6/15 Weekly Update for Bagheera

[bagheerathediabeticcat]

Hello, furiends. First, a few things from last week.

I came back to share my readings with you because one of the humans here said they would like to know how I was doing. I told them I was doing okay, and they asked me to come back and share my readings like I do on my blog. That is why I came back.

Things have not changed from last year, when we worked our way up from two units to seven units in half unit increments. When we got to seven units, I flirted with hypoglycemia way too often for the human to like, so he dropped the dosing down to 6.5 units and decided to go to a small sliding dosing regimen.

For whatever reason, my blood sugar readings remain higher than I want. I do not get above the 300 level much, but I would like to get my average blood sugar reading below 200. My weekly averages have been stubbornly running in the low to mid 200s, so it is just beyond our reach and it is frustrating for me and the human.

The sliding scale we use is much tighter than the one we used to use. The human has developed it after listening to people here. For virtually all dosing, it is between 5.5 units and 6.5 units.

The human used to be able to get a mid-cycle reading because he would test me around 1 or two in the afternoon, but that is not possible anymore due to work. And he is in bed before the mid-cycle in the evening.

For noms, I get served Nurto's Natural Choice and Wellness Core wet noms twice a day. The human leaves some Wellness Core crunchies out for me, but those are high protein/low carb crunchies.

Finally, the human loves me and would never abuse me. The humans in white coats tell him he is very dedicated to taking care of me, and that many other humans would have just given up. He told them that he made a commitment to me when he got me and he is going to make sure I get the best care he can provide until it is time for me to close my eyes for the last time.

Here's what happened with my blood sugar readings last week

Do you humans have any ideas on how to get my blood sugar down those last 20-30 points we want?

 

[KPassa]

I often have trouble getting mid-cycle numbers throughout the week because of work so you're not alone in that. ;-) You also don't have to aim for getting mid-cycle at night either. What you want to try getting every night is a "before bed" test, whether that's 2 hours after his shot or 5 hours. That helps show us how his numbers are trending overnight. Then, on your days off, the more tests you can get in, the better (again, they don't have to specifically be mid-cycle, but that does help).

Wellness Core is a lower carb dry, but it's still not below the 10% carbs we like to use for our diabetics. There are some lower carb dry food options available that might help lower his numbers further, like the Young Again Zero Carb. It's pricey but because it's super dense, cats don't eat as much of it. There's also Stella and Chewy's raw (you just don't reconstitute it with water and serve it up dry). Of course, ideally, it would be best to switch him to all wet if possible. And you can leave wet food down all day, too; just add water. :lol:

Have you thought about maybe getting him tested for high dose conditions? Depending on if he has one, the treatment might be slightly different. His dose could also simply be because he's a big boy still eating a bit of dry.

 

[bagheerathediabeticcat]

I often have trouble getting mid-cycle numbers throughout the week because of work so you're not alone in that. ;-) You also don't have to aim for getting mid-cycle at night either. What you want to try getting every night is a "before bed" test, whether that's 2 hours after his shot or 5 hours. That helps show us how his numbers are trending overnight. Then, on your days off, the more tests you can get in, the better (again, they don't have to specifically be mid-cycle, but that does help).

Wellness Core is a lower carb dry, but it's still not below the 10% carbs we like to use for our diabetics. There are some lower carb dry food options available that might help lower his numbers further, like the Young Again Zero Carb. It's pricey but because it's super dense, cats don't eat as much of it. There's also Stella and Chewy's raw (you just don't reconstitute it with water and serve it up dry). Of course, ideally, it would be best to switch him to all wet if possible. And you can leave wet food down all day, too; just add water. :lol:

Have you thought about maybe getting him tested for high dose conditions? Depending on if he has one, the treatment might be slightly different. His dose could also simply be because he's a big boy still eating a bit of dry.

The human is reluctant to get more testing because it didn't really tell us much last time and he does not like causing me pain with the ear sticks. Maybe he will do it on weekends, but he does not want to abuse my poor ears too much!

I nom on the wet food, but I just like my crunchies. It is something that the human sighs about and shakes his head about, but he has learned that I am a very stubborn feline. When he did not give me any crunchy noms, I complained so much that he finally gave in. I do not blame him. When a 19 pound cat hops up on the bed multiple times in the night, and complains about not having any dry noms, most humans would give in. It is exactly what I planned and it worked!

