AMPS 316

Lisa and little

Lisa and little

Member Since 2018
Hi all,
I can’t figure out what could be going on here but numbers the last 2 weeks are awful and seem to be getting worse. She seems normal other than what we believe to be her feline hyperesthesia acting up more. I have had a tragic 2021 so far and these numbers are going to send me over the edge. I’m calling the vet this AM. Any thoughts on what may be going on would be greatly appreciated.
 
Lisa and little said:
Any thoughts on what may be going on would be greatly appreciated.
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I think you need to take the dose up. This isn't getting her into good numbers. I would go up to 4.5, the standard increase with TR, I know you were trying the fattening doses after she dropped into the 30's back in july 2020 and that seemed to work for a while, but it looks to me that is not being effective now and may be a bit to cautious of an approach.
Taking her up too cautiously by fattening dose may be contributing to glucose toxicity, because she spends more time out of the healthy range and there are occasions where you may have waited a bit to long to take the dose up, I get there may have been reasons for that, I'm not critisising it's just an observation from the ss, which may be contributing to her numbers being a bit off.

She's a long term diabetic, so you may need to follow TR a little more closely to get her regulated. Reassess that dose every 6 cycles, if nadirs don't fall into the normal range, take her up 0.25u. I would recommend you post on the forum here regularly to get some dosing help from the experienced members. She's not making it easy for you, so it might help you to have some other eyes on her numbers and help with talking through dosing. You can revisit the fattening and skinny doses if you find it becomes necessary at some point in the future.

Just a heads up if she get's to 5u you would be looking at 0.5 dose changes, think of it as a percentage increase. 0.25u increase when a cat is at 1u is a 25%, 10% when they are at 2.5 increase in dose 0.25 u when a cat is on 5u is only a 5% increase in dose. Hence we move to 0.5u increases to kittys on doses over 5.
The reason I am mentioning it now is that this also applies to fattening a dose, the percentage increase in dose, fattening a 1u dose is much larger, and may be seen to have a greater effect than when you fatten a dose like 4u, the effect will be negligible at best. I hope that makes sense.



Lisa and little said:
She seems normal other than what we believe to be her feline hyperesthesia acting up more
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Is there something that might be stressing her more recently?

Appy and activity ok? Are all the 5 p's in place
pooping
playing
preening (not too much in her case)
peeing
purring

Aside from the dosing I would immediately think of having her teeth looked at (if you haven't had that done recently), teeth problems can certainly cause their numbers go up, and often it's difficult to assess.
(She had an extraction in october, so you wouldn't think it was her teeth.... but just wondering if vet thought that some of her other teeth might need attention at a later date)
 
Thank you Gill.
That Info on the dose increase makes sense. I never thought of it that way. It seemed we were making progress and then BAM! I guess I am nervous about having a cat on 5U I don’t know why. I know I can’t look backwards but my brain doesn’t compute why she did better at times on lower doses. Heading to the 5 terrifies me that there is something else going on.

As for the 5 Ps- I’d say she may be preening more than usual the last week and as for the teeth I wouldn’t think that would be an issue as she had a full cleaning with the extraction but ya never know.

I know I have kept her too long on doses particularly the last 2 months but I had to given other things that were going on and being terrified of a hypo when I wasn’t around. While feline hyperesthesia is a tough thing to accurately diagnose I’m pretty sure we are battling that as well and it has certainly ramped up of late.

Any thoughts on her maybe having developed a food allergy? I’ve read that can happen when they eat the same protein source for a long period. Unfortunately also hard to diagnose. My stress level is at an all time high. Too much loss for me of late. I need my girl to be ok Thank you again for the dose advice. I guess I have to put on my big girl panties and take her up even more. I’m sad and scared :(
 
Lisa and little said:
know I have kept her too long on doses particularly the last 2 months
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I figured that you have had a lot going on from your first post, and sometimes life takes over FD, and we can't dose exactly how we might want and keep them safe.
It may or may not have impacted her BG. But it is one possible, simple explanation for what you are seeing.
Lisa and little said:
Any thoughts on her maybe having developed a food allergy? I
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I suppose it's possible but I would expect her to have some GI disturbance. I don't have experience in dealing with food allergies, non of my gang have problems with that, mind you they've all always had s varied diet, they get all sorts of protein right from being kittens and puppies.

I've heard of folk trying elimination diets and using novel proteins,. To figure food allergies out.


Lisa and little said:
My stress level is at an all time high. Too much loss for me of
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I am very sorry for your loss, and I can relate to how you feel about your girl not being on top form on top of it all. Is it possible that she is picking up on your anxiety levels, especially if she's a sensitive soul. I know my guys know when I'm feeling down.
Give her some extra cuddles and scritches, tell her you love her and that you're going to be ok. Perhaps some reassurance will have her feeling less stressed.
5 is just a number, don't sweat it. Take it one cycle at a time.:bighug::bighug::bighug:

Maybe ask about the food allergy on the thread title, someone with more experience with this might be of more help than I can be.
 
I think the 5 scares be because Im under the impression that “high dose “ cats usually have other problems. Thank you for the advice and the hugs. Needed both
 
Some cats that end up in higher doses just need more insulin!

You can always try a novel protein food and see if it makes any difference. ZiwiPeak had a couple of varieties (i.e., Venison, and Rabbit & Lamb) that are likely novel proteins and are 3% carb. They also don't have any gums or carrageenan in the food.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
Some cats that end up in higher doses just need more insulin!

You can always try a novel protein food and see if it makes any difference. ZiwiPeak had a couple of varieties (i.e., Venison, and Rabbit & Lamb) that are likely novel proteins and are 3% carb. They also don't have any gums or carrageenan in the food.
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Thank you. I hesitate on that as I am a vegan and the thought of feeding her venison or rabbit freaks me out don’t know why my brain thinks that’s “worse” than chicken. Maybe I don’t want deer breath licking my face? Lol
 
If a cat has food allergies, you will usually see vomiting more that once a month, diarrhea or constipation. Having a cat on multiple proteins is a good idea. Maybe try some turkey? There is also duck or lamb or pretty much anything she hasn’t had before. Even kangaroo.

I am glad Gill explained about the fattening and skinnying. Neko’s “good” dose varied between 8.75 units to 0.25 over time, and fattening the dose never worked over 3 units. And I only did the smaller sized changes for reductions and full size for increases.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
If a cat has food allergies, you will usually see vomiting more that once a month, diarrhea or constipation. Having a cat on multiple proteins is a good idea. Maybe try some turkey? There is also duck or lamb or pretty much anything she hasn’t had before. Even kangaroo.

I am glad Gill explained about the fattening and skinnying. Neko’s “good” dose varied between 8.75 units to 0.25 over time, and fattening the dose never worked over 3 units. And I only did the smaller sized changes for reductions and full size for increases.
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Thank you Wendy. She is not vomiting or having diarrhea at all but perhaps I will mix up the proteins a bit. I’ve been really diligent to give her the same exact food at the same exact times thinking I’m doing a good thing. As for Neko up to 8.75 was that due to Acro? I’m worried about that. How did you know when to test for Acro?
 
We suggest testing for acromegaly and IAA (insulin auto antibodies) when a kitty gets up to 6 units. We've seen cats get up to 5.5 units and turn it around. Over 6 units, there's a high probability of a secondary condition causing insulin resistance. We've had some people test earlier, when they had a suspicion something else was in play, for other reasons. Not all acros are over 6 units in dose.

If a cat has allergies, you might want to do a complete switch away from chicken, which is a common allergen for cat, probably cause so many foods have it in it.
 
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