bit of the raw food now. I also bought some of his favorite food in case ne won't eat the homemade kind! I'm waiting to see first hand his new poop lol
 
It does take a few days... to get through digestion that is.

I was so glad there was a picture on the website that showed what the poop would look like so I wasn't that worried when I saw it :o .
 
Hi Nadja, I would agree that you should wait another 2 cycles, what would that hurt. You are at day 4 of the lower dose and it takes 3 to 5 days for the rebound hormones to clear their system. Plus the new good food you are making for him should start helping too.
 
:mrgreen: Thank you Heather for sending me that condensed recipe version. it TOTALLY helped me and saved me some time :D

Rob yes I will hold taht dose 2 more days, but if he is still on reds and pink I should increase the dose right?
he tested 455 +9, way too high already :(
 
Yes, if you can wait it out a couple days and get the new food into him that would be great.that way we can be sure he needs the increase, he's so close to having held the dose long enough it'd be a Shame to lose the chance to know for sure in which direction to head. Keep trying to get him to eat that food first before offering his old stuff,I know cats can be finicky with food, you might try nuking a bit of it and putting it on top of the raw to see if that helps. I got lucky and my cat just dove right in and ate it! If you do have to end up increasing it would be best to do it gradually, .2 units at a time.think of doses as a percentage, 1 is 50% more than .5, so its best not to increase so dramatically.my Vet advised holding for 5 to 7 days on any dosage change to be sure you see the real results as it can take a while to settle in and you don't want to miss the ideal dose by rushing things.


The poop does get smaller, lighter in colors, and less stinky, its weird! The change in the quality of fur is amazing, she is so much softer and shinie now. I think its the best thing for a cat if they'll eat it and you have the time to make it. My local grocer has 10 lb bags of leg quarters for under $7 I and I coupon andget vitamins for nearly free, so for me it is cheaper to feed than canned! :cool:
 
wow what I nice deal you got there :mrgreen:
Yes I will hold 2 more days on this dose and see what happens. I gave him a little bit of his rabbit food together with teh Raw, he ate both but not that much. We'll see about tomorrow!
 
Is Sam getting into the new food at all? I hope so, but cats are so bad about being interested in things you do for them....like when you buy a nice new cat tower and you're all excited, and all they want to do is lay in the d*mn box it shipped in.
 
He is somewhat interested but not stoked about it. He eats a little, but then wants his food. I've been giving him both. I had left a little of his rabbit in a bowl and the raw in another, he came by and had some of the raw. few hrs later he chose some of his old food. But he eats VERY little. Even his rabbit food he hasn't been finishing which is very rare.
He has tested high today also. I think I will just increase his dose tomorrow instead of Tuesday because he has been on pinks and reds for 5 days now.
 
If you're going to increase, go slow and hold the dose. Since you have been shooting .5 and a couple .6 I wouldn't increase to anymore than .7 or .75 at first. Increases should be small and held for a few days to make sure you don't miss out on the best dose. If he starts going for the raw food at some point, his insulin needs may drop suddenly, so watch for it. If you ever end up with a yellow ps or lower check in with someone on here about your dose into that number rather than continuing to shoot a set dose at a low number, and remember no shots below 200 right now.
 
Thank you. He has been eating the raw food but sometimes he doesn't want it but I think it's a good start for now :]
 
Hey nadja,

Your cycles look pretty nice, those reds are so barely red, no black or hi readings-I would expect the pmps to come down once Sam gets used to the blue, they are bounces but the look to be very very small bounces. Right now the 1u looks really good.

What would be great for both you and your vet is if you would start taking the +6 reading at night...even if it's +5 or +7, whatever works for you. Knowing whether Sam has a flat cycle in the PM or has a good curve is important as it lets you know how bouncy he is at this point. The reduction to .5 may have cleared his system out and you may be getting good cycles at night too, which would be awesome!

How is the food transition going? Remember that if he suddenly starts eating more raw you need to watch his numbers more closely, he almost went green yesterday and with less carbs his numbers will probably be lower.
 
Hi Cathy thank you for checking in!
I woke up +8 and he was 340. I thought he would get an unreadable number later but he got 475. Yesterday morning I gave his shot a bit early in the morning, didn't want to do it this morning since it would have been 4 hrs earlier.
He is eating more of the food but not only semi-raw just yet. I will keep my eyes open for this.
I will see if I can wake up +6 one of these days. I've been sleeping horribly lately because of him, he meows every morning about 5-6am I give him food but he keeps meowing. He isn't allowed to sleep with us. Sometimes my other cat Franklin meows this early because he wants to go outside too but it's mostly Sam :-| . I didn't even go to class this morning I was so tired!
 
