4/27 Heart AMPS 256 - But I think I found the dose!

[dodgingwrenches]

We dropped down to a nice 40 at PM +5 last night, so the 2.5 dose was I guess too high and I reduced him to 2.25. I'm very happy to have "stabilized" him. He's gained 0.6 pounds over the last week, and yesterday he started grooming himself again (he had some really nice values so must have been feeling great) so no more grease monkey! Tuesday he goes in for a dental...

 

[Sandy and Black Kitty]

Good morning

Wonderful update -things are indeed going in the right direction.

Yes, Heart earned a 0.25u reduction based on the 40 yesterday.
I saw in the remarks of your ss that you fed that 40 some kibble.
While kibble will bring up BG, it's slow getting to the bloodstream and once it does it's slow clearing the system.
Best to use canned high carb (18% or greater) to steer a cycle. It hits the bloodstream in about 20-30 mins. and clears much quicker than dry.

Keep us posted!

 

[julie & punkin (ga)]

karo (corn syrup), honey and pancake syrup also will bring up blood sugar quickly without hanging around the next day like kibble!

glad you're zeroing in on the right dose and that Heart is feeling better! woot!

btw, i also see a 0.6lb weight gain in one week! :shock: you might want to reduce his food a tad to help him keep his svelte figure! :lol: fat is the enemy of diabetes.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

Good catch on that 40!

I can only echo what you've already heard though about the kibble...a little gravy off a "Gravy Lovers" food works well and doesn't hang around too long

One thing I do see that I'm unsure about though....Looks like you went from 2 units to 2.5. I know Heart is back from the falls, so we tend to be more aggressive, but I think it's best to still only do .25 increases. With cats coming back from the falls, we might not hold it for a full 6 cycles before re-evaluating for increases, but I think we still recommend only doing .25 at a time

Hopefully this dose will be perfect though...and after Heart has his dental, he'll get back to the falls where he belongs!

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

One quick reminder -- With longer term diabetic kitties and kitties back from the Falls, they need to drop below 40 for a dose reduction. (I think a 40 is close enough, though). The rationale is that we want to make it harder for these kitties to get the reduction so that the reductions stick.

 

[dodgingwrenches]

Re: 4/27 Heart AMPS 256 - Ugh! High all day

So I thought we were doing well, but you can see from today's numbers we're not. Could the tiny bit of kibble I gave him last night (6-8 pieces of kibble, that's it) be causing these high numbers today??

 

[dodgingwrenches]

btw, i also see a 0.6lb weight gain in one week! :shock: you might want to reduce his food a tad to help him keep his svelte figure! :lol: fat is the enemy of diabetes.

Haha I wish he'd get fat! He's always been a skinny guy. The 0.6 lbs is mostly re-hydration, since he was a little dehydrated when I took him to the vet last weekend. He could use some more fat though! Can still feel his spine a little...

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

He's just still bouncing...it can take up to 72 hours to clear a bounce

What's important now is to just hold the 2.25 until he either drops below 40 again or after several more cycles, if he's still getting nadirs higher than we'd like, you'd go back to 2.5

With "Back from the falls" kitties, we might increase every 4 cycles instead of waiting the full 6, but right now, since he did drop so low last night, his liver just kicked into overdrive

A word of warning...a flat yellow cycle can also be a hint that they're going to come down fast and furious, so just keep that in mind for tonight/tomorrow!

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

With "Back from the falls" kitties, we might increase every 4 cycles instead of waiting the full 6, but right now, since he did drop so low last night, his liver just kicked into overdrive

That is not necessarily the case.

 

[dodgingwrenches]

So it doesn't look like a bounce to you?

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

The yellows this morning look like a small bounce but it also looks like Heart is clearing it nicely. My point was that we don't necessarily encourage increasing every 4 cycles. How often you increase is entirely dependent on what the numbers are telling you. I would just stick with the protocol.