I agree. It was a safe number, but I could see why with time to still drop there was concern, but I think there was an over-correction. A little bit of low carb food rather than high carb treats would have kept her in those nice healing numbers longer giving her pancreas a rest.
Thank you Mary Ann,
Alphatrak is quite accurate.... Moreso than a human meter with only a 15% variance.
Thank You!
You're welcome, Anthony. Make sure you can monitor and have high carb food if you need to steer. Try not to overreact if you see green numbers. Easier said than done, I know!
Yes that does seem a good plan and definitely worth a try. It IS easy to panic though when you see low numbers, we do understand that. Next time you get a lower than expected number (but still a "good" one), take a deep breath and remind yourself that this is in fact what you're aiming for to keep Shelley in healthier numbers...
As the owner of an extremely volatile FD kitty, I've learned that I have to keep things as simple and consistent as possible to maintain as much stability as I can. And he still shifts like quicksand. In my opinion these kitties become very erratic if you change doses too often by too much. There's no way a sliding scale approach works for Teasel and many of my dose changes when he was on ProZinc were on the order of 0.1 u. And, yes, taking the long view is the way to go.
Hi Anthony,
Hello Mary Ann,Anthony
I agree that the current dose is not high enough. You were getting some nice runs of blue numbers before when you were at 1.0 unit. It would be good if you could hold the 1 unit dose for awhile. However if the midcycle numbers drop too low or if the preshot number is lower than you are comfortable with you can always post for help on the forum. Caninsulin is an "in and out" insulin so what you see is the effect of the dose you just gave. The longer acting insulins often have some "carry over" from one shot to the next.
It is not that changing the dose is messing with her pancreas, but if the numbers stay in the higher ranges it does not allow the pancreas to begin healing in the hopes that it can recover. The Caninsulin is working but the dose does need to be higher at this time. Since you don't have the spread sheet right up to date it is hard to comment on the last day or so, but the other days with the lower dosing aren't giving the best numbers.
For any days when you have a lower than usual preshot reading please ask for help. Starting a new thread (post) and using the "?" icon from the title drop down box will get more attention. Although shooting a sliding scale is a more advanced approach, it can certainly be done if the preshot numbers are lower than expected.
Many kitties with uncontrolled glucose numbers will develop diabetic neuropathy. A good supplement for this is B12 Methylcobalamin format. In Canada and the US a lot of people use the Zobaline for cats formula, but I don't know if it is available in the UK.
You would want the oral Methylcobalamin format not the Cyanocobalamin format as the latter is not absorbed as well as the Methylcobalamin. For myself I buy B12 Methylcobalamin from my local health food store, making sure it does NOT contain any xylitol (can be poisonous to kitties) I buy a brand in pill form that has no added ingredients or sweetners and crush it and at it to the wet food. There is no taste so the kitties are fine with that.
Cosequin is very useful for arthritis, but will not be as useful with diabetic neuropathy.
Sorry... just read this again... has some useful info about how to get something similar to Zobaline in the UK and add folic acid to give the same effect... sorry I can't link that thread here but do try and find it!
It actually plays right after the video I posted the link to, but this certainly is the most impressive video for what B12 supplementation can do to help with neuropathy.