Is less food consumption a good sign?

[Anyname]

LB is less hungry. His numbers have come down - not sure which came first.

Tonight is 4 weeks since he started on insulin. Started high today for AMPS but halved in 5 hours. I'm starting to think his high food consumption has been keeping his numbers high.

I will be watching him closely now that numbers are coming down.

There is something very addictive about looking after a diabetic cat.

thanx

 

[jan and Hep and sara (GA)]

Hi Anyname,

Yes it is a good sign. His little body was'nt metabolizing food well before he was recieving insulin so he felt that he had to eat more. Now he needs less because his body is using the food that he eats in the right way.
Of course not eating is a different story. That would signify that something is wrong.

Have a nice day and good luck with LB.

jan and sara

 

[JaniceandSpike]

Spike is always less hungry when his numbers are good. When he was first dx 3 years or so ago I was addicted to testing. Now I average 3 times a day. You become very attentive also looking after a diabetic cat. You get to learn them inside and out.

 

[Blue]

As their body is able to use the nutrients in the foods eaten you will see less consumption.
Shadoe used to eat close to 24oz of food before and is now closer to maybe 10oz.
Oliver was the same. He once ate 30oz and even more; food went in and just came out with not much taken to use in the body. He is closer to half that amount now.

The only time when I see Shadoe eat ravenously is at times when her numbers go very low. Then she eats like she hasn't seen food in a week.

 

[Anyname]

It will be good if he eats less as our kitchen is a production line most days.

I think LB has been fairly unexciting with his response so we haven't had to worry about him going hypo at all - I've been skipping past that info but tonight I started to think OMG, what did they tell me about hypo episodes?? I have glucose powder ready. But do I miss a dose if his levels dips really low? Then I was thinking: 'the shed'! are we heading for 'the shed'? All just terms until you experience it.

I will test before bed and if the numbers are low I will sleep light. Part of me thinks it's so crazy to be this involved with a pet - but it's one foot in front of the other - it would feel wrong to stop working at it. You just do what you have to do. So weird. @-)

marilyn

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

As others have noted, the better LB's numbers become, more his appetite will return to normal.

Looking at your SS, I really want to encourage you to not miss getting a pre-shot test. You're beginning to see some good numbers and some good pre-shot numbers. The only way to know if it's safe to give a shot is to test. One of the first things I read here was someone encouraging home testing by pointing out that if this were your child, would you give insulin without knowing what the pre-shot BG level was? Shooting blind is not a way to keep LB safe.

You've been at this dose for 13 cycles. You might want to consider increasing LB's dose by 0.25u.

"General" Guidelines:

--- Hold the initial starting dose for 5 - 7 days (10 - 14 cycles) unless the numbers tell you otherwise. Kitties experiencing high flat curves or prone to ketones may want to increase the starting dose after 3 days (6 cycles).

--- Each subsequent dose is held for a minimum of 3 days (6 cycles) unless kitty earns a reduction (See: Reducing the dose...).

--- Adjustments to dose are based on nadirs with only some consideration given to preshot numbers.


Increasing the dose...
--- Hold the dose for 3 - 5 days (6 - 10 cycles) if nadirs are less than 200 before increasing the dose.

--- After 3 consecutive days (6 cycles)... if nadirs are greater than 200, but less than 300 increase the dose by 0.25 unit.

--- After 3 consecutive days (6 cycles)... if nadirs are greater than 300 increase the dose by 0.5 unit.

 

[Anyname]

You've been at this dose for 13 cycles. You might want to consider increasing LB's dose by 0.25u.

Did you see that LB is on 4 units? You think I should follow the guidelines and move to 4.25? I am still trying to get him BG tested every time pre food. He's currently wailing away coz he wants to be fed and he's got to wait another hour for food.

thanx