7/11 Sasha PMPS 105 - need dose help

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Melinda and Sasha

Melinda and Sasha

Member Since 2011
Hi everyone,

I just read the Dealing with low preshots post, and I'm still a little unsure what to do. I'm really new to this and could use some advice!

It's time for Sasha's shot and she's at 105 which seems like a good number, but it also seems a little low for her regular 1u shot. I've only been tracking her for five days now and still don't have reliable results on checking her BG -- sometimes I can get blood, sometimes I cant.

Do you think I should shoot at this number? Or reduce her dosage? Her spreadsheet is linked in my signature, any advice would be appreciated!
 
Re: 7/11 Sasha PMPS 105

Sorry, I should add that she seems a little lethargic and hasn't eaten super well today, but it's also really really hot out here. I put a Temptation treat in front of her and she seemed very happy to eat that, and she also ate a little bit of wet food just now.
 
Excellent, thank you! One more thing I'm going to add - she just started doing those whisker twitches she was doing when she came home from the hospital. I think I'm too scared to dose her tonight, will watch her and see what happens.
 
Welcome Melinda & Sasha--Can you test her again & see if she has gone up?
The testing is crucial part of this , so what I do is feed Moonie a snack like real chicken, freeze dried chicken or fish, or some Pure protein treat! It will distract her & while she is eating it, poke the ear & test.
I understand your fear to shoot tonite, but you fed her temptations already, so number may go up from that.they are carbs & will raise her number.
If you do not shoot tonite, she will be higher tomorrow.
Often when cats go down to lower numbers, their appetite becomes less, so not to worry, could be from these lower numbers.

I would suggest you do one of these 3 things tonite if you are frightened-
Either dont shoot, and start over tomorrow, but she will go higher--
Recheck a half hour after your PM test of 105, and see if she has gone up,
Or you could give a reduced dose but only if you can continue to test her tonite--
Please post your next test number--We all went through this-It should be fine--You are doing your best.
 
Hi Melinda,

You don't have the data yet to be able to shoot this low. You have a couple of choices. One choice is to stall (without feeding) and keep testing every 30 minutes until she rises to a number you are comfortable shooting. The other choice is to skip. Either has advantages and disadvantages. If you do stall, tomorrow morning's shot will be due 12 hours after this one. Are you able to shoot later tomorrow, or do you leave for work after you shoot?
 
While ECID (every cat is different), for many cats, lower numbers triggers their appetite. It's the body's way of bringing BG numbers up.

Like Roni noted, there are essentially 3 options with a low pre-shot:
  • stall -- don't feed, wait 30 min. and re-test to see if numbers are coming up
  • shoot a reduced (BCS - big chicken sh*t) dose or
  • skip the shot
I remember reading your first thread in Health and I can understand why you may be a bit apprehensive about low numbers. I'd be a bit gun shy, as well, especially if I couldn't rely on getting a test.

I have a couple of thoughts. First, you do not have data to shoot below 150. I know that you've been shooting blind except for what's on your spreadsheet. So, going forward from there, you are not data ready to shoot this low. So, now take a deep breath because the pressure is off.

I'm going to do some back channel consulting about dose. I'll be back in a bit.
 
Thank you all so much. I tried to get a retest, but when she saw me coming with the warm sock she ran for the hills. I'm just too nervous about her recent overdose and the whisker twitches to attempt it tonight. I'll retest her again in the morning (I hope) and make sure she eats a good breakfast, and then take it from there. I don't really have the luxury of going in to work later, but I've been fortunate so far in that I've been able to make the schedule work.

You are all so awesome, it's such a relief to know there's somewhere I can go for answers at all these odd hours!
 
Ok. I'm back after a bit of conferring. There are two choices for you to consider.

First, Sasha's numbers are great! That would suggest keeping her at this dose BUT you're really going to have to work at testing. I know you're trying. Once numbers get into these ranges, getting tests is crucial. It's the best way to keep Sasha safe. It may mean testing in a place where escape and hiding are difficult -- someplace like the bathroom where you can shut the door. (I'm presuming you don't have a bathroom that's palatial.) Give treats. Lots of treats. Give treats if you get a good test and treats and praise if it's a not so good test. Put Sasha wherever it is that you test and give her a treat just for sitting there. The point is to reinforce anything that comes close to the behavior your want. Cats will work for food! And don't give Temptations. There are lots of low carb treats (jerky, freeze dried chicken or salmon, cooked chicken, etc.). It also means that you need to be confident and very matter of fact in how you approach Sasha. If you are afraid you are going to hurt her, you will communicate your apprehension. Someone here posted that she sat down with her cat and for both of their benefits said that she was going to test because it was the only way to save her cat's life and keep the kitty healthy. Talking to Sasha while testing may help, too!

The other option is to reduce Sasha's dose -- I was thinking to 0.5u. The reduced dose will buy you time while you get testing under your belt. It's possible that moving Sasha to an all canned, low carb diet is also dropping her numbers. The lowered dose will keep her safe. You will, however, still need to test. Reducing the dose isn't a reprieve from testing. The downside of reducing the dose is that it may take some time to get Sasha back into the same number range as she now is.
 
I can't advise on the dose; I'm still leaning myself.

As for the sock, I have resorted to "train" them with gentle ears rubs now. Start slow at first then work into more touches and strokes. Cats do love to have their ears rubbed, but you have to know what spots are good and bad. Buddy loves it, April will allow enough to get blood flow and a stick (so far she is in full remission for over a year now). The more tactile you are around the head, the better chances you have. Of course some cats do have a hands off the ears zone thing.

Good luck, prayers and good BGs!
 
Should I give her low carb treats even if she turns her nose up at them? I figured I would give her something she would actually like to eat rather than a token gesture, but if the Temptations are screwing with her health then it's definitely time to get her weaned off of them. My local grocery store carries a cat chicken jerky that looks good enough for a human to eat, but I already know she's not going to be interested in them.

Sasha is very far from an all-canned, low carb diet. I'm in the very beginning stages of getting her to eat canned food. She put a little bit in her mouth for the first time today, which was a major step forward. Normally she'll just lick the gravy off the high carb stuff, or not show any interest in it at all. 99% of her current diet is still dry kibble, but I hope to change that in the coming months.

I'm going to try to keep her at her current dose, numbers permitting, and then when I'm out of town next week move her to .5u just to be on the safe side. I'd rather spend some time getting her numbers back down than risk my friend having a hypo episode on her hands.
 
Try to wean her off by mixing some of the kibble with the wet food, that's how I did it--
Each day I'd put more & more wet in to the dry, until the dry was almost gone--This could take you a week or so to do, but many of us have had this situation--You will see a marked improvement--Sasha's numbers are pretty good already!
 
That makes sense with regard to dose. You'll need to test, though, since Sasha may not agree with your plan!

A couple of things. It may take less time than you think to wean Sasha off of dry and over to canned food. I'd suggest looking at Lisa Pierson's site on feline nutrition. She discusses transitioning food. Most cats like Fancy Feast. The pate style foods are low carb. There are other brands that are also low carb (Blue Wilderness, Merrick Before the Grain, some Wellness, etc.). There are options at every price point. Grinding or crushing kibble and putting it on top of canned food may be an enticement. There are lots of ways to encourage and transition a cat from dry to canned and it shouldn't, hopefully, take months. There's not way to achieve tight regulation or remission on a dry food diet. (Sorry!)

Here's info on low carb treats. Wellness also has jerky treats. Some cats will eat cooked chicken or deli turkey (just make sure there's no sugar or chemicals added). The most popular treat around these parts seems to be freeze dried chicken treats. You can often find them with the puppy treats.
 
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