7/27 - Cleo - AMPS (187); +10 (204); PMPS (257); +2 (166)

[Kathy-and-Cleo]

Yesterday's 7/26 Cleo Condo

Good morning all! Cleo seems to be doing pretty well today. Third day running where she's got a "double dip" going with her +11 levels to her PS levels, but nice safe numbers to shoot at still.

Best wishes to everyone and everykitty for an easy and happy Friday!

 

[Jane & Jack & Karre the Emperor]

Re: 7/27 - Cleo - AMPS (187)

Hi Kathy

Nice to see a blue AMPS for Cleo, I hope she has a great cycle today. As for the poop question: Pumpkin is an option, and I believe quite a few members have used it (though we haven't), so I'm sure they'll chime in. It can in fact help with *both* diarrhoea *and* constipation - pretty useful, at that. Have you considered trying to help Cleo with a probiotic? One that's very popular on the FDMB is "Fortiflora", I think it's made by Purina. Again, we've never had to use one, but I know many here who have, and I'm sure if you have questions they'll answer them. Actually, our cats like yoghurt, I guess technically they *do* occasionally get probiotics in the form of live cultures :mrgreen: One other thing that can help is increasing hydration a bit. You could do that by adding some water to Cleo's wet/canned food. If Cleo is a bit dehydrated, that could have slowed down her LB action - have you checked her skin for dehydration (tenting it and seeing how it "snaps" back)? Just a thought. I've seen a few mentions of this Feline Constipation Website around FDMB and have read a bit there myself, which was useful just to get a few bits of information (though bear in mind that it's written by a layperson, not a vet, just for the record).

I know that our cats don't poop daily - sometimes they'll wait a day, sometimes even two days in between, without having anything wrong - just to alleviate your concern. It doesn't *have* to mean there's something to worry about. A lot of cats don't necessarily void their bowels each day. See what you think about these suggestions, k?

I'm sure others will also pitch in with more ideas.
Have a good day!

Jane

 

[Kathy-and-Cleo]

Re: 7/27 - Cleo - AMPS (187)

Thanks for the great info Jane!

Ironically, I think you were replying when I edited out my questions about cat constipation, because the answer er "presented itself" as the case may be! I discovered Cleo wasn't constipated after all, just not using either of the two litterboxes (ugh). Not sure how to go about addressing poor litterbox habits at this stage in the game between all the other issues with PU/PD and then urine scald, etc. She's at least peeing in the litterboxes and her skin is looking much, much better where she had the urine scald issue. I think I'm just going to cut her some slack at this point and figure if the worst that happens is I have to clean up a little cat poop, oh well!

 

[Kathy-and-Cleo]

Re: 7/27 - Cleo - AMPS (187); +10 (204); PMPS (257)

I think Cleo's PMPS may be showing a bit of a food spike since I like to make sure she's eaten before I give her insulin and she got dinner a few minutes early tonight so there was about 20 min between dinner and PMPS.

Anyhow, her numbers are fairly nice and steady still, but still showing in yellow quite often. Per the protocol, I'm thinking of moving up to 1.5U on Sunday when I can monitor her. Any input appreciated!

 

[julie & punkin (ga)]

Re: 7/27 - Cleo - AMPS (187); +10 (204); PMPS (257)

Lantus generally takes a couple of hours to kick in, so unlike many older insulins, you don't have to wait for them to eat before you give the shot. by feeding her a while before you measure her preshot BGs, you're going to have a BG that is food-influenced. the reason for the preshot BG is to make sure it's safe to shoot without food influence. does that make sense?

as long as you don't have any reason to expect her to not want to eat, like if she's sick or vomiting, then it's ok to go ahead and give her the shot and put the food down at the same time. it'll give you better preshot information to make a decision on. most people test-feed-shoot within a few minutes.

as far as her dose, she's having nadirs in the 80-100's range. the protocol says with nadirs under 200, hold the dose for 3-5 days before increasing by .25u.

"General" Guidelines:
Hold the initial starting dose for 5 - 7 days (10 - 14 consecutive cycles) unless the numbers tell you otherwise. Kitties experiencing high flat curves or prone to ketones may want to increase the starting dose after 3 days (6 consecutive cycles).
Each subsequent dose is held for a minimum of 3 days (6 consecutive cycles) unless kitty earns a reduction (See: Reducing the dose...).
Adjustments to dose are based on nadirs with only some consideration given to preshot numbers.

Increasing the dose:
Hold the dose for 3 - 5 days (6 - 10 consecutive cycles) if nadirs are less than 200 before increasing the dose by 0.25 unit.
After 3 days (6 consecutive cycles)... if nadirs are greater than 200, but less than 300 increase the dose by 0.25 unit.
After 3 days (6 consecutive cycles)... if nadirs are greater than 300 increase the dose by 0.5 unit.

 

[Kathy-and-Cleo]

Re: 7/27 - Cleo - AMPS (187); +10 (204); PMPS (257)

Thanks Julie. At the beginning (2 weeks ago) Cleo was very iffy about eating the wet food, so I didn't want to shoot and then have her refuse to eat. Now she's eager to get into the wet food at every meal, so I don't have that concern as much. I will think about the best way to rearrange our schedules to have less of a gap, probably it will require moving her shot time up further. We'll see

For the dose increase, per the guidelines, I think the dose increase I'm thinking of (another .25 up from our current 1.25 dose, to 1.5) is warranted based on the numbers. Cleo's been at her current dose for 4.5 days, so by tomorrow she'd be ready for the increase assuming things stay roughly status quo til then. I would rather increase her on Sunday though, when I'll be around to monitor her.