4/23 Rocky PMPS 74 +1 118 +2 102 +3 112 +8 219 +11 109

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Tina & Rocky

Tina & Rocky

Member Since 2013
Good morning,

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=117649&p=1234329#p1234329

Oh boy.. this mamabean is one tired bean this morning. I was up until 4am writing a short sample letter of support for Elk Grove Animal Control to hopefully write onto their letterhead. This letter is then going to a vet's office here to ask them if they would please consider reducing their costs for Kitty Karma Refuge and Recovery Center cats. The medical bills are killing me and I want to keep helping homeless cats but I can't if I'm financially broke.

But back to Rocky-- The 'FAT" 1.75u insulin dose helped Rocky get into two green numbers overnight and then he was into the lagoon from PMPS +7 until AMPS this morning.

I am trying something new with Rocky today. I am feeding him FF Classic Chicken for all (4) of his AMPS mini-meals. I'm glad that I did the first one already as his BG has already gone to 90 since his morning shot. :roll: I just now fed him his AMPS +1 meal of the LC FF-CC. I am kind of wish that I had added at least (1)TBS of the MC food to it. I guess I could do that for his AMPS +2 meal but I wonder if that will cause his BG to go higher during the day?

I don't really like the idea of feeding Rocky FF Classics every day for the rest of his life. The Fancy Feast Classics are rather high in phosphorus. Over time, phosphorus erodes the lining of the stomach and the esophagus so the cat's own stomach acids burn holes (ulcers) into the stomach and esophagus. So, I''ve ordered some Aretmis Turkey and will give that a try, see if Rocky likes it. It is LC having 3% "as fed" carbs according to the makers. I called Artemis yesterday and I asked them if the value was "as fed" or guaranteed analysis. They said it was "as fed." It doesn't have any fish in it. That's another reason that I like it. But it's expensive too...My plan is switch back and forth between the FF CC and the Artemis Turkey. I'll see if I can find any other LC foods with no fish and low phosphorus that he might eat.

Also, I gave Rocky his last pill for ringworm yesterday. Yeah! I am praying that he doesn't still have it. I never did give him a sulphur-lime dip bath. I suppose I should still do that. However, I have been touching him all over, picking him up, kissing him, hugging him, and I am no longer getting ringworm rashes.

Rocky's recap from yesterday;

AMPS 221 +2 357 +6 301 +11 320
PMPS 297 +2 226 +4 81 +5 92 +7 177

**UPDATE***

I DID feed Rocky the Fancy Feast Classic Chicken for all (4) of his AMPS meals. I am a bit surprised that his BG continues to go down, but so far it's been a nice and slow surf in green numbers. :mrgreen: For the last AMPS mini-meal I mixed in (1)TBS of the Friskies Country Style Dinner, a MC food with the LC FF-CC. I am hoping that it will bump up his BG a little, but maybe I shouldn't even worry about it. Probably I've already fed him too many carbs and I'm going to see tons of stinky pinky numbers tonight.

Now my concern is that I am going to see a food spike later in his cycle because his pancreas and liver are DEFINITELY not used to eating this many carbs for this many hours. I have him strictly a 0% carb food since December 2013. Rocky has been eating ONLY, EXCLUSIVELY, the 0% carb foods, the canned Nature's Variety Instinct Venison flavor for nearly 5 months now.

QUESTION confused_cat confused_cat confused_cat : I'm not sure yet but the "fat" 1.75u of insulin may be too much and the "straight" 1.75u was not enough insulin for him. Has anyone ever encountered this situation before? Maybe it's time I need to buy those calipers after all...

Rocky is extremely playful today, jumping up to grab and play with the ribbon around my waist, and then actually escaped into the hall when I opened the bathroom door. That is a FIRST in the entire 5 months that I've had him! :o He didn't go far though.. hahahah! :lol: He literally took about 5 steps, saw the other cats peeking at him around the corner, and then kind of changed his mind about venturing any further down the hall. He is also very vocal, but in a good way. He always talks to me when I bring his food but I swear this time he was making full sentences trying to communicate with me. The scary part is that I think I understand him. :shock:
 
Re: Calipers? 4/23 Rocky AMPS 120 +1 90 +2 88 +3 63 +4 96

Hi, I haven't visited Rocky's condo before. I saw your question about calipers. I've had the problem of a fat dose being too much and the normal dose being too little. I use calipers so I was able to measure a Fat dose vs. a fat dose. The fat (lowercase f) was in between the Fat dose and the normal dose. That did seem to make a difference for the time Furball was on that dose. Sometimes even a drop of insulin can make a difference.

