Alex and our weekend from hell

[Ginny & Alex]

Many of you know that Alex is a cat with an attitude and it has taken me months to find a pet sitter that Alex would allow to give him the insulin shots. I have a friend who does this for me occasionally, and I've found a vet and a vet tech who are willing to feed and give shots (no testing though). So, this weekend, Stan and I planned a trip to visit my parents (about 4 hours away) to help them do some chores around their house. Vet tech was willing to give Friday PM shot, Saturday's shots and Sunday morning's shot. Saturday afternoon, I decided to text Amber to ask how she and Alex were getting along. Friday went fine, but Saturday morning, while he ate and took treats, he was hissing and growling at shot time, so she skipped the shot. She planned to go over early for PM shot and "hang" with Alex. Around 6:30 pm, she called and said Alex wasn't having anything to do with shots. I called my friend and she was also out of town. I called the vet (who is in a boot and can't drive). She was willing to get her husband to drive to 20-25 minutes and give the shot. She too struck out. Sunday, it was more of the same. By this time, I was quite fretful and we came home early.

So, at +46, Alex was 233 and negative for ketones. Furthermore, if you look at our SS, we don't get better than 233 all that often!!!!

How can this be explained?

Stan and I have a big trip planned at the end of May and I'm scared to death that he'll be in another of his moods.

 

[Ginny & Alex]

we shot 1.6 (a dose we've settled into lately) both last night and this morning. Today's PMPS is 341.
So, for this snapshot, he has done better on no insulin than his regular dose.

 

[Catannc]

I would guess after reviewing your SS that he either has the same curve without insulin and the dose doesn't do much, or that he has some P function and is able to stay flat at least without insulin.

 

[kse]

Ole Alex is up to his old tricks....you know what I am going to say.....Calming Collar!!!!

Truly, I do think it is interesting to see cats that have better numbers or the same with no insulin. Lu just did the same type of test for Grayson on one cycle. She was shooting 6 units and not getting much movement, so after much discussion she decided to not shoot one cycle (same as a furshot, which we have all done) and see what happened---- he had lower numbers than he did on the 6 units. I also had the same thing happen with Chewy-- when he got in the 180s, I tried to shoot small doses to drive him down and his numbers went up. Since his numbers were low enough to be safe-- mid 100s--I decided to not shoot and see what happened. He continued to come down on his own--but, when I shot he stayed higher. He is now OTJ for a month and is below 100. No, I don't think that is what you need to do with Alex, but it is interesting. It appears, to me, that if the numbers are higher with insulin- that there are two possibilities-- the dose is too high and the body is fighting it, OR that there was no drop without insulin--flat cycles, thus no bounce at the end of the cycles caused by the liver fighting back. I would be tempted to drop the dose if I was you and see what happened for a few cycles....AND CHECK for ketones!

Good to Hear from You!

 

[Barbara]

I have no words of wisdom Ginny just wanted to say hello. I was on the board somewhere the other day & someone mentioned calming collars & I thought of you & Alex. :lol: Maybe he needs some kitty prozac. I think I've seen people on here talking about it.

 

[Ginny & Alex]

Kim and Barb,
It's so good to hear from you both. Brings back memories of when we were all newbies.

I'm so busy and stressed with work that I don't post much, but I kinda know what's going on with Kitty and Chewy, but tell me what's happening with Thumper.

When I talked with the gals that were trying to take care of Alex, I knew they needed calming collars too. It was as stressful for them as it was for me.

I told hubby tonight that sometimes I was tempted to start all over at 1unit and go from there, but maybe I should reduce in smaller steps.

 

[Barbara]

I haven't been posting much either, just barely keeping my head above water between work & cats with issues. Thank goodness DH is not working cause he's been able to do the vet runs. Civvie Josie is dealing with a rodent ulcer or something for weeks, she finally had a dental today & they are doing a biopsy just in case. One of the others, Callie, has been dealing with vomiting & some stage 1 or 2 kidney troubles. She has lost a lot of weight, she's down about 1.5 pounds since last summer but still has a good appetite & is pretty feisty, they just can't really find out why she's loosing weight. Thumper......that girl is bound & determined to get the best of me. She does nothing that would be typical. I don't know if you read my post about her hip trouble? She is getting laser therapy & adequan injections once a week for that and Bupe when we feel she needs it. Just last week she started giving me some good numbers, in fact we had to skip a shot a few times and at the same time her appetite decreased. I had to go get her to feed her a few times but thankfully her appetite is back. She started doing something weird with her mouth while she was eating this weekend & sure enough she's got some gingivitis & possibly something else going on. I'm getting this info from DH who took her in today so I don't think I got the full story. ohmygod_smile The vet put her on Clindamycin & I'm thinking she's gonna have to have a dental soon. Everything I have ever read said when they are in pain their #'s would go high so I'm confused as to why all of a sudden she's giving me some good numbers. I would have thought if her teeth are bothering her she would have high numbers. I think all this trouble we have had in the past is due to the hip pain so maybe we are finally getting a grip on that, it's just hard to say. I want greens for her but now that I'm finally getting some I start thinking something bad is going on! You never know what the next day is gonna bring around here. I'm tired....3 cats on different meds & Callie getting fluids twice a week is exhausting! I hope you figure out something with Alex! Good to hear from you!