Faith 4/14 PMPS 95.4

[Vegetable (GA)]

It's been a long time since I've been here but Faith & I are back looking for some help.

Faith is kinda a mess right now. She has a mass on her mammory, blood work at end of January looked ok, xrays in February were clear & the aspiration with a fine needle came back inconclusive. She is just nicely over a bout of pancreatitis & the bloodwork for that showed she has kidney disease. Then to make things worse Sunday night she broke a tooth!

Since Faith had pancreatitis she is not eating as much as I want her to. Shes lucky if she will eat 2 cans if fancy feast a day. I've spent a pile of money buying her new food. Just before she had pancreatitis I got her the Primal Freeze Dried food & the BFF wet foods only to find out she either wint eat it or it's to high in phosphorus & because of covid-19 the pet stores are not accepting returns right now. I then got hold of a food chart for CKD kitties so I bought some weruva food but she wont eat it.

Faith's blood sugar has been up & down. I test her everyday, she NEVER gets insulin without a pre shot test & when possible I do get a mid cycle test in. Tonight shes at 95.4 for her pmps but to low for insulin. Last time I gave her insulin when she was higher she went very hypo.

I guess I'm just frustrated & need an extra set of eyes on Faith & maybe a bit of guidance from anyone that can offer any suggestions.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi and welcome back.
I'm sorry Faith has been unwell. I hope she is on the mend now. If Faith is not eating, do you think she may be nauseated....cats recovering from pancreatitis are often nauseated and need something like cerenia for a while til things settle down.

Just a few things looking at your SS....
You have a couple of blank spots in the PMPS column, what happened there?

Are you able to get any tests in during the PM cycle? Cats often drop lower at night and there is no way of telling unless you test. Getting a before bed test in is a good habit to get in to each night. If the before bed test is lower than the preshot, then it is a good idea to check it again later.
You are missing half the puzzle by not testing in the pm cycle.

Getting very high AMPS can often mean Faith has dropped low overnight and is now bouncing.
And getting a low AMPS can also indicate she has been low during the night before. For example 4/12 you got a AMPS of 5.6 and there is nothing at all in the pm column from the night before, even a preshot number.

To day you shot a 9.4 and didn't test during the cycle and now have 5.3 PMPS which indicates that she dropped low during the am cycle today.
This is not a criticism, I am just pointing out where you can improve the testing and get answers and hopefully better results.

With a history of ketones it is not a good idea to be skipping doses if at all possible. If you find you are having to skip many shots, you may need to reduce the dose by 0.25 units so you can shoot both cycles.
Do you still test for ketones at all?

Here is a list of foods that have the phosphorus values in them. Look for foods that have a value of 200 to 150mg phosphorus/100kcals or less
https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

 

[Olive & Paula]

Sorry your back, but nice to hear from you again.

Do you know what stage kidney disease is at? Subq fluids could help (any heart disease you know about?). They will also help with p'titis.

Did the tooth break off or did entire tooth come out? If it just broke, the rest needs to come out which means a vet visit. If it's left in, it is probably painful and can get infected.

Fancy Feast Savory Centers are low carb and phos. It's more sauce in center and not gravy as can says. It could be an option if you can get it.

 

[Vegetable (GA)]

Sorry your back, but nice to hear from you again.

Do you know what stage kidney disease is at? Subq fluids could help (any heart disease you know about?). They will also help with p'titis.

Did the tooth break off or did entire tooth come out? If it just broke, the rest needs to come out which means a vet visit. If it's left in, it is probably painful and can get infected.

Fancy Feast Savory Centers are low carb and phos. It's more sauce in center and not gravy as can says. It could be an option if you can get it.

Faith has an appointment at the vet tomorrow to look at her tooth. I found parts of her tooth on my bed, when I looked in her mouth I can see a hole where her tooth was but not sure if the root came out or not.

She was on sub q fluids for about a week or so but we ran out & I was trying to hold off on getting more until my EI kicked in. I lost my job over a month ago because of covid-19 & still waiting for money from the government.

I dont think Faith is nauseous, shes not really showing any signs of it. I did have cerenia for her but I'm out. I also had mirtazipan as an appy stimulant but I'm out. The only thing I have left is gabbapentin for pain but shes not really showing signs of pain so I haven't been giving it to her.

Her ckd I think is stage 3. I was doing some research on her results & according to the chart she is stage 3 but the vet didn't say what stage she was at.

I've been looking for a phosphorus binder but so far the only place online that was recommended the shipping costs are more then the product. I'm in Canada so I cant get it from chewy which would make it so simple.

 

[Vegetable (GA)]

Hi and welcome back.
I'm sorry Faith has been unwell. I hope she is on the mend now. If Faith is not eating, do you think she may be nauseated....cats recovering from pancreatitis are often nauseated and need something like cerenia for a while til things settle down.

Just a few things looking at your SS....
You have a couple of blank spots in the PMPS column, what happened there?

Are you able to get any tests in during the PM cycle? Cats often drop lower at night and there is no way of telling unless you test. Getting a before bed test in is a good habit to get in to each night. If the before bed test is lower than the preshot, then it is a good idea to check it again later.
You are missing half the puzzle by not testing in the pm cycle.

Getting very high AMPS can often mean Faith has dropped low overnight and is now bouncing.
And getting a low AMPS can also indicate she has been low during the night before. For example 4/12 you got a AMPS of 5.6 and there is nothing at all in the pm column from the night before, even a preshot number.

To day you shot a 9.4 and didn't test during the cycle and now have 5.3 PMPS which indicates that she dropped low during the am cycle today.
This is not a criticism, I am just pointing out where you can improve the testing and get answers and hopefully better results.

With a history of ketones it is not a good idea to be skipping doses if at all possible. If you find you are having to skip many shots, you may need to reduce the dose by 0.25 units so you can shoot both cycles.
Do you still test for ketones at all?

Here is a list of foods that have the phosphorus values in them. Look for foods that have a value of 200 to 150mg phosphorus/100kcals or less
https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

Thanks for the list, I've been going through it & trying to get some of the low carb/phosphorus foods. It's hard cause the pet stores here dont carry most of the brands listed & the ones they do carry she wont eat.

I will try to go back & fill in the missing pre shot numbers on her spread sheet. I do test for ketones when she is acting off but not regularly.

When she goes to the vet tomorrow I will be asking for more cerenia, mirtazipan & sub q fluids. I'm hoping we can come up with a plan to treat her ckd & get her feeling better.

I will have to start setting my alarm to get some late night mid cycle tests in. Thanks for the suggestions.