Can you let me know where we can get the noms you mentioned? Then I can bug the human to buy some!

I will ask the human to talk to the humans in white coats about acromegaly. He does not think I have it because I do not show the signs of it, such as gaining weight despite having untreated diabetes. I went down to around 13 pounds before I was diagnosed as diabetic!

 

[MommaOfMuse]

Your ears will be just fine my human mom has tested me from 4-8 times a day, every day for the last 2 1/2 years and my ears are gorgeous just like the rest of me.

Last winter my human also brought home my new adopted brother Cassanova because his previous humans could no longer keep him. They were only having the white coats test him and were feeding him crunchies too. When he came to live with us he was on 11u bid of Levemir. My mom spent many late nights with him to keep him out of the scary lows. She constantly dropped his dose based on the numbers she saw and today he's on a mere 1-2u bid of Levemir. He also not only learned to eat wet but now yells and dances for it when he sees mom with his bowl. Mom also tests him as much as me and his ears are fine as well. Mom actually gave him the name Kitty Cassanova because he's such a love at testing time. Personally I purrfer to sleep through my tests but then again I'm a very old lady since next spring I'll be about 17-18 springs old. Cassanova is a mere kitten compared to me as he's only 9 summers old.

If you honestly want to lower your numbers then giving up the crunchies is the way to go. Your human might have to get you lots of different brands and flavors for you to try so you can tell him what you purrfur. But since changing you diet could drastically lower your insulin needs it would be extremely important to get lots of pokies.

Oh and one correction...renal threshold is 250 not 300 Anything over 250 and you're spilling sugar into your tinkle and could be hurting your organs.

The noms mentioned are only available online. Have your human Google Young Again Zero Carbs. It is very expensive and none of us liked it much when my white coat sent a small sample home with a kitty my mom was watching for her, while her people were getting surgery. Plus here there are 16 of us tigers (and a drooler) so mom said she was glad we liked our wet noms better.

Autumn

 

[bagheerathediabeticcat]

Your ears will be just fine my human mom has tested me from 4-8 times a day, every day for the last 2 1/2 years and my ears are gorgeous just like the rest of me.

If you honestly want to lower your numbers then giving up the crunchies is the way to go. Your human might have to get you lots of different brands and flavors for you to try so you can tell him what you purrfur. But since changing you diet could drastically lower your insulin needs it would be extremely important to get lots of pokies.

The noms mentioned are only available online. Have your human Google Young Again Zero Carbs. It is very expensive and none of us liked it much when my white coat sent a small sample home with a kitty my mom was watching for her, while her people were getting surgery. Plus here there are 16 of us tigers (and a drooler) so mom said she was glad we liked our wet noms better.

I will have the human look into the dry noms you mentioned. And of course, if he can get me to eat wet noms only, he will adjust the dosing and increase the testing until we see what the change in diet does. Remember, we slowly worked our way up to seven units from two units in half unit increments last year. It does not surprise me, because a 19 pound feline who is not fat is a big boy! That is what everyone who sees me says. They always talk about how big I am!

One thing I noticed about the Young Again Zero Carb food is that those noms have many more calories than the Wellness Core formula. They have 590 calories per cup versus 502. Has anyone who used these noms had a problem with their felines gaining weight? We do not want that to happen to me. it probably would be best if I lost a pound or so, and I do not want to get fat. Jacey will then laugh at me when I work on my fur tan!

 

[BJM]

Measure what you feed and use a timed feeder (ex PetSafe 5) to feed mini meals overnight.

 

[KPassa]

One thing I noticed about the Young Again Zero Carb food is that those noms have many more calories than the Wellness Core formula. They have 590 calories per cup versus 502. Has anyone who used these noms had a problem with their felines gaining weight? We do not want that to happen to me. it probably would be best if I lost a pound or so, and I do not want to get fat. Jacey will then laugh at me when I work on my fur tan!

Young Again will even send you free samples if you request it so you can see if it's something they'll actually eat. I haven't personally fed it to either of my kitties (both are wet food only, although Henry sneaks over to the neighborhood stray cat feeding trough for some dry crunchies every now and again). What I've heard from people on here and fb who feed it to their kitties is that they eat a lot less of it because it's so much more filling, so I don't think you have to worry too much about him gaining weight unless he's an absolute scarfer...in that case, BJ's suggestion of a timed feeder and/or measuring out feeding portions would probably work best.