6/20 Kasha AMPS 422 Another bounce, PMPS 136

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kryskat

kryskat

Member Since 2010
Well, she didn't have much of an appetite this AM. I think I got her whole breakfast in her, but it required a lot of encouragement. Even chicken dust wasn't working so well today. She's had the sneezes since yesterday - maybe before, but yesterday is when it became apparent. I am consumed with anxiety about it - I always wonder if she somehow caught something. She's been outside with me this weekend a couple times and I think could she have an allergy? Could she have been exposed to some virus left behind by a sick cat? I mean, she pretty much stays on the steps or the driveway with me, but who knows? I put some Lysine in her food today since I slacked off on that over the last few months. She got at least some of it down.

I wonder if the source of my anxiety is more the sneezes, the caffeine in the many iced teas I drank yesterday, or the fact that today marks one month since Big Cat went to the Bridge. I'm feeling generally out of sorts. It's been a tough month in many ways.

Blue ate up his bf. He's in his litter box right now - doing something horrible, no doubt. There's a lot of digging sounds and litter being flung everywhere...


Yesterday
 
Re: 6/20 Kasha AMPS 422 Another bounce

Hi Krys,
So sorry to hear about Kasha's sneezing. Has she ever had allergies prior to this incident? I can understand your worry. Hopefully soon others will weigh in with their thoughts. I had to laugh when you mentioned Blue making digging sounds. My GA cat used to do the same thing. After I adopted Maggie, he never bothered covering up his urine, so Maggie would wait for him to finish and then go in the box and cover it up for him!!

What's for breakfast - any McDonald's pancakes. It's so early here I'm just having coffee.
 
Re: 6/20 Kasha AMPS 422 Another bounce

Ann - I think you have early confused with late! It's too early where you are to even be considered part of today, I think!!!

Kasha gets "the sneezes" a few times a year. So far, she's not sneezing constantly - just more than the usual once or twice a week when she inhales chicken dust. The vet suggested the kitties probably have the feline herpes virus, so I give them Lysine because that's supposed to help (although, like I said - with everything going on this year, I slacked off on giving the lysine every day). Last year (Jan 09?) she got the sneezes so bad she got bloody noses (well, just one kitty nose). She got some antibiotics that time, but I don't know if they made a difference or if she got over it herself. Turns out that in the winter when the furnace is running, it gets too dry in the house and I need to run a humidifier for her. Once I started the humidifier, the bloody noses stopped. My ex-BF used to get bloody noses too when the furnace was running.

I've never had to use the humidifier with the air conditioning and I hope I don't have to start. It's so humid outside that there's got to be more humidity inside now than there would be in the winter.

I ate too much yesterday, so no take out this morning. Went out with my mom for lunch and then I polished off most of a strawberry rhubarb pie from the best pie shop around (they also sell at the farmers market I went to yesterday). Today - have to go to another farmers market nearby and hope to pick up the hot sauce for my dad. Then, at some point, we'll do something for Father's Day. Too much food. I've been so stressed over the kitties this year that I lost a bunch of weight, so I can afford to have some pig outs I think!!!

And for now - I think I'll just try to go btb for a little while...
 
Re: 6/20 Kasha AMPS 422 Another bounce

Oh wow, you have been thru a lot, so you deserve to eat a whole rhubarb pie! Seriously, that is a lot of stress, and some lose weight instead of gain. I am the same way with stress and losing weight. I love rhubarb pie but have not seen it here in any of the bakeries or restaurants. We always had it growing up on the east coast. Hmmm, I'm deprived out with here with no rhubarb pie. We have the best fish tacos here at Rubio's and homemade hamburgers and fries at In' n' Out Burger.

Have a nice Father's Day with your Dad. I hope Kasha's #'s come down and Blue has a good dau, too!
 
Re: 6/20 Kasha AMPS 422 Another bounce

Living in Florida, we run the a/c all the time for many months. It is super drying.. maybe more so than the furnace...it pulls the humidity out of the air quickly. My plants are bone dry all the time it seems so I can imagine what it's doing to the other living creatures. Hope she will get some relief....and stop with the sneezing. Keep an eye on her ...know you will though... :YMHUG:
Hope you have a great day!
 