Well, his amps today is not totally unexpected. That 116 yesterday was pretty low for him, and he may have been green actually at some point considering variance and the fact that the one test is statistically unlikely to have caught his absolute lowest reading of the cycle. So last night you had a higher flater cycle because he had a great cycle before that. He is not high or black today, so that is not as big a bounce as he had before. I know how exhausting FD is, so you just do the best you can do. I would try to get the test in today and tonight if you can, it will let you know for the future how long it takes his bounces to clear. Since this is the first big bounce you have that is "clean" and not part of a chain of big bounces like before, it will tell you more about how he handles low numbers. Not looking bad at all though!
 
that's good Cathy thank you :] I will see what I can do about waking up +6. I'm not happy at him right now lol All I want is to have a peaceful night of sleep for once. If at least he stopped meowing after I got up to feed him but no, he keeps meowing and the then when it's time for me to get up he is in his deep sleep. I feel like waking him up to bug him :lol:
 
Start poking him everytime you catch him napping. Poke, poke, poke...maybe he'll get the hint.

Have you considered purchasing some earplugs? I think that would help you a lot.
 
Oh yes I have earplugs but it doesn't help with his noise. Especially since he also scratches the door. :/
I've been wearing earplugs for a couple years now since I live in an apartment. it helps with sounds from my neighbors but not much from my cats :/
I just poked him now LOL
 
I hope you got a pretty pink amps at least, even a very low red? That PMPS looks better than it has, even if it's only 25 points it's so much more pleasing on the eyes to see a pink than a red!
 
Thanks for checking in!
He was 36 for his amps. But I also shot him 40 min earlier so I don't know how much up he would had gone!
 
That's awesome! So it looks like if he has a bounce at ps it clears within that cycle, which is good for you to know. Hope you get a nice PMPS!
 
I hope so too! thanks for always caring :]
he has been a bit strange today about food, he is been eating some of the raw but he didn't want to eat his rabbit which I've never seen it happening. I know he isnt getting enough to eat ughh
 
If he's eating a good bit of the raw it may be he likes it better, and it may be more caloric than the other food too. My 9lb cat only eats 3.75oz a day of the raw and it's holding her weight steady at this point. I would guess it's less than or equal to a half cup per day, not very much when you think about it.
 
true. To me it just seems like he eats so little! and some times he is sniffing the floor looking for food when there is food on his bowl :-| I try to leave a little bit of the semi-raw in one and his normal food in the other.
My other cat didn't like the semi-raw :/ at least Sam eats it a little !
 
That could be, or he could be returning to his funky cycles. It's just one cycle, and it's almost over....you get a brand new one in a few hours! I know it's discouraging, keep your chin up though.

My other cat feels the same way....I don't think he'd touch it if he were starving to death.
 
Don't forget Sam might also be getting more nutrients from his food since he has been on insulin for a while and be slowly decreasing his intake because he doesn't need that much anymore.

When Sneakers did that to me she went from 12-15oz per day to 6-8- in the middle of the day :shock: ! I started to look for something being wrong, checked and rechecked her bg's (she got irritated) and followed her everytime she went into the litter box :lol: . This time around it has been gradual and slow. Last week she was eating 15-18oz and this week she is down to 10-12oz.
 
Thanks girls!
I don't think I fur shot him because I could feel the needle going in but who know what happened. He tested 410 pmps :/

Good point Heather tanks for reminding me of that because I don't want to freak out by the fact he isn't eating like a pig :] speaking of pig Franklin won't eat the semi-raw food :-|
But I should keep trying on him, I just feel there is too much on my plate now with Sam so right now I'm not that bummed he is eating it. :/
 
How's he acting besides being off the food? Saw your ss, hard to guess what is going on because no data overnight but something seems off.
 
he is acting just fine but today he didn't want to eat the semi-raw food at all. I'm planning on getting up at night +6 on Sunday. I really want to sleep in tomorrow but will do that the day after. he threw up a little bit today but not sure why, there was some fur too so I don't know if it was because of it or if his stomach got irritaded.
I've been trying to give his pm shot at 9pm but his am shot I'm giving it earlier.
 
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