7/9 - Bell's Shot Question Answered

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Seth&Bell

Seth&Bell

Member Since 2024
Hi all!

I've reduced Bell's dose from 0.5 units to 0.25 for three cycles now and I'm seeing a nice slow decline in her numbers.

I'm about an hour away from her PM shot and the +11 was 158. My gut is telling me to give the shot if her PMPS is around that value, but I'm looking for a confirmation on that.

She seems very reactive to low doses of Lantus, which I'm guessing is a good thing! It just doesn't give me a lot of wiggle room. In the two times I've skipped a dose or given a token dose, her numbers have shot back up and it has taken me around 3-4 cycles to bring them down again.

Thank you for the help!
 
Just checked again 20 minutes after +11 and she is just over 200, so if that maintains I will shoot. Still curious for some guidance on my original question. I have a feeling it might be applicable tomorrow...
 
If the preshot is under 200, stall, dont feed and test again in 20 minutes to see if the BG is rising. And post and ask for help, changing the subject line to something like…Stalling preshot xxx please help.
Until you get more data I would not shoot under 200.
ETA….because there were ketones at diagnosis, I would not skip the dose but give a token dose if the BG is below 200….ask for advice.
You are both doing very well!
 
Bell's libre freestyle 2 seems to be bouncing around a lot (between 140 and 210) in the last half hour, so its time may have come to an end (day 12).
 
Yeah she is doing great. If consistent doses of 0.25 are going to take her too low, I'm not sure how much smaller I can accurately go, but it is really nice to see those blues.

Food is my biggest stressor right now. She has dropped to 8.5 lbs from 11.5 a couple years ago. She has bilious vomit syndrome, so she needs to eat every 3ish hours to not throw up bile. So I've been feeding 6-10 small meals a day. She's not food motivated, so she really needs a lot of encouragement to eat. She also is not interested in wet food once it has sat out for awhile or is cold :facepalm: So until I figure something out, I'm not getting much sleep :). I'm digging through the great resources here for tips on this (slippery elm bark arrives tomorrow).

I will keep watching her tonight and keep her spreadsheet updated. Thank you again!
 
Have you thought about an automatic timed feeder?
Petsafe has a couple to choose from. Google it.
Frequent small meals are fine. Just don’t feed for the two hours before the Preshot BGs.

There are two more lower doses after 0.25 U … 0.1 and a drop.
Have you chosen a dosing method yet.?
Would recommend you look at them and choose one:)
I use SEB powder for one of my kitties. It’s very good.
 
I have a timed feeder for dry food, which worked decently, but even with that she sometimes would not be motivated enough to get up and eat. I'd often come home from work to a bunch of food in her bowl and her having thrown up bile and starving. It is really odd. Since she's on wet food now, I bought a rotating feeder with ice packs that I am hoping I can eventually get her to use. I have read that sometimes with BVS, a cat really needs encouragement to eat because they are nauseous. I've tried catlax, fortiflora, and pepcid to not great success. Although I probably did not give the pepcid enough time because that was when all her other health issues started and I had enough pills to get into her.

I have made sure not to give her any food two hours before shot time.

I think I will lock in the SLGS method (spreadsheet updated). I was playing around with the idea of doing TR while she had the libre in, but advice from here indicates that those can be inaccurate at lower levels so it is best to use a glucometer anyway. Not sure if I can swing that with work.

Edit: after researching a bit more I think I can swing the TR protocol. She’s already converted to low carb, wet food and if I’m understanding the protocol right she needs a minimum of 4 tests a day for TR, which I already plan to do. I’ve already started to zero in on a dosage, 0.5 was too much, 0.25 is looking promising. So I’m going to give TR a try and back off to SLGS if I can’t swing TR.

Do you use SEB for constipation/diarrhea in your cat? Or does your cat have some nausea issues as well? I'd be interested to hear how that has worked for you.
 
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Ondansetron is my go to for nausea. Since she's vomiting, Cerenia might help. But definitely worth trying SEB too.

Fortiflora is only a single strain of probiotic, not the best option other than as a flavor enhancer. There are lots of other good probiotics out there, look for multiple strains. Renew Ultimate is one example.
 
bluesunshine said:
Do you use SEB for constipation/diarrhea in your cat? Or does your cat have some nausea issues as well? I'd be interested to hear how that has worked for you.
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Clover used to vomit … not all the time but enough to be of concern. She also used to have loose poops and appetite not great. I have been giving her SEB for a couple of years and she rarely vomits now. I also started visbiome probiotics and that’s been a game changer for her. Her poops have been normal since I started it, her appetite is great as well. She has put on weight and is more playful I would look at visbiome or similar.
I agree with Wendy about getting an antinausea medication.
 
Thank you, Wendy, I will look into those options. Are Ondansetron and Cerenia ok for daily use? Or are they more designed to stop bouts of nausea and vomiting? She's had this issue with nausea for years now and it is tied with how long her stomach remains empty.

It is great to have some other options, I'll talk to my vet about those medications and look into a better probiotic. I'm excited to try the SEB - my plan was to heat it into a gel, as was recommended here. I am a little cautious introduce something into her food that she may not like at this point, so fingers crossed there.
 
I feel this past month has been a series of mini-games I need to master - pilling her for Onsior (first for me), shooting a liquid syringe in her mouth for the Gabapentin (also a first), having to cone her for gland rupture (that made me the saddest), insulin shots, ear pokes, the list goes on. I could not have done this without the resources here, sincerely. The learning curve for a lot of these is overwhelming and steep, but it gets so much easier the more you do it. You all are saints for reminding people of that on a daily basis.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Clover used to vomit … not all the time but enough to be of concern. She also used to have loose poops and appetite not great. I have been giving her SEB for a couple of years and she rarely vomits now. I also started visbiome probiotics and that’s been a game changer for her. Her poops have been normal since I started it, her appetite is great as well. She has put on weight and is more playful I would look at visbiome or similar.
I agree with Wendy about getting an antinausea medication.
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Awesome, that is encouraging to hear.
 
Yes, you can give both Cerenia and ondansetron daily. Cerenia is once a day, ondansetron 2-4 times a day as it doesn't last long.

I'm also a fan of Visbiome - it's designed for IBD.

With Neko, I made some home made chicken stock, boiled chicken in water and used the water. Then used that stock as the liquid in SEB. It seemed more palatable that way.
 
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