9/23 Austin AMPS 134, +1 180

[Tara and Austin (Aussie)]

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=25556

I didn't give Austin a shot this morning. I know I could with hold food and see if he is stalling, but I just didn't have time - so I fed him a half portion and checked again before I left. 180 was just low enough to make me uncomfortable when he was 450 or so yesterday AM. I fed him the rest of his LC breakfast and had to go. I feel badly that I don't have more time in the mornings for him, however I'd feel worse if he took a dive. :cry:
I thought that perhaps because he sleeps all night with me, through the night on my bed - would explain the low AM numbers - no snacking at all, etc. I've brought food up to our bedroom and he does not eat in the night, so it's not an issue of leaving out food. Plus with the neuropathy he isn't going up and down the stairs in the night either. (Litter box in our bedroom too - just in case :? )
However yesterday I was thinking he might need a dosecrease. I'll work harder to figure out his bounciness. It seems just when I suspect his body wants to be closer to 3 units (where he last came down to reasonable numbers) - I start to think maybe he doesn't. I will see what his numbers are tonight and shoot as if I skipped a shot at 2.5.

 

[Helene & Tizon]

I would probably have probably also skipped a shot if I had to leave the first time I shot a low blue.... However, when you are home, it's a very good time to get some data so you are comfortable shooting when you have to leave. What you truly need at this time, however is more spot checks. The weekend is coming up, so if you can get several spot checks, people could have a better sense of what is going on with Austin and if his dose needs to be adjusted..... we are missing part of the story.

And one last thing, the check before bedtime is a very important one.... we send the bed time spot check police after people for skipping that one ;-)

ETA - something useful I hope

I was terrified of coming home to a dead cat too. Didn't help that I was kinda going against the advise of my vet and I didn't want to show up with a hypo cat in hand at her clinic either.... BUT I was told a few things which I hammered into my head and it helped alleviate my fear. Here is it...
- You monitor frequently when you are home, so you have 'some' clue of how your cat reacts to insulin.
- Because you carefully go up the dosing scale, not only you cat's body has time to adjust to the dose, but the dose can only be off my 0.25U , which isn't a huge overdose. I'm not saying to take insulin lightly, don't get me wrong.
- Your cat has a liver.... see those bounces, that's the liver working. Consider this a safety feature as well.
- If you have to leave and you worry, you can add a little HC to the regular food or cushion the drop a little with food before you leave. Jackie/Punk is the out-the-door-touch-of-gravy expert... visit her condo if you'd like.

I hope you find this information useful.... I know that it helped me.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Tara:

Remember that you also have the option of shooting a BCS (big chicken sh*t) dose -- a reduced amount of insulin -- rather than the full dose.

I probably asked you this before but... another option is to move your shot time a little earlier. That works if you can get another test before you leave. Alternatively, if you can get a +11, it will let you know if your AMPS is a rising number. If the numbers are going up, you have more confidence with respect to shooting.

And, of course, you can leave HC food out.

 

[Tara and Austin (Aussie)]

Helen & Sienne just wanted to say thanks for your kind and helpful words. I really appreciate it.