Help!

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Barbara

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I am new to the board. My cat was just diagnosed April 1. I just posted for the first time today and someone, I think it was Sue suggested I come over here since I use Pro Zinc. This is my problem. It is time for my cats shot & when I tested her she was only @ 136, I waited, actually more than 20 minutes & it's still only @ 180. I am now only 11 hrs away from the time for her next shot. She gets 1.5 units, she started out at 2 units but the vet lowered it Thursday after she did a curve. Thanks!

Barbara
 
Just hold on and don't shoot---I am sure help is on it' s way!

I can't answer your question, but we have some good ones that can.

Welcome! It looks like you are off to a good start--nice pmps number!

Kim
 
I am not going to be around long tonight. If you can't get answers here, always go to the health forum.

Nice numbers. Your 180 is close. I would wait 20 more minutes and test again, without feeding. If you get to 200 or above, I think I would give .5. Better cautious this early in the sugar dance.
 
Just saw your post in Health and posted a hello on that. I think Sue's advice to be cautious is good, especially since you indicated you've been transitioning Thumper from dry to low carb wet food. The low carb wet food can make a big difference in how much insulin Thumper may need and bring the dose down.
 
Ok, her # is @ 239 so I'm feeding & giving her .5 units reduced down from 1.5 at Sue's suggestion. Geez, this is nerve racking, and she's not happy, the last test she really started growling at me. She doesn't even notice the shots though!
 
Hi Barbara,
I am new here to so I dont want to give you a suggestion because I am still
trying to figure this out
I know it can be so nerve wracking, but hang in there, there are wonderful people
on this site and they will help you

welcome and hang in there,
it gets a little less nerve wracking as time goes by.

Denise and Shakes
 
Good for you for stalling the shot tonight. I am eager to hear how she did with the .5u tonight! A lot of us here keep track of the glucose numbers via a spreadsheet saved to google documents. That way it is all in one place, and easily shared to others so we can get a full idea of what numbers your kitty has been getting when we go to give you advice! There are links in the Tech Forum part of this site on how to set one up!

Welcome :YMHUG:
 
Ok, I think I got my spreadsheet all filled out correctly so I am posting it here. No more BG tests for tonight. I don't know if I will get to post her AMPS since I'm on a deadline to get to work. Hopefully all will be fine & I will be back tomorrow night for an update & probably more help! confused_cat Thanks again!

Barbara
 
I just noticed in your signature it says dry food left out all day? Did the peeps already talk to you about changing that up? Don't want to be a broken record, but you will likely see even better results if that is out of the picture. (Although it's hard to complain about her #s! But still... why add carbs if you don't have to.)
 
I did ask about changing her food entirely but my vet was concerned about changing a lot right off. I think her #'s were over 500 when she was first diagnosed. I wasn't tesing at home at first even though she mentioned I could so I suppose she was worried her sugar would go to low & I wouldn't realize what was happening? She said she wanted to get her stable before we changed her food. I told her I was giving 1/2 a 3 oz. can so I could make sure she ate before I gave her shot. I'm pretty confused about what to do really. And since I'm gone for about 9 hrs for work & have3 other cats I'm not sure what to do. :?
 
You have your hands full, Barbara, with a new sugar kitty who is giving you some challenging dosing decisions right away. I like your idea of putting the wet food out. I would suggest as much and often as possible so they have the choice. I think it is okay to leave the dry stuff out for awhile until you see how each of your cats is adjusting to the change. Some cats have intestinal issues and some have stomach issues. You want to make sure everyone is doing okay, but particularly your diabtic. During the day, you can leave out the wet mixed with some water or freeze it and leave it out to thaw.

Just have it in the back of your mind, that all wet is the goal for everyone.
 
