8/8 Bear +4 228 We need a little insite plz

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Re: 8/8 Bear AMPS 316

Good morning Kimberly!

And how is Bear this morning?
A little pink suit, hope he switches outfits soon :-D
 
Re: 8/8 Bear AMPS 316

Saw your picture of Bear from yesterday's post...my goodness..what a handsome kitty! Hope you guys have a nice day...
Lowish pink...maybe something in a yellow today or a blooooooo???
 
Re: 8/8 Bear AMPS 316 +2 556

Well..... we're not in pink land. Can't say I'm excited about that though. We'll see where we go from here.
 
Re: 8/8 Bear AMPS 316

+3 541

It's probably my fault.... I got sick last night and went to bed and didn't thaw any raw so I had to feed the nasty pate with evil rice this morn. I'm going to the store riiiiiight now to score the good stuff. WCF, do you buy anything form the Feed Store on Old Jonestown Rd?
 
Re: 8/8 Bear AMPS 316 +2 556 +3 541

How about if you put a note in your SS about the "evil" food. It will help put those nasty numbers in context.
 
Re: 8/8 Bear AMPS 316 +2 556 +3 541

Yeah, their catnip nanners and lemons LOL. They have great prices for those, esp the nanners.

I've bought NV raw medallions from them a couple of times, but I primarily shop at Abrams & Weakley on 6th St (near Front and Linglestown).

What raw do you feed? For NV raw medallions, if I forget to thaw, all I have to do is leave on counter for 45 mins and it's ready to eat. Probably takes even less time if I stick in hot (tap) water.
 
Re: 8/8 Bear AMPS 316 +2 556 +3 541

I just love the feed store owner... He is so kind and helpful!

We have the Nature's Variety raw patties.... picked them up at That Fish Place/That Pet Place in Lancaster.

Good idea to make a note about evil food, thanks for the tip!
 
Re: 8/8 Bear AMPS 316 +2 556 +3 541

kldanzi said:
I just love the feed store owner... He is so kind and helpful!
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Ask him to show you the Yeowww catnip bananas. They're a hit with every kitty I know! And he sells them cheaper than any other place locally.

We have the Nature's Variety raw patties.... picked them up at That Fish Place/That Pet Place in Lancaster.
Click to expand...
You can get them at The Feed Store, Abrams & Weakley (tell Kristen Meowzi's mom sent you) and SuperPetz on Jonestown Rd. No need to go all the way to Lancaster :)

Does Bear get treats for after-pokeys?
 
Re: 8/8 Bear AMPS 316 +2 556 +3 541 +4 540

what was the food he ate this morning? I don't think a little HC food would have cause this spike (I could be wrong). I'm wondering if Bear went lower last night. He had already dropped quite a bit by +1, and usually they are still rising then.

Today is save-a-strip day, no reason to waste test strips when you're in the 500's. Next time he has a drop last night, though, try to stay up a little later to get some more tests.

Now Bear, surprise mom with a nice number at PMPS...
 
Re: 8/8 Bear AMPS 316 +2 556 +3 541 +4 540

Hi Kimberly. The feed store carries some Merrick flavors that are low carb. Not especially good price there (I get mine online through PetFoodDirect.com), but at least you can get something good quality locally.

Hope Bear comes down from there soon.
 
Re: 8/8 Bear AMPS 316 +2 556 +3 541 +4 540

Bear's been on this dose awhile, might soon be time to increase a little - but not until there are more overnight spot checks to make sure he's not still dropping too low and bouncing.
 
Re: 8/8 Bear AMPS 316 +2 556 +3 541 +4 540

The food was Friskies Classic Pate-Style Turkey and Giblets.

Wow, we have a whole Central PA club going on around here!
 
Re: 8/8 Bear AMPS 316 +2 556 +3 541 +4 540

kldanzi said:
The food was Friskies Classic Pate-Style Turkey and Giblets.
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There are five Friskies Turkey and Giblets flavours listed on Janet and Binky's chart, and they range from 5% to 11% calories from carbs. I'm not so sure it's the food ...

