Re: 7/10 Polly AMPS 284+2=262
julie & punkin (ga) said:
morning marilyn!
Wendy & I were talking yesterday about suggesting that you go to 0.5u increases for Polly for now. When a cat is on a 1.0u dose and increases by 0.25u, that's a 25% increase. By the time the cat is at 5.0u, a 0.25u is a 5% increase. Sometimes larger increases can help you get "ahead" of the numbers instead of "chasing" them. In a cat that's showing some insulin resistance, that becomes helpful.
Yeppers. I wondered what the "higher dose" meant in the protocol when it differentiated between .25 and .50 increases. Guess I know now! :smile: I'm game for a .50 increase next due date, Saturday AM.
When a cat gets to 6u we suggest getting high dose testing done for acromegaly and insulin autoantibodies (iaa.) Some cats have one or the other, some have both. a third high dose condition called Cushing's is possible, but it has significant skin issues so usually the person is reporting symptoms that tell us its cushing's. Cats with Cushing's have very fragile skin - it literally tears from being touched. So we don't usually recommend that test unless there are symptoms that match.
Yes. My vet will cooperate with the draw and if I get him the info, sending a sample for testing, at least for IAA. He, too, suggested waiting until we hit 6 units before any more investigation.
Question. Does the acromegaly test hold value for me and Polly if SRT is not really a viable option. Cost. Her extraordinary fearfulness, i.e. travel, etc. Oh, I know, horses before the cart!
I asked the vet at Best Friends about "excess growth hormone" when she identified the thickened throat and Polly had the water bubble snurgles. Soft tissue growth, I asked. Her answer, "No, that would show up first in her liver and kidneys."
As a side, the snurggles have subsided since clavamox and I can't see any mouth cankers (although she doesn't open wide and go "ahhhhh" for me.)
She's not at all symptomatic for Cushings.
You can think about it. She may or may not have a high dose condition - the whole thing in her mouth is a bit odd and could be a contributing factor. some cats need more insulin and we don't know why. Most of the time we dose by the numbers, aiming for 50-120 anyway, but if a cat does have acro/iaa we suggest some different techniques depending on which one.
Julie, I started to think about IAA and acromegaly when we hit 3U. None of your suggestions surprise me. Whatever's going on with Polly, we'll deal with it. With lots of help!!!! She's happy, prancing with her most fluffy tail flagging behind her, and enjoying window sill mornings, afternoon enclosure time, and evening couch sharing.
Thank you. Thanks to Wendy.
Marilyn and Polly, just plugging along.