Yah, don't know why the vets often seem to get that backwards. It's like saying "ok, your diet is 1/2 candy & soda and you are now diabetic, so.... let's get you on insulin, get you stablized, and then we'll talk about weaning you off your candy." ohmygod_smile My take is a lot of vets just don't realize how much the dry food wreaks havoc. I know my vet didn't. Even after Bix went from like 4 units on the lower carb dry foods to more like 1.5 on LC canned, I'm still not sure she was convinced. :YMSIGH:

Anyhow, so my suggestion would be 1) no need to stress about it and no super-rush b/c her #s are pretty good. BUT she'll have a better chance of going OTJ w/o the dry in the picture, and if she does go OTJ she will have a better chance of staying that way w/o dry. And even if she doesn't go OTJ, you will most likely find the diabetes A LOT easier to manage w/o those extra carbs.

One thing you can do is leave canned food out. I didn't know that when I got here, but it turns out it's not a big deal to leave it out (I'm not sure why, but that's what I have read). Some people freeze portions, like in an ice cube tray, and then set those out in the morning so it will last a little longer during the day.

I do think it's a good idea to have food out if you aren't home, so I wouldn't just pull up the dry or anything like that. And if you do switch it over to wet, you should reduce your dose further. Assuming she is actually eating the dry (?) and getting #s like this, she likely will not need as much insulin w/o it.

So I would get some ideas - you can browse Health, it is a frequent topic, and do some reading on the food links & stuff (some are in the PZI sticky, others are in the Health Links forum, or it's called something like that I don't remember exactly) and see what you think, and then experiment and figure out what works best for your crew.

Basically just what Sue said :mrgreen: I seem to keep posting at the same time as other peeps. The board used to show you the new posts before you submitted yours, but it seems like maybe that has changed, I don't seem to see them anymore til after I post.
 
as for the ear pokies...be sure to poke the outer most edge of the ear as it is much less nerve sensitive. and press with cotton ball or gauze afterwards.
tom hardly feels the outer tip but meows if i poke any further in...
 
You're doing good Barbara. It's a lot to take in at once, but you're doin' it a step at a time. Woot, you got your spreadsheet up! On the food, I'm gone at work 10-12 hours a day, so I leave extra wet food out for Max to eat while I'm gone. I've found adding a little water helps keep it fresh so it doesn't dry out.
 
just a note about location...

I actually don't poke the other or thin edge of the ear, I poke the other edge, the thicker one, about 2/3 of the way down the ear. I've always poked here and found it works great.
 
Hello!

Don't know if I should just continue this thread or start another for continual advice? Hopefully this will work! Thanks so much for all your help & suggestions so far! I'm afraid I might have been in trouble last night if it weren't for the help here! I've updated Thumper's spreadsheet & am confused about the #'s. AMPS didn't seem so bad at 333 but PMPS was 430.

I'm interested in learning more on the food situation. I have gotten the Fancy Feast Classic & all my cats are enjoying it. I'm giving all of them 1/2 can in the morning & 1/2 in the evening. I want to do away with the dry but have some challenges if anyone has suggestions. I have Thumper's litter mate who is hypothyroid (I allways get confused - her thyroid is overactive) and she is on Tapazole for that, she doesn't need to loose any weight! I have a 4 yr old who is a food hog & overweight! He acts like someone is gonna steal his food all the time. I'm wondering if it's cause he was homeless till we found him @ 5 months old? Then I have a 1.5 year old who is just normal. LOL! If I freeze food I'm afraid the food hog will eat it all & now one else will get anything. My original thought was to get them all on can food 2 times a day & not leave anything out but it sounds like I shouldn't do that?

I'm still having a really hard time with the ear pricks. I have resorted to just using the lancet free hand & I know I'm sticking her too hard. She fussed at me & this morning really freaked out on me. I have the Relion meter & love that it only needs a tiny bit of blood but the lancet device that came with it is not working for me. I don't know if I just can't tell where I'm aiming & totally missing or what. Any suggestions on a different type of device? Thanks again!
 
I would post on Health for food ideas for multiple cats. We have a number of people with 8-10 cats who feed everybody wet. It does work nicely with some diabetic kitties to eat smaller more frequent meals, but you have to work with what you have. You could give everyone a good solid meal am and pm and then offer frozen food for snacks during the day. Any place the food hog can't get to?