Nice surf today. :mrgreen:
 
Re: Calipers? 4/23 Rocky AMPS 120 +1 90 +2 88 +3 63 +4 96

I'm not sure yet but the "fat" 1.75u of insulin may be too much and the "straight" 1.75u was not enough insulin for him. Has anyone ever encountered this situation before? Maybe it's time I need to buy those calipers after all...
Click to expand...

The reason the calipers make such a huge difference in dosing... is if you go take just a simple ruler and start measuring all your syringes.... you will likely find few that
measure the same by the printed lines on the syringe.
Since they all are made in China now, it's like they are just laying them on a conveyor belt and stamping them .... who knows...
but they are so inconsistent.
You can vary by as much as a 1/3 of a unit easily .....

Even a ruler would be better than nothing....calipers just help since you can lock them in place and they don't move around while you are trying to look at tiny markings.
 
Re: Calipers? 4/23 Rocky AMPS 120 +1 90 +2 88 +3 63 +4 96

i have noticed that several cats that are doing very well now, that used to bounce, are being dosed with calipers now. when you switch to using the calipers, you ignore the dosing lines on the syringes. that allows you to be consistent between one syringe and another. i never used them but can see why people like them. Marje did a comparison and found that the syringes can be off as much as 0.5u within one brand and one box. it's a little scary.

given that Rocky does seem fairly sensitive to changes in his dose, you may find that calipers are very helpful in dosing him.

If you look on http://www.catinfo.org there is a page with the food in order by phosphorus value. When punkin developed the beginnings of kidney disease, i used that last and circled all the foods that had phosphorus under 200 and carbs under 5 or 6. That gave me quite a few choices. i took the list shopping with me and wrote on the list which foods i could find at which local grocery stores. Rocky probably doesn't need his phosphorus at the lowest levels unless his tests show beginning CKD, but you are right, fancy feast is very high in phos. one of the highest, in fact - in the 500+ range for the classic chicken, which is what i had fed punkin.
 
Re: Calipers? 4/23 Rocky AMPS 120 +1 90 +2 88 +3 63 +4 96 +8

Two nice cycles for Rocky - so far, so good with the dosecrease!

I wish I could help you with the calipers. We bought them but simply didn't have enough time to figure out how to use them. They definitely might be worth the investment in Rocky's case, though.

Rocky....no bounces tonight, 'k? Just keep surfing the blues and greens, buddy!

Have a great night, Tina!
Shelly
 
Re: Calipers? 4/23 Rocky AMPS 120 +1 90 +2 88 +3 63 +4 96 +8

I just got home from work but as soon as we eat dinner, we're going to try and do a video to show you all how to use the calipers. So hang on tight and check back later. :-D :-D
 
Re: Calipers? 4/23 Rocky AMPS 120 +1 90 +2 88 +3 63 +4 96 +8

Hi Tina!!

I think we've mentioned before that some cats actually do better with a few carbs, and maybe Rocky's going to be one of them! Sure looks good so far anyway!!

Since you're changing the carbs, I'd hold the dose (as you know it anyway) for now. If he is going to have better numbers with a little higher carb food, it may be the difference between that F1.75 and the 1.75

See where the numbers point you going forward!

I'm looking forward to that video too Marje!

Have a great night Tina, and good luck with the vet! It's not easy finding one that's willing to work with rescues on a regular basis (at least that's been my experience)
 
Re: 4/23 Rocky AMPS 120 +1 90 +2 88 +3 63 +4 96 +8 105 +11 9

I'm a little nervous about giving tonight's shot.. I'm thinking of doing a reducie.. nailbite_smile Rocky has had kind of a flat day in numbers and I'm super scared he's going to dive as soon as I give him that "fat" 1.75u tonight, even when I do give him the 4% carbs.. I am wondering if I might have to feed him more MC tonight to keep his numbers from diving.

