Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
Oh my gosh. I haven’t even gotten past your first sentence! I am sooooo excited! I hope the SS is updated because I want to see it. Now I will read the rest of what you wrote!
Last edited:
? Dosing HELP please: Lola 11/18 AMPS 108
- Thread starter Jade_Leah
- Start date
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
Has she eaten any of the HC food today?
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
It can be hard on an anemic cat to test their blood too frequently. I have also been told that testing too frequently will not be able to detect mean changes in bloodwork. Next Wednesday will be good enough.
How does she seem today?
Jade_Leah
Member
The SS is updated. I'm giving her ears and my nerves a little break and only doing AMPS/+6/PMPS for today. There will be another update at 9!
I haven't put out any of the Hills k/d or d/m (though I did give my other kitty some of the k/d in a place Lola can't reach because now it's the dry food she wants ). I assume HC means high carb? Either way, she hasn't had those foods. I've been offering her both the Dr. Elsey's and now the Young Again. I know you're supposed to do a slow transition, but she has been off and on so many foods lately and hasnt had any noticeable gastric issues, so I'm just going for it. I offer her a little of something to gauge her interest and go from there. She is NOT wanting wet food today despite the magic dust and churu additions. I'm going to keep playing around with the wet food to see if I can trick her into enjoying it somehow. I'm still waiting on the aluminum hydroxide powder so I am still on my getting it in her 2x per day in liquid form hidden in a Churu right now and she mostly is willing to take it. I will need help figuring out dosing once it does arrive!
She seems to be doing okay today. She isn't a very active cat overall but she's been jumping on the bed (where she looked into my eyes as she peed on it, thankfully on the one of 4 "pee blankets" i have purchased for this reason) and couch here and there and has eaten pretty well! We've had some cuddles. She has arthritis and it's pretty bad at the base of her tail, so her back legs give her some trouble sometimes, but she's moseying around when she cares to and gave Dan a few good hisses and baps.
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
Okay. It’s probably the LC food then that has helped her BG to go down so much.
Jade_Leah
Member
OKAY. SO. PMPS IS 121 ON ALPHATRAK. 101 ON RELION. WHAT...DO I DO?
P.S. Is it possible it could be the antibiotic helping as well?
Jade_Leah
Member
@Suzanne & Darcy I think that I am going to skip this shot based on the guidelines I found on the main page of the ProZinc forum. I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do, but I'm afraid of bringing her BG too low overnight.
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
Hold on. Let me look.
Jade_Leah
Member
Okay! It was a very mixed feeling to see a lower number and that be exciting but then it's a lower number at the wrong time
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
Yes. It could be the antibiotic as well as the low carb food. Normally I do not recommend completely skipping a shot as it’s usually better to do a reduced dose, but we have such limited data and she’s never been this low before at preshot time. Question: can you retest her now to see if she’s going up? I am sure she ate though?
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
If we skip the shot tonight, I would still like to see what happens with her cycle a little bit. Can you get at least one test in tonight? How long until you go to bed?
I would have recommended a very low dose of perhaps 1 unit, but it’s now 45 minutes past her shot time. Gradually, you can learn to shoot lower and lower numbers, but this was just a real shock. She hasn’t bounced yet, but she may. She definitely broke the bounce today. Often when a bounce is breaking the numbers will trend downward all day.
I would have recommended a very low dose of perhaps 1 unit, but it’s now 45 minutes past her shot time. Gradually, you can learn to shoot lower and lower numbers, but this was just a real shock. She hasn’t bounced yet, but she may. She definitely broke the bounce today. Often when a bounce is breaking the numbers will trend downward all day.
Jade_Leah
Member
Noted for future occurrences!
Have I ruined the breaking of her bounce by skipping this dose? I'm afraid of doing the wrong thing, but I felt like the risk of giving her too much insulin was greater than skipping.
Will I need to be adjusting the dose each time her numbers are in different ranges? Or will this more likely be until we find the right dose for her?
I work at 7am so I should really be asleep by 10:50 at the latest, but I will get a reading as close to the +2 mark since the last test as I can. Then when I inevitably wake up to use the restroom I will try to get another.
Thank you so much for all of your help. This is so stressful and has taken over my life in addition to trying to work and keep up with the house and caring for the three other animals on my own. Any bit of help is deeply appreciated.
