8/12 Sushi: AMPS~354

[Sushi (GA 5/05-3/14)]

Good morning!
Yesterday was quite an adventure. I stressed and bugged you about yesterday's schedule because I knew it would be a late night. I wasn't going to get home until around 11pm when our normal dose time is 5:30am/pm. I rushed home as quickly as possible, and made it home for 10:15pm (45 mins early, which I was really excited about!), only to test Sushi and get #'s between 95 and 105. :shock: That is the first time he's ever had numbers that low. I was in panic mode! Of course I rushed to the board for advice and decided to skip last night's dose (after all that stress about his schedule!).

:arrow: Sushi and I are still figuring out canned food. He seems to be pretty finicky about it. He won't touch it if I add too much water. Or if it's been sitting out too long. He's yet to clean his plate, even when I leave just one ounce out for him.
I made a typo in my post last night about how much he's eating. It's been hard to measure how much he's actually eating because he's so finicky about it. I'm having to open up fresh food so he'll eat; and I end up pouring at least half of it down the sink after a while. I would say he's eating 3-4oz a day (and he's 16-17lbs!).
I have been adding water to his food; is that enough water to get him through the day? I don't think I've seen him drink out of a water bowl once since we switched to 100% canned food. His high level of urniation hasn't changed though.

:arrow: Does hunger/not eating lower or raise BG levels?

:arrow: :arrow: :arrow: I've realized I'm not giving injections properly. How much of an impact will it make once I start giving them the correct way? Do I need to start over at .5 or 1 unit?

I give in the side of the chest. I shoot directly into his side without pinching. This is how my vet instructed me to give the injection. I even asked if I should be pinching his skin at a later appointment and he said no.

[am]9/[pm]8:45 -- Wednesday: [am]8:30/[pm]8)
Thursday: 6:30am/pm -- THAT'S AN HOUR AND A HALF JUMP!

And that 90 min. shift is a problem. It's less of an issue to shoot late. Shooting early is like a dose increase. Unless Sushi is sitting in very high numbers, I don't think this is wise.

I also want to encourage you to not be in a position where you are seeing low numbers and are low on strips. It can be dangerous. Unless you have a store nearby where you can purchase strips, please make sure you are well stocked. Our cats are uniquely able to drop into low numbers when you are least prepared. Murphy's Law really does apply.

Thank you Sienne! I really appreciate your wisdom and insight. Since we had to skip last night (didn't see that one coming!), we're still on an 8am/pm schedule, which I will be able to shift to 6:30am/pm throughout the week. Will that be okay? What do you think?

I agree with you about the strips--I didn't expect for our numbers to start dropping yet since we haven't started adjusting Sushi's dose. Looks like he was trying to teach me that "Our cats are uniquely able to drop into low numbers when you are least prepared. Murphy's Law really does apply" like you said! ; )

 

[Angela & Blackie & 3 Others]

Hoping for great #s for you both today! Have a great day!

 

[PeterDevonMocha]

Hi guys .. well you've certainly got a lot on your plate with a kitty who is finicky about how much and what he eats .. We feed mocha special kitty turkey and giblets .. its from wal mart and it comes in a four pack of 5.5oz can's and it runs $1.34 .. mocha eats it right up .. course she was never one to be picky .. Have a great weekend!

 

[Sushi (GA 5/05-3/14)]

Thanks everyone!! :smile:

Peter, Sushi seems to love the food, but he's being strange about how and how much he eats. I'm wondering if I should (gads!) mix a bit of dry in with it so he'll eat more.
How much do you feed Mocha? How much does Mocha weigh?

 

[julie & punkin (ga)]

you had an exciting evening!

doesn't seem like sushi's eating enough. i think i recall you saying he acts like he's starving - is that right? you don't want him losing weight, so you might have to tinker around and see if you can get him to eat enough to stay stable. tricks include pulverizing dry food and using it as a sprinkle on the canned if he likes the dry better, sprinkling parmesan cheese, tuna flakes, chicken or salmon dust on top of the canned. warming it up (not helpful if you're gone, of course.) makes some cats like it better. trying a different brand of food, or a different variety of the same brand.

punkin weighs 14.3lbs and is eating about 3+-4 cans of fancy feast a day. that's 10-12oz of food/day. his weight has been stable - he's pretty inactive as his favorite things to do are eat and sleep! :lol:

some people use timed feeders - apparently there are some that have a refrigerator compartment for a blue ice block. some people freeze food in muffin pans and leave out the little hockey pucks to thaw - you can put one down and some not-frozen canned food on top of it and they'll both stay fresher. if you want to get a timed feeder ask here because i've seen a lot of opinions on them and you don't want to spend the money to get a loser! :lol:

cat's ideal food is a mouse. it's something like 76% water. canned food is about that - so if you're adding water to his canned food then he's getting plenty of water. i suspect you don't need to worry about that part. there's info about that in the link to Dr. Lisa's page about cat nutrition. i'm not sure where that is, probably off of the main health board.

i don't know if hunger changes BG. you'll probably just need to observe what happens in sushi. make notes on his ss for the future and see if you can tell. i don't think it affects punkin.

personally, i'd just switch right now on the injection technique. i wouldn't start over, but i would do it when i could be there to monitor. if there's going to be a significant change i would think you'd see it in the first cycle.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Food generally raises BG levels. However, in a non-diabetic, when you or your cat eats, it stimulates the pancreas to produce endogenous insulin which then lowers BG. If your cat doesn't eat, BG will most likely stay where it is. If you give insulin, it will then lower BG and possibly lower it to a dangerous level if food isn't on board. There's no one answer to your question since there is an interaction between food, BG levels and insulin.

I think you'll be OK given the injection properly. Just get some tests in to monitor and make a note on your SS when you start shooting properly.

 

[Ann & Tess GA]

You should have known! ohmygod_smile :lol: The more we try to plan everything out , the more likely it will be that the cat has other ideas! :roll:

Hunger doesn't raise or lower BG levels, but it can be an indicator. Many cats, but not all, will get very hungry when BG levels are low. And they will let you know that they want food. Others aren't used to low BGs and don't feel good when they go low, they don't want to eat, just to be left alone. The same on high levels. One indicator of FD is a ravenous appetite, the food can't get into the cells for nourishment and the cat wants to eat all the time.

How often are you feeding him? If he was used to grazing during the day on dry, you may be changing how often he eats as well as what.Does he ever come back to a meal that was left unfinished? Some cats don't like food that sits out for longer periods, others don't mind or get used to it. Try to observe how much Sushi usually eat at a time and just give that amount, several times about an hour apart. This is where the timed feeder comes in handy.

Many of us feed 3 or 4 smaller mini meals during the first half of the cycle to even out the carb load as the insulin starts working. Try not to feed much after nadir as there is less insulin in his system and so the carbs can't be used by the cells. Also be sure to take up the food 2 hours before preshot, we want to see a fasting number then and eliminate any food spike readings. Again, the timed feeders that rotate can help here if it is way early in the morning, the food compartment left out overnight rotates to an empty one and the food is no longer accessible.

Finding what foods he likes can take time, some cats like only one or two, others want a variety. The only constant is that once you think you have it figured out and stock up, he will change his mind!! ohmygod_smile

Many cats on an all canned diet drink very little extra water. Most of us do add water to the foods to encourage even greater water intake, it is important for both FD and kidney health. Cats evolved in a desert environment and naturally got most of their water through their prey. How much water depends on the cat and the food. Tess likes some food just broken up and the water poured over, others have to be turned into a soup. I think it depends on the texture, really soft sticky ones need to be mixed more. for her at least.