9/15 Shadow PMPS 91 +4~84 +5~96

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rhiannon and shadow (GA)

rhiannon and shadow (GA)

Member Since 2012
yesterday
AMPS 104
+3 88
+5 93
PMPS 101
+2 88
+5 96
+6.5 84
AMPS 101


Gave Shadow a successful shot last nite by myself and again this morning. She's back to growling but not being all hysterical.
I have decided she's just very sensitive to her environment and doesn't like changes or stress.
There is no mellow in Shadow. It's tense or less tense. :lol:
She can chill in the sun but she' always vigilant of whether or not it's time to go hide.
We have two barking droolers who we are having a difficult time getting them to learn to stop when we say so.
So we've been ringing the doorbell to "practice".
Doorbell to Shadow often means time to run off.
Guess I'm going to have to look into a bark collar. I think our county rents them out. Hate to do it but we aren't making any progress
anyway.
I have realized that our dose at the moment isn't reduction friendly. And of course, neither is my eyesight. I ordered some 3.5 reading
glasses so I hope they "clarify" things for me.
So I had to change what I was calling .75 to .85 because otherwise our next reduction will really be off with what the syringe says.
So the next reductions will have to be called .75. I'm using the caliper and going by that decrease number.
If I am to reduce by .15 each time, I have 11 more reduction decreases. 1.65 divided by .15 = 11
Its hard to imagine 11 more decreases . I'll have to go ask Marje.
Got a couple of hours before time to go to ABQ. could have gone back to bed but I can also hang out with Shadow this way.
Probably going to feed her some 7% as we leave , it doesn't seem to make her rise that much over the 5% or 2 %.

I will think of you all when they set that Ultimate Feast in front of me for lunch.
Hope everyone has a great Caturday.






http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=79066&p=854455#p854455
 
Re: 9/15 Shadow AMPS 101

Hi Rhiannon,

Happy Birthday! I had to go back to your yesterday's condo (which I missed the first time around) to discover what Ultimate Feast is!! Shows you how "with it" I am!! I hope you will have a lovely Feast and that your cold will get better so that you can enjoy the food.

Sorry to hear about how painful/distressful the shot is for Shadow. Do you hold the syringe so that it is as parallel to her body as possible? Where do you shoot? I shoot Rusty in the scruff and he rarely reacts. When I tried shooting him in the area on his side, behind the shoulder, I was unsuccessful because of his long hair (couldn't find skin!) and he tended to squirm. With shooting in the scruff, he lies down on the floor and is very calm and patient during the shot. (I used to shoot Stu behind the shoulder while he was eating and never had problems, but he was a short-hair and had his face buried in his bowl!) (Rusty doesn't enjoy being shot while eating.)

I'm pretty much of a math cripple, but I think you just have to call the dose something that approximates a "traditional" dose number and then keep track of the mm. in a separate comment. Are you shooting 1.65mm as measured with the calipers on a Terumo syringe at present? Are you calling a drop ".15mm" ? I measure my drops as .11 mm. The whole process of switching syringes, using calipers, dealing with the TTs, etc. was a drag, but I think it was worth it to have a better idea of what you are actually shooting.

So have a Happy Birthday and a HEALTHY year ahead!!

Ella & Rusty
 
Re: 9/15 Shadow AMPS 101

Good start to the day for Shadow! Microdosing can be tricky so I hope the 3.5 reading glasses coupled with the calipers will help make things easier for you :-D
Surf it out safely Shadow so your beasn can have a super time in ABQ!
 
Re: 9/15 Shadow AMPS 101

Morning Rhiannon ~O) ~O) ~O) and enjoy the ultimate feast! That sounds really great.

It is good to read that Shadow did better with the shot today. YAY! And what a relief I am sure. Sorry for the bark issue with the droolers. I hope you are able to get that resolved. And FWIW: I'm a scruff shooter too. Mannie never reacts to that location. Tried the side once and that was such an ordeal: what growls and hisses. Back to the scruff for us.

Wish you luck with the microdosing. such a hassle to do accurately.

Enjoy your day today!
 
Re: 9/15 Shadow AMPS 101

Hi Rhiannon, enjoy the Ultimate Feast today and hope your cold is better. Now what is "ABQ"? I'm learning new lingo! :-D I'm so sorry Shadow is still growling with the shot. Some good advice from Ella above. Thanks for stopping by earlier and helping with my ss! Have a great day today.
 
Re: 9/15 Shadow AMPS 101

Happy Birthday Rhiannon!! I hope you enjoy your Ultimate Feast despite the cold symptoms!

Sending calming vines for beautiful Shadow and shot time. You have so much patience and dedication to get through the difficulties!!

