Buttons - 07/14

[Victoria & Buttons]

Basically, Ive been pretty busy this week and not getting as much testing done on my baby as I would like, but I would still like your opinions. I had lowered her dose to .75 and one morning, her sugars were at 5.9 (106) and I decided not to shoot as I wasnt sure what to do. Since then, it seems she was rebounding a bit, but would she still be after this long, or should I be upping the dose to 1.00 again and see what happens? Her sugars have been pretty constantly in the pink, whereas before I decided not to shoot that day, we were getting them pretty regulated. Thanks!

 

[Grayson & Lu]

Hi Victoria - I've heard that happens, but I've never experienced it. Hopefully Sheila or someone else will be able to advise you on your dose. Good luck!

 

[Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA]

Not a lot of data to go on..... is she still off all dry food? Can you get some more tests tomorrow? Without the recent PS tests at night and no overnight tests, it's hard to know exactly what is happening.

My guess is that she is either spiking from dry food (since you are out of town, is dad feeding her dry again?) or she actually needs another decrease. The reason why I think a decrease might help is that after you skipped the shot, she was able to drop 200 points from a place where she should have had no insulin overlap (because of the skipped dose). The decrease from 1u to .75 was warranted because of the 49 (IMO). Yet, if .75u was a good dose she would have been able to get back to the nice numbers by now.

She has not had ketones, right? Make sure you are testing for ketones while she is in these higher numbers, especially if you reduce the dose. The other option is to raise her back to 1u and see what happens.

If you are still out of town, now might not be a good time to reduce her dose further.

 

[Victoria & Buttons]

No, I was only out of town for that day. The rest of the time, the reason I havent had PMS testings is because I'm at work. Unfortunately I have to work tomorrow too but on Monday I can get more tests done.

The only dry food that she has access to is the dog food. From what I know, she isnt eating it very much, if at all, only if I dont feed her at her regular times. Thank you for the help!

 

[Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin]

Dog food is very bad for cats as it's very high in carbohydrates. If there is any possibility she's eating even a few kibbles, that could be the problem. Or add to the problem.

I suppose it depends how food driven she is, but most unregulated cats are food driven and will eat what they can.

If possible, could you keep her in a separate room for a few days and see what happens? Or take up the dog food after he gets what he wants. Dogs don't need food available all the time either.

Otherwise, she's doing pretty well! Once you get the dose figured out, things will get easier.

Also, don't be afraid to lower the dose to maybe .5u because it is easier to figure out Levemir when the dose is below the optimum dose than trying to keep lowering it in response to lows, some of which you may not be catching with a BG check.

 

[Victoria & Buttons]

Its hard with the dog food as it was like pulling teeth with the dry cat food for my dad. The dogs are his babies, and I dont know how well he'd do with me altering that too. But see, the few times I have caught her, shes like routing around the closet (where the bag is) and just eating kibbles that have fallen out, so Id say shes pretty food driven. Its so frustrating because when her sugars were somewhat regulated, she wasnt as hungry and just ate at her normal times. I didnt have to worry as much and now I feel like I'm back at square one.

Thank you so much for the advice though. It means a lot!

 

[Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA]

In my (limited) experience with dogs, they should not be free fed - I mean, they just wolf it all down in a second anyway. So if your dad is not leaving food for them "out" for her to get into, maybe the answer is some sort of container in the cupboard that is airtight? I used to use one of those big popcorn tins (about 9" dia by 12" high), but they make plastic food bins just for this sort of thing - although, I am not sure I would want to put my animals food in plastic.

 

[Grayson & Lu]

In theory, the containers work well... when you have a ravenous guy, like grayson.... he opens the cupboards, opens 2 different types of Tupperware lids, and can do it in NO time!!! He also likes other food items in the pantry... particularly egg noodles. Carb fiend!!! I've gone to feeding the dogs and other cats in different rooms, and taking the food up afterward. Grayson will still scour the floor looking for any kibble that may have slipped past detection. He's REALLY committed to getting himself some dry kibble! Doors that close are the most helpful!

 

[Victoria & Buttons]

That is a good suggestion, thanks! Surprisingly Sheila, both of our dogs dont wolf down the food! They actually go when they're hungry, eat a few bites and they're done!

Yesterday my babygirl was playing and running around like she used to, it made me so happy! =) I will be getting more tests done tomorrow and I may even do the decrease tomorrow as I'll be home all day.

 

[Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA]

Probably too late, but it would be good to get the numbers first before the decrease. Gives you more data from which to make future decisions.

Nice photo. I thought she was all black and white, but she has little spots of orange - very pretty!

 

[Victoria & Buttons]

Thank you! Her numbers are doing better!


I just need to rant too. I usually wake up at 6am to do Buttons sugars and then I go back to bed for a bit. When I got up, there was dry food out on the counter. Thank goodness when I went back to bed, my baby decided to sleep under my bed or she would have had a feast. Im pretty sure the reason is because one of our other two cats came inside. Since its summer, they only come in when needed and because of that, I usually dont leave any wet food out. I just wish he would have taken it away when the cat had finished. I hope this isnt a sign that we`re going back downhill again. :-x