Gandalf on the kitty rollercoaster

[Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin]

You know that rollercoaster at the county fair that's for little kids? Well that's kind of what Gandalf's on right now. May be too many time switches, but he had a 400 last week I was not expecting. Then it's like he went from higher in the evenings to higher in the mornings. It's not too bad, I think his dose just needs tweaking, so I'll raise him to 1U tomorrow.

Thanks to Marcy asking what she should do for Klinger when she and DH are gone to take Musette to her new home, I think I will skip Gandalf's shot on the morning of the 22nd. I have to leave by 6:30AM for an out of town meeting that day which will last all day and I won't get home till probably 9PM. In the past I have moved his shot times earlier to the 6AM time, which is a pain and then he has to go at least 15 hours before his next shot. I could give him a +10 or +9 dose Wed. morning that's 75% of his current dose to help extend his evening dose but not put him in danger, but I think it's counter-productive to move shot time earlier just to leave him go till +15 for the next shot. This way I can leave his shot time at 9PM and only have to mess it up once that morning. That seems like that would much less disruption of his schedule, except for one earlier shot. Depending on his BG at that +9 point, I might only give .5U if he's at 1U then.

To tell the truth, I like his shot time at 9AM/PM. That way I can sleep in while I have a few days off this weekend. :mrgreen:

 

[Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA]

Ok, I am totally confused (except for the sleeping in part - THAT make's sense!). If you are going to skip the shot why are you talking about shooting 75% of dose at +9?
confused_cat

 

[Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin]

Ok, I am totally confused (except for the sleeping in part - THAT make's sense!). If you are going to skip the shot why are you talking about shooting 75% of dose at +9?
confused_cat

Oh, yeah I guess that's not really skipping the shot, is it? :lol: I suppose I mean skipping the moving shot times around as that's really what I would be skipping.
:? Don't tell anyone but I confuse myself sometimes.

 

[Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin]

Bloomin' 299 this AM. Boosted to 1U. We had thunderstorms about 5AM this morning which would have been close to nadir time for him, but this fits his pattern lately.

 

[Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA]

Don't tell anyone but I confuse myself sometimes.

Don't we all!

I have to look at his SS, but maybe the dose changes are causing the highs? I keep hearing Melissa's voice saying "Why are you guys treating lev like it's vetsulin?" every time I make a dose change based on a PS number. Well, you have to for very low numbers, but for the high ones, not so much.

I have to go test/shoot Jeddie - back to look at G's SS in a bit.

ETA: One thing that I noticed is that when you gave him 1.2u after no shot for almost 48 hours he came down from almost 500 to below 100. That's a heck of a wallop out of that dose. That was just a month ago. And on the 29th 1.1u was taking him to 30, albeit from a 140.

It really looks like you are responding to higher numbers with a higher dose, but I just wonder if the swings that get going are from too much insulin and not from too little? Would .7u have worked better after the 30 and 40 than .9u or .8u?

I just don't know, but that is what I wonder because in general swings are from too much, not too little insulin.

 

[Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin]

Yeah, I see your point. I have him on a fairly regular shot schedule right now, so I will see what happens on 1U. You might be right about not having dropped far enough when he had those lows. He sure is doing what we know as bouncing from too much insulin, because I thought he had a good cycle yesterday with the 101, but here he is almost 300 this AM. His appetite seems a bit down too. That doggone F-Biotic stuff must make them feel fuller or something. It says it can decrease their food intake by 50%. Doesn't seem to affect the other 2 who need to decrease their food intake!! Leahpold caught 2 gophers yesterday, but she still wants food and is overweight 'cause she still has fat rolls! Gandalf doesn't feel any lighter, but I should weigh him next time we go for acupuncture.

You all would be shocked by Leahpold - I do not understand why she is still fat! The only thing that makes sense to me is what dr. Hodgkins says about dry fed cats that they are conditioned to eat more even once they're put on a low carb diet. I think Leahpold eats Gandalf's food because she loves that F-Biotic stuff, so she's simply eating too many calories a day. Sammie is not as bad, but she won't eat the raw or catch gophers. Leahpold is what I would call very food driven. When I get the raw mice or rabbit entrails out, she goes crazy, meowing and sitting up and pacing till she gets it. Getting her the raw food has increased her drive for it because she's catching more again. call me crazy, but I am happy to have her catching prey again. She just can't eat it in the house! She ran in with one yesterday and I had to carry her back out, growling all the way!

 

[Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin]

Sheila gets a gold star

He went down to 82 today, that I caught on the meter. Then he was 115 2 hours later at almost +9. So of course he bounced and was 358 tonight at preshot, though that was +12.5.

So he bounced even harder off the 1U than .9U. You would think I should take my own advice and lower his dose - so I did, to .75U. So you win the gold star, Sheila for suggesting that. Swinging is pretty obvious with him.

He is due now for a dental. I'm almost afraid his kidney values will have changed and they won't be able to do it. I don't give him much for fluids now as he's been lower but maybe that's another factor in his numbers because I used to do that almost every day. I gave him 50ml tonight though.

I don't even know why this would cause his insulin need to go down, (I don't know that it's the Denamarin because I am horrible about remembering to give it to him - this is the second night in a row I forgot, but he is getting his raw food again at least.) but I realized he's been getting his Adequan every other week now for a couple months at least. I don't think I noted it in his spreadsheet when we started doing that. Seems an odd coincidence that he seems to be needing less insulin now.

 

[Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA]

I don't know what to tell you about the "whys" of it. I just see a pattern of bounces, although they can be very subtle.

I was wondering about the taurine supplement? Are you suing it? I started about a week ago so I was thinking it might be causing Jeddie's lows, but he has had these lows before, so that probably isn't it.

 

[Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin]

I don't know if Gandalf is getting much of the taurine or not. I should probably put it in his raw food. He's eating right now, in fact, for the first time since I fed him an ounce of raw at 9:45PM. But he just licks at it. Another reason I want to get him in for his teeth. He really struggles if I give him pieces of food like salmon or chicken now. The Wellness is good because it's so soft he just licks it up.

 

[Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin]

Bah, he was 396 this morning. Yeah, I know probably a reduction reaction. He was all lovey dovey though for shot time, so that's a good sign and he wanted his breakfast.

 

[Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin]

He must have known I went the right direction with dose! 81 at +5, then 62 at +7 with no behavioral signs of going low. So a fast drop, but leveling off. Will see what tonight BG is, but will probably stay with .75U unless he drops further. That is nearly a 40% reduction in dose in just a few weeks. Or he was getting too much insulin for a while now.

I gave 50ml fluids this AM right after his shot, so that may have something to do with the rapid drop.

 

[Marcy & Klinger (GA)]

Great numbers today. So happy the reduction is working for Gandalf. I love when you and Sheila give updates on your furbabies...I learn so much! And where is Melissa? Hope Paul-Kyle is doing well!