Jade_Leah
Member
Just saw this! She had, in fact, eaten. I did another test 30 minutes later regardless and she'd only gone up to 128.
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
Yes. Please try to get the test when you wake in the night. It’s going to be okay. Good things are happening! 
Let’s just keep moving forward. Just think. We’ve gone from HI and blacks and reds to blue in a matter of a couple days!
Let’s just keep moving forward. Just think. We’ve gone from HI and blacks and reds to blue in a matter of a couple days!
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
Okay. Let’s hope she won’t climb too much tonight. But it is going to be okay. Once we find a good dose for her we most likely won’t need to move the dose around too much. In the early days it can be like that sometimes. Every cat is different. Have a good night.
Jade_Leah
Member
Have a great night! I'll keep you posted. Thanks again
Jade_Leah
Member
Last night at around +2 she was at 181, then at +6 she was at 280, now at AMPS she is at 213. All on AlphaTrak. So she needs insulin but I doubt 4.5 is appropriate?
Jade_Leah
Member
@Suzanne & Darcy waiting to see what my vet says but if he doesn't answer and I don't hear from you before it feels like too long to wait, I may to the 3.5 dose she was on a couple of days post hospital. I am NOT complaining about these low numbers. I'm amazed ahaha!
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
Let me look at the SS. What did you shoot? If you did?
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
What’s the AMPS? I can’t see it on the SS.
Jade_Leah
Member
The vet suggested I stay at 4.5 so I did shoot that just now. I will be watching her like a hawk, though.
Jade_Leah
Member
Sorry, these are the numbers, I didn't get to update the SS yet
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
Please try to keep your SS updated as much as possible. I would shoot 2 units and monitor her. If it’s not enough then we will know next time to give a little more. It’s better to work up a dose rather than down. If we decide it’s not enough in this cycle, we can increase tonight even. We don’t have to wait.
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
I do not agree about shooting 4.5
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
We have been no data to support shooting a preshot of 213 with 4.5 units
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
If you retest her right now and find that she has gone up a whole bunch then maybe I would shoot a little more, but otherwise I would only shoot 2 to 2.5 units
Jade_Leah
Member
Then I guess it's a good thing I just noticed I did a freaking fur shot. So she did not get the full 4.5. This is so stressful.
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
The only problem is that we have no idea how much she got. But it will be OK as long as you are able to intervene today if necessary. What you need to do is write 4.5 FS in the units column of your spreadsheet
Jade_Leah
Member
She also doesn't seem to have much of an appetite this morning. I'm offering her a lot of different foods to tempt her but so far she's only licked at her wet food and won't touch any of the dry.
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
Keep trying. We don’t need the extra downward BG due to not eating. I hope she’s not nauseated. Do you have an Cerenia at home?
Jade_Leah
Member
She turned her nose up at everything but Greenies treats, which she ate like her life depended on it. So I gave her a pile of them and will keep trying to get entice her to eat all day. I do have a couple of doses of Cerenia that were sent home with me from the hospital. Should I go ahead and give it to her?
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
So you definitely felt wet on her fur and did you smell insulin?
I would give her a Cerenia. Can’t hurt. May help. It’s not the best anti-nausea drug (Zofran is) but some cats really feel better on Cerenia.
I would give her a Cerenia. Can’t hurt. May help. It’s not the best anti-nausea drug (Zofran is) but some cats really feel better on Cerenia.
Jade_Leah
Member
1000% felt, saw &, smelled the insulin. She jerked right as I shot. I can't really tell how much went in or came out but there it wasn't a tiny amount.
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
I hope she will eat something besides the high carb Greenies. 
. We were just getting such better numbers with the LC food. But she needs something. Do you have any food she may like at home? Do you have any pure meat baby foods like Gerber ham or turkey or chicken— or Beech Nut? Do you have Forti Flora you could sprinkle on her Young Again or Dr. Elsey’s? I would leave a bowl of those out for her so she hopefully will nibble on it/them.
. We were just getting such better numbers with the LC food. But she needs something. Do you have any food she may like at home? Do you have any pure meat baby foods like Gerber ham or turkey or chicken— or Beech Nut? Do you have Forti Flora you could sprinkle on her Young Again or Dr. Elsey’s? I would leave a bowl of those out for her so she hopefully will nibble on it/them.
