? Dosing advice - AMPS 136 - already 1 hr late

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shelaghc

shelaghc

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Jester's been reacting very quickly to insulin.
Last night his +11 was 191 and with .5u went down to 131 at +4.

AMPS today is only 136 with me waking up late.

Personally I don't know if I should even give him an injection this morning.

Thoughts?
 
He is doing so good! If it was my cat, I would still give .25. But, you know him and need to do what you are comfortable with.
 
This might be a good day (if you are home) to get a test near mid-cycle to see what happens when you do shoot at 136.... at least today.. things sure do not always work out the same each time!
 
Question became moot when it took over half an hour to get Jester to eat enough for me to even feel comfortable dosing him.

Mornings, for some reason, are much harder getting him to eat than evenings. (Mind you, evenings aren't *great*, but it's a bit better getting food into him.)

We have another appointment on Monday. I'm scared out of my mind what it's going to cost overall.

I just have a feeling this is thyroid related, but the initial test came up negative.
 
So after a lot of pushing, encouraging, breaking my own rules about kitties eating in the living room, Jester finally got most of a can of carby food eaten.
Interestingly, what would be his +5 was only 170 even not fasting. And as a tiny treat / experiment / effort to get more calories in him, I gave him about a tablespoon of YAZ.

Geez! He *loves* that stuff! I'm just hesitant to completely switch him over or give him more than that both because of the anecdotal evidence of diarrhea and because the vet said Jester is a bit dehydrated. I don't want him to crave only dry foods.
For the time being, I'll use it for a calorie adder.
 
shelaghc said:
So after a lot of pushing, encouraging, breaking my own rules about kitties eating in the living room, Jester finally got most of a can of carby food eaten.
Interestingly, what would be his +5 was only 170 even not fasting. And as a tiny treat / experiment / effort to get more calories in him, I gave him about a tablespoon of YAZ.

Geez! He *loves* that stuff! I'm just hesitant to completely switch him over or give him more than that both because of the anecdotal evidence of diarrhea and because the vet said Jester is a bit dehydrated. I don't want him to crave only dry foods.
For the time being, I'll use it for a calorie adder.
Click to expand...

Have you tried the YA topper? I thought about getting it when I wasn't sure if Jaxa would eat the food or not, but maybe it would be incentive without actually giving the YA straight?
 
FurBabiesMama said:
Have you tried crushing a little of it and sprinkling it on top of his wet food?
Click to expand...
Glassgoblin said:
Have you tried the YA topper?
Click to expand...
Jester doesn't respond well to putting things on top of his food. He's more likely to reject the food outright than anything. And with all the weight he's lost the last thing I need is Jester rejecting food.

Plus I did point out that the possibility of diarrhea from the dry food along with Jester being a bit dehydrated are also current issues.
 
shelaghc said:
Jester doesn't respond well to putting things on top of his food. He's more likely to reject the food outright than anything. And with all the weight he's lost the last thing I need is Jester rejecting food.

Plus I did point out that the possibility of diarrhea from the dry food along with Jester being a bit dehydrated are also current issues.
Click to expand...

You said 'he *loves* that stuff' and that you are going to 'use it for a calorie adder'. So, it sounded like you plan to give him a little regardless of the concerns... and if he loves it, maybe he would not mind it on his other food. That is why I asked if you had tried it. When you crush it, you can use much less, so I was thinking the risk of diarrhea might be less Also, because it would just be sprinkles on wet food, maybe he would eat more of the moisture/wet food along with the sprinkles. I know that the 'sprinkles' approach worked well for me back when I was having trouble getting my girls to eat wet foods.. and during a time when Willow was not eating enough, and I wanted extra calories for her. So maybe just consider trying it... or not... just trying to help. :)
 
FurBabiesMama said:
You said 'he *loves* that stuff' and that you are going to 'use it for a calorie adder'. So, it sounded like you plan to give him a little regardless of the concerns... and if he loves it, maybe he would not mind it on his other food. That is why I asked if you had tried it. When you crush it, you can use much less, so I was thinking the risk of diarrhea might be less Also, because it would just be sprinkles on wet food, maybe he would eat more of the moisture/wet food along with the sprinkles. I know that the 'sprinkles' approach worked well for me back when I was having trouble getting my girls to eat wet foods.. and during a time when Willow was not eating enough, and I wanted extra calories for her. So maybe just consider trying it... or not... just trying to help. :)
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Ah, I see. I misunderstood what the suggestion was about.

I can try that
 
shelaghc said:
Jester doesn't respond well to putting things on top of his food. He's more likely to reject the food outright than anything. And with all the weight he's lost the last thing I need is Jester rejecting food.

Plus I did point out that the possibility of diarrhea from the dry food along with Jester being a bit dehydrated are also current issues.
Click to expand...


Was actually thinking about this stuff: https://www.youngagainpetfood.com/flavor-enhancer.html. Lots of people add a topper like this just as an enticement.
 
Well that's one confirmation.

I just got a blog of snot on my pants let. Jester does indeed have an upper respiratory infection.
 
Wow!
Jester's BG barely moved since +8!

@Djamila @Rachel @Kris & Teasel

I could really use some input on this. Because his nose is stopped up, it's been hard to get him to eat. Took nearly two hours this morning for him to eat his AM meal.