I just helped someone with the ReliOn Lancet today. We decided to go with 25 gauge lancets instead of the 30 gauge ones that come with it; they make a bigger hole. And we took the cover off so we could really see what we were doing. What do you have behind the ear to poke against? Some people leave the rice sack there, others use a folded kleenix, we used a makeup sponge. It does take a longer time heating the ear at first - if he enjoys it, leave it for a minute to two. Also, just being confident and poking hard is sometimes the trick. Rather one good poke that gets blood than a couple wimpy ones that annoy the cat.

Any way to get some nadir numbers? The 333 was really surprising low today after the .5 last night with the possibility of a bounce from lows yesterday. I wonder if he went low today and the pmps is a bounce. If you just can't get daytime numbers, I would consider setting the alarm at +6 at night (nice time for a potty break for Mom - at least it is for me. :mrgreen: ) and get some evening nadirs. If he is going low at nadir, we can't really trust basing dose changes on the ps numbers. This beginning stage is hard because not only are you nervous, but you don't have enough data to really make too many dosing decisions. Even out the door in the am and in the door pm and before bed numbers help fill in the picture.
 
Thanks Sue!

No, the food hog (Petey) is into everything! He's sitting beside me now purring his heart out & trying to steal MY food. I will post in the other forum for suggestions though. I'm worried about him becoming diabetic if he doesn't loose some weight. He's right at 19 pounds now!

I do have the 26 gauge lancets. I used a folded up paper towel against her ear & have been using a warm washcloth in a small ziplock bag but she really doesn't seem to like all that. That's a good sugestion about taking the cover off & this probably sounds dumb but then would I just hold the lancet a bit away from the ear & then hit the button?

I don't mind getting more readings at night. I'm just so bad at getting blood I hate to keep bugging her. What hours should I concentrate on? I would probably be going to bed @ +5. I'm already @ +1.5 & haven't done anymore. By the time I get home in the evening I only have about an hour before time for insulin so I was just gonna do the PMPS. I test her in the morning right when I get up then feed & give her insulin then am here about an hour after that. Oh, and I've seen the term but what's Nadir?
 
I needed to use the lancet device because I was too wimpy to poke hard enough on my own. I have the ReliOn too and found using the clear top instead of the solid color top made it easier for me to see where I was poking (the lancet device that came with my meter had two kinds of tops). I also hold the device pretty firmly against the ear with tissue behind. Sometimes if I didn't hold firmly, I wouldn't get a good poke. I also rub Max's ear gently from base to tip in one direction and that seems to help get the blood flowing before I poke. Practice helps. I was truly terrible when I first started testing cause I was so dang nervous. I'm kind of squeamish and don't like poking, but I'm a lot better at it now and so is Max. He holds still so much better than in the beginning.

This first part is learning how the insulin works on Thumper. Every cat is different. Like Sue said, more data will help. I'm wondering if Thumper needs a dose somewhere between the 1.5u and .5u, maybe 1u. If you can get a test in before bed and if you're up for a middle of the night test (+6/+7), that will help you see how low Thumper is going during the cycle. I'm gone all day at work, so I had to do my mid cycle tests at night and on the weekend and would try to get a test or two in each night before bed (around +2, +3, +4...varied depending on the night). Good question on nadir. The nadir is the lowest BG # in the cycle, usually somewhere between +5 to +7 after the insulin shot (e.g. on Saturday when you did your curve, Thumper's nadir was at +6 102).
 
And to answer your other question. It is good to start a new thread daily with your amps number. If there is vital information from the day before, add it.
 
Nadir is the lowest BG number in the cycle from one PS to the next PS. Also called the peak---it is when the insulin is having the peak or most affect.
I used to warm my cat's ear with very hot water in a little medicine vial. It fit the curve of her ear and was a good hard surface to poke against. I used the lancet with no device and found that it was easier to tell what I was doing. Poked with the lancet at about a 45 degree angle. Just keep at it and you will find what works for you, and I promise, it will get easier!!! It always does!
 
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