Charlie Update

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Katy and Charlie

Katy and Charlie

Member Since 2023
Hello friends!

Charlie is still doing great. He has slowly begun walking better, has jumped up on the couch a few times, and is starting to play more. I am still trying to get him regulated, it's been quite the process so far.

He is getting wet food morning and night, with dry food to snack on in between. I haven't totally removed the higher-carb wet food, I had just bought a new case of wet food when I started here and didn't want it to go to waste. So I have been mixing the higher-carb wet food with the low-carb wet food.

His BG was consistently high all day yesterday. As we got further in the day with no drop, I thought maybe it was a fur shot that morning. I like to think I am pretty good at always getting the needle in, but I'm not perfect. After his PM shot he started to slowly drop. BG was high again this morning but slowly dropped before I left for work. Ketones are staying consistent at 0.2 mmol/L. I have kept the dose at 3.5 units 2x/day.

I was hoping to get some good data this weekend and kind of screwed it up with the fur shot! I will continue to test as much as I can and post updates here!
 

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Diane Tyler's Mom said:
What a handsome boy your Charlie Bean is :cat:
Just keep taking the advice here from the amazing members here.
I did and Tyler has been in remission for 3 years already.
I hope you have a nice day :bighug::bighug::bighug::cat:
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He sure is! Thanks so much. My goal is to be like you and get Charlie in remission! He is already so much better than he was a month or two ago.
You have a nice day too! Thanks for your sweet words. :):bighug::cat:
 
Love those orange boys. They can be sooo sweet! My Charlie was an orange boy too (he’s my avatar).

Glad to see your posts, and I’m happy to hear Charlie is feeling better. Keep up the good work. :cat:
 
That's a great report on Charlie! Love it when they start to feel better. Cats are so much more than their blood sugar numbers so we like to hear about how they are doing otherwise.

If a fur shot it could interfere with the depot, he could also be bouncing a bit. Hopefully you'll see some better numbers shortly.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
That's a great report on Charlie! Love it when they start to feel better. Cats are so much more than their blood sugar numbers so we like to hear about how they are doing otherwise.

If a fur shot it could interfere with the depot, he could also be bouncing a bit. Hopefully you'll see some better numbers shortly.
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I was surprised to see him at 443 mid-day today but assumed he was bouncing because of the fur shots. I am kicking myself for two fur shots in two days but it happens. All I can do is try to be better from here on out! I'm hoping to see him level out over the next couple of days.
 
They don't bounce because of fur shots. They bounce if they drop lower than used to, or drop quickly. When you do a fur shot, what happens is the Lantus depot drains so you have to wait about six cycles for it to get back up to speed. He will get back on track. Just keep testing those ketones while he's high.

We all do fur shots. :bighug: One member here had a fur shot jar. Toss a dollar in the jar when you do a fur shot. At the end of the year, use the proceeds to buy yourself something nice. :p
 
Wendy&Neko said:
They don't bounce because of fur shots. They bounce if they drop lower than used to, or drop quickly. When you do a fur shot, what happens is the Lantus depot drains so you have to wait about six cycles for it to get back up to speed. He will get back on track. Just keep testing those ketones while he's high.

We all do fur shots. :bighug: One member here had a fur shot jar. Toss a dollar in the jar when you do a fur shot. At the end of the year, use the proceeds to buy yourself something nice. :p
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This is good to hear about both the depot and fur shots. I haven't been able to test much yesterday or today but I'll keep testing as much as I can, weekends are always better for me.

He has been consistently high since the fur shots, I hope to see that starting to come down soon. Thanks for always being so helpful!:bighug:
 
Looks like he’s bouncing a lot, you might just only be catching him when he’s peaking above normal due to a bounce. Just keep it up and you’ll see the numbers stabilize over time. My cat Sam was similar in his bouncing, he stabilized over time.

Also; low carb food! Going from 18% carb by dry weight to 3-4% helped me bring sam down from 3 units to 1 unit in like 4-6 weeks or so. Is it an issue of Charlie not liking low carb wet?
 
