9/9 Acro kitty Rocket PM+8 52; dropping since PM+6

Karen&Rocket

Karen&Rocket

Member Since 2019
(8:45 a.m. / pm+10.5 - taking "911" tag down)

Hi all – Rocket just hit a new low of 58 this morning at PM+7.5 (edit: now 52 at PM+8) – this is brand new territory for him. Rocket has acromegaly, which was treated with SRT (radiation therapy) a little over 4 weeks ago, so this might be the start of a downward trend, or just a weird morning (he’s had a couple of those in the recent past, but not this low). Not wanting to take the risk of going below 50, I gave him 1/3 can of FF classic plus about a tsp of FF Gravy Lovers. I’m checking him every 20 mins or so and will keep updating here. (Edit: at 52 I gave him some more gravy.)

Rocket has always been a bouncy kitty, and I’m sure he will be today. Hopefully we'll get through this ok and I'll be looking for advice on what I should shoot today. He’s currently on 13 units of Levemir 2x/day (we’ve been increasing every 6 cycles due to him always being in pinks).

Sorry if this is all over the place. I’m a little sleep-deprived.
 
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Good morning (edited to read Karen it's too early and I haven't had coffee yet), what's that little darling up to this morning?
Will tag @MrWorfMen's Mom cause she might be up and available this morning at this time.
Will be following along so you don't feel alone.
 
Karen, you are doing fine. Let's see where he's at again in 5 or 10 minutes (20 minutes from last test). I'd stick with the gravy for now if he needs something more to boost him up so as not to fill Rocket up too much.
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
Karen, you are doing fine. Let's see where he's at again in 5 or 10 minutes (20 minutes from last test). I'd stick with the gravy for now if he needs something more to boost him up so as not to fill Rocket up too much.
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Morning Linda, thank you :bighug:

He’s now at 62. Should I give him a little more gravy or see if he’s rising on his own?
 
Keskat&Rocket said:
55 now (almost PM +8.5).
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Being that he's on Lev that 55 may be his nadir (here's hoping)

Keskat&Rocket said:
Morning Linda, thank you :bighug:

He’s now at 62. Should I give him a little more gravy or see if he’s rising on his own?
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I would give him some normal food rather than the gravy (high low carb or MC)

And test him again in 30min.
Given he's an acro kitty I'm guessing he's got a good appy?
 
Ok I see he's up to 62 now. Give him a little more gravy .....oh I see you have ESP LOL! .......... to get him up a tad more and then keep him surfing if possible.
 
I know you said you fed the 52, but did you give food at any other time in the cycle?
If so, what did you give and when?
 
My understanding is he got 1/3 can FF and 1 tsp gravy at 58 and more gravy at 52. I think with that large depot in play he needs to come up a bit more at this point in time.
 
Gill & George said:
Being that he's on Lev that 55 may be his nadir (here's hoping)

I would give him some normal food rather than the gravy (high low carb or MC)

And test him again in 30min.
Given he's an acro kitty I'm guessing he's got a good appy?
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Thanks :) Yep, he has a great appetite so that’s good.

MrWorfMen's Mom said:
Ok I see he's up to 62 now. Give him a little more gravy .....oh I see you have ESP LOL! .......... to get him up a tad more and then keep him surfing if possible.
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Thanks! I’ll give him a tiny bit of reg ff with some added gravy. :cat:
 
Keskat&Rocket said:
I fed him at his shot time last night (1/2 can FF pate) and went to bed a little while later. He’s been in pinks for so long figures the one time I don’t get a +3 he decides to sink :banghead: Next time was the 58. Ok, another test incoming.
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Thanks for the info.
So basically fed at pmps and then the 58
No food when you saw the 117@+5?
 
I can’t stay long on the board but yay for green but Rocket, please stay safe!

You’re doing a great job. Hopefully by PS time, you’ll have a comfortable number to shoot. :bighug:
 
Sometimes its helpful to feed the drop at onset, so that would have been at +5 when you caught that blue, I would have given some higher low carb. to try and slow him down.

