Luna belle 12/8, more curve but...

[fredrika]

not sure where this mornings number came from (342) except that it dipped lower than usual yesterday. possibly from no snack time yesterday? i was trying to mimic a day at work so i feel more comfortable going back on monday, now I'm thinking of trying the 'leave-a-frozen-treat' thing...

still gave a skinny .5 maybe a hair less skinny than usual but still under the line a hair. how come they can manufacture bad, sugary cat food in six hundred thousand ways but they can't make a decent cat-size syringe??? grrrr... ohmygod_smile (been waiting to use one of these guys!)

thanks all,
Jen n Luna

 

[tuckers mom]

Are you giving the RR every day going forward? Some may disagree with me, but whenever you add something new and especially something that could have a calming effect, the numbers will change naturally. Less stress, lower BGs. More stress like a vet visit, higher BGs, so RR may lower BGs.

Check her BGs today with the less food and if you're not happy with it, the frozen food is a great idea. I feed all of my diabetic cats four meals plus carb free snacks, the meals are small.

Testing is getting easier now or are you still having the trouble with the fur at the top of her ears making it harder to get that droplet?

 

[fredrika]

Are you giving the RR every day going forward? Some may disagree with me, but whenever you add something new and especially something that could have a calming effect, the numbers will change naturally. Less stress, lower BGs. More stress like a vet visit, higher BGs, so RR may lower BGs.
Check her BGs today with the less food and if you're not happy with it, the frozen food is a great idea. I feed all of my diabetic cats four meals plus carb free snacks, the meals are small. Testing is getting easier now or are you still having the trouble with the fur at the top of her ears making it harder to get that droplet?

I've been putting rescue remedy, one drop in the first round of food-smooshed-around-the-plate since i noted it on the ss. so one drop for the past 5 feedings. hoping it will prevent her throwing up. if that was the case though, then why the 342? just because the prior number was so low. or i forgot a drop... or i don't know what. i also know that it could have calming effect on her numbers and i would rather try it while their a tad high and i'm home than when it starts getting low.

ear testing was much easier. so far i've been skipping the hairy bits all together but she's getting cranky again with the sticks, so i might try a smidge of vaseline on the hairy parts, some said it helps to get a 'bead' ? those parts are probably less sore....

do you think i should try a straight .5? that is where the syringe is ON the line, rather than to one side or the other right??? i wonder how many extra molecules that is.

thanks!!!
Jen n Luna

 

[MommaOfMuse]

Musette being a Himalayan has very fluffy ears, in fact I don't think she has much of an unfluffy area on her ears...Neosporin has been a godsend for getting the blood to bead up on her ears so I can get to it with a meter before it disappears into the fluff. I use the one with pain-relief in it and it works wonders to keep the 'tortie-tude' way with Musette so you might want to try that with Luna and see if it helps her with the ear test crankies.

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang

 

[tuckers mom]

Is her belly aching? A belly ache would cause higher BGs, any pain can. Is she sitting funny, we call it a meatloaf position when they are protecting their belly, maybe scrunching her head a little? Any more vomiting? Do you want me to send some Pepcid for you to have on hand for vomiting? RR is good for the cat intros you're doing it won't do much for a belly ache.

Actually, are there cat intros mixed into these numbers? Any type of stress like that?

I would stick with the .5U for a bit, tonight start that. Taking into account that she was on 1U for a long time, this smaller dose may not be the best, but let's stick with that dose for a few days and let it settle and collect information so we can get an idea of how she's doing. When she first got to you she was getting some low numbers, the transition to the new place might have played a role in that, but there was also dose hopping, so now we need to stick with one dose and collect the data as best we can.

 

[fredrika]

Musette being a Himalayan has very fluffy ears, in fact I don't think she has much of an unfluffy area on her ears...Neosporin has been a godsend for getting the blood to bead up on her ears so I can get to it with a meter before it disappears into the fluff. I use the one with pain-relief in it and it works wonders to keep the 'tortie-tude' way with Musette so you might want to try that with Luna and see if it helps her with the ear test crankies.
Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang

thanks! tried that once without sucess. i probably needed to "work it in" better.... will try it again while i'm being grateful she's not a himalayan!
thanks again!

 

[tuckers mom]

She may not be Himalayan but black ears are tough. I had three FDs with black ears, Ebony, Bean and Sadie, I can remember one time Sadie sitting in the kitchen with the sun hitting her just right that I could see the vein, I ran for the meter! Now I keep a flashlight in the crook of my neck for testing.

 

[Carolyn and Spot]

Hi there! I love Luna
You can also try testing the inside of the ear. My first diabetic was a black cat with black pigmented ears and I could only get blood from the inside. I folded the ear backwards over my finger and poked right above the fold, dead center of the inside of his ear. Muuuuuuuch easier to see
I'd like to see a little more insulin soon, all that yellow is unnerving me a bit - but I see the vomit.. do you think it was a scarf-n-barf or does she seem ill?

 

[fredrika]

Is her belly aching?

nah, she just eats too fast. i now give her 1/8 of a can the first stage... spread it out thin on a big plate, all over, so it takes a long time to eat, mix in 3 droppers full of water and a drop of the rr to start. then i give her more a few times over the next hour. i can tell she's calmer as she is eating each time as her belly fills up and probably the rr kicks in. it becomes less hurried and at the end she will lay down next to me instead of pacing looking for the can.

and YES, there were more intros yesterday afternoon. had her in the carrier in the living room for about 20min or so. the last time i didn't see a jump in her numbers, but you never know. she was out for longer this time.

thanks!!!

 

[fredrika]

Hi there! I love Luna

isn't she a cutie???

ya, she eats too fast. she's only thrown up twice since being here and i continue to slow the process down for her. my boy Harry is epileptic and eats too fast constantly and if he throws up his food he also throws up his pill, so it becomes a two step process. for her now it's three.

i have been wondering how to do an inside ear prick logistically. poke dead center???? you mean dead center of the sweet spot right???

the color doesn't bother me. only the thought that i might be hurting her... trying to get over it as i know my attitude makes a difference in how she takes it.
thanks!!!

 

[tuckers mom]

Instead of the carrier, what do you think of getting a doorstop and opening the door just enough for them to see each other? I know the carrier way works, but I've had cats that can feel pretty traumatized by carriers. Tucker could never go in one, he was found behind a grocery store taped up in a box. I have others who will cringe in a box and withdraw.

Is she getting upset just by being in the carrier? I haven't met Luna so you have to tell me how the carrier is affecting her.

Regarding inside ear pokes, I didn't have any luck with them. The veins are very small on the inner ear, I could never get enough blood. Maybe someone else has had luck with that.

 

[fredrika]

Instead of the carrier,

i don