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
Fur shots happen to everyone once in a while 
Jade_Leah
Member
Just gave her the Cerenia and some more Greenies. I think she's in a picky mood today and while Greenies treats are far from appropriate for her dietary needs, I'm glad she's willing to eat SOMETHING. Hopefully the Cerenia helps her want more.
Jade_Leah
Member
I hope she will eat something besides the high carb Greenies.
I've left out small piles of Dr. Elsey's, Young Again & even some of the Hills k/d along with the wet food she barely touched. I'm certain her sister is going to gobble up the latter, but I am trying! I do have Florti Flora and will sprinkle some on everything.
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
Any tests? I just checked the SS and there are no entries for today at all. I was just trying to check in and see how she doing.
Jade_Leah
Member
That is strange because the 213 was definitely there since this morning! I have been working and as it's Friday I am playing catchup from being laser focused on baby girl all week. But I just added as 12pm reading as well, which was 295. So she definitely didn't get much of the 9am fur shot!
Jade_Leah
Member
I'm sorry that it took until now to add the 12pm test. I'm trying to get to the SS as quickly as I can. I update her Alphatrak app immediately and then screenshot for my future reference but the SS I keep forgetting to hit the check mark on when I've updated. I think that's why you maybe didn't see the 213 either, though I added it hours ago. I'm trying to get the hang of everything and keep flubbing up. I am so sorry for any inconvenience!
Jade_Leah
Member
I will be checking her again at 3pm which is +6 and I will try to get another test in before her PMPS but if I can't I will make sure that st the very least I immediately upload the +6.
I'd like to try to have a plan in place for tonight, though! My vet is stating that for anything above the 150s he wants me to still give the 4.5 units and for anything 150 and under he wants me to give 4 units, which is also what the specialist is advising. I think even 4 units (much less 4.5 units!) will be too much too much unless she's in the 300s or higher at 9pm.
I'd like to get your input and a plan in place for reading ranges for her shots, both AM and PM got future reference while we are still unsure of her dosage sweet spot. Luckily it is the weekend so I can stay up later and get a +2 easily after her pm shot.
Would you be okay with helping me with this? I'd like to be as prepared as I can be!
JL and Chip
Very Active Member
I will defer to @Suzanne & Darcy on dosing but I will say categorically that I wouldn’t go with 4.5u given that (a) you switched to (mostly) low carb food and that can cause the BG to plummet, (b) you added antibiotics, which could be addressing any underlying kidney or other infection and thus could also be a force that’s contributing to lower BGs, and (c) she’s not eating well today.
Jade_Leah
Member
Her lack of appetite today is scaring me a bit but I continue to try to give her many little offerings of various types.
At +6 she was at 448 which leads me to believe that almost none of the insulin got into her when I did the fur shot. I feel so bad.
I am interested to see what @Suzanne & Darcy thinks about how to dose with these numbers.
JL and Chip
Very Active Member
I’d also check for ketones for good measure.
Jade_Leah
Member
I'm not entirely sure how to read the ketone strips. As in, I see the chart and what the colors mean but I don't know what color on the chart we go to that's cause for concern or what to do about it if it is. I am trying to catch her doing a pee but the best I've caught is pressing it onto a pee pad under the litterbox (she misses frequently now). It is very very very lightly and maybe not actually the 1st color. "Trace".
I just got her to eat almost an entire Sheba perfect portions by feeding it to her on a spoon by hand
Jade_Leah
Member
@Suzanne & Darcy somehow the link to my spreadsheet in my signature was still going to an old version of the spreadsheet that stopped working for me, so I had to create a new version. I have NO clue how, but it has been fixed and all of the numbers I've reported on this thread are there.
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
I can’t see the spreadsheet. You need to set the permissions to “anyone with link” may view the spreadsheet.
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
Good about the Sheba! Thank you for still trying to get her to eat wet food. I know she doesn’t make it easy on you.
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
Maybe the Cerenia helped. How many mg. did you give? Of she keeps up not eating then you may need to ask the vet to write you a script for Zofran (Ondansetron) 4 mg orally dissolving tablets (which you would still put into a gelatin capsules — to address possible nausea.
Suzanne & Darcy
Very Active Member
It’s just about time for her p.m. shot.