Charlie's AMPS lowest it's ever been 293 what should I do?!?

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EllieKozak

EllieKozak

Member Since 2014
Good morning everyone! I just did Charlie's amps and it came back as 293. This is the lowest that it has ever been. Should I still give three units? His spreadsheet is attached. Thank you also very much
His amps is normally in the high 400s. I just don't want to give him more than he needs. Please help ASAP as he has not received his shot today yet and I don't know if that even worse to wait. Thank you. I cross posted on prozinc board as well. Thanks again
 
Re: Charlie's AMPS lowest it's ever been 293 what should I d

Ok thank you. Just gave 3u. The funny thing is though, I just retested him again before giving his shot and his number was still going down. It's now 281. A half hour ago it was 293. I am so confused!
 
Re: Charlie's AMPS lowest it's ever been 293 what should I d

It's unlikely you'd get the same number. I've tested twice in a row and had small differences. Looks like Charlie decided to come down in the sunshine! Looking forward to seeing those mid cycle numbers today.
 
Re: Charlie's AMPS lowest it's ever been 293 what should I d

EllieKozak said:
Ok thank you. Just gave 3u. The funny thing is though, I just retested him again before giving his shot and his number was still going down. It's now 281. A half hour ago it was 293. I am so confused!
Click to expand...

All three of those BGs are really the same and well within the accuracy of the meter.
 
Re: Charlie's AMPS lowest it's ever been 293 what should I d

Thank you all. He seems to be feeling like his old young self again! I still am having a hard time coming to grips with his dx at his tender young age. I keep blaming myself, could it have been something I did or didn't do?? Has anyone ever heard of a rabies vaccine throwing them into diabetes? That is the only thing that has entered his body other than anesthesia is November for a root canal! I am hoping we are settling in to a nice routine as far as his numbers go. Still debating on wether or not to switch him over to Lantus. Should I give him more time on the Prozinc? Hope everyone is having a great day. I am obsessed with this message board, have learned so much about this awful disease in such a short amount of time due to the willingness and tireless efforts and compassion that you have. You are truly angels!
 
Re: Charlie's AMPS lowest it's ever been 293 what should I d

Michelangelo was diagnosed with diabetes a week after he got fixed when I brought him in for a UTI that the vet and I both thought was from him getting fixed. Turned out to be caused by the sugar in his urine and that's how he got diagnosed. The fructosamine test showed that he had been diabetic even before getting fixed (probably since birth). Pure luck that my vet even thought to test the sugar levels because he was so young.

Most of the time, diabetes in young cats (less than 5 years of age) is due to an infection or steroids and they usually go into remission fairly quickly. Sometimes there's a co-morbid condition or a high-dose condition (like IAA or acromegaly) that might be causing the problem. Rarely, they're just "born" diabetic. I've only ever heard of two other cats diagnosed at less than a year old who remained diabetic and didn't go into remission. They're both older now (around 8 years or older) and are fine health-wise aside from the diabetes, which is great news for us that long-term, it's very manageable.

I wrote up this "cheat sheet" on the various causes of diabetes after much research into what might have "caused" Michelangelo's diabetes. Answer: most likely genetic in Mikey's case but there's no real way to tell for certain.
 
Re: Charlie's AMPS lowest it's ever been 293 what should I d

Thank you KPassa for reaching out. I am blown away by his dx to be honest. And his fructosamine that we added on to his original dx bloodwork showed a normal range which has the doctors scratching their heads even more. He had 2 surgical procedures in his life thus far and had bloodwork done before both surgeries with no elevation in anything. That's why I wondered if anyone ever had a juvenile or any age for that matter develop diabetes after receiving a rabies vax. Who knows....all we can do is push forward I guess. Thank you so much for the advice!
 
Re: Charlie's AMPS lowest it's ever been 293 what should I d

If his fructosamine test showed normal, then there is a very good chance that his diabetes was brought on by an external factor and it makes him a good candidate for remission. Only time will tell, however, so the most important thing now is getting him regulated so his body can heal and hopefully get his pancreas working properly again. You're on the right track and it's very promising that you're already starting to see some lower numbers.

You can try switching to Lantus or Levemir if you think it would be easier on your schedule or you can keep using the ProZinc and see if he continues to respond positively. It's up to you (and your wallet) which route you want to go. If you do decide to switch, my personal preference is Levemir because Mikey never did well on the Lantus, however, the majority of cats do just fine with Lantus (Mikey likes being unique).
 
Re: Charlie's AMPS lowest it's ever been 293 what should I d

Kpassa, your Michelangelo is absolutely gorgeous! Looks a lot like my Charlie! Thank you for your kind words. I was looking at your baby's spreadsheet. Its so pretty!! His numbers are great (I think...im still very new to all of this!)! Was he not responding well to prozinc? The problem I am having with Charlie is that his shots seem to last only 10 hours or so...very frustrating! But he is worth it..and if you meant that the Lantus or Levemir is more expensive, if it will help Charlie regulate better and if there is a better chance for him to go into remission, the extra money spent will be worth it for us...Let me know your thoughts! THanks for being here for Charlie and I!
 
Re: Charlie's AMPS lowest it's ever been 293 what should I d

Mikey was never on ProZinc and started with Lantus. I just recently switched him over to Levemir and that's when we started getting such great numbers, but the prior year and a half he spent on Lantus, he was never truly "regulated." I wish I had switched him sooner, but at least now I have the data to prove how poorly he had been doing on Lantus instead of wondering if I'd just given him more time on Lantus then he would still be where we're at today.

We have a saying around here that "The best insulin is the one that works for your cat." If you find the ProZinc wearing off after 10 hours, then there are a few options you can try to get the ProZinc to work longer (TID dosing, sliding scales, bolus, etc...). Or you might simply have an easier time switching to a depot insulin like Lantus or Levemir.

So, my advice would be to perhaps give the ProZinc a little more time to work its magic, but don't wait too long if nothing changes. Not really helpful, I know. :lol: Who knows! Charlie might even start heading into remission soon and you won't even need to worry about insulin! Wouldn't that be great? :thumbup
 
Re: Charlie's AMPS lowest it's ever been 293 what should I d

May I ask what kind of fancy feast your feeding? It took Hidey about 3 weeks, and a lot of food testing to get his numbers looking better. Hidey was on Prozinc. I also had to make sure he got a meal in the middle of the night or his numbers would shoot up for his A.M. reading so I invested in the petsafe 5 feeder, he has to eat about every 4-5 hrs to keep his numbers. Hidey seems to be very carb sensitive so I have to be careful.
 
Re: Charlie's AMPS lowest it's ever been 293 what should I d

dirtybirdsoaps said:
May I ask what kind of fancy feast your feeding? It took Hidey about 3 weeks, and a lot of food testing to get his numbers looking better. Hidey was on Prozinc. I also had to make sure he got a meal in the middle of the night or his numbers would shoot up for his A.M. reading
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I am glad you asked that because the food thing really has my head spinning. I have been on Janet & Binkys list, and also on the main page of this forum there is another report that has the breakdowns of the nutritional content (37 pages). I have been trying to get a variety of the fancy feasts that have the lowest amount of carbs. I tried Merrick and a few of the higher ended brands, but my Charlie is a "cheap date". He would prefer the 9 lives/friskies canned (that's what he was on before this dx). He dosent like the Merrick brands, he likes the Tiki cat salmon and chicken (that's what he got last night at midnight, about half a can of the shredded chicken/salmon. I wonder if that is what kept his number low overnight? I think I will try to feed even more frequently than 3 times daily, unless someone advises against it. I will try to keep a better diary of exactly which flavors of the FF he is getting at each feeding to see if that makes a huge difference, but I can tell you that they are all low carb. Mostly seafood varieties.
 
Re: Charlie's AMPS lowest it's ever been 293 what should I d

I soooooo wish I could feed them fancy feast, unfortunately most seem to be high in phosphorus but my vet thinks Hidey is showing signs of beginning kidney disease so I have him on the merricks because they seem a bit lower. I have to feed 5 cans a day to make sure he's getting the right amount of calories but also eating every 4-5 hours (thats between 3 cats). That's why I had to invest in the petsafe 5 feeder. I feed Hidey at 7 am, 12 pm, 5 pm, 10 pm, and then at 3 am. The 3 am feeding has really helped, before that I would try to feed him RIGHT before I went to bed but I go to bed early lol around 10 and then feed as soon as I got up (between 6-6:30) but that 8 hours without food really made a difference in his numbers. I did feed them the Tiki, my cats LOVED it but Hidey started to have a problem eating them because over the past 2 years he's had to have 5 teeth removed :cry: before he would never even touch pate style food just real looking food like Tiki.
 
Re: Charlie's AMPS lowest it's ever been 293 what should I d

Feeding mini meals throughout the day is actually better for the pancreas. I think that's a great plan.

Fish isn't as good to feed too often. Most of us don't feed fish flavors more than once a week due to mercury content.
 
Re: Charlie's AMPS lowest it's ever been 293 what should I d

Thanks for the advice about the feeding more frequently. I am so happy with Charlies numbers thus far today! (I hope I didn't just jinx us...) I am desperately hoping that this is the trend. I can live with that! And so can he!!! Guys, would you shed some light on your sugar babies feeding schedule? I didn't even think about the mercury content in feeding the seafood flavor. Does most people on the board agree or disagree with fancy feast? I want to make sure Charlie is eating the best food possible for him but I cant get him to love the higher end stuff, with the exception of Tiki cat salmon and chicken which literally looks good enough to eat! One other problem I see is that I have no problem with the automatic feeder I was actually looking at some on ebay and amazon earlier, but I have 4 other kitties that I don't want hogging Charlies food. I guess I could buy 5 feeders but the pocket book is still trying to recover from his DKA episode...Charlie is gonna have to get a job modeling or something real soon!! I could keep him separated from the others but what fun is that? He loves his pals....Before this ordeal all of my cats were eating a half can of friskies (each) in the morning and 1/4 cup of dry Royal Canin Fiber Response for one of my senior kitties with constipation issues. That poor baby has taken a complete backseat to Charlie...Thanks again all and I hope you are enjoying your day!
 
Re: Charlie's AMPS lowest it's ever been 293 what should I d

P.S. Ive read the lists on this site with the carb/calorie content and also binkys list but was hoping for opinions of the board
 
Re: Charlie's AMPS lowest it's ever been 293 what should I d

You can still use Friskies, just make sure they're the pâtés. I feed both of my boys the Friskies Special Diet Turkey and Giblets because they're lower in carbs than the regular Friskies (5% vs.~8%), low in phosphorus, and higher in protein than most of the FF. They also love the Tiki Cat, but I stick with the chicken only or the chicken and egg. I also feed them Weruva Chicken Frick 'a zee and Nutro(?) Soft Loaf Chicken pâtés.

Mikey is allergic to red meats and is super carb sensitive so it really limits out choices. Plus, him having been diagnosed at 6 months old, I really wanted to make sure he was getting a decent amount of protein and discovered that too much fat also sent his numbers higher. He seems to do best on anything around 50% protein/fat ratio, the higher the better.
 
Re: Charlie's AMPS lowest it's ever been 293 what should I d

Dr. Lisa's food list is more current than Binky's. Right now Im feeding mine mainly merrick but also weruva. If you look at Hideys spread sheet I have his food schedule attached. I understand everyone's concern about the seafood, and Ive always known about the whole mercury thing, but figured it was the same as for humans....just don't eat an insane amount. My cats have always been seafood lovers. When they used to get fancy feast the only one they LOVED was the fish feast? its been a while so im not sure. Since Hidey was diagnosed I have cut back on the seafood but he still gets a lot,but not as much as he used to. Every day he gets one can of food that has some seafood in it. He gets merricks surf & turf one day, and the next is weruva splash dance. Then on Sunday they get a can of tuna for dinner. As to the auto feeders that was my concern, I had to buy 3 of them. At first only Hidey would eat out of it. They scared the heck out of Yuri and Hot Rod, then finally Yuri came around, and Hot Rod slowly is but I have to sit next to him so he'll eat to protect him from the big BAD food bowl lol. Although expensive, these feeders have been a life saver and so convenient. Hidey is now to the point where he KNOWS when its gonna go off, and if he's sleeping he'll run into the kitchen. I have also attached the Tiki as fed values, a month or so ago I emailed several companies for there as fed. I also got merricks but I know you said your cats don't like it.
 

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Re: Charlie's AMPS lowest it's ever been 293 what should I d

You were looking for feedback on what some of us feed our diabetic kitties. I feed my Wink the Fancy Feast Classic Pate style foods, all 3-5% carbs, along with the Friskies Special Diet Turkey & Giblet pate. He doesn't like fishy flavors so none of those for him. Occasionally I'll give him an ounce or so of the regular Friskies pate flavors like Supreme Supper or Turkey and Giblet since he likes those and they are lower in carbs, 8%. I tend to shy away from giving him any of the Friskies Mixed Grill pate flavor since that one is 11% carbs. Wink has been in remission, diet controlled, for 16 months now and I don't want to jeopardize that by giving him the slightly higher carb foods as a main meal. Who knows, he might be ok with those higher carb flavors, but I figure why risk the chance of him needing to go back on insulin.
 
Re: Charlie's AMPS lowest it's ever been 293 what should I d

you guys are amazing. thanks so much for the feeding schedule feedback. I am taking notes and making a grocery list as we speak!
 
Re: Charlie's AMPS lowest it's ever been 293 what should I d

Oh, for feeding schedule, I let them graze and just add water to the wet food and leave it out all day. I either split a 5.5oz can between two dishes or I use two 3oz cans, one for each dish. I "refresh" their food every AM shot time and maybe again in the afternoon if they're really hungry that day. Then PM shot time, I do another refill (if they've finished their afternoon meal). And finally, a bedtime top-off to hold them over till morning. So, depending how hungry they are, I feed them about 2-4 times a day.

Henry is currently on a Friskies Strike so I've had to modify this a little bit the past week and supplement every meal with Tiki Cat. Otherwise, he starts going in my pantry and eating my dried pasta, sunflower seeds, chips, flour, quinoa, crackers, rice, almonds, sardines, anything he can get his little paws on and his teeth through the packaging. It's driving me insane! @-)
 
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