Hermione's Dosing Rollercoaster

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ShipsCat

ShipsCat

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Since my other thread was approaching 90 posts I figured it's time to start a new one with a more appropriate title ;)

Today Hermione hit a lovely blue from a high yellow AMPS on less than 1u!

But she bounced back into blacks again for PMPS at 574. Given how she seems to be responding better to the insulin I gave her 2.75u instead of the 3 I've been giving.

Fingers crossed!
 
Kris & Teasel said:
We need a club for rubber cats! :confused:
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I know right? Just when I think we're headed in the right direction - boing! Back up sky high :p

She's down to 459 at +4, which is better than last night's +6.

And she's still happy, sassy and grooming everyone. Negative ketone test today too, the first time I've been able to test her for that. The offended look on her face when I stuck the strip under her butt was priceless!
 
261 for AMPS. Since the less than 1u dose yesterday morning gave us a nice blue I'm going with a planned .5u instead of losing half of 1u in her fur ;)
 
Anytime I see a high number on the same dose for the same preshot, and a lower than usual number the cycle before, I just sigh "bounce" and figure you get a quiet stress free day. (Anti jinx). The second option, though, is that 0.5 was just not quite enough, and sometimes too little insulin means a shorter than usual duration - that would make the blacks yesterday because the insulin was gone, not a bounce.

The only way to figure it out is to try it again the next cycle - exactly what you did. If you get the same result, without a low, it may be duration.

There is a big difference between 0.5 and 2.75. My guess, and it's only a guess, is that 0.5 is a little low. Mostly because the 2.75 worked well for the blacks - got you good duration and a nice amps.

Make any sense?
 
Yes, that makes perfect sense!

Unfortunately I got delayed at a family outing (it was supposed to be over by 12:30, I didn't get home until almost 4pm) and her PM shot was 3 hrs late and her blood sugar was 609.

In a way it works out, I've got another family obligation tomorrow that will make me super late for her PM shot. I hate to mess up her nice progress with two days of my bad scheduling, but I don't have a friend I trust to test & give her shot and my vet didn't have any boarding space for the weekend :(
 
Don't worry about iit! As Sue said you get to have a life. And homesteads boarding at the vet might not have been much better. At least at home she is relaxed and not vsatressed. :)
 
Thanks gang! I'm nervous about leaving her tomorrow, I'll be gone all day. But you're right, she's going to be happier at home than at the vet's. I'll just give her a smaller dose in the morning so I'm not paranoid about her going hypo.

She's 452 at + 6 so that's a little better.
 
I got home very late in the evening and decided to just wait until her normal shot time instead of throwing our schedule out of wack during the work week.

AMPS 526, gave 2.5u
 
Yup!

I still feel bad for not being around to take proper care of her this weekend. But of course she was fine, I'm just a worry wort ;)

I forgot to post her +5 this morning, it was 462

But her PMPS is 393 so we're headed in the right direction again! I gave her 2.25u. I have tonight off from work anyway so I can monitor her
 
255 for AMPS. Gave her 1.5u

And thanks, FatMax'sMom! Our bouncy kitties are certainly a challenge, aren't they?
 
Yes..and I wouldn't have known what was going on without the help of nice people on here urging me to test more often than just doing a curve every few weeks!

My vet told me to never adjust his dose without her approval, but I think she meant not to increase..we've never talked about how to make adjustments for when he is getting normal numbers.. I've emailed her today.
 
Ug, huge bounce at +3.... 524. I guess I expected that since she had such nice blues after skipping a dose Sunday.

My vet gave me a sliding scale & an AlphaTrak meter when Hermione was diagnosed. She also recommended this forum for support. She has the link to Hermione's spreadsheet and we email back and forth with any concerns/questions. My vet seems to be a bit more progressive than most ;)
 
What is the sliding scale..? I think I need to start limiting how much my cat eats..he isn't losing anymore weight. I'm just worried that if I don't let him eat something that it would make his numbers even more crazy, or make them get too low! Not to mention him inhaling his food at mealtime and then puking it up
 
Hmmm, I am not sure what is going on with Hermione. She could be bouncing from those nice blues last night, but that is an ugly high bounce. Let's see if she flattens out next cycle.
 
FatMax'sMom, a sliding scale is an insulin dose than changes according to the pre-shot blood sugar reading. Can you feed Max multiple small meals? That can help him feel full while you control his portions. You can also try getting him to exercise more. I have one of those ring-shaped cat treadmills.

Definitely a crazy big bounce for Hermione today, she was 518 at +8 and 586 for PMPS :(

I'm wondering if her AM dose was a fur shot. She's semi-longhaired, and it's sometimes hard to tell if I've poked through the tent of skin to the other side
 
411 @ +3 so I'm going to assume the AM dose was a fur shot.

Sharon14 said:
Is that a One Fast Cat, or another brand? Does she like it? We were talking about those the other day, wondering how you teach them to use it and if they'll use it.
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Yes, I have a One Fast Cat. I wanted a hubless design that didn't weigh a ton, especially since tiny Hermione only weighs 6#. I mostly bought it for one of my old former barn cats who has adapted too well to indoor life and has become quite the lazy lump but they all love it. Young Rand will even go run all by himself with no treats!