I started him early just in case for his PM meal. But I'm tempted not to give him anything since his BG seems to go down so dramatically. Plus, he's currently only eating for me when I sit right next to him and constantly nudge him.

Thoughts?
 
I think I'd want to give him a little something if you can get him to eat. You could do 0.25 if you want so hopefully he will be higher in the morning and you won't worry too much about him going super low tonight. I just worry because he's still too high to officially say remission and giving him a bit of insulin to help might get you there in time.

Did you try crushing some YAZ on his food tonight? I think that's a great suggestion. If it'll get him to eat more on his own, fabulous! Might try warming it up some too...with a URI, he can't smell it so making it stinky could help.
 
Rachel said:
I think I'd want to give him a little something if you can get him to eat. You could do 0.25 if you want so hopefully he will be higher in the morning and you won't worry too much about him going super low tonight. I just worry because he's still too high to officially say remission and giving him a bit of insulin to help might get you there in time.
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He's barely eaten even a tablespoon's worth.
tbh, the insulin hitting his system usually makes him want to eat more. But I'm hesitant to inject him if he hasn't eaten almost anything.

I had planned on .25u when I saw his BG. But with nothing in his stomach, I'm just not sure. This is pretty new territory.

Rachel said:
Might try warming it up some too...with a URI, he can't smell it so making it stinky could help.
Click to expand...

I did heat it after he'd eaten only a couple of mouthfuls and walked away. It didn't make much difference. Just a couple more bites after I followed him around and pushed the bowl at his feet several times.

I found two leftover Clavamox from when he had a UTI a few months back. Do you think I should break one in half and give it to him?
 
shelaghc said:
He's barely eaten even a tablespoon's worth.
tbh, the insulin hitting his system usually makes him want to eat more. But I'm hesitant to inject him if he hasn't eaten almost anything.

I had planned on .25u when I saw his BG. But with nothing in his stomach, I'm just not sure. This is pretty new territory.



I did heat it after he'd eaten only a couple of mouthfuls and walked away. It didn't make much difference. Just a couple more bites after I followed him around and pushed the bowl at his feet several times.

I found two leftover Clavamox from when he had a UTI a few months back. Do you think I should break one in half and give it to him?
Click to expand...
I wouldn't give an antibiotic unless I was certain it was a bacterial infection. URIs can be viral in which case an antibiotic won't help.
 
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Okay - I just put out a bowl of his favorite freeze-dried salmon treats and even that isn't doing anything for him.

It's the stinkiest thing I have for him and he's never not eaten it.
Kris & Teasel said:
I wouldn't give an antibiotic unless I was certain it was a bacterial infection. URIs can be viral in which case and antibiotic won't help.
Click to expand...
Any suggestions on what I *can* do?
 
Trying to think 'outside the box'...do you have any Zyrtec? My Willow has chronic upper respiratory issues...not infections, but issues with having 'snot', sneezing, and there is sometimes a sound associated with her breathing. Anyway.. it is possible that part of her issues are allergy-related, so I decided to start giving her Zyrtec to see if it helped at all. It MAY help very slightly with her congestion and such, but the best effect has been that she eats more when I give it to her. She has not been a big eater for awhile now and has lost some weight (she is almost 16), and I worry about it all the time, so I am thrilled that the Zyrtec seems to make her eat more. I do not know if it makes her more hungry or if it does clear up her sinuses enough that she can smell the food better.

I just thought I would share that in case you have some and think that would be worth a try. I give her 1/4 a 10mg tablet. She is small, maybe 6lbs on a good day.
 
No Zyrtec on hand. I try not to do chemicals for myself as much as possible.
He did finally eat about the equivalent of 1/3 can of food between two different cans, although it was probably mostly the gravy.....
 
Could you maybe pick up some Zyrtec tomorrow? Sounds like it might help.

What did you decide about the shot?
 
At +4 he still wasn't hungry, but his BG was a nice moderate 171. I think we're good for the night even without Jester eating anything else.

Hopefully he'll feel more like eating in the morning.

Not sure if it'll help at all, but I think I'll leave the heat at about 65 overnight. I know when I'm sick I hate being cold.
 
AMPS 105!!!!

That was on .25u last night at 8:00PM.
Mind you he didn't eat a lot before the injection and I couldn't convince him to eat after.
I think my mistake was that him technical PMPS was at 6:00PM and I didn't think to check him again before giving him that dosage.

But wow......

@Djamila @Rachel @Kris & Teasel

Thoughts?
 
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Hi Shelagh - sorry I wasn't around this morning. I think your decision to NS on that was fine. And that 147 isn't terrible, although still higher than we'd like to see. Hopefully Jester will eat well for you tonight!
 
134 at +9 - he hasn't eaten since around 11:00.
It definitely went down.

EDIT:
I have to be honest. After some serious thought, unless Jester's BG is well over 200, I just don't think I want to give him any insulin at all tonight.
Last night his PMPS was 186. Mind you, it was two hours between that and when he actually got that minuscule .25U dosage. But rationally, he should have gone up in between, not down.
He may very well be on the edge of a remission. And to that I say "hoorah!"

But in the meantime, he's still on the frail side with all the weight loss. And I just don't want to risk him going into insulin shock while I'm asleep.
 
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