How old is your insulin? You got it from a pharmacy, right, not from the vet hospital?

Re: Merricks, I don't know how much The Feed Store charges. A&W charges $1.20 a can.
 
Re: 8/8 Bear AMPS 316 +11 395 AM Time/Dosing question

Tomorrow is my early AM day at work so I have to give Bear's AM dose an hour early. Should I adjust the amount up or down or should I stick with 1u?

It is time for new insulin but low and behold, the pharmacy is not open on Sundays! (That probably should have occurred to us before we went but days get confused when you are a cook.... not a normal schedule to be on.)
 
Re: 8/8 Bear AMPS 316 +2 556 +3 541 +4 540

Nina and KB said:
Bear's been on this dose awhile, might soon be time to increase a little - but not until there are more overnight spot checks to make sure he's not still dropping too low and bouncing.
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I am trying to get more overnight updates but BF is not too keen on the ear poking. He is going to try it for the pmps tonight and see how he feels.
 
Re: 8/8 Bear AMPS 316 +11 395 AM Time/Dosing question

People who name their cat Bear are definitely the coolest! :-D
 
Re: 8/8 Bear AMPS 316 +11 395 AM Time/Dosing question

kldanzi said:
It is time for new insulin but low and behold, the pharmacy is not open on Sundays! (That probably should have occurred to us before we went but days get confused when you are a cook.... not a normal schedule to be on.)
Click to expand...
Do you use vials or cartridges? Cartridges end up being cheaper (eta: usually. Unless you have a high-dose kitty). If you're using vials, I'd hold off on buying for a day, and call the vet tomorrow and ask for a rx for cartridges.

Also, if you haven't done so, call around for price quotes - it can vary very significantly. CVS tends to be more expensive than Rite Aid, and Costco usually has good prices and you don't have to be a member to use their pharmacy. K Mart gives a pet discount, I forget if it's 10% or higher. You can get Bear a Rite Aid card in his name if you choose to purchase there.
 
Re: 8/8 Bear AMPS 316 +11 395 AM Time/Dosing question

We use Costco. We called around and they had the best prices. We buy vials but the pharmacist at CVS (where we got needles one time) said he thinks that Lantus will be sold by the half vial soon.

These cartridges, I am not sure how they work? I went to the Lantus website and it said you can dial the pen from 1u to 80u but I know many people around here use less than 1u. Also, it said it is preloaded with 500 more units than a vial. Won't it expire before you use it because it contains more? Lastly, it claims to be a 24 hour insulin... is that just a claim for humans because kitties metabolize faster?
 
Re: 8/8 Bear AMPS 316 PMPS 375 AM Time/Dosing question

Yaaaaaaaaaaay, my daaaaahling boyfriend just nailed his first solo ear prick so hopefully I will be able to provide double the info in the next few days!
 
Re: 8/8 Bear PMPS 375 +1 361 +2 351 We need a little insite plz

Hello everyone!

Sean, the bf, who is the REAL papabean of Bear learned how to BG test tonight and did two tests on his own! We are very proud of him and Bear is his beloved friend.

I taught him to use the spreadsheet tonight and he has a few questions. If someone would be kind enough to address them it would be a HUGE help.

Sean is wondering why we haven't increased Bear's dose yet considering his numbers are staying so high. He wants to up it to 1.5u starting tomorrow. I told him that everyone wants to see Bear's numbers for 7 days at 1.0u but he wants to know what you all think. If someone could explain to him in a kind and caring way what the goal is here, it would be a burden off of my shoulders.

He has not done any research and is not inclined to.... he's not a huge fan of the internet and relies on me for most of his info. I am Bear's primary caregiver but I'd reeeeeeeaaly like him to be more involved. Does anyone have a "Dear Diabetic Cat Owner, We are here to help you" letter that doesn't involve a lot of reading or links???

I know it is a lot to ask but you guys are so awesome, I was hoping someone could help me out with this one more thing!!
 