If you can get ahead of the curve early on with the food they will sometimes come up and surf a little higher for you, giving you a better margin.
Something you can try next time.
 
Gill & George said:
If you can get ahead of the curve early on with the food they will sometimes come up and surf a little higher for you, giving you a better margin.
Something you can try next time.
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Thank you. Much appreciated. :)

58 at PM+9.5. Rocket is being so patient with all the extra testing. My little guy.
 
He's not going to make it easy is he??

I'd give him some more food LC (higher end of LC if you have it) and lets see if he'll surf through to amps for you.

I think it would make sense, to drain the depot, given that he is post srt and something might be going with that. Ideally you'd want to have him surfing a bit higher.
With that in mind I think you would be looking at a depot reducing dose.
But I would wait and see what happens.

How are you fixed for the morning cycle? can you monitor? how exhausted are you?
 
Gill & George said:
I think it would make sense, to drain the depot, given that he is post srt and something might be going with that. Ideally you'd want to have him surfing a bit higher.
With that in mind I think you would be looking at a depot reducing dose.
But I would wait and see what happens.

How are you fixed for the morning cycle? can you monitor? how exhausted are you?
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I’m home today, so that’s good. I am tired but if I can get a short nap in (and coffee!) I should be fine.

I’m assuming Rocket is up for a reduction... as for today, I don’t know. In similar situations I’ve skipped once, and gave a “safe” dose once; both times he bounced pretty badly. I guess he’s going to do that anyway today. Wow, AM shot time is coming soon. :nailbiting:

Edit: changed “reduced” to “gave a safe dose”
 
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I think a bounce is inevitable unfortunately. Good that you are home today to monitor and catch up on some sleep. A bounce may actually be a welcome relief. ;)
 
And we have a 70! Think I should I take the 911 off for now? I’m still testing of course.

Also, if anyone has ideas on what dose to shoot this bouncy acro kitty in about an hour and a half, that’d be great.

:bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
YEAH! FINALLY! Yes you can take the 911 down. But don't let your guard down.

Gill and I were discussing a reduction of 50% but I think it's best to see where BG is at AMPS.
 
Good catch Karen! Yup, I would reduce back to 12 units. Note for lurkers, this is an “acro kitty post SRT” thing only. I reduced below 70, for safety when SRT started working. Note that 50’s are still safe and he’s doing a fabulous surf. Good job.

As for AMPS, you have a couple options. Draining the depot would be a good idea at this point, until you learn how he responds to lows better. Neko always bounced, only had to drain the depot once, when I got a 20’s. :eek: So, option 1 is skip, and get some sleep for heavens sake. Once he’s heading up on his own without high carbs, which is why low carb is good at this point. Option 2 is a half dose this morning. If he bounces you will get sleep, if he doesn’t you may not. Once you learn how Rocket handles these kinds of numbers, you may be able to change to a 2/3 or regular dose as a depot drainer - that worked for me, but ECID.
 
Keskat&Rocket said:
I guess he’s going to do that anyway today.
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That would be my guess too, though I have known it when they just stop bouncing.

I looked at those two other times you mentioned.

Looking at those numbers you can see that he started to rise after his morning meal, that would have been in part his breakfast and in part the cycle coming to its normal end.

In the skip you can see that amps was 66 and by +5 he was pink. If you had shot on that day the lev dose would have started to onset at around +4/+5 and that would have mitigated the rise somewhat.
With Lev when you shoot you are not shooting the number he is at AMPS but rather where he will be at +4/+5, so trying to work out which way he is heading at amps will help you make a decision.

Yay on 70!!
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Good catch Karen! Yup, I would reduce back to 12 units. Note for lurkers, this is an “acro kitty post SRT” thing only. I reduced below 70, for safety when SRT started working. Note that 50’s are still safe and he’s doing a fabulous surf. Good job.