Re: 6/20 Kasha AMPS 422 Another bounce

Hope Kasha's sneezies stop! You certainly have the right to eat a rhurbarb pie-Yes the whole thing!!--
Hey It's a vegetable RIGHT??? :lol: :lol: :lol:
You have been through so much, you really deserve to enjoy a little bit!!
I feel for you--Now the little delicate kitties, geez it seems all our kitties have these unexplained maladies that come & go..
It's just maddening you know? @-) nailbite_smile :shock: :shock: But you gotta love them :YMSIGH:

Hope it's smooth sailing today for you & Kasha--Enjoy Father's day...HUGS~! :mrgreen:
 
Re: 6/20 Kasha AMPS 422 Another bounce

((Krys))
Please give yourself a break. You've had an incredibly stressful month. And maybe those of your friends and family who aren't as caring about their companions (or don't have any) don't understand, we do. So, have another rhubarb pie on us! (Just don't share it with Kasha!) It sounds like Blue is managing pretty well. When is he allowed out of confinement?

Anyone that has hardwood floors can tell you that heat will dry things out more than the AC - cool air can carry more moisture than warm.
 
Re: 6/20 Kasha AMPS 422 Another bounce

Sorry to see the bounce and that Kasha has the sniffles. Try not too worry too much. Just concentrate on your wonderful memories of Big Cat and give Kasha some snuggles.
 
Re: 6/20 Kasha AMPS 422 Another bounce: 107 @ +5.5

Thanks everyone! You're all making me emotional now (and I'm already emotional!!!).

Jeez - Kasha seems to be clearing this bounce mighty fast.

Kasha was crying all morning when I tried to go btb. I gave her food, I checked in on her and she still cried. Finally I picked her up and put her on the bed and she was fairly quiet for a while. Then she started kind of chirping at me a little and finally got up and went to hang out near Blue. I did get a little more sleep (you can tell by the SS not being updated until +4) - but it wasn't really a steady sleep, if you know what I mean... I can't tell what the crying is about - it's kind of mournful, like the sounds she made when she used to move her missing toys around at night. Sometimes she just wants me to get up and move to another room - not sure why, but Kasha likes order and this is the proper way things should work to her, I think. I also think she wants to go outside with me (or franky, without me if that's how she could arrange it) all the time now that she has gotten a taste of it this year. But I'm leary of her being out there cuz I'm overprotective. She won't wander off or anything, but I don't want her picking up something from the feral or neighbor cats. Although, the cats I've rescued from this area have always come back negative for FeLV, which is my big fear. The cats at the barn have FeLV - it's endemic there - and I no longer touch them or bring clothes I've worn to the barn anywhere near my kitties.

I haven't heard any sneezes since early this morning (which means another is coming any moment now that I've typed that). My sinuses are bothering me and I keep clearing my throat, so I don't know if she and are are being bothered by the same thing (the air, allergy, whatever) or if it's total coincidence.

BTW: Blue has a checkup scheduled for the 28th when they will evaluate his progress and hopefully he'll be done with the cage and collar then. He's allowed out supervised, but he is a handful - he makes a beeline for the couch or the stairway (I always keep that door closed now)...
 
Re: 6/20 Kasha AMPS 422 Another bounce

You know, I was JUST thinking last night about how stressed you have been about your cats' health, but how you have really taken charge and are fixing things for both of them. I'm sooo sorry about Big Cat, but you did the right thing to ease his suffering. You've got Blue all fixed up, and the fact that he is a handful when he is out of the cage sounds like a GREAT sign. And Kasha's numbers are getting better all the time. You have a lot on your plate, but you're handling it all so well.
 
Re: 6/20 Kasha AMPS 422 Another bounce

It is such a relief to hear that Blue is coming along nicely. That LB scratching must be something they all do; Oliver scratch all the walls on the inside of the LB and even the roof inside and the doorframe. I suppose it's better than their not covering up their business.


I hope the sneezing passes; Oliver sneezes too, but there was mention of asthma for him with his xrays. Vet say anything about asthma or allergies to you? When do the sneezes happen?

I bet you're please that Kasha's numbers are looking better even though there's the bounce
 
Well - a good PMPS at least. Her appetite was lousy - she ate just over 1 Tbsp at dinner. But she ate everything that I'd left out while I was out, so she may just not feel like eating right now. Her nose is maybe a little stuffy - she made little nose-whistle noises when I first got home (don't hear that now). She's been vocal too - that freaks me out a little. I might take her out on the steps/driveway with me to see if that appeases her.

