Dosing help

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Puddensmom

Puddensmom

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I need some help with dosing again. Because Pudden was going into blues and greens a few times late in the day I went ahead and lowered her dose to .5. Now she just stays in the 400s and goes up into the 500s in the morning. Should I go back up to 1 unit or try .75? I have a fear of ketones because I just can't afford anymore vet bills. I am completely out of money. I have the test strips, but have been unsucessful in catching her urinating when I am home.
 
Either one. One unit if you can monitor; 0.75 if you are feeling anxious. I'd hold the 0.75 for 3 cycles and if she is still flat and not in the blues and greens, raise.

Oliver wouldn't let us watch him pee. To get a sample, I put him in a room by himself with a clean litter box and aquarium gravel (I've heard people do it with small beans also). He'd have to christen the clean box and I'd swoop in and get the sample as it wouldn't be absorbed.
 
I will see how high she is tonight. If she is in the 500s I will go for the 1 unit and stay up otherwise I think I will try the .75.

I'm still waiting for her to use the litterbox. Eversince starting insulin and an antibiotic for the uti she only pees a few times a day. I'm happy she is not peeing buckets anymore, but it sure makes testing difficult!:arghh:
 
Just gave her the ketone test and it was negative. Woohoo! Unfortunately she is not eating well today. She ate beautifully this morning, but threw up after using the litter box. Her poop is very hard little pellets probably from the buprenex. I have since stopped the buprenex, but she is still having problems. I started her on miralax yesterday, but it hasn't kicked in yet.

Is it ok for me to sprinkle her wet food with a very small amount of dry to get her to eat if she continues to refuse food? Pudden hates wet food and now with her coming off the pred it is becoming increasingly difficult to get her to eat it. I am hoping today is just from a tummy ache, but I have been noticing a decline in her appetite since lowering the pred. She tries desperately to get the dogs dry food.
 
So sorry that she is not feeling well today. Before you try the dry food have you tried any of the following? The reason why it would be better to try these is because it is all low carb. You definitely do not want for her to go too long without food as it can cause other complications.

1) Chicken Broth or Beef Broth (no sugar added); could be made from bouillon cubes
2) Tuna or tuna broth/juice
3) Parmesan cheese sprinkled on food
4) Bonita Flakes sprinkled on food (It is cheap and can be found at Asian Markets or possibly local food store)
5) Pepcid AC 1/4 tablet - may have to crush and syringe feed; wait 20 minutes and try feeding again
6) Boiled chicken shredded or pureed
7) Baked/broiled/boiled Salmon, White fish, etc.
8) Warm up regular food in microwave
9) Medium or, last resort, the high carb, wet food
 
I will definitely give some of these suggestions a try! Should the parmesean be the fresh grated cheese or the kind in a can? I will have to head out to a store and buy a few things.
 
I think folks here use parmesean from the can. Use #9 for last resort. Medium carb food would be 8-12%.
 
Morning,

How is Pudden feeling today? I snuck a peek at the spreadsheet and liked your pmps last night. Looks like she might still be bouncing a little. The hope is that they get used to the lower levels and settle in. The good news for me is that you are shooting tiny amounts and she has some decent numbers, minus the bounces of course. She is responding well to the insulin and it is early days.
 
Thank you so much for checking in on Pudden! She seems to be feeling so much better already. She is urinating only a few times a day when she used to go every two hours. She has so much more energy and wants to play again. Pudden is 18 so I thought she had just slowed down and being sleepy all the time was her new normal. It has become obvious it was due to the diabetes. I can really see the old Pudden starting to come back now. It feels like a true miracle!

I am glad the high numbers this morning were not something I did wrong in dosing and were a bounce. After she went into such nice numbers last night I was surpirised to see high 400s this AMPS. I wasn't sure why that was and am so thankful you could explain it.

Is it a good possibility that because Pudden seems to do well on low doses, maybe once off the prednisilone she will eventually go into remission? Either way I am learning so much and am beginning to see that even if she never goes into remission treating diabetes is not nearly as scary as I thought it would be. I definitely owe that to this group. I would be totally lost without it!
 
Getting off the prednisone should help bring the numbers down. You'll want to be very careful watching her levels as she goes off it.

I am so glad it is less scary than it was at first. I found it empowering to be able to get a blood test and know I could keep him in safe numbers.
 
I will definitely be sure to watch really closely when lowering. She will be going down to getting a 2.5mg pill every third day on the 24th and then will be completely done on the 27th. I am looking forward to her being steroid free!
 
We've seen cats come off the pred and go into remission. It is very possible...as Sue says, that's when you want to be sure you're closely watching her. Nice that it will be happening around Thanksgiving! Hopefully that means you'll have a few days to keep an eye on things.

As you said, even if she doesn't go into remission, it's not as hard as anyone thought! I remember how frightened I was...but it really became just a way of life.
 
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