Have a great Caturday!
 
Re: 9/15 Shadow AMPS 101

Hi Rhiannon,

I'm sorry you're having such a hard time shooting Shadow. Is she comfortable with testing or is it all pokes? Racci lies down nice and calm for hers. I give it in the scruff also. She did not like it in the side at all. The only time she gives me a hard time is if I am in the wrong spot. Are you sure you're not hitting some area that hurts? When you give the shot, the chiseled spot should be up and as was said, the syringe should be parallel to the body and the skin should be pulled out as far as possible before shooting so you get in it and not in a bad spot or a fur shot. If worse comes to worse, you might try wrapping her like a burrito.

Happy Birthday! I hope you have a good time!

Melanie & Racci
 
Re: 9/15 Shadow AMPS 101

Hi Rhiannon,

Good on you for shooting all by yourself!! Our civviecat Zack is the same temperament as Shadow, and I always wonder how I would ever be able to bg test and insulin dose him, so my hat is off to you!!

And thanks for all the information about calipers and measuring micro doses (is that what they are called?) that I am getting by reading your condo. I`m going to start looking for a caliper and better glasses now; at our present dose it is not so critical but even so it would be better to be giving a more exactly consistent dose I am sure. And if we start giving smaller doses in the future we will be ready. Thanks for everything we are learning from you!!

Sounds like a lot on your plate with the droolers' situation alone, and then how it is affecting Shadow. I hope it calms down soon :razz:

Thank you for your visit last night, it surely cheered us up!!

Alexa&Reuben
 
Re: 9/15 Shadow AMPS 101

That's great you were able to give Shadow her shot two times in a row without a fight. Hopefully she'll continue to let you. I hope you enjoyed your lunch.
 
Re: 9/15 Shadow AMPS 101

Rhiannon

Shadow is looking very, very good on this current dose whether you call it .85 or .75. What you call it doesn't matter as long as you are consistent.

What I can suggest for you is that you make up a chart now for what each of your .15 decreases will be called and what the mm reading is for it. If the .15mm decreases are working for Shadow, then it's not a big deal to just name them something. So far, it seems like she is doing fine with it.

As an example...and this is only an example and you'll need to figure it out for you and Shadow, but consider:
.85u = 1.65 mm
.75u = 1.50 mm
.65u = 1.35 mm
.55u = 1.20 mm
.45u = 1.05 mm
.35u = 0.90 mm
.25u = 0.75 mm
.15u = 0.60 mm
.1u = 0.45 mm
.05u = 0.30 mm
1 drop = 0.15 mm
OTJ trial

I wouldn't make it more complicated than it needs to be. Try to dial in 0.15mm on the syringe and see how much insulin it is. If it is more than one drop, than just readjust your doses. Again, what matters most is consistency. And let's say you need to take a .25u reduction, for example, at .75u. Then just drop from 1.5mm to something in between 1.05 and 1.20 mm. Again....the most important thing is consistency and being sure you take enough of a reduction to keep her safe.
Because she is not generally earning her reductions by going low, you are probably ok to keep shaving it that is what you want to do. But if you want to get brave and start taking bigger reductions, then just rethink your caliper measurements.

The important thing to remember besides consistency is that Rusty and Gracie are long-term diabetics and so we tend to shave more on reductions. Shadow is not and it might be more important at some point to take a bigger reduction than shaving but if you have your chart, then you can dial in an "in between" dose on the calipers to get to the amount of the reduction you want.

Make sense?
 
Re: 9/15 Shadow AMPS 101 +2~85 +2.5~87 +9.5~100

We are back.
ABQ is our nickname for Albuquerque here in NM.

came back to 100 bg. not bad considering.
I left her with some 7% friskies poultry platter and some ff salmon and shrimp ( don't know , but it's less than 10%- i would guess 8%)

Of course, she wants more food now but she has to wait until shot time.
Had great lunch. We always get the same thing everytime we go there but it's always at least $100 for 4.
Grampa told us that my DH's sister mistakenly put superglue in her eye; reached over for her eyedrops and did that. She must have had
an ointment because superglue is in a tube. It's highly suspect that alcohol was involved. She has that problem.

Sounds like quite a few of you are using the scruff instead of the flank. I was doing the flank because that's what I read was the better
place to do it. And yes, I am parallel to her spine, nice flat angle.
She's just very sensitive to the needle going in, no matter where.
I should think of her like myself. When I was young, I would get hysterical anytime they said shot, and every surgery I had required that
blood draw when we checked in the hospital. I would scream bloody murder and run down the halls shrieking the first 10 years of my life.
10 surgeries.
 