No one ever mentioned asthma at the vet's office. She gets bouts of sneezes that last a few days usually a few times a year - I don't see a particular pattern to it. When she had her radioactive iodine for thyroid about 3 yrs ago, the vet who administered it suggested she could have allergies cuz when we got home she went through several days of sneezes - which could just as easily be attributed to feline herpes since she'd been stressed at being away from home by herself for 3 days for the treatment. She does do this weird sneeze/hack thing every so often that my vet just thinks has something to do with hairballs. Neither the sneezes not the hacking have been persistent so far - the sneezes may go on a few days but the only time I've ever gotten them treated was when she got the nosebleeds last year. And again - don't know if she was recovering or what by the time they gave her the ABs.

So, if we dropped low tonight (which may not happen, but in case it did) - does that mean we might be up for another dosecrease? I'm just wondering how long it takes the shed to readjust after a dose decrease... Is she really getting the .75 units now or is the shed still possibly overfilled? I don't really understand how the shed works...
 
Oh a shed question! I like these and often try to explain it. I am for sure not the greatest and may be a wee bit off but here's how I see the shed.

Awhile back, I had compared it to a spare tank of gas in your trunk. If you think you are going on a trip that will need 5 gallons of gas, one way. Well you have to prepared to get home, right? So you need a spare can in your trunk. And that's your shed. It needs to be in balance with your current dose. Same size all the time.

Your dose is 2units, so you need to get a shed built up to 2 units.

In the beginning, when you first start on insulin, you are told to stay on your starting dose for about 5 days or 10 shots. That extra time is to build up your initial shed, but later on, you just hold a dose for 6 shots.

Each shot puts some into the shed and some goes to Kasha to help her. On the first shot, most of it goes to the shed and a little to Kasha, and each additional shot puts less into the shed and more into Kasha for immediate use. Once the shed is filled, all of the whole dose goes to Kasha and you need to give it a couple cycles to see if it's good for her. If you need more, the dose is increased.

Here is where you have that NDW come into the picture. Just think of having a bucket for 2 units that is the shed. If you increase to 2.25, the first few shots may look like they are not working because tiny bits of the increase are not going to Kasha because you have a bigger shed bucket that has to be 'topped up'. It won't take as long this time because you are just adding .25 extra. After a couple shots, you will have a bigger shed and you will then start to see some better numbers for Kasha.

Now let's go the other way. Whoa good numbers for Kasha and maybe too good so you have to go down in dose. In this case, you could think of your car and you take your foot off the gas but don't step on the brakes. I bet your car keeps moving till it runs out of momentum or something. Anyways, say you are going down to 1.75 so you give a lesser dose and your shed says I got too much here so shed does some dumping. You may have given a lesser shot, but with the excess shed being dumped, Kasha is likely still getting more than the 1.75. You will see the change from the decrease maybe on the 2nd shot of 1.75u

It may not be the best or exact explanation, but that's pretty much how I see the shed.
 
If Kasha were to drop into the 40s tonight, I'd want to have Libby take a look. You don't want too many decreases back-to-back because they won't hold. If numbers were consistently in the blues and greens, it might be different. Right now, Kasha is still bouncing. Before suggesting what to do, I'd want someone with more experience to take a look.
 
Re: 6/20 Kasha AMPS 422 PMPS 136

Thanks Gayle for that good info on the shed. And thanks Sienne, for the response to my question about a decrease - I was wondering about decreasing too soon and it not holding.

However, looks like that won't really be an issue right now because I believe we have a fur shot situation going on. This one is a mystery. I was just thinking about how I haven't had any fur shot issues in a while, I'm using the longer, 29 gauge needles and I can feel them go in and out of her skin. Today - I saw and felt the needle leave her skin and I thought I'd felt around to make sure I hadn't shot all the way thru the skin. I smelled her fur like I always do after the shot and did NOT smell Lantus. All seemed well. HOWEVER - it's about +2 and I just got in from a walk. She walked up to me and I smelled Lantus. Took her BG - 203. So, she's going up. And she definitely smells like Lantus. I swear - it's like she sprung a leak or something after I left.

Oh well. Frustrating.
 
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