5/25 Tennessee AMPS-85 +3 45 +3.5 58 +3.75 70 +5 67 PMPS 100 +2 136 +3.5 163

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Andrea&Tennessee (GA)

Andrea&Tennessee (GA)

Member Since 2014
Yesterday-
Well apparently they do listen, I had threatened an increase today if I didn't see any greens.
AND what was there this AM? Mr. Green!!:D:D
Just stalling to make sure he is rising before I feed and shoot.

Happy Memorial Day to everyone in the US. To everyone else -Happy Monday!:)
 
Great to see Tennie in the green. Same with Toby he took the threat seriously and got in the green. Guess we will have to threaten more often.
 
Hi Andrea,
Great job catching that 45. It takes about 20 minutes for the food to register so let's give him a little time to see where he's going.
 
Nice catch Andrea and you are doing great! Just keep posting your updates so we can see the numbers.

Looks like Tennie earned himself a reduction!
 
That's great. Well it looks like his bounce is breaking. It's gonna be an active cycle. As you're home to monitor and can feed to keep him safe, there's no need to panic. How you doing? Calm?

Do you have all the supplies? Strips, MC or HC food if necessary?
 
Andrea, do you know the drill? Lather, rinse, repeat? Based on his numbers, you'll want to keep testing/feeding him. You don't want to fill him up too early. His numbers will dictate the next move. Just keep posting.
 
Well he did come up with that last meal so for now I would say let's wait 20 since last test. How much more food is he due? What percent carb do you feed?
 
First and foremost, we want to keep him safe but if you can keep him surfing in nice healthy numbers with just is normal meals that would be good to know. We'll just have to let him tell us what to do.
 
Andrea&Tennessee said:
I am much calmer now than I was before.
I'm going to stay on him
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Our kitties pick up on our emotions/stress level. It helps to stay calm especially if you're going to have to test often. How does Tennie do with pokes? Do you test his ears or paw pads?
 
Okay, so he's up a little more. I would let him have his next scheduled meal and then test in 45 minutes to an hour after his meal to see what he's doing. He could be up based on the gravy and may come back down so you'll want to keep testing but for now we can wait a little. I 'm gonna be stepping away for an hour. I'll be back to check on you. Will you be okay with that? I would say you can take down the 911 since he's up to a safe number.
 
Andrea&Tennessee said:
I test at his ear.
He purrs when he knows it is time to test. He always has.
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That's fantastic. It really helps when we don't feel like we're hurting them. It took a while but Zeke does the same now as well. If you haven't already, will you update Tennie ss? Sometimes members go straight to the ss for updates.
 
Great, thanks. I'll check back later. You do know that you want two rising numbers two hours after his last meal before you can assume he's safe, right?
 
MrZ said:
You don't want to fill him up too early.
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Andrea&Tennessee said:
That shouldn't be a problem.
Tennis is a bottomless acro kitty pit
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Sorry, but that just cracked me up. :p:p:p:p It's not something I have to worry about either.

Great job today Andrea. I'm so glad Laura was around to help today. Congrats on the reduction. :) It does get easier as you do more of the low numbers dance, but it's great to have someone around the first couple of times. Take good notes as to how much you fed and when - that'll be useful information for next time.
 
Here's the link to the sticky Handling Low Numbers http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...regulation-shooting-handling-low-numbers.147/

It's not unusual for numbers to wobble around. You want to keep testing until you see several tests in a safe ( i.e., above 50) range while you're still testing every 30 min. Once the numbers stabilize, you can back off to testing every hour.

For managing low numbers:
  • Depending on how carbohydrate sensitive your cat is, feed approximately a teaspoon or less of gravy from high carb food or high carb food only. (If you have a cat with GI issues, using a couple of drops of syrup plus low carb food is an alternative.)
  • Test again in 15 – 20 min. Depending on the numbers, give more HC food.
  • Repeat the above steps every 15 – 20 min. until your cat tests in the 50 mg/dL (2.8 mmol/L) or above range for 2 consecutive tests. Continue to feed in small amounts to keep numbers in a safe range.
  • Test in 30 - 40 min. and repeat the test and feed process until there are 2 consecutive tests where numbers are stable or rising.
  • Test in an hour and follow the same steps.

