Felix numbers dropping quickly - what to do?

Astra&Purrfect

Astra&Purrfect

Member
Suzanne, Hi. Listen, I'm rather worried because his numbers are dropping fast much faster than usual. He was AMPS at 406 and +3h 205 and now only 1 hour later at +4h 135. That's not even at the usual time for nadir. He has eaten in the last hour but perhaps should I give him half a teaspoon of honey in a water in a syringe?
Astra & Felix.
EDIT: Ok everybody, at +5h, Felix is now at 181 - I've been testing every half an hour for safety as I've never seen such a sharp curve downwards with Felix. He's had a good meal of duck and quite a lot of Party Mix to buffer him up. I'm going to continue testing regularly. I must say that the 3 units might be too strong for him especially considering they go lower at night.
 
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Hi. I am sorry that I am just seeing this now. I haven’t been feeling well at all.

You are going to have to be willing to let him drop into blue and even green numbers (the normal healthy green numbers) if he’s going to make any progress.

That isn’t a particularly steep drop since first it took him three hours to go from 400 to 200 — three hours. Then he has a very good dip into the blue numbers and I guess you gave him high carb food to bring him up because he shot up to yellow and then pink. Overall this was looking like it was going to be an excellent cycle, but because you intervened with HC we cannot tell how it would have gone. I think he would have stayed in blue or high green and then risen up (and yes maybe a bounce but he generally does at least a little bounce from a number he’s not used to.)

I know these newer numbers are unknown territory, but unless he drops below 50, it is not recommended to use high carb food (and dry food is a poor choice for that). If he’s coming close to 50, you could try a little medium carb food of about 11-14 percent.
 
Can you please write in the remarks what exactly he ate and at what point in the cycle. Or put it in the cell with the BG numbers themselves. I am trying to see what happened and what happened when he was in a very safe blue number.
 
Astra&Purrfect said:
He was AMPS at 406 and +3h 205 and now only 1 hour later at +4h 135. That's not even at the usual time for nadir.
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So this isn’t bad. Three hours for the 205 and a drop of less than 100 in the next hour. I would say it was too steep if it was more than 100 in a single hour— and usually we try to manage that with food (either changing the timing of snacks or the amount or the carb percentage.)
 
Thank you very much for your advice, Suzanne. Firstly, I must say I'm sorry to hear you've not been feeling well and hope you get better soon. Vitamin C is great for pepping up the immune system.
As for today, it was a bit of a panic for us to see him drop fast at only 3 hours and further at 4 hours post shot. We're just not used to seeing this and thought back to the mention of Meowsi given in the Prozinc protocol and her number of 132 at 4 hours and then much lower numbers later. We didn't know what to expect so just boosted him up with plenty of good food (have just listed it) eventually bringing the numbers up. I must remember my own rule which is not to increase dose unless it's on a weekday when, in the worst case scenario, one could get to the vet without incurring emergency out of hours fees.

Again, hope you feel better soon, Suzanne, and have a nice evening.
 
I hope you don’t feel like I am chastising you at all. I am not! I certainly do realize how very unexpected it was for you to see these numbers. Just remember that when you are testing, you are in control of the cycle, and you can intervene to steer the numbers. He would have to be really quite overdosed to be dropping to a level — and not responding to carbs — where you would have to think of taking him to a vet. He’s not going to have that with a .25 increase to 3 units where he had a promising blue number. Now if he had plummeted from 405 to 135 at +2, I certainly would have been extremely concerned. Felix was just responding well to this new dose, which hopefully is an indication of improved health (less insulin resistance) for him.

And… yes to vitamin C (and D)! I take a lot of immune boosting and other supplements like medicinal mushrooms and a particularly good one for boosting the immune system called EpiCor, which is a yeast culture. That stuff has kept me from getting ill many times when I could tell I had a cold coming on. Anyway, I am with you on the vitamins and supplements.
 
Do you know the carb percentage of the RC recovery food? I can’t remember offhand. I am sure the Party Mix is HC (a treat for Felix! 😉). He’s probably enjoying his day and doesn’t realize that he’s caused any anxiety.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
How is Felix doing today/tonight (or this morning for you tomorrow-Monday morning?)
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Dear Suzanne,
Thank you so much for enquiring about Felix and sorry not to get back to you sooner. We’ve been out all day and a bit run off our feet. It’s past midnight here! Felix is quite bonny and doing well with a good appetite. He numbers are too high so we are planning to put him back up to 3 units on Friday when we are able to be at home for several days in a row to monitor him throughout the day with all the food available he might need to buffer any lows. It’s especially important for us to be there to hand syringe food as he goes up to 3 units because he seems to go iffy on his food after a dose increase.

Thank you for all your advice in the post above and we understand that you’re not chastising us!

We too take Vitamin C, D3 and zinc plus many other supplements to stay ahead of the game!

Royal Canin Recovery is apparently 3.6% carbs, quite low. Felix Party Mix is with naughty cereals and is 26.5% carbs!

I will keep you posted - Felix is next to me snacking on some roast chicken 😺
Astra & Felix.
 
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