hi, we're new(er) members

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The Admiral and Ashes

The Admiral and Ashes

Member Since 2020
hello,
i'm ashleigh and schmitty (aka the admiral) is our 9 year old rescue cat. he was part of a feral litter dropped off at our local shelter. in 2011 there was a glut of black cats available for adoption around the same time as my birthday so we went down to check them out. within minutes of walking into the shelter a tiny 8 week old velociraptor pretending to be a cat reached out of the kennel and snagged my shirt on his oversized claws.

this slightly savage puff-ball began chatting away at me in a very "you're taking me with you like it or not" kind of way. so we did. we dubbed him schmitty (after a favorite sf giants pitcher) admiral ackbar (star wars "its a trap!") and brought him home before he could change his mind about us. immediately he was feisty and ready to play. he never once hid from his new surroundings and was in fact very angry that we insisted he stay in the bedroom to get used to being in a new home.
we knew we were in for a wild ride and he has not disappointed.

85% of the time he's a love bug who demands cuddles but is also a bit insane and will turn on a dime. the feral has never left him. even 9 years later the admiral's favorite activity is hunting me, biting hard enough to bruise and deep enough to take whole minutes for blood to surface. he is the only animal i have ever met that holds a grudge and waits for the perfect opportunity to exact his revenge be it 5 minutes to 3 hours after the perceived slight. usually the offense is food oriented. perhaps i passed his bowl too many times without filling it. maybe i sat too long in a chair he wished to sleep on. possibly it's tuesday and he's mad about that.

schmit was diagnosed a few months ago after sudden weight loss, lethargy, and suddenly becoming nice. he had been about 20lbs most of his life and in a month had gone down to a paltry 15. then my poor velociraptor smelled of acetone and i freaked out. my gram was diabetic so i knew what that meant. the admiral is exclusively indoors and is such a bully that he hasn't had a regular vet visit (other than updating his vaccines at the clinic) and the pandemic had local animal hospitals limiting their new clients. it took a couple weeks to find someone to see him. thankfully we got him into the emergency clinic at the shelter we adopted him at before things got too far advanced.
they had to anesthetize him to do any kind of an exam, but it didn't take much to figure it out. his blood sugar was over 400.

schmit has been on 1 unit of lantus 2x a day and wet food only diet and is now back up to 17lbs and has returned to his usual bloodthirsty self. he has his bad days. he cuddles a bit more now and then and i know he's not feeling great. but on the whole the admiral should be around for many more savage years. that is if i don't murder him first.

thanks for listening to this loooooong intro. if you haven't noticed, i am a little long winded. i do apologize for that.
happy new year to all
ash
 
Welcome Ashleigh , you have landed in the best place you could ever want to be.
Schmitty sounds like a real character, I get a kick out of the way you describe him.
Lantus is a very good insulin.
If you would set up what's called a signature that would be great. It would save time so we wouldn't need to ask you the same questions over and over again
I will post it below

It's at the end of everyones post in grey, take a look at mine
 
  • when you get a chance ,It would be helpful if you can set up your signature so we don't have to ask you the same questions over again. Members will look at this first .
  • It appears after each post in gray, look at mine,



  • On the left, under Settings, Click on Signature. This is where you will put information that helps us give you feedback.
    • There is a limit of two lines which may include two links; you may separate pieces with commas, dashes, | etc. This is where you paste the link for your spreadsheet, once it is set up.
    • Add any other text, such as
    • Caregiver & kitty's name (optional)
    • DX: Date
    • Name of Insulin
    • Name of your meter
    • Diet: "LC wet" or "dry food" or "combo"
    • Dosing: TR or SLGS or Custom (if applicable)
    • DKA or other recent health issue (if applicable)
    • Acro, IAA, or Cushings (if applicable)
    • Spreadsheet link. Please put the signature link on the bottom line of your signature information, on its own, so it is easy to find.
    • Please do not put any information about your location in the signature for security reasons. If you wish to add your country location, please add it to your profile.
Be sure to click the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom. If you need help urgently it is important we know these things at a glance. We don’t want to waste valuable time finding out information.


tap on your avatar where it says your name ,then hit profile page ,tap on that ,then go up to the very top, upper right hand side and tap on your name ,it will bring down a drop box, tap on signature, the signature will be under settings, tap on the signature then and you can start to add what I posted above, make sure you hit save ,
Welcome to the best place you could ever be and an awesome group of people
You can also add where you live in your profile, not your signature
 
Most of us here feed fancy feast classic pates, we try and stay under 10 % carbs. Most of these are 2 or 3% carbs.
I don't know if you are feeding the wet prescription food but there really is no need to.
Nothing special about , only the high price

Are you home testing? If not we really advice to
It's really the only way to keep him safe
Make sure his BG number safe enough to shoot.
We test first thing in the morning ( AMPS) means AM Pre Shot
Same thing at night (PMPS) PM Pre Shot
We also test during both cycles a few times a day and at night to see how the insulin is working and how low it's dropping the Schmitty

I can tell you what meters we use in case you are interested

We also have a spreadsheet we use to record the readings, in case you ever need
advice on dosing. We would need to see this in case you need advice

There are very experienced members here .I don't know where I would be without them
 
Last edited:
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/
Here is the food chart to look over, also besides feeding low carb
you should also have on hand


You should also have these in the house if he ever drops too low and you need to bring her BG up. Also have honey or Karo in the house
Such as




Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Beef Feast in Gravy 20% High Carbs


Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Chicken Feast in Gravy. 15% Med Carbs




Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Turkey Feast in Gravy. 15% Med Carbs


Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Chicken and Beef Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

It's mostly the gravy that has the higher carbs in it

Look at the food link I gave you , you might see other ones you may want to try
 
thank you so much for all the advice and info!! the food chart has been a dream. i printed out a good portion of it to keep in the car in case we're out and need to grab a few cans. (we live in the redwoods. internet and cell service are limited so hard copy is vital)
ill get on the signature and am working on the spreadsheet
thank you again!!!
 
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