Also, I cannot be here all day tomorrow to check on him. I have to take 5 kitten-ish cats to the sanctuary to be spayed/neutered. What should I do? nailbite_smile :roll:
 
Re: 4/23 Rocky AMPS 120 +1 90 +2 88 +3 63 +4 96 +8 105 +11 9

He's pretty flat.

It depends on if you are rested enough and can stay up to test and manage his curve. If you want him to continue to do well, you will need to learn to shoot these numbers. We can't guarantee that he won't continue to come down and so if you think there could be a safety issue because you are tired (which is absolutely fine), you don't have supplies, etc. then put safety first.

If you are just worried about managing the curve, then keep in mind you've had to do it before. It has to be your decision because I will not be able to stay up tonight to help you and I don't want to fall asleep on you like I did last time. I'd love to be able to help so you could feel comfortable shooting but today was my work day and I'm pretty pooped. I'm afraid I couldn't stay awake.

The link to handling low numbers is in my signature block if you need a refresher and if you decide you are up to the task. Rocky is doing really well and so I wouldn't necessarily expect him to bounce right away; you may see green numbers tonight.
 
Re: Gave shot. 4/23 Rocky PMPS 74

Great shooting!!!! I'll hang around as long as I can. Please be sure you get a +1.

Here's the Dosing with Calipers VIDEO. It's pretty rough but hopefully you can get the idea. Please let me know if you have questions.
 
Re: Gave shot. 4/23 Rocky PMPS 74

Thanks for sticking around for the first hour Marje. There is always the chance that the 74 was as low as Rocky was going to go today and now he is on his way higher. I don't know how long a diabetic cat's BG can stay flat since my experience with Rocky is that he is a whole lotta bouncy! :lol:

If his BG has dropped more at +1 I'm going to feed him all MC at that time, plus add a little food to it. I hope he hasn't dropped to below 50 by +1. :?

I just tried to watch the video you made and it asked me to login. I tried to do so and it said the video was "private." Were you naked in it? haha_smiley
 
Re: Gave shot. 4/23 Rocky PMPS 74

:lol: :lol: no not nekkid! Sorry...I forgot to change the privacy settings so people with the link can see it. Please try again.

I'm really glad you shot. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
 
Re: 4/23 Rocky PMPS 74 +1 118

Oh yes.....you also earned these:

bos_zpsb029e400.jpg


Yay on the +1. Please be sure to get a +2. I'm headed for bed in a few. Again, sorry. Hope it goes well tonight.
 
Re: 4/23 Rocky PMPS 74 +1 118

The video is great, thank you for making it! :YMHUG:

LMAO!! And I'll humbly and gladly accept the offer of the brass b*lls.
haha_smiley haha_smiley haha_smiley haha_smiley​

Looks like Rocky's BG is on the way up for the night. I will still feed him the LC for the rest of his PMPS mini-meals, but no more MC for Rocky tonight unless his BG drops again.

And thanks for stopping by the condo today Carla, Rhiannon, Chris, Shelly and Sandy. Today was a good day. I'm sorry I haven't said much. I bet you're kinda tired of me always saying that I am tired?? I'm tired of me always being tired and saying that I am tired. :lol:

I thought I was going to get to sleep in a little bit tomorrow but nooooo.... the rescue sanctuary called me when I was frantically gathering all of the presentation papers for the vet's office board of directors to examine. They asked me if I could please bring my cats up for vetting tomorrow morning instead of Friday. The doctor is going to be there tomorrow instead of on the normally scheduled date, Friday.. **sigh***. I will catch a break one of these days, if it doesn't fly past me too fast. :lol:

Have a restful sleep, Marje. I will get a +2. \M/
 
Re: 4/23 Rocky PMPS 74 +1 118

I hope he doesn't keep you up too late considering the day you have tomorrow.

I updated the post on Dosing with Calipers. I'm sorry the light is rather low in the video and we might try to redo it soon but at least it should give you an idea.

Night!! :-D
 
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