Re: 9/15 Shadow AMPS 101 +2~85 +2.5~87 +9.5~100

I have been where you are with Moonie & her first months here, and I do understand--You alone should shoot her, and the scruff, or between the shoulders is less sensitive than the flank, from what I have experienced with Moonie...It takes time & Patience to finally get them to understand that you are not hurting them, That the shot does help them, but you also need to go into it with the most calm you can muster--
I am Sending you our LL Patience Pants which we all have used & passed on to other members when they need them.. They do help--You are doing a great job, regardless of the rukus from Shadow~~~Look at her great numbers!!!!
So just keep it up, be calm, it will all fall into a pattern one day & become easier for you--Hugs from us!!
 
Re: 9/15 Shadow AMPS 101 +2~85 +2.5~87 +9.5~100

Hi again,
I didn't realize that you were shooting into the flank. That is definitely a very sensitive place and I believe that everyone who has tried flank shots has soon abandoned that idea! Either the side (just behind the shoulder) or the scruff, as Roni says, are preferable (from the cat's point of view!!. I read once that shots in the scruff are not as well absorbed as shots in the side, but that is splitting hairs. The important thing is comfort and trust from the cat. Think of a mother cat picking up her kittens by the scruff and carrying them around. They have less sensitivity there. (A similar situation is the ears; thousands of years of cat fights, where ears are always attacked, have bred less sensitivity into the ears, which is why most cats don't mind their ear tests).

Good luck with shooting in the scruff!!

Ella & Rusty
 
Re: 9/15 Shadow PMPS 91

I've been shooting in the flank the whole time, I've only done the scruff maybe 5 or 6 times total in our two months here.
I did shoot in the scruff tonite and she growled the whole time for that location too.

I tried the clothespin trick early on to see if it calmed her and she hated it.
I think she just agitates easily, is oversensitive and hates the needle poke no matter where.
she's always had a grumpy disposition unless she intitates the cuddle.

I have been calm shooting her too. I talk sweetly and praise her. She's just making sure I don't ever think she's okay with this new
way of life and every once in a while, wants to rebel.
We've got a pretty good routine all things considered.

I got the side rolling technique from Marje and it was working pretty well. I guess I'll try going back and forth and see how Shadow reacts.
 
Re: 9/15 Shadow PMPS 91

We also have abandoned flank shots in favor of scruff shots. I was concerned about the absorption issue until I found out the the most recent OTJ star was a scruff shot kitty. Jasper was free fed as well, (sorry, off topic!!) and I see you free feed also Rhiannon. I am so very Very happy to know this and starting tonight I am going to go back to it. I think this controlled eating is a torture for Reuben, and if free feeding is good enough for Jasper and Shadow, then it`s certainly good enough for us!! If it affects the bg levels I`ll find out.
 
Re: 9/15 Shadow PMPS 91

I shoot all over and I keep track of it on Gracie's SS and have never seen a difference in her numbers based on where I shot. I rotate it so she doesn't get any lipomas or scar tissue. She is a model kitten for her shots (and pokeys).

Are you at all being tentative? That could cause her to be jumpy, too. And you feed as you shoot?
 
Re: 9/15 Shadow PMPS 91

I've gotten pretty relaxed about it.
I've tried to get away from her to load the syringe since I thought maybe seeing that was making her anxious but she follows me into
the kitchen. Our house is kinda dark so I don't have many places to go.

I do have a new gadget that really helps with measuring the syringe with the caliper. Blind folks need lots of light to get it right.

http://www.amazon.com/Artograph-10-...-Box/dp/B000KNHRH6/?tag=felinediabetesfdmb-20
I had one already in the house somewhere from my artwork days but I couldn't find it and ordered another.
I thought you might want to check this out.
 
Re: 9/15 Shadow PMPS 91

I just laughed out loud at the thought of shooting Shasta in the flank!!! I have a feeling she would turn into :twisted: and I might lose a limb or two! :lol:

Lovely PMPS!!! Keep on a surfin' in the greens Shadow! Hope you guys have a lovely evening. Good night, Deborah
 
Re: 9/15 Shadow PMPS 91

So you put the syringe on the pad and turn the light on so you have light from underneath as well as from above? Very smart!!

let me know how you like it and if it helps alot.
 
Oh it helps a lot. I have too many shadows ( wasn't intending that one) when trying to look at that syringe on the table.

I have a glass coffee table that I can put light under it and it acts the same way, I just don't like shoving a light under my table.
I find it very handy.
My eyesight has gone from 20/20 to 20/35 in 2 years.
I also have convergence difficiency which makes me see double at times, especially with numbers since they don't have a brain reference like
reading words. No closure where you know what the word is even if a letter or two are off.
 
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