5/10 Rocky PMPS 306 +1 407 +3 332 +9 384

[Tina & Rocky]

This is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo DISAPPOINTING!!!!!​

Yesterday's condo:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=118508

Sienne and Gabby wrote:
If you can't reliably see the lines on the syringe, either get reading glasses with a high magnification or get a magnifier at a craft shop or some means of better seeing the lines on the syringe. If you can't measure a dose reliably, you're going to get weird numbers. The key isn't what you call the dose it's that no matter what you call it, you measure the dose the same way every time.

I never said that I could not see lines on a syringe barrel. I am using a magnifying glass. What I have not communicated effectively is that THERE IS NO LINE on the syringe barrel for .25u.. The lines increase in .50u increments so it means that I am relying on my own judgment where to repeatedly place the plunger. I never said I was having a problem with consistency. What I meant to say is that a "fat' this or that to me looks just like an increase of a .25u dose because the marker line is inside of the barrel of the syringe.

Sienne and Gabby wrote:
It is often best if you have a cat that isn't holding dose reductions well that you reduce the dose by shaving and increase by a full 0.25u unless the numbers dictate otherwise. At least to me, Rocky's numbers do not suggest that shaving the doses is working to keep him in better numbers.

I don't understand what you mean here. I increased the dose in very small amounts rather than in .25u at the beginning of the dosecreases because Rocky's BG went below 50 at a (f)1.0u. I was worried that he might go below 50 again on any of these increased amounts, so I was going slow. Obviously this does not work well for Rocky.

Sienne and Gabby wrote:
As for the ringworm, I've been there with Gabby. It is critical if you want to beat the fungal infection back that you use the lime/sulfur dip every week. Do not let more than 7 days go between treatments. I had to dip both cats and I did so in separate bathrooms and kept them in the bathrooms until they mostly dried. I would not wait until the weather cooperated. The other key factor is that you have to clean like a mad woman. I had both cats confined to my bedroom. While they were drying, I was cleaning. The linens were stripped. Any surface that could be washed, was washed on a weekly basis with a dilute bleach solution. Anything that could be thrown out due to contamination was discarded. All of my upholstered furniture was professionally cleaned. My area rugs were also taken out and professionally cleaned (they were put in an airtight container and treated with argon gas which will kill the spores and then washed). The bottom line is that ringworm is persistent. It is a fungus and the spores can be anywhere. The only way to know whether you've gotten rid of it is that you get two consecutive clean lab tests.

Thank you for sharing your experience with ringworm with me. Luckily, we don't have any furniture in our house but our bed. All of our money has gone to rescue cats. I am serious. I believe the ringworm has been contained to two rooms, the unfinished bathroom where Rocky lives, and in the room where the foster cats live. The other cats that got it had a tiny amount only on one ear that I treated successfully with Fungisan by Tomlyn. One six month old cat has it pretty bad and he is now caged and getting the dips like Rocky plus he is also on the oral anti-fungal. He likely got it from me picking him up and petting him.

I have taken all of their bedding and towels and washed in hot water with bleach. All cages and other hard surfaces have been scrubbed with bleach.

Rocky never tested positive for ringworm but he definitely had it because he was balding, hair falling out, and he was scratching like mad when I took him on. He wasn't even in my guest bathroom for 7 days before I developed a tiny rash on one of my wrists. I went to my doctor, they took a culture, they looked at it under the microscope and they said it was positively ringworm. They diagnosed Rocky's ringworm for me, not any of the vets that saw him.

The other thing is, studies have shown that even if not treated ringworm will resolve on it's own in about 4 months.

http://www.petslifeline.org/home/petsli ... 0Sheet.pdf

Rocky's SS for yesterday:
AMPS 255 +2 304 +5 404 +6 356
PMPS 341 +2 304 +4 346 +9 274

I am sorry that Rocky does not fit nicely into the tight regulation here, but I am increasing his insulin dose tonight unless his BG shows me some blue or green numbers in this 5th cycle. This cannot be good for his pancreas and liver to have so much red, black, and pink numbers. I have even gone back to feeding him a zero carb food.

 

[julie & punkin (ga)]

Re: 5/10 Rocky AMPS 294 +1 412

i'd suggest that when you order syringes next time, you consider switching to these: http://www.americandiabeteswholesale.com/product/terumo-thinpro-insulin-syringe_5891.htm. They have a slimmer barrel and it makes it much easier to figure out what a 0.25u looks like.

Also, there are pictures on the New to the Group sticky of the small increments. Not sure if you've looked at them. I tried to help someone (in person) using the Relion syringes and the barrel is so fat that it is very difficult to fine tune doses. I think you'd be happy with these Terumos.

I'll let Sienne speak for herself in explaining her earlier comments, but i will say that INCREASING by full 0.25u usually brings a better response. DECREASING by shaving can be successful. Increasing by less than 0.25u (ie, fattening) doesn't seem to work as well in many cats. It does in some, but not all.

Some newly diagnosed cats go sailing through following TR, as you have seen from your time on the board. Many cats, including mine, do what you are doing. It's two steps forward and one step backwards, fiddling around with the dose trying to get the cat to stay in better numbers. It seems to me that the cats with other concurrent medical issues - dental, pancreatitis, thyroid issues, viruses like the ringworm or herpes, or high dose conditions like iaa, acro or cushing's - are more difficult to get under control. I suspect that's why you're not as far along as you would like to be in getting Rocky controlled - the ringworm may be the unseen player in this. But with patience and persistence you'll get there. If you look at Gabby's early spreadsheet, you'll see that Sienne had a master diver. Marje's Gracie was as well. It's the dogged persistence that will get you where you want to go.

 

[Tina & Rocky]

Re: 5/10 Rocky PMPS 306

I increased Rocky's insulin dose to 1.50u tonight. Let's see how his body uses this small amount of extra juice...

Just great.. His BG just keeps going up, up, up.