Elvis's spreadsheet

[Paula Nowak]

Hi this is Paula with Elvis. I was wondering if some of the people on here could look at Elvis's spreadsheet and tell me what you think. I am basically new here and I'm just wondering what thoughts people may have of how it's going. It doesn't start until February 8th because I didn't know about all the recording of blood glucose and testing. Thank you so much!

 

[JoyBee&Ravan]

I saw your Kitties name & had to stop & see him! I love all cats but especially "Black" ones

I don't give dosing advice, haven't had enough experience.( only been here a year) It's great you have a SS (spreadsheet) One of the first things I can tell you is to try to read the Information in the Yellow sticky notes. It's a lot to learn but the more you know about how the insulin works the easier it will be.
Everyone here wants to Help you & Elvis! The people here donate their time to give their Expert advice. They been doing this for years. They really do know more than most vets about insulin & cats with diabetes. You are in the right place to get advice.

Read the sticky note "Dosing Methods" You'll need to choose which method will work for you, SLG or TR. If you have ANY questions please ask. You need to start a new post every day.Put the date, cats' name & brief question, with a ?
You can go to other's "condos" (posts) & read some of the comments.You can learn a lot & get an idea of what we write in our condo. Also look at other SS (spreadsheets) A lot of us test often.

Think of the SS like a puzzle. Little by little you want to fill in the spaces (different times) This will show you how the insulin is working at different times of the day & night. (we set our alarm to get up at times during the night to test)
The BG (Blood Glucose) often goes the lowest at night. You'll see how helpful it is as you fill in the spaces,to see the readings on the SS.

It's really good that you know to test before every shot. It's also great you stopped feeding dry food to Elvis! I've seen some cats go into remission just by eliminating all dry food.
If you go to the Main forum "Feline Health" Read Dr.Pierson's "Info on Dry Food" it's a real eye opener! There's also her "Food Chart" it's very helpful in choosing cat food.We want to feed low carbs so kitty doesn't gain weight & the carbs don't raise his BG, around 4%carbs. It's a lot better for their diabetes if they're a good weight.

It's the weekend so people are busy, but there is someone always checking if you need help. It's a good time to read as much as you can from the sticky notes. Some of us keep a folder with info we copied,so when were online we can refer to it.

Your doing a Great job. I'll check back again to see how everything's going.

Once you read a post you can click "Like" on the right. It lets us know you read what we wrote

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Welcome to the group! And congrats for getting your spreadsheet up and running and for home testing. You've leapt twos of the biggest hurdles.

I'm going to offer a few thoughts. Lantus and Levemir are both long-acting types insulin. Because of the way they act, it's helpful to have more information that your pre-shot test reading. Your dosing decisions will be based on the lowest number in Elvis's cycle (i.e., the nadir). Thus, it's important to get at least 4 tests per day -- your two pre-shot tests and at least one test somewhere around the middle of both the AM and PM cycles.

Right now, there's no way to really get a clear sense of how Elvis is doing. For example, you don't know how low his numbers went on 3/13 when you got that 71 at PMPS. Getting additional tests will help you to see the patterns in how your kitty is responding to Lantus.

Generally, a cat's nadir is at around +6. However, this varies widely among cats. (My kitty had an early nadir -- at around +3 or +4.) So, it's helpful to get a curve if you are not a testaholic. It looks like you got a curve on 3/11. you may need to do this more often to you have a better idea where Elvis' curve generally falls.

I'd encourage you to look at the sticky notes at the top of the board. I'd also encourage you to start looking at people's spreadsheets. Mine will confirm I'm a testaholic -- I had a cat who was a diving diva and I tend to like data! Not everyone tests as much as I did but looking at spreadsheets will give you a sense of what we look at when offering suggestions about dosing, what the SS of a cat that's nearing remission looks like, etc.

Please let us know if you have questions. We're happy to lend a hand.

 

[Paula Nowak]

Welcome to the group! And congrats for getting your spreadsheet up and running and for home testing. You've leapt twos of the biggest hurdles.

I'm going to offer a few thoughts. Lantus and Levemir are both long-acting types insulin. Because of the way they act, it's helpful to have more information that your pre-shot test reading. Your dosing decisions will be based on the lowest number in Elvis's cycle (i.e., the nadir). Thus, it's important to get at least 4 tests per day -- your two pre-shot tests and at least one test somewhere around the middle of both the AM and PM cycles.

Right now, there's no way to really get a clear sense of how Elvis is doing. For example, you don't know how low his numbers went on 3/13 when you got that 71 at PMPS. Getting additional tests will help you to see the patterns in how your kitty is responding to Lantus.

Generally, a cat's nadir is at around +6. However, this varies widely among cats. (My kitty had an early nadir -- at around +3 or +4.) So, it's helpful to get a curve if you are not a testaholic. It looks like you got a curve on 3/11. you may need to do this more often to you have a better idea where Elvis' curve generally falls.

I'd encourage you to look at the sticky notes at the top of the board. I'd also encourage you to start looking at people's spreadsheets. Mine will confirm I'm a testaholic -- I had a cat who was a diving diva and I tend to like data! Not everyone tests as much as I did but looking at spreadsheets will give you a sense of what we look at when offering suggestions about dosing, what the SS of a cat that's nearing remission looks like, etc.

Please let us know if you have questions. We're happy to lend a hand.

Hi, I watched Gabby's video of her tribute and it was beautiful. Also, thank you for the advice. It is alot to grasp and I'll try my best !
Did Gabby pass on because of diabetes, or what was it?

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

The best answer to your question about what ultimately caused Gabby to cross was a combination of things. She was diabetic for 6.5 years. She began to have problems with high blood pressure and her kidneys. (The two are often related.) She then started having issues with her heart. In other words, it was multi-organ failure. Diabetes is hard on the kidneys so I don't know if the underlying cause was the diabetes or it it was a matter of age and whatever started to go bad first caused a chain reaction.

Thank you for the kind words about her tribute. When I first joined, a different member than now did our OTJ (remission or "Off the Juice") videos. She stopped doing the videos. CD knew Gabby from the time we joined the board and generously put together Gabby's tribute.

 

[Sue and Luci]

Welcome to the forum! Great advice here for helping your kitty! I agree with @JoyBee&Ravan - it will really help you to get more tests during the day and night - so you can see what happens at various times during the day - if you look at other SS's you'll see that different cats hit their lowest BG at different times of day - my Luci surprises me almost every day as to when her lowest is - but it's typically by lunchtime and then she heads back up...but that's just my cat - please keep in mind that every cat is different...soon you'll see when your cat 'tends' to be the lowest - those are the numbers you'll want to keep in mind when you're trying to decide on dose amounts...

Lots of information here...keep posting