Re: 8/8 Bear PMPS 375 +1 361 +2 351 We need a little insite plz

Ordinarily, you'd want to hold the dose for another day or so. Given what the spot checks looked like today, how about increasing by 0.25u tomorrow? I suspect you got some lower numbers last night resulting in the bounce today. It would have been great to know where things went last night. Ordinarily. the initial dose is held in order to build the shed. A small amount of those initial doses goes to the shed so it's not available to work on BG numbers. Once the shed is full, the entire dose is available which is why we try to not increase too soon.

What kind of info are you looking for? Some of what's around is specific and some is more general. You could always send him to the Pet Wiki diabetes page.
 
Re: 8/8 Bear PMPS 375 +3 254 We need a little insite plz

DBF's third poke success +3 254!

Sienne, I am looking for a intro that doesn't require much reading and no looking up technical terms. Specifically, I need someone to tell him why the testing is important and what we are doing with Bear during this week.... also how you all are helping to make decisions. He is having trouble understanding why we decreased the dose so much from the vet's 7.0u and why we are waiting to increase it again. He feels like that much of a decrease is BAD and I am having trouble helping him understand that it is the path to a better life for us all! Lastly, if we could put onset, nadir, etc is laymen's terms? Something he might comprehend without too much research? I'm not saying that he's stupid, he is just an ADD kid who need all the info right in front of him as simply as possible or he gets bored and frustrated.

Thank you to anyone who can help me! <3 <3 <3
 
Argh, juuuust when things start going well! DBF got his fourth test but used two strips to do it and as I was reloading the strip for him I realized I only have ONE left for tomorrow morning!! I guess that concludes the tests for tonight! I swear I just bought that bottle Friday!

At least the BF is feeling more confident with the ear poking which should lead to many more numbers being filled in on the SS!!

So advice: It IS more important for me to get his AMPS than for BF to test again tonight right??
 
I think one of the more useful pieces of information for your DBF to read is the dosing protocol The sticky is the short version. he may want to look at the more formal version of the Tight Regulation Protocol or, as it's more commonly called, the Tilly Protocol.

The easy answer to why you don't want to be giving the vet recommended 7.0u is that initial dose of Lantus is based on a formula. (It's in the Tilly link.) The formula is: initial dose = cat's ideal weight in kilograms x 0.25. For most cats, the initial dose works out to somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.0u. There's a more than good chance that 7.0u would have put Bear in a hypoglycemic crisis or in a state of chronic rebound. Neither would be good. Instead, we start at a low range and gradually and safely work up to an ideal dose. In this way, rebound is minimized as is the risk for hypoglycemia.

Nadir, also called peak, is where BG is at its the lowest point in the cycle. Ideally, it's when the insulin is at its peak of effectiveness and is bringing BG numbers to their lowest point.

Onset is when the insulin you've given starts to work. Generally, if there is a food spike, the insulin will work to bring numbers from food back down. (This is the way the insulin produced by the pancreas would work. The rise in BG from food would trigger the release of insulin from the beta cells in the pancreas thus helping to move food that's been converted into a usable form, glucose, into the cells where the body can use it.)

Duration is how long insulin lasts in the cycle. It when you see numbers rising. (This gets a little confusing because numbers can rise sharply due to a bounce but it doesn't mean that the duration of the insulin has been shortened.)

The reason we do BG curves (i.e., testing every 2 hours or a mini-curve -- testing eery 3 hours) is to get an idea of where onset, nadir, and duration are. One point, though, about nadir. It is not a fixed point in the cycle. It can move. If you look at Gabby's SS, you will see there are days when her nadir is early in the cycle, some days when it's in the middle, and other days when it's late.
 
The +4 228 is good. Since you only have one strip left, I would give him some extra food tonight, just to be sure, and save the strip for the AMPS tomorrow morning, unless he starts to act unusual tonight, you should be okay. You may need to run out and buy strips tomorrow morning right after the AMPS depending on the number.
I always buy more strips whenever I'm down to like 100. I buy them off of EBay to save $.

Great job today DBF!
 
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