DO NOT become complacent. If number have risen after one or two tests, it’s important to continue testing. Numbers may bobble up and down as the HC food and/or Karo wear off. DO NOT get one test where your cat has risen from low numbers into the 50s and go to sleep or leave the house. You are putting your cat in a risky situation. When in doubt, leave HC food out.

While the sticky says every 15 minutes, I've been told it takes about 20 minutes for the food to register. However, if the kitty is really low say below 40, I would absolutely test every 15 minutes. Even if you overcarb that's better than having your kitty go hypo which may require a visit to the pet emergency room to be put on a glucose drip. You want to be proactive to prevent an emergency situation as opposed to respond to one. As we say around here, better high for a day than too low for a minute.

Andrea if you haven't already, I would print out this sticky and keep it handy in case you're in a low number situation and the internet or FDMB is down or there aren't any members available to assist you. I found it helpful to visualize myself in these various scenarios and think about how I'd handle the situation. I believe doing this could help one stay calmer should the actually scenario ever occur.
 
MrZ said:
if you haven't already, I would print out this sticky
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Laura, I do have it printed out. I''m feeling better now that I have experienced this and seen what a little high carb can do to bring him up.

I'm going to keep checking him every 1/2 hour until I get my 2 rising numbers.

Laura, Thank you for your help- you kept me calm and that is what I needed.
 
So with the 67 he's basically flat. When's his next normally scheduled meal? I wouldn't withhold any normally scheduled food myself as that could cause him to drop which we wouldn't want but as he's holding steady I wouldn't want to feed him if he wasn't due and didn't need. Although he has earned the reduction there's no reason to NOT let him surf in the green awhile (as long as he's safe).
 
He eats again in about and hour. Again .5 oz
I'll be testing him again before his meal, so if he starts to drop again, I can give him a little HC food.
 
I'm glad I was able to provide the emotional support. You did great. Cudos on shooting this morning. Getting comfortable with shooting low numbers will help to keep the momentum going. Going through this type of situation is a great opportunity to really get to know your kitty. I hope Tennie continues to give you a nice safe green surf the rest of this cycle. You can post later for advice on tonight's dose - dosing advice is not my forte. I think as an acro the reduction would be a full 0,5u but the more experienced members can guide you on that one.
 
Yes, I'd try 8.5 units tonight, unless he's really bouncing high by shot time. In that case, you could shoot the old 9.0 U dose one more time and go to 8.5U tomorrow morning. We call that shooting through the bounce. Again, the 0.5U reduction is a bit of an experiment. It's what you increase with at this point, but some kitties are sensitive to even .25U changes, so you may find 0.5U is too much of a decrease. But with the larger doses and larger depots, we are a bit more cautious at first.

Another technique sometimes used with larger dose cats is to do a reduced shot for one cycle (say 1/2 or 2/3 of a dose) after a reduction is earned, to help drain the depot. You don't want a larger depot to get ahead of you. But since Tennie came up pretty easily from the 40's, and seems to be staying there, you may not need that trick. But let's see how the cycle plays out.

I find with Neko that the HC food lasts about two hours, then the numbers begin to wobble down again. Depending on the cat, some acros have working pancreases. Which means that if you feed low carb food it can stimulate the pancreas and bring numbers down. Not something you want if numbers are already lowish. Just something to keep in mind. With non-acrocats, people will feed some LC in greens to encourage a surf. It may or may not work with Tennie, you'll have to experiment and see what happens.
 
Andrea&Tennessee said:
He eats again in about and hour. Again .5 oz
I'll be testing him again before his meal, so if he starts to drop again, I can give him a little HC food.
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We crossed posted. It's your call but I would just feed him his normal food assuming the drop is not huge. Keep in mind though that you don't want to feed within the two hour window before his PM shot. So if you think he'll need a little higher carb to stay at a safe number (without food) within those last two hours of the cycle, then do it. Does that make sense (you know what I mean)?
 
Wendy&Neko said:
I find with Neko that the HC food lasts about two hours, then the numbers begin to wobble down again. Depending on the cat, some acros have working pancreases. Which means that if you feed low carb food it can stimulate the pancreas and bring numbers down. Not something you want if numbers are already lowish. Just something to keep in mind. With non-acrocats, people will feed some LC in greens to encourage a surf. It may or may not work with Tennie, you'll have to experiment and see what happens.
Click to expand...

I didn't know that about ACROS. What a great lesson.
 
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