Amanda and a Loudogg
Member Since 2017
June 27, 2020 Convo - Civvie Bella diagnosis
Hello everyone!
I meant to update sooner and time got away from us. Thankfully the D-mannose or just time seemed to help Lou start eating again within a fews days of the last post. I ended up giving a full dose for 5 days then a maintenance dose for the next 5 days. I'm happy to report he's been eating normally ever since, so it seemed to help. Lou had been doing really well on the 1.5u dose. So well that there were days his BGs would be so steady it was almost creepy. He recently went into the 40s a couple of times, which meant he technically earned a reduction to 1.25u (he had another lime ages ago when we first started the 1.5u). I really didn't want to give him the reduction because his BGs had been trending slightly upward. I've been noticing he hasn't always been handling "non-obvious" reductions as well the last few months (i.e. reductions after a week in green, 3x in 40s, etc.), so I've been a little leary of reducing those times. Obviously every cat is different, and Lou is a long-term diabetic. Would it be "bad" or "crazy" to just stop reducing when he goes into the 40s? Obviously a BG in the 30s would still be an instant reduction, but he has surprisingly few of those. I know him well enough at this point to know if he really needs a reduction or not, so I'm slightly worried that removing the 3x under 50 reduction point would just turn into an arbitrary "reduce whenever" protocol to anyone who looks at Lou's spreadsheet. What are your thoughts?
I also wanted to provide an update on Bella. We FINALLY got the pancreatic enzyme supplements and thankfully Bella didn't seem to mind the taste. Unfortunately, it seems to upset either her mouth or stomach, because she won't eat it too frequently, she meatloafs for a time after eating it, and drinks a lot of water after those meals. She's supposed to be getting 2 tsp per day, but at this point she only tolerates about 1/4 tsp per day (1/8 tsp 2x/day). We try to add it to 2 more meals, but it's never a full 1/8 tsp dose. On the plus side, however, she has started to gain some weight/muscle back!!
I'm not completely sure how much she weighs right now, but you can visibly see and feel that she's filling in around her ribs/upper abdomen. Such an absolute relief! She actually started gaining a bit before starting on the supplement from just the B12 injections, which shows how much she needed the B12 at least. Caleb and I have been trying other options to get her to eat her supplements easier (tried getting products from the vet to make a liquid suspension, tried giving some no-salt broth with the food, adjusting the amount of food) with a limited amount of success. It's kind of stressful (I do not handle cats not eating very well), but I'm trying to stay positive since she's been gaining. I talked to the vet and she suggested that Bella's maintenance dose could be 1/2 tsp/day, but since she's gaining weight, she may only need the 1/4 tsp per day. We'll see what we see. I'm still wanting to try to get her to eat more, but I'm trying not to stress too much about it. 
I hope you all have a wonderful day and your kitties are staying safe out there!! Sending vines to any and all kitties and beans in need.
Hello everyone!
I meant to update sooner and time got away from us. Thankfully the D-mannose or just time seemed to help Lou start eating again within a fews days of the last post. I ended up giving a full dose for 5 days then a maintenance dose for the next 5 days. I'm happy to report he's been eating normally ever since, so it seemed to help. Lou had been doing really well on the 1.5u dose. So well that there were days his BGs would be so steady it was almost creepy. He recently went into the 40s a couple of times, which meant he technically earned a reduction to 1.25u (he had another lime ages ago when we first started the 1.5u). I really didn't want to give him the reduction because his BGs had been trending slightly upward. I've been noticing he hasn't always been handling "non-obvious" reductions as well the last few months (i.e. reductions after a week in green, 3x in 40s, etc.), so I've been a little leary of reducing those times. Obviously every cat is different, and Lou is a long-term diabetic. Would it be "bad" or "crazy" to just stop reducing when he goes into the 40s? Obviously a BG in the 30s would still be an instant reduction, but he has surprisingly few of those. I know him well enough at this point to know if he really needs a reduction or not, so I'm slightly worried that removing the 3x under 50 reduction point would just turn into an arbitrary "reduce whenever" protocol to anyone who looks at Lou's spreadsheet. What are your thoughts?
I also wanted to provide an update on Bella. We FINALLY got the pancreatic enzyme supplements and thankfully Bella didn't seem to mind the taste. Unfortunately, it seems to upset either her mouth or stomach, because she won't eat it too frequently, she meatloafs for a time after eating it, and drinks a lot of water after those meals. She's supposed to be getting 2 tsp per day, but at this point she only tolerates about 1/4 tsp per day (1/8 tsp 2x/day). We try to add it to 2 more meals, but it's never a full 1/8 tsp dose. On the plus side, however, she has started to gain some weight/muscle back!!
I'm not completely sure how much she weighs right now, but you can visibly see and feel that she's filling in around her ribs/upper abdomen. Such an absolute relief! She actually started gaining a bit before starting on the supplement from just the B12 injections, which shows how much she needed the B12 at least. Caleb and I have been trying other options to get her to eat her supplements easier (tried getting products from the vet to make a liquid suspension, tried giving some no-salt broth with the food, adjusting the amount of food) with a limited amount of success. It's kind of stressful (I do not handle cats not eating very well), but I'm trying to stay positive since she's been gaining. I talked to the vet and she suggested that Bella's maintenance dose could be 1/2 tsp/day, but since she's gaining weight, she may only need the 1/4 tsp per day. We'll see what we see. I'm still wanting to try to get her to eat more, but I'm trying not to stress too much about it. I hope you all have a wonderful day and your kitties are staying safe out there!! Sending vines to any and all kitties and beans in need.
) that I am not completely sure I really need the 3x rule anymore. I guess I'm more curious if it would be weird to stop following that (when it was part of our process for so long) and reduce when he goes under 40 instead. 
I used to come on more frequently, and then I felt like I had nothing to say in convos because Lou was doing so well. I took a break because I could, and I think I find it hard to come back more frequently because there's so many new folks. I keep trying though, because I miss you all. So hopefully it'll "click" for me too again, haha. 