Training them to use it was simple once I figured out what motivated each cat (full disclaimer, I train dogs professionally so some things might be easier for me). Hermione, her brother Hairy and my youngest boy Rand are all super food motivated. Nutter Butter likes a feather-wand toy, and fat lazy Samoa is all about the laser pointer.

For food motivated cats, get some extra tasty little treats and lure your cat onto the wheel with a treat in your hand As soon as they put a paw on the wheel give them a treat - have them take the treat from your hand, don't drop it. It helps to hold the wheel still at first with your non-treat hand, because having it shift as they get on can startle them at first. Keep luring with food until both front feet are on, rewarding every time a foot is on the wheel. Once you have both front feet on, give several treats at once, and quit for a while. Always reward while the cat is ON the wheel so wheel = treats and keep training sessions short. Once you have all 4 feet on the wheel, stop holding the wheel still with your hand and lure the cat a step up the tread of the wheel. Just one paw moving gets a big reward at first! The wheel rumbles a bit as it turns and can startle a sensitive cat, so make sure you have lots of treats to give! Once your cat is comfortable walking on the wheel, move your treat hand further up the wheel so they have to move faster to "catch" their treat. Before you know it your cat will jump up on the wheel as soon as you shake the treat bag!

Toy motivated cats are the easiest. Use the wand or laser pointer to get them excited then use it to lure them onto the wheel just like you did with food. For Samoa, when she "catches" the dot from the laser pointer I drop a treat in front of her nose where it was. Always let them catch the toy on the wheel, and catch the wheel yourself when they stop! Inertia will keep it turning and they can get scared as it carries them up the other side a bit. It's pretty light and just putting the flat of your hand against the side will stop it. Don't grab the top, the support ribs sting when they hit you!

There are also videos around about teaching your cat to run on a wheel. I've heard of cats who won't use them, but I honestly think they just haven't been introduced and trained to it properly.
 
I would definitely check how easy your cat is to train before I'd buy one, they're not cheap! I train dogs, and I really don't find cats any harder to train. The only real trick is cats don't typically have as long an attention span so you really need to keep the sessions short & fun for them or they get bored.

An easy way to see how trainable your cat is would be to teach them something simple like sitting. Sit down in front of your cat, about an arm's length away. Hold a treat (or toy) at your cat's eye level, slowly draw it towards yourself so your cat takes a step. Reward the step by letting your cat eat the treat or play with the toy. Repeat a few times until your cat instantly follows your hand movement, and take a break. Start again a little later, and as your cat steps towards you raise your treat or toy hand smoothly over their head like you're going to put it between their shoulders. They should transfer their forward movement into rocking back onto their haunches into a sit. Reward even just following your hand with his/her head, even if they turn around instead of sitting.

Also, expect to get your hand batted at even if you're not using a toy. Don't punish that, just ignore and don't reward - turn your hand so the back is towards them instead of the palm if you have a treat or small toy. If using a wand toy make the toy go dead - stop wiggling it to encourage them and don't let them take it - hold it well out of their reach. Try keeping your treat hand (or toy) closer to their head next time. Cats catch prey above their heads by batting it out of the air, unlike dogs who use their mouths. You can't teach the sit with a laser pointer, obviously you don't want to shine it in their face ;)
 
ShipsCat, thank you for the info. I hope your kitty is ok! I try to play with my cat..and he does run around with the other cat. He just like to eat I need to invest in a feeder for the canned food..but the other cat is a canned food hog and whatever he doesn't eat she cleans up! She is about 17.
 
You're welcome, FatMax'sMom :) I don't know enough about feline diabetes to give advice on that, but I'm comfortable giving cat training advice!

And I didn't test Hermione very closely because she's been cuddling with me on the couch and was SO high earlier.

Well, she's 79 at + 8!! I think the AM dose definitely didn't go in.

I'll recheck in 20 min to see which way she's headed
 
80 at + 8.5

Yes, I couldn't understand her AM numbers either. Silly long hair makes it hard to be sure!
 
185 @ +11.5

Then I fell asleep for 2 hours! I checked her when I woke up and she's 372. Instead of making her skip another shot I gave her 2u. I've got the week off from work anyway ;)
 
Do you change the shot time..when you say you are stalling? Or do you keep it within an hour..?

Max was at 404 at 4 am, and then 300 preshot. That is the lowest he's ever been at that time (when I've tested), so I only gave him 3.5 instead of the 4 since I will be at work all day. His behavior is pretty much normal and his urine and thirst have drastically improved since limiting the kibble! My vet said diabetic cats good ranges are between 100-300..so I get nervous
 
FatMax'sMom said:
Do you change the shot time..when you say you are stalling? Or do you keep it within an hour..?

Max was at 404 at 4 am, and then 300 preshot. That is the lowest he's ever been at that time (when I've tested), so I only gave him 3.5 instead of the 4 since I will be at work all day. His behavior is pretty much normal and his urine and thirst have drastically improved since limiting the kibble! My vet said diabetic cats good ranges are between 100-300..so I get nervous
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I'm glad Max is doing better too!

With Prozinc keep the shots as close to every 12hrs as possible (give or take 30min) unless you've got a lot of data that shows your cat needs a different dose interval. So if I stall for a long time (or am asleep on the couch when I should be giving her shot) I give the next one 12hrs later.

361 @ +9 looks like another bounce.
 
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