4/24 Gizmo F AMPS 379 PMPS 285 +4 355

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tobakett

tobakett

Member Since 2018
He was pretty upset this morning with the testing, so it might be slightly elevated. The first time or two I tested I was able to do it alone but since I have had to have the BF help since he fights it so hard.

Breakfast was 1/4 can of RC Urinary SO (the old food) and 1/4 can Friskies mixed with 2tbsp water. He only ate about 75% of it though when it's a mix of 2 pates he tends to just go back and finish later. He was always a gravy addict and given his higher numbers him having a little snack sitting around while I'm at work probably isn't the worst, might help even out his curve a bit. I am hoping once we fully transistion from the RC stuff food will be no problem since it will be a mix of Friskies and BFF, which should keep him interested. I have 10 cans of RC left (minus the emergency kit holdbacks) gonna hold back a can or two as a medium carb food (also have one can of their morsels in gravy I am holding back as a medium carb food for emergencies) so maybe later this week starting to do a mix of all 3 and then when I run out of the RC it should be phased out completely. Do I even need to transition down to a mix of all 3 or do you think just doing a half half mix then cutting it out is gradual enough? They don't get any of the hard food anymore, that I slowly phased out as I upped them to 3 feedings a day.
 
Half and half is what I have been doing. Basically every morning before work (am shot time), they get a total of a half can of food, which is a quarter can of the old prescription Royal Canin Urinary SO stuff and a quarter can of Friskies or BFF (I switch it up, trying different flavors to make sure they will eat each one) and then the same at each evening shot time after work (12 hours later) and then before I go to bed, which is usually around +4 they get their third meal.

What I am debating is if I need to transition even slower and starting doing a blend of all 3 food at the same time, or if the next step would be to just cut out the Royal Canin entirely and move to what I want their "normal" food to be, which will be a half and half mix of Friskies and BFF, roughly half a can total, 3 times per day. Gizmo is finicky about pates and getting him to each just pate can be a bit of a chore but I have found mixing BFF with a pate makes him wolf it down. Since BFF is diabetic friendly it works out well. Should come out to about 240 calories per day, leaving about 20 calories for treats (vet wants me to aim for 260 calories a day) which I plan to use freeze dried treats as rewards and to hide in puzzles to give them something to do while I am at work all day. Since cutting out the dry food I haven't been using their puzzles and Gizmo has been rather destructive while I'm at work. :(

I know trying to do 4 smaller meals a day would be better, but automatic wet feeders are crazy expensive. Is there maybe a cheap hack I haven't thought of? Would it be possible to freeze a meal overnight and then after their morning feeding, clean the bowl and drop the frozen food cube in there to thaw by midday? Would that maybe help regulate better? Or do I just need to sit tight and accept that this is only day 3 of Lantus and I need to just be patient and give it time before doing anything and things are gonna be crazy for a bit?
 
What ever you can so is best. It's such a dance getting everything to work just right, food, insulin, timing etc. you will get there I promise! Just look at Titans spread sheet from last year when we started lots and lots of patience needed. Good luck, we will be watching.
 
Here is the link to you post yesterday. We include those some people can easily go back and see the history. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/4-23-18-gizmo-f-amps-402-pmps-392-2-5-303-5-313.194545/

Continuing on our discussion of the Neosporin, are you paw testing instead of ear testing? With ears it's much harder for them to get and lick the Neosporin. But I imagine you could still put some Neosporin on paws site for a few seconds, then wipe then excess off before letting him go.

Gradual transition of food is easier on the GI system. I would wait until you can monitor more closely before completely remove the high carb food. Maybe start that Friday night? We seen cats have a dramatic reaction when high carb was removed.

Making petfoodsicles is quite common. Add water to the food, mix and freeze. Then he'll have food later in the day. More spread out smaller meals are better. Besides being easier on a healing pancreas, it gives him some food mid cycle when he might be lower, so is a good thing to do for safety. At some point you might even want to freeze foodsicles that are medium and high carb food too. Just make sure you clearly label them.

Many of us here use the Petsafe 5 auto feeders. Even in Canada I didn't find it crazy expensive.
 
I test on the ear, paw is a no-go for him, he hates his paws touched, it took a looong while training as a kitten for me to get him to a place where he didn't try and murder me clipping his claws and im pretty sure sticking the paws would undo all of that. But when he grooms he quite often licks his paw then rubs his ear so I worry about transfer there. I might be being overly paranoid though.

I have 10 cans of the RC left, after taking away the holdouts I am gonna hang onto as emergency medium carb food, which at the current half and half would last me through Monday (though I can always hang onto an extra couple of cans since weekends give me more freedom to observe him)

Saw this on chewy today, since I have 2 cats total (and they are surprisingly good about keeping to each other's bowls weirdly enough). Maybe I could made foodsicles and put them in here and time both sides to open at basically the same time?

https://www.chewy.com/petsafe-eatwell-2-meal-automatic-pet/dp/48078
 
285..back in yellow tonight, that's a welcome sight.

Although maybe not the best choice I bribed him with a treat tonight for his blood test. All I had were temptations treats and I only have him a single one but it certainly made the whole process a bit smoother. He even sat tight long enough to let me hold his ear for the full 15 seconds after.

Tomorrow I have a 7am staff meeting at work so I have to leave the house by 6:30...Given his bouncy numbers I am wondering if 15-30 minutes early will be safe just so I am not relying on having to do it as I am needing to be out the door. The vet told me up to 2 hours was safe but I am kinda feeling like that isn't really true...
 
You can shoot either 15 minutes early each cycle (2 times a day) or 1/2 hour early once a day and still be fine. Anything more than can impact the cycle. Shooting early is like a dose increase. So you do want to be careful if they are in good numbers. But if in doubt, get a +11 and post here for advice. If you just want to shoot 1/2 hour early tomorrow, you should be fine.

Nice to see him return to the yellow floor. :)
 
Pfft, well that was short lived, back up to 355 at +4. He was pretty chill for the test but I did have to switch sides with the strip to get leverage for the drop so not sure if that can throw off the reading or not. *sigh*

I'm starting to think this cat is made of rubber. Maybe the one temptations treat spiked him? Can a single treat actually do that? Meh. Bedtime meal for him, then bed for me. I don't like that this is the highest we are going to bed at but hes not acting any different so I'm trying to put it from my mind and telling myself to give it time. Although tonight was the 6th injection so I thought the bounce was supposed to end tonight? I dunno. Brain is too fried at the moment.
 
Temptations are very high carb. It depends on how carb sensitive the cat is (and they are all different), but I remember one person using a Temptation as HC (high carb) to bring her cats sugar up when low. Time to investigate pure meat treats, which they usually love just as much.
 
I have PureBites salmon and chicken on the way from Chewy for them to try since I needed new bulbs for one of our lizards and new bedding for the snakes, hoping those are a hit. Chewy said they were shipped as of this morning and they are pretty quick so hopefully by tomorrow, maybe Thursday. The way they beg for people food I expect them to be a hit though. Pricking the back of the ear seems to make a world of difference as far as his temperament, I managed to test him by myself again at +4. Time will tell if he gets uppity again but I think the bending of the ear back might be what bothered him, which, makes sense. I mean, if I got stuck on my ear 3-4 times over the course of 2-3 days and then someone was bending it I bet it would be uncomfy too! Not truly painful, but surely bothersome, enough I'd get grumpy.

At least I know what might be a good thing for the high carb item for an emergency kit though. Silver linings.
 
He sure is smug when he beats me to bed....:p
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