7/17 Minnie PMPS 220 +4 235

Liz & Minnie

Liz & Minnie

Member Since 2021
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/7-16-minnie-amps-250-3-5-220-8-5-303.249938/#post-2819204

Treating as another failed reduction so went to the last 'good' dose of 3.5. Skipped the spironolactone this morning and gave double potassium though I realize changing 2 things at once is not good scientific method!

She was drinking water yesterday but not today. Still eating well and luckily is not so picky with food at the moment, Whole Earth duck is available and acceptable to the diva.
 
Summer and Susie said:
I'm going to check out the Whole Earth duck too although hard for me to feed my cat duck when I have raised several and have them in my front yard as I speak.:eek:
Click to expand...
Best not to think about it. The good thing about buying canned food, especially pate, is that it doesn't really look like anything you recognize!
Suzanne & Darcy said:
A loc of people on this board feed Whole Earth Duck or Turkey or other flavors. I’m going to have to look into that food. Cats must like it.
Click to expand...
I tried the Whole Earth because somebody here mentioned it, and I like having something that I can buy in the store as well as online. It's not too expensive, the cats like it and the turkey, duck and chicken are low carb (beef is a medium carb). I sent them a message online about the out of stock and from the reply discovered that they're owned by Merrick!
 
Thanks, Liz. Hard for me to consider buying the duck but will look at the turkey and chicken. I have never had a personal experience with them but wonder if and when we will ever stop killing animals to feed ourselves and our pets? Do you think dogs and cats could ever live on a non meat diet? I am by no means a vegetarian but hope to someday stop eating animals that are killed for human consumption. What do you think, Liz?
 
Ugh, ketones on the up but BG still in the low 200s. Haven't given R before at that low a BG.

Summer and Susie said:
Thanks, Liz. Hard for me to consider buying the duck but will look at the turkey and chicken. I have never had a personal experience with them but wonder if and when we will ever stop killing animals to feed ourselves and our pets? Do you think dogs and cats could ever live on a non meat diet? I am by no means a vegetarian but hope to someday stop eating animals that are killed for human consumption. What do you think, Liz?
Click to expand...
I don't eat a whole lot of meat but - bacon. As for cats, the phrase I learned on this diabetes journey is 'obligate carnivore'. I don't think cats are meant to be vegetarian!
 
Ugh on the ketones. Maybe wait an hour and test again. If still on the rise, you could try 0.25u R. BTW, 228 on the SS should be yellow, not blue. ;)
 
Summer and Susie said:
Thanks, Liz. Hard for me to consider buying the duck but will look at the turkey and chicken. I have never had a personal experience with them but wonder if and when we will ever stop killing animals to feed ourselves and our pets? Do you think dogs and cats could ever live on a non meat diet? I am by no means a vegetarian but hope to someday stop eating animals that are killed for human consumption. What do you think, Liz?
Click to expand...
Cats definitely are obligate carnivores and cannot survive without meat. They know this. In the wild they hunt for meat and are not found grazing through fields of corn or wheat or nibbling from our veggie gardens like bunnies. I know that dogs are considered omnivores but I doubt if they would be very healthy on a 100 percent vegetarian diet. I am not a vegetarian. I have some friends who are though. I buy only pasture raised eggs, free range poultry and grass fed pasture raised (usually local) beef and pork. But this is expensive to buy meat from animals that have been humanely raised.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Ugh on the ketones. Maybe wait an hour and test again. If still on the rise, you could try 0.25u R. BTW, 228 on the SS should be yellow, not blue. ;)
Click to expand...
SS fixed, thanks for catching that. I knew something didn't look right but couldn't figure out what!

Re-tested after feeding her a bit more well-doused food, ketones back to a more comfortable 0.5. If I remember correctly there's a bit of a delay in the ketone readings so I'm guessing/hoping the 0.8 is a carryover from yesterday's pinks.

Was thinking I don't like her BG trending up til I remembered her recent +3/+15 nadirs. I do think something must be going on for her BG to have fluctuated like this, I'm not 100% convinced it's just the spironolactone but as long as she still has her appetite I can keep calm.

ETA @Marina & Chico was just thinking about you and realize I haven't seen much of you lately, guess you are still away! Couldn't figure out where was the best place to get a note to you so here you are tagged on my condo. I was reviewing Minnie's s/s to try and figure out trends with her weird +3 nadirs which made me think of you, the s/s analyst-guru. Chico's s/s is looking great!! Hope you're all doing well.
 