I'm hoping you are seeing signs he's about to come down some. If he stays in high numbers much longer, it may be time to increase the dose.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
I'm hoping you are seeing signs he's about to come down some. If he stays in high numbers much longer, it may be time to increase the dose.
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Good morning @Wendy&Neko!! Sorry I haven't posted, life has been busy this last week! Charlie is still acting great. Eating and drinking are normal.

On 2/16, he dropped to 85 @ +5.5. Previously you said we need to lower the dose if he goes below 90 so I have been doing 3 units 2x/day since then. Yesterday I had family time so I wasn't able to test much. This morning's AMPS was 194, then an hour later it was 494. That made me wonder if that first test was accurate or not. He ate right after that AMPS, but can eating cause that high of a spike? I always try to test before he has eaten.

I am still doing wet food morning and night, and dry food left out during the day. With the wet food, I am mixing low-carb and higher-carb, I only have a couple of cans of the higher-carb left so that will change soon to all low-carb food soon.
 
Please keep a few (3 to 4) cans of high carb food with gravy in your hypo-kit in case you need it someday in the middle of the night.
 
I don't know if it's my computer, or my glasses, or my eyes, but it is very hard for me to read the numbers in your spreadsheet with the dark blue and dark green coloring with the black letters. Maybe it's just me, but white letters would stand out so much more with those dark backgrounds.
 
You were right to reduce the dose when he went below 90. Typically we'll lower by 0.25 units at a time. I had you do larger decreases before as it seemed he was overdose and the food change can make a big difference. As Dyana said, best to keep a couple of those higher carb food cans in the hypo cupboard for when he goes low. If you are planning to go down to all low carb food, I'd stick with the dose you have now.
Katy and Charlie said:
This morning's AMPS was 194, then an hour later it was 494. That made me wonder if that first test was accurate or not. He ate right after that AMPS, but can eating cause that high of a spike?
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There were no tests last night after PMPS. I rather suspect he went low last night in the wee hours and is now bouncing. :rolleyes: Some cats will go high before they go low as they break a bounce, meaning it's not a good idea to skip testing just because they are high at PMPS. My girl was an expert at that - and of course loved to dived down at night. Food spikes are typically under 100 points. For my girl it was around 30 points.
 
Dyana said:
I don't know if it's my computer, or my glasses, or my eyes, but it is very hard for me to read the numbers in your spreadsheet with the dark blue and dark green coloring with the black letters. Maybe it's just me, but white letters would stand out so much more with those dark backgrounds.
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Your comment about keeping some of the canned food is a smart idea! I wasn't even thinking of that. So I'll keep what I have left and switch over to low-carb completely.

It might be because I enter it on my phone and computer... on my computer the background is white and I can read everything. When I look at it on my phone, the background is black which makes it super hard to read.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
You were right to reduce the dose when he went below 90. Typically we'll lower by 0.25 units at a time. I had you do larger decreases before as it seemed he was overdose and the food change can make a big difference. As Dyana said, best to keep a couple of those higher carb food cans in the hypo cupboard for when he goes low. If you are planning to go down to all low carb food, I'd stick with the dose you have now.

There were no tests last night after PMPS. I rather suspect he went low last night in the wee hours and is now bouncing. :rolleyes: Some cats will go high before they go low as they break a bounce, meaning it's not a good idea to skip testing just because they are high at PMPS. My girl was an expert at that - and of course loved to dived down at night. Food spikes are typically under 100 points. For my girl it was around 30 points.
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The syringes I have now have half-dose lines, but not 0.25. Do I need different needles or do you just eyeball it in between the lines?

I'm going to save the cans of high-carb that I have left. So we will stick with the 3 units for a little bit and see where that gets us. I know I should have tested more last night but I got home late, fed and shot him, then went right to bed. I need the sun and warm weather to come back! When it's dark and cold, I just want to sleep! :joyful:

Mid-day test was 546, so pretty high. I'm sure you're right and he is bouncing. This poor guy is just bouncing all over the place!
 
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