? 4/16 Leda AMPS 101, +2 92, +3 79, +5 93, PMPS 127, +2.5 99 Vacation Dose?

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Madrona and Leda (GA)

Madrona and Leda (GA)

Member Since 2016
Yesterday. Leda's been enjoying the more springlike weather, and his contentment seems to be showing in his numbers. We're going to be away for 1 night (2 days) starting on Tuesday evening and my plan at this point is to have the awesome pet sitter come by Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning and evening with the instructions to test him, feed him, give him the vacation dose (I'm thinking 0.5 units as safe, and the closest consistently measurable dose-currently he's on 1.25 units) if he's above 100, and put food in his autofeeder. Thoughts on the dose and the no shot BG? And should I start him on the reduced dose tomorrow or tonight (4 cycles, 3 cycles or 2 cycles ahead of being gone?). Many thanks for sharing your experience and expertise!

Vines and good health to all, safe surfing for the kitties
 
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I'm not sure about the vacation dose. I wonder if 1 unit would be too much? I think it's usually recommended to start the vacation dose at least 2 cycles before you leave.

Nice report for Leda. Happy Easter.
 
I'm glad you have a petsitter you have a lot of confidence in. That is so important to your peace of mind when you're away.

I think .5 is a little low, but I understand your reasoning. What about taking a syringe and filling it to .75 with colored water and telling her to match her dose to that? I'm just afraid Leda will lose that wonderful momentum he has going if he gets too small a dose. I think 100 is a reasonable no-shoot number, considering the reduced dose. I would start it at least two cycles before you leave, for sure. Will she be able to contact you if she is unsure whether or not to shoot?
 
I too wonder about a 0.75 reduction being a bit too much.

Both times I was away I took the dose down by 0.25u, the first time George was basically still in high numbers most of the time so we had plenty of margin, but in feb 2016 I was away for 4 days and George was heading down the dosing scale seeing a lot of green and prone to diving, so I must say I was very nervous at the time that he might be heading fast down the dosing ladder, and like you was considering taking him down 0.75u but really didn't want to loose momentum, in the end I took him down just 0.25u two days before leaving, that allowed me to see that he was going to hang out in blues, (had he still been in the greens I would have reduced the dose further on the day he went to the sitter) I gave the petsitter a no shoot of 110 with instructions to skip if below 110, and to then reduce the dose when she took the following shot.

In the end the 0.25u reduction was enough to keep him in safe blues, and didn't see him loose momentum.

Leda seems to be pretty well regulated at the moment, looking at your notes it doesn't appear that you are having to steer his numbers, and he is staying pretty flat, so perhaps just a 0.25u reduction might be enough???? It's such a dilemma, I hated making these decisions.
If you feel you can get your pet sitter to shoot a 0.75u reliably like Tricia suggested, maybe that's a good option, gives you a little more margin, without being too much of a reduction.

I should say that my sitter is great, she's a friend and an experienced CG and very capable, and was going to be testing him midcycle as well, so I felt I was able to take a more aggressive approach to the vacation dose, and we put a plan B in place if George threw some low PS, to keep him safe.
 
Hmm. I could try taking him down to 1 unit (a 0.25 unit reduction) starting tonight and see how he responds. I don't plan on having my petsitter do midcycle tests, so I'm looking for a dose that doesn't give him any opportunity for diving. She could probably handle 0.75 units, particularly since I plan on leaving an example syringe, and if he stays steady on 1 unit she could definitely measure that. This isn't my petsitter's first diabetic cat, but she hasn't looked after once since the better meter technology and better insulins were introduced (though she's experienced as a caregiver for diabetic humans). Some of the shot times she could reach me if she has questions, but not all of them.
 
Madrona and Leda said:
Hmm. I could try taking him down to 1 unit (a 0.25 unit reduction) starting tonight and see how he responds. I don't plan on having my petsitter do midcycle tests, so I'm looking for a dose that doesn't give him any opportunity for diving. She could probably handle 0.75 units, particularly since I plan on leaving an example syringe, and if he stays steady on 1 unit she could definitely measure that. This isn't my petsitter's first diabetic cat, but she hasn't looked after once since the better meter technology and better insulins were introduced (though she's experienced as a caregiver for diabetic humans). Some of the shot times she could reach me if she has questions, but not all of them.
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I gave Sian, my log in details so she could log on for help if she needed it and couldn't reach me.

If you think that she can measure the 0.75 then that will probably be enough to be sure he won't dive, this might give you more of a safety margin if Leda is also prone to go off his food when his beans aren't around, I never had that worry with George, but at least you are not cutting his dose by 60%, which is what you would be doing if you reduce to 0.5.
Usually we do try to go with an on the line dose for petsitters, to avoid issues, but if you are confident that she's capable, in this case, the 0.75 may be a good option.
 
Tux's sitter appreciated on the 0.75u. It was easier than 0.5.

By the way... if I were you, I'd go with 1u.
Leda is doing sooooooo good with 1.25, I wouldn't want to mess up.
Though I'm not experienced enough to advice.
 
Does he have a reliable appetite? As in, can you be confident that he'll eat as normal when you're gone? If so, I think I'd just drop to 1.0u.

If you think that he might be iffy, then I'd probably reduce to 0.75u.

Either way, I'd also want to have some food left for him. Do you have an autofeeder for him? If not, I might get one. If you don't have time for that you could make some frozen catsickles in a muffin pan to have the petsitter leave out overnight for him. It's just good to have some insurance there.

I'd also suggest leaving a sample syringe so your petsitter doesn't give 10u instead of 1u, or some other equally terrible mistake. You probably don't have time to order these little stickers for this time, but you might be able to make something like it for your petsitter to use: https://www.vacrxplus.com/Product/624/Dosage-Labels

Hope you have a great trip!
 
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