Last edited:
Sorry you're battling ketones. With Ruby's BG numbers rising I was really afraid of ketones, but her urinalysis done with the oncologist showed it to be negative so I was happy but thought of you and your struggles with it. I should probably get a ketone meter to put my mind at rest about it. Which one do you use?
 
PerfumedCatMom said:
Sorry you're battling ketones. With Ruby's BG numbers rising I was really afraid of ketones, but her urinalysis done with the oncologist showed it to be negative so I was happy but thought of you and your struggles with it. I should probably get a ketone meter to put my mind at rest about it. Which one do you use?
Click to expand...
Meters are super helpful e en if you can easily test urine, there's a nice warning period before they'd even show above trace on the dipsticks. Easier to head off any potential issues, but also a sign of potential underlying issues.

Downside...strips are expensivvvvve and need decent amount of blood. I use the NovaMax Plus. ADW usually runs a promo where if you buy the strips the meter is free.
 
PerfumedCatMom said:
Sorry you're battling ketones. With Ruby's BG numbers rising I was really afraid of ketones, but her urinalysis done with the oncologist showed it to be negative so I was happy but thought of you and your struggles with it. I should probably get a ketone meter to put my mind at rest about it. Which one do you use?
Click to expand...
I used a NovaMax blood ketone meter. From ADW diabetes supply. Strips are expensive yes
 
PerfumedCatMom said:
Sorry you're battling ketones. With Ruby's BG numbers rising I was really afraid of ketones, but her urinalysis done with the oncologist showed it to be negative so I was happy but thought of you and your struggles with it. I should probably get a ketone meter to put my mind at rest about it. Which one do you use?
Click to expand...
I also use the NovaMax Plus, which I like because it can test both ketones and BG so it's my backup BG meter. I think I got mine from ADW with 1 box of ketone strips and 1 box of BG strips. Ketone strips come in 2 vials of 5 and I think work out about $2/strip but the BG strips are some of the cheapest. It needs 0.9microliter for the ketone test but only 0.3 for the BG, which is same as the Freestyle Lite and the AlphaTrak.

I love that I can get an early warning - like today with the 0.8 which would show up as negative on a urine strip. Minnie is usually at 0.3 or 0.4. I just checked back - the urine test showed trace when the meter showed 5.9 and moderate at 7.6 (for Minnie). After her several DKAs I really appreciate that much advance warning, especially since the vet has me adding R when her ketones start rising.
 
Liz & Minnie said:
I also use the NovaMax Plus, which I like because it can test both ketones and BG so it's my backup BG meter. I think I got mine from ADW with 1 box of ketone strips and 1 box of BG strips. Ketone strips come in 2 vials of 5 and I think work out about $2/strip but the BG strips are some of the cheapest. It needs 0.9microliter for the ketone test but only 0.3 for the BG, which is same as the Freestyle Lite and the AlphaTrak.

I love that I can get an early warning - like today with the 0.8 which would show up as negative on a urine strip. Minnie is usually at 0.3 or 0.4. I just checked back - the urine test showed trace when the meter showed 5.9 and moderate at 7.6 (for Minnie). After her several DKAs I really appreciate that much advance warning, especially since the vet has me adding R when her ketones start rising.
Click to expand...
Thank you. Ruby had DKA when she was diagnosed with diabetes, and frankly with all of the stuff she has going on the last thing I need to be worrying about is another DKA episode. Since I'm not home much these days I can't watch her at the litter box to get urine samples, so occasional blood tests for ketones would be more convenient for me.
 
PerfumedCatMom said:
Thanks! I only plan on using them maybe once a week so the cost should be manageable. Will get one now. :)
Click to expand...
Liz and I had talked about this last week or maybe the week before... ECID of course, but anecdotally it seems like cats trend around 0.2-0.4 as a baseline, I've only gotten LO once. The highest Mr Kitty got was 0.8 during a pancreatitis flare...but I know if I see 0.6 or higher something's brewing.

I tend to keep both meters within close reach - I wait til I catch him with his ears really warm at BG time, I'll go for ketone first since it needs so much more blood. Or if I accidentally hit vein :confused:, I'll try to get ketone first (can be tricky one handed).

I tend to keep about 20 ketone strips on hand, because when something is off I'll usually check twice a day. Walmart is cheapest for the strips usually, sometimes amazon or ADW.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top