As for AMPS, you have a couple options. Draining the depot would be a good idea at this point, until you learn how he responds to lows better. Neko always bounced, only had to drain the depot once, when I got a 20’s. :eek: So, option 1 is skip, and get some sleep for heavens sake. Once he’s heading up on his own without high carbs, which is why low carb is good at this point. Option 2 is a half dose this morning. If he bounces you will get sleep, if he doesn’t you may not. Once you learn how Rocket handles these kinds of numbers, you may be able to change to a 2/3 or regular dose as a depot drainer - that worked for me, but ECID.
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Thank you again Wendy, as always. I just want to be sure I understand absolutely:

I'm leaning towards giving a half dose (that would be 6.5 at this point) to try to mitigate the bounce (I'm looking at 8/21 and 8/23 on his spreadsheet). Depending on what he does between now and shot time, of course. So if I do that, and all goes well-ish, then we go immediately back up to 12 units (one unit reduction) tonight?
 
One other thing, keep good notes on the spreadsheet, maybe the Remarks section, when you have to feed extra food. Note when, how much and what carbs. Those notes will help you figure out how he responds, and what you have to feed next time you see lower numbers. Cats differ in how carb sensitive they are. Neko could surf the 50’s with freeze dried treats.

Cats can take up to 30 minutes to respond to carbs. In safe numbers like the 50’s, you can test every 30 minutes. Over 80 you can go to once an hour testing until over 100.

Hind sight is perfect, looks like that early morning +4 would be a good idea most nights.

What you decide to do at AMPS should depend on his BG at the time - no more carbs now if you can, plus how tired you are and your ability to monitor. Larger depots last a while after a reduction. That is both good and bad. The good is that the impacts of a skip or reduced dose won’t last long.

How long between his last food and AMPS? Just wondering how food influenced that number will be.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
One other thing, keep good notes on the spreadsheet, maybe the Remarks section, when you have to feed extra food. Note when, how much and what carbs. Those notes will help you figure out how he responds, and what you have to feed next time you see lower numbers. Cats differ in how carb sensitive they are. Neko could surf the 50’s with freeze dried treats.

Cats can take up to 30 minutes to respond to carbs. In safe numbers like the 50’s, you can test every 30 minutes. Over 80 you can go to once an hour testing until over 100.

Hind sight is perfect, looks like that early morning +4 would be a good idea most nights.

What you decide to do at AMPS should depend on his BG at the time - no more carbs now if you can, plus how tired you are and your ability to monitor. Larger depots last a while after a reduction. That is both good and bad. The good is that the impacts of a skip or reduced dose won’t last long.

How long between his last food and AMPS? Just wondering how food influenced that number will be.
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Last couple of teaspoons (ff pate with a little gravy mixed in) was about a half hour ago. So a little less than two hours pre-shot.
 
New dose is 12 units, your call whether you want to do 6 or 6.5 as a depot drainer this morning. We call them BCS or big chicken shots. Then you do go to 12 units tonight. If he wasn’t post SRT, I would suggest 12.5, cause you just want the nadirs a little higher, but post SRT throws the rules out the window and embraces caution.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
New dose is 12 units, your call whether you want to do 6 or 6.5 as a depot drainer this morning. We call them BCS or big chicken shots. Then you do go to 12 units tonight. If he wasn’t post SRT, I would suggest 12.5, cause you just want the nadirs a little higher, but post SRT throws the rules out the window and embraces caution.
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Absolutely agree. I just hope we're able to see some more blues soon, and that he doesn't decide to go back up into the pinks (and stay there) again.

Edit: I'll try to keep better notes on when I fed what next time.
 
Good to know on the food, so his number will be a bit influenced. Something to keep in mind. Thankfully with Lev, it is another four hours or so before onset so numbers will keep rising. If his numbers are 80 or above at preshot, I strongly recommend a 2-3 hour nap if you can.

Are you OK with the plan? I was up well before the crack of dawn to get my 12 km on the water. Pillow is calling.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Good to know on the food, so his number will be a bit influenced. Something to keep in mind. Thankfully with Lev, it is another four hours or so before onset so numbers will keep rising. If his numbers are 80 or above at preshot, I strongly recommend a 2-3 hour nap if you can.

Are you OK with the plan? I was up well before the crack of dawn to get my 12 km on the water. Pillow is calling.
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So... if 80 or higher, go with a half dose? I'm good with it, thank you so much :)
 
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