Did I miss the shot?

[phlika29]

Hi everyone

I have changed remi to lantus just over seven days. We have been seeing some good figures but today he didn't seem to get any sort of curve and at + 8 he is back up into the reds and remi clearly doesn't have as much energy.

I thought I had shot him alright but looking at the figures maybe not? Or after a while does a cat get used to a dose and numbered creep up again. He certainly isn't achieving the blue numbers he got after he first got 0.75 lantus. If someone could have a look at his spreadsheet that would be great. I am afraid that if I missed the dose his 'shed' will be empty again :sad:

 

[Critter Mom]

Hi Sarah,

Maybe not. I'm a novice as you know but sometimes Saoirse responded like that. Not sure if it's a coincidence but her BG levels did something very similar pattern-wise on her 6th cycle at 0.75 IU. :-| The following PS test was much lower even though most of the curve for that cycle was upside down.

Remi's cycle was relatively flat before the AM+8 test. How much time had elapsed since he last ate before that test?

Hopefully an experienced member will be along soon to give you an idea of what Remi's BG is up to.

 

[phlika29]

Hi

Many thanks Aine.

It's so disappointing when you get to see to see some good numbers that they just disappear again. It also took me three attempts to get his dose right on the syringe this morning. I was trying to be so careful to get it right.

I think that remi ate some food less than 2 hours before his am preshot reading as I forgot to pick up his bowl last night. He had food at the time of his shot and then at +2 (after the reading) and then at approx +5.5 so he probably had some food in in him at the +8 number.

Maybe it is another bounce then?

Hope Saoirse is still doing well.

Sarah

 

[Critter Mom]

Hopefully someone with more experience will be able to help you interpret the numbers, Sarah. I do wonder whether Remi might have gone a bit lower after +2. Saoirse does that sometimes.

Talking of her loveliness, I'm trying to get back to a 12/12 microdosing schedule because she's a bit hit 'n' miss with eating her timed feeds - even with her smidgin of cyproheptadine. :YMSIGH: She had a couple of really high hunger spikes over the last few days. I stayed up all night with her last night to see how she would do on the single drop BID. Trouble is I'm going to have to skip tonight's dose again in order to give her the AM and PM doses at a sensible time that allows me to get a good mid-cycle number. It's so hard being petrified of something happening to Saoirse while I am asleep and, because of my PTSD, my major problems with not being able to sleep at regular times is really complicating her treatment. I feel I'm failing her because I can't administer the insulin consistently enough to retrain her liver into not panicking. :YMSIGH:

 

[phlika29]

I dont think you are failing Saoirse at all. Quite he opposite. With a microdose I am sure you will get her back on track.

It is interesting that you get spikes of BG when Saoirse is hungry. I would have thought that BG goes low when they haven't eaten. I am going to get remi a timed feeder but it sure how much success it will be as when I leave food down he just doesn't seem to notice or wake himself up.

I am a little worried about remi tonight as he just doesn't seem very hungry. At least not for his food. I gave him his usual preshot meal and all he did was eat one tiny bit and lick the gravy. I ended up giving him five of his thrive 100% chicken meat treats as I wanted to give him his shot. So this is now my second question. What is the minimum amount of food that a cat has to eat before getting his shot?

 

[Critter Mom]

Thanks for the reassurance and moral support, Sarah. Means a lot. I want to help her get better so badly. There have been tears on several occasions over the past week or so ... :YMSIGH:

Like you, I thought that her fasting BG with insulin on board would be lower if she hadn't eaten for several hours. After I started testing I noticed a pattern developing where her BG would be much higher any time she skipped her overnight feeds or when I passed out with fatigue during the daytime when her feeders weren't loaded up.

I've used the freeze-dried protein treat mini-meal trick on occasion as well. I worked on the principle that some food is better than no food at all. Saoirse's pancreatitis symptoms are much improved and there are times when she'll motor away at her timed feeds with minimal support from the ondansetron & cyproheptadine but yesterday's AM cycle saw her at the top of the euglycaemic range and the cyproheptadine had little or no effect on her at all. If I put the food in front of her she ate fine (waitress service :roll: ). The sound of the feeders opening normally prompts her to go and eat, but sometimes she's oblivious to the food becoming available. For the life of me, the only thing I can think of is that maybe some cats' bodies forget how to be hungry properly when they get their insulin treatment. I wish I could find a solution because it's the only thing that seems to keep pushing Saoirse's BG outside the healthy range. The other problem, of course, is the worry about my little one not eating enough food while she has insulin in her system. It's the reason I test Saoirse so much to try to work out what's happening with her appetite and why I skip doses at night-time. :YMSIGH:

As far as how much to feed before giving insulin, I make sure Saoirse has eaten one of her standard mini meals (I feed her 12 times a day on average), or the calorie equivalent in freeze-dried treats if I'm desperate to get her to eat something before a cyproheptadine dose kicks in.