8/3 Clare AMPS 199 +6 242 OK to increase dose?

[Georgette and Clare]

Dear LL Friends,

Sending love and light to Mariko and Lucy today.

Last condo: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=122473

I haven't posted in a week or so. My husband, Don, went into the hospital on Monday night with an unexplained fever of 102. After lots of tests, still no diagnosis. So we sprang him on Tuesday with tylenol and ibuprofen to help his symptoms. On Wednesday night, a rash appeared on his leg that confirmed he was bitten by a tick and had Lyme disease. Thank goodness it's easily treatable with antibiotics. In the early stages it sometimes doesn't show up on the tests. So now he's on the mend and feels a lot better.

We were able to keep Clare on her dosage during the week but missed some tests. Now I think it's time to increase Clare's dosage but I'm asking for your help to do it. I'm hoping for, but I'm also afraid of, the greens so I'd be grateful for some hand holding through the process. In an earlier post, someone advised me to get some more PM numbers and I was waiting until Don felt better -- I haven't learned to do the tests solo.

Do you agree that it's time to increase the dose? Should we do a nighttime curve before we make the increase? Or increase the dose and then monitor her carefully? Or both?

I've learned a lot in reading through others' posts. When I look at Clare's spreadsheet now, I think I missed an opportunity early on to bring her into the greens; but I got worried and reduced the dose too quickly.

I'd be happy for the advice. Thanks so much, LL friends! :smile:

 

[Sandy and Black Kitty]

Hi there

I'm so glad to hear the source of you DHs fever was discovered. Nowadays a fever of unknown origin should be taken extremely seriously.

From the data you do have, she has seen green at this dose during the AM, which is good.
Many kitties see lower numbers on the PM cycle so a big part of the picture is missing.
In order to make a safe dosing decision with any confidence more data will be needed.

My $0.02-
First things first, once you and DH are able to, get some PM testing in.
If you can do a full curve - great, but not necessary.

However if you can manage to habitually vary your mid cycle testing times for both AM and PM cycles you will be amazed at the picture that will emerge.
Even if you are only able to get 1 mid cycle test each PM, varying the timing of the test can provide more insight and confidence in your decisions.
You will know you have a good picture if when you step back from the ss you don''t see any 'wide open spaces' where no values appear.

Clare being newly diagnosed (<1yr) is an advantage, one well worth all efforts possible to make the most of .

 

[Georgette and Clare]

Thanks, Sandy. I appreciate your advice and experience. We'll work on filling out the spreadsheet for awhile, and then come back to the dosing decision when we have a better idea of Clare's patterns.

One question: what do you do about timing of her meals and snacks? Clare was severely underweight when diagnosed. She lost about 1/3 of her weight (from 9 lbs to 6 lbs) before she started gaining weight again. She's hungry about every three hours; but I read that it's good to have her without food for at least 2 hours before a BG test. Do you have any ideas about a good program for Clare for feeding? We've got her on the <5% carb Fancy Feast and 9 lives varieties now and she's happy with those, and the PureBites treats.

 

[Sandy and Black Kitty]

Regarding feeding, ECID. . .

My Black Kitty experienced serious weight loss and was down to 7.5lbs, around July of 2008, a low point in many ways.
By New Years 2009 he was 13lbs (a butterball) :lol: He is now around 10lbs and looks good.

What I did back in the day (FDMB class of 2008-2009 ;-) ) was to purchase this timed feeder.
It was (and continues to be) a lifesaver. Particularly since BK does not live in the house, he lives in a cottage out back and unless I slept there (which I did plenty of ) was alone on the overnights.

I fed and continue to feed Black Kitty around the clock.
Back then I would personally feed at AM & PM shot times but between shots program mini-meals at +4 and +8.
When I realized that I had no idea if he was eating the +8 meal right away or grazing until PS time, I programmed the feeder to deploy at +10, both AM & PM.
This way I could be sure that he did not eat anything after +10.
So as not to be cruel (have the feeder deploy only to reveal an empty compartment) I placed a chunk of freeze dried chicken breast (kitty crack) in the +10 compartment.

Since our time different feeding timing methods have been found to be good for a variety of situations, depending on the cats circumstances & responses (BK was an anomaly back then). Hopefully others will chime in with some of those methods as they may be useful to Clare.

 

[julie & punkin (ga)]

i think sandy's plan is good. different cats are different and because punkin would not graze, but would eat 100% of the food i gave him the moment i set the plate down, i routinely fed him at preshot and +3. if he had food after +6, past his typical nadir, it would increase his numbers in the second half of the cycle causing a very high next preshot.

cats don't have to eat every hour. i think you'll want to experiment and see what effect eating has on Clare's BGs and decide from that when to feed. Mostly I encourage new people to feed in the first few hours of eacj cycle if their cat is a vacuum like punkin was. some cats with delicate appetites will graze around the clock and it isn't a problem.

you do want to feed her enough that she regains weight to a healthy level.

i'm so glad your husband is ok. we are waiting for Lyme disease test results for my youngest daughter now. it seems to be common.

 

[Georgette and Clare]

8/4 Clare +4 242

Previous Condo: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=122874

Clare vomited a little this morning before breakfast and we now think she's got furrballs. She's had a lot of shedding the last few days and is grooming herself pretty often now. Her poo looks pretty hard. So we've started her on 1/4 t of Miralax with each meal. She's not mewing as much this morning and seems more comfortable, and hasn't vomited any more yet today. So far, so good. :roll:

Don and I do the testing together, so we've been taking it easy while he's recuperating. We haven't missed a dose though. We'll try filling in more of the later AM cycle today and get in an early PM cycle number.

As far as getting Clare on a regular eating schedule (she's been a pretty much a grazer thus far), thanks to Sandy and Julie for your ideas. I don't think that Clare is really a scarfer (of course, we haven't been withholding her food that much so far) but she does typically eat about 2/3-3/4 of her meal at the outset and then leaves the rest for a bit later on. So I think the timed feeder is a good thing to try, especially in the PM. I like your trick of giving a treat at +10, Sandy. Hopefully the feeder will survive: Clare might be one of those cats who tries to figure the feeder's mechanism out -- she's pretty much into things when she's feeling good. She's our only kitty so far who likes having her treats given to her inside of the rolling egg! :lol: We'll just need to give it a try.

 

[julie & punkin (ga)]

there was a recent discussion here about autofeeders that might be helpful to you.