9/14-Fitzel - AMBG - 128/+8.5-141

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Re: 9/14-Fitzel - AMBG - 128

Good afternoon Shai and Fitzel!

I hope her appy picks up for you and all is well.

On the food trial, let's give it another go. If you get a blue PS, don't shoot. Feed her a little and then retest in 3-4 hours and see what her number is. Let's see if she will start bringing herself down.

What do you think?
 
Re: 9/14-Fitzel - AMBG - 128

Let's take it a cycle at a time. you can always ask for thoughts about whether you should shoot if the number worries you. But a blue number would be 199-100. And obviously if you get a PS below 100, you aren't going to shoot ;-)

I'm really sorry she is not herself. Sending lots of hugs and prayers her way.
 
@Rhiannon - I'm always on the hunt for something new and tasty for her. I check at the big chains, like PetCo, but I also go to the smaller mom and pop feed stores and look there. I've found a few new-ish ones - new flavors of brands I already have tried. I've tried Merrick, Blue, Evo, FF classics, Werthua (sp?), Soulistic, Tiki, BFF, Solid Gold, Before Grain... I'm probably leaving one or two brands out. Have you tried anything not on this list which I might look for? I'm also going to try Bonito Flakes or FortiFlora or Tuna Flakes.

It's really beginning to scare me that she's so listless today - not interested in eating - or even fighting me at test time. I'm hoping this is just a reaction to all the testing I had to do yesterday because of the hypo crash. Thanks so much for checking in on us when I know you're not feeling well and your baby is giving you and your hubby such issues at shot time. I'm so sorry Shadow is fighting you so hard. I hope she calms down a bit at some point. There's always that hope.

@Marje - thanks for the suggestion re: when to shoot and not. She hit 141 just a bit ago and I'm not thrilled with the number, but I'm not going to shoot it either. She's such a conundrum. I believe she still needs a wee bit of insulin to help her pancreas - but the rest of her system rebels against the smallest amount of it. And that battle just wrings her out. That might be what I'm seeing today. I sure hope that's all it is. I really appreciate your help here.
 
You're welcome, Shai. Poor little Fitz. We're just going to have to see what the answer is.

But one thing that would help us is if you can get the PS test, feed, and then get another test at +3/+4. That is crucial for us to see if her pancreas is working.

Take a look at Josie's SS. Nothing about this fits the "norm". No one thought Angela should take Josie off insulin. But she did. This totally dumbfounds me. Will she stay in remission? Who knows. But I'm ....dumbfounded.
 
Hi Shai.... I keep a bag of small frozen salad shrimp in the freezer at all times. They're cheap, quickly defrosted and both Tucker and Sophie love them....and sometimes they like the water the shrimp defrosted in too.

The little tubs of Whiskas , pate type, are also a favorite for Tucker. They have more juice.
Have you tried Fancy Feast "appetizers"? A little more expensive, and not normally used as a balanced meal. However, it has lots of tasty broth the kitties love. I usually dump half a container on top of a tin of FF. There are 2 or 3 varieties that have no starch, soy or rice.

I agree with Marje, try again!
 
I agree with Marje, I would feed a snack at the 141 and then test in 3 hours and (if not lower) test again after another hour. Let's see what the pancreas can do.

I wish I could draw pictures here, but here is a "what if" that might help:

+8.5 ~ 141. Let's say you feed a little snack, and after 3 hours she has come down 20 points, to 121. Great! So then you could feed another snack, and maybe she'll come down another 20 points, to 101. Better! Then feed again and she comes down another 20, to 81. Etc. Of course she is not going to be that predictable and come down the same number of points every time, but that's what we're trying to do. Yes, it's a bit of work right now, but worth the investment if it can teach her pancreas to work on its own.

Question, you said "hypo crash" yesterday. Did she have hypo symptoms? Because 48 isn't a hypo number, it's a lower number but it's really pretty ok for a nadir. I don't think the 48 necessarily requires a dose reduction, unless it was very difficult to bring her up from there.
 
@Chris - great ideas. Especially the salad shrimp. Never thought of that before. The FF appetizers sound like a good alternative to peak her appy.

@Marge - I looked at Josie's SS. Wow. That was a gamble which really paid off. Re: staying in remission, as some one who on a personal level has gone in and out of remission I know each day is its own universe and, for good or I'll, tomorrow starts the game all over again. I certainly wish Josie well and send her Bean much light and blessings on this journey.

Today was a day taken up with my own medical issues so getting a PS , feeding and testing in 3-4 hrs will have to wait until tomorrow. I'll be signing off and going to bed after this post.

@libby & Lucy - I think you drew a great pic and I totally get what your saying. It would be fantastic if Fitz reacts as you wrote. I'll do my best to get these numbers tomorrow. Thank you very much for hanging in there with us. Oh about the hypo incident yesterday. I know 48 is not a terrible number. But she was testing lower each time I fed her Temptations and HC food. That's why to me I felt she was in trouble. I'm just glad I shot on a day I knew I'd be home all day. I was prepIng for my own tests today. I'd hate to even think where she'd have ended up of I wasn't around to feed her the HC.
 
Shai and The Pirate Fitz said:
@libby & Lucy - I think you drew a great pic and I totally get what your saying. It would be fantastic if Fitz reacts as you wrote. I'll do my best to get these numbers tomorrow. Thank you very much for hanging in there with us. Oh about the hypo incident yesterday. I know 48 is not a terrible number. But she was testing lower each time I fed her Temptations and HC food. That's why to me I felt she was in trouble. I'm just glad I shot on a day I knew I'd be home all day. I was prepIng for my own tests today. I'd hate to even think where she'd have ended up of I wasn't around to feed her the HC.
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Good luck with your tests. I hope everything works out the way you want it to.

It is quite likely that if you hadn't been feeding HC, she still would have ended up around 48. Maybe a few points lower, but probably it wouldn't have been a lot. She has a late nadir, so she was dropping because she hadn't nadired yet. Next time you can try feeding a few tsp of low carb when you get a low number. Test again in 30 minutes and see what happens. That might be enough to level her out. The only way to know for sure is to try, and if it doesn't work then you can pull out the HC on the next test. It is unlikely to have a symptomatic hypo on 1 drop of insulin. I won't say impossible because I've seen it happen, but with a cat that is otherwise well and has a good appetite, is being monitored, etc. then it is not likely that you would have a problem you can't pull her out of. That doesn't mean you can take low numbers too lightly, of course, but it does mean that you can stay calm and be confident that you can manage Fitzel's numbers.
 
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