4/9 Gus AMPS 450

[bev5477]

Good morning everyone! My big boy showed me a 450 for his AMPS today. Hopefully, he'll continue a downward slope today. I have a question for the dose experts. Today will be cycle 4 & 5 at 3U. If Gus stays in the 400/500 range or goes up in BG, should I increase his dose to 3.5U tomorrow AM? Also, will he be staying at this relatively higher dose for the rest of his life or will he need a reduction as his diabetes becomes more under control? Enjoy a beautiful Saturday.

 

[Amanda]

Not a dosing expert but - when you finally get to a good dose for your kitty and get them down into healing numbers (normal bg for a non-diabetic cat) often times you will end up reducing the dose because the pancreas starts to kick in a bit of insulin.

Glad to see Gus out of the HI readings!

 

[bev5477]

Thanks for the info Amanda. I look forward to the time when a reduction is necessary!

 

[marleesan71]

Choco started out on 2 units and is now on a OTJ trial so it is very much possible that gUS will earn reductions in the future if his pancrease starts healing itself. Good luck guy's and HAPPY CATURDAY!!! :mrgreen:

 

[bev5477]

It's nice to hear that can happen. I'm sure he'll do just fine as long as I continue to get info from other ?s and answers here. Thanks for the encouraging words.

 

[CD and BigMac]

Good morning everyone! My big boy showed me a 450 for his AMPS today. Hopefully, he'll continue a downward slope today. I have a question for the dose experts. Today will be cycle 4 & 5 at 3U. If Gus stays in the 400/500 range or goes up in BG, should I increase his dose to 3.5U tomorrow AM? Also, will he be staying at this relatively higher dose for the rest of his life or will he need a reduction as his diabetes becomes more under control? Enjoy a beautiful Saturday.

If Gus's nadirs are above 300 I would increase by 0.5u tomorrow, yes.

And there is an OTJ kitty named Max that had high numbers for quite awhile and the owner, Randi had to keep increasing the dose and increasing. (Max's dose was much higher than Gus's.) Then somehow the "magic" happened and Max started to respond very well to his insulin and he needed reduction after reduction. He was so fortunate to go from high reds and lots of insulin to eventually not needing any insulin. What he went through was pretty amazing for those of us watching. Each kitty has his own path to follow and some have higher numbers to deal with than others. You are doing a fine job with Gus and I'm sure he will feel better soon.

So don't feel that you are alone out there. While we never know if a kitty can go into remission, there should always be the goal of getting within the normal BG range when the right dose is found. He may always need insulin to stay within normal... Or he may get lucky. It's not always easy and quite often frustrating. But I do think Gus will find better numbers - we just don't know when.

 

[bev5477]

I was prepared to give a dose increase based upon the protocol's parameters but was just looking for someone more experienced, to agree with that decision. Being so new to this, it's nice to get affirmation about decisions regarding dose. I have been getting most of my information from reading the answers to other newbies' questions. Gus is doing very well so far and I really don't mind if he has to be on insulin for the long run. My goal, as you said, is to have his BG #s in a healthy range. I don't feel alone when I see that there are other new people struggling with dose, protocol, changes, etc.