4/4 Kiwi 'Accidental Trial' Need advice

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Kiwi F

Kiwi F

Member Since 2012
Last condo: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=67109


Hello everyone. :smile:

Kiwi is on an 'accidental trial', as Simon's Kim has called it. (Can that go in the glossary?).

Here's what happened: One week ago, everyone in the house was so severely ill with the flu, that when Kiwi had a PMPS of 98, no one was well enough to stay up with him to monitor for hypos, so we skipped his shot and went to bed. The next morning, his AMPS was 116, but no one was well enough to give him his shot, and although we didn't like it, we had no choice but to skip again. We expected his bg to be quite high at his next shot time, but he surprised us with a PMPS of 98. Same deal as previous night... no one to monitor, and still shaky on administering the shot, so we counted our blessings, and skipped again. The next morning he stunned us with an AMPS of 80. His next two numbers, PMPS - 104, and AMPS - 111, made me think his shed was draining, but we gave ourselves an extra day to recover, since we still didn't think we could monitor him very well. At this point, we were sure his shed was dry, and rallied ourselves to give him his next shot somehow, no matter how sick we were, because we fully expected to see a number well over 200 (or even 300) on our meter. It didn't happen... 91, then 87, then 82 (and a spot test as low as 58). What the heck is going on??

We feel so lucky this happened, because we were really in a jam, and everything worked out. We're also hoping this means that Kiwi has a good shot at remission... but we hadn't planned to do an OTJ trial until he was all green (well actually, we didn't have it planned at all, because we thought we had quite a way to go). Now we aren't sure which way to go, and would like some advice.

One thing I would like to mention to anyone checking out his SS: He got into some HC dry food yesterday, about 1/2 hour before his +4 - 111 reading yesterday. I don't know if that could be why his AMPS today was 101 (his +6 last night was 77, so maybe its cleared). I had planned to do some extra tests today, to see where he is at... should I wait an extra day, because of the contraband? Or is that not a factor anymore?

Is there any reason we shouldn't keep going with the 'trial' he's already on? Are his chances of succeeding low, since his numbers are higher than one would like to start a trial (or does it not matter, since we've gone this far)? How do we 'finish' a trial? How long does it last, and what indicates if it was successful? And, if we do decide to resume his insulin, what dose would be appropriate? He was on .1u.

Please feel free to also answer any questions I didn't think to ask.... I hadn't prepared for this at all.


Thanks for all your help and support... you guys are great.

Kim and Kiwi
 
Go Kiwi, even the 111 is within normal cat numbers but please keep him away from the dry food and other HC FOREVER or you could have to start from scratch again. IMHO the OTJ trial is on :mrgreen: after 6 days with no insulin and staying within the normal cat range I think you should go for it - bet you will look back on this flu as one of the best things that ever happened to you :-D

You need to keep testing at normal shot times for two weeks, since you have still been testing at shot times throughout your illness I think you can count those days as part of the trial. If Kiwi stays in the green you don't need to do any further tests throughout the day. If you get a blue number you should do a food test - feed and then retest in 3 or 4 hours to see if the pancreas has done its job and the number gone down.

If Kiwi passes the trial then you can reduce your testing to weekly spot checks.

Whoo hoo!!!
 
Well, I would say keep doing almost what you're doing (definitely minus the HC/kibble).

Here are the instructions to follow:
  • Test at your normal AMPS and PMPS times. Feed multiple small meals throughout the day as much as possible (small meals are less likely to overwhelm a newly functioning pancreas).
  • If your cat is green at your normal test times, no need to test further until the next "PS" time, just feed small meals and go about your day. If he is blue, feed a small meal and test again after about 3 hours. If his number is lower 3-4 hours after a meal, then his pancreas is working!
  • After 2 weeks, if everything is looking good, we have a party!

Sometimes the trial doesn't work the first time and we have to give a little more support in the form of resuming insulin. It's not the end of the world if that happens, we just give him the support he needs. Our goal is a strong remission and it's better to take our time to get that than to rush into remission just to have it fail later on.
 
Well, thats all a bunch of good news. :-D

Thanks for all the encouragement. I hope everyone else's kitty gets some good luck, too!! I'll keep you posted. Tonight he had his lowest PMPS yet.... so we're still headed in the right direction. :-D

Kim and Kiwi
 
Hi Kim, I just now got to this condo! Sorry I didn't see it sooner! This is great news! I hope it will stick, but regardless I think we've learned that Kiwi has excellent chances of taking up residence at the Falls--soon or sooner!
 
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