Don't Know if I Need to be Concerned

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I'm glad he's willing to eat wet food. It'll help you a lot. It'll take some experimenting over time to learn what the proper amount of wet food is for Victor but I'd start with the goal of one 5.5 oz. can of Friskies pate per day - after the switch is complete of course. The proper amount is what allows a very slow weight loss over many, many months and then then maintains him at a good weight for his size. Teasel's brother is a big boy and one can of low carb wet food a day works for him. That's where weighing the kitty comes in. I gave you a link yesterday to a pretty economical digital baby scale on Amazon. That would be ideal if you can possibly afford it. If not, try holding him with you on a human scale or maybe you might find a used baby scale online.

Let's say you're going to give him one can of wet food a day. If you'll be feeding in distinct meals, try 4 times a day as I described above with breakfast and supper being about 1/3 can and lunch/bedtime 1/6 can. You might have to fiddle with this plan over time to suit Victor and/or your schedule but it's a starting point. Some people leave wet food out for kitty to graze on but pick it up for the two hours prior to the pre shot BG test.
 
Kris & Teasel said:
I'm glad he's willing to eat wet food. It'll help you a lot. It'll take some experimenting over time to learn what the proper amount of wet food is for Victor but I'd start with the goal of one 5.5 oz. can of Friskies pate per day - after the switch is complete of course. The proper amount is what allows a very slow weight loss over many, many months and then then maintains him at a good weight for his size. Teasel's brother is a big boy and one can of low carb wet food a day works for him. That's where weighing the kitty comes in. I gave you a link yesterday to a pretty economical digital baby scale on Amazon. That would be ideal if you can possibly afford it. If not, try holding him with you on a human scale or maybe you might find a used baby scale online.

Let's say you're going to give him one can of wet food a day. If you'll be feeding in distinct meals, try 4 times a day as I described above with breakfast and supper being about 1/3 can and lunch/bedtime 1/6 can. You might have to fiddle with this plan over time to suit Victor and/or your schedule but it's a starting point. Some people leave wet food out for kitty to graze on but pick it up for the two hours prior to the pre shot BG test.
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Okay, I'll be sure to make a note of this.

And just so I'm absolutely clear about the 2.5 dose, since the syringes we have don't have half unit markings, 2.5 would be where I've highlighted yellow on this diagram, between the 2 and 3 units, correct?


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H.M. Victor said:
Okay, I'll be sure to make a note of this.

And just so I'm absolutely clear about the 2.5 dose, since the syringes we have don't have half unit markings, 2.5 would be where I've highlighted yellow on this diagram, between the 2 and 3 units, correct?


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Yes, that's correct.

I'm going out now for several hours. If you have other questions, post them on this forum and someone will be able to help. :)
 
@H.M. Victor you really really really should start getting Victor off that prescription hard food. I can't express that enough. First of all the hard good alone is going to cause his numbers to be high. They say no cats should eat hard food, but especially diabetic cats. I know it's scary at first but trust me it is going to make a world of difference. My boy was on Hills Prescription C/D hard food and wet. When I finally made that change to friskies and fancy feast I finally started to notice a difference. Your also going to save money by switching. The prescription food is so expensive. Another thing you have mentioned quite a few times about Victor throwing up. Guess what? I will put money on it that its the prescription hard food causing it. I say this because my boy was one that threw up a lot. I just thought it was apart of him, never thought any differently. Well after we got him off the hard food he never threw up. My husband and I even said it's so crazy that he hasn't thrown up in so long. So fast forward a couple weeks in we got our first scary low number where we needed to introduce a little high carb wet food. So I put a little wet food down and I put 6 pieces (6 PIECES) of his prescription hard food on top to help his numbers come up, guess what? He threw up that night. ITS THE HARD FOOD CAUSING IT!!! I seriously can't believe all that time a never knew it was because of it. Seriously go get some friskies pate and start him on it. You can look at my notes on my spreadsheet of how I slowly introduced the new wet with his old hard. It was the best decision.
 
AshleyDiamond said:
you really really really should start getting Victor off that prescription hard food. I can't express that enough.
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I know, believe me, I'm not putting it off on purpose, it's just that pretty much all of our money that my mom gets at the beginning of every month (which honestly isn't much to begin with) goes to rent, other bills, and non-food items from the store (we are on food stamps), which leaves next to nothing for the rest of the month.

I promise I will see what I can do to start the switch to wet food ASAP.
 
Good data gathering today!!

Looks like he's on the way back up again (which is one of the bad things about Humulin ...it just doesn't last long enough)

I'd plan on shooting the 2.5 again at PMPS unless he does something really weird
 
Chris & China said:
Looks like he's on the way back up again (which is one of the bad things about Humulin ...it just doesn't last long enough)
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Yeah, makes me wonder why our vet put him on it to start with. Just did the PMPS test about 20 minutes ago and his number is 398, so I assume we should go ahead with the 2.5 units?
 
H.M. Victor said:
Okay. So if he doesn't eat all of his food, should we still give him the 2.5 units and then see if he will eat some more afterwards? That's always where it makes me really nervous because I want to be sure he has enough food in him before giving his shot.
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As long as he takes even a few bites, yes. We want that number down as he is still far too high even at his lowest.
 
I recommend increasing to 3 u tonight. He still has a lot of room to drop. If that makes you nervous, eyeball 2.75 u the best you can but only hold that dose 3 cycles or so if you don't see blue on your SS.
 
@Kris & Teasel @JanetNJ Victor's AMPS number this morning was 388 and we just did a +4 hour test and it's barely gone down at all at 332. I don't know if it's just that the dose needs to be increased or if we're not giving the injection right or if there's a problem with the meter or what. You guys think that increasing to 3 units would still be safe for him?
 
H.M. Victor said:
@Kris & Teasel @JanetNJ Victor's AMPS number this morning was 388 and we just did a +4 hour test and it's barely gone down at all at 332. I don't know if it's just that the dose needs to be increased or if we're not giving the injection right or if there's a problem with the meter or what. You guys think that increasing to 3 units would still be safe for him?
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I wouldn't worry about it. I agree that going to 3 u is the better option. You won't see a consistent decent BG drop until you're closer to his "good dose" range.
 
H.M. Victor said:
And we don't need to change how much food we give him, do we?
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No, you don't. When you're able to make the switch to low carb wet food, more vigilance will be needed. That's because your current dosing is based on his BGs eating the high carb prescription food.
 
AshleyDiamond said:
@H.M. Victor I agree he is still in the high enough range of numbers to give him his full dose of insulin. Have you tried putting some canned Tuna on top of his food as a topper? Usually the cats go wild for this. You can buy just regular tuna in water, the kind us humans eat and sprinkle some pieces all over the top of his wet food. You can even pour a little juice in it. When you open the can let him smell it first, then add it to his food. Tuna is super cheap to buy and it usually helps a ton.
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I know this was a while ago but we're going to try your suggestion of topping his food with tuna since he still doesn't eat much of his nighttime meal, but I was wondering if it would be okay if we mix it in with his food instead of just putting it on top? He might just eat the tuna from the top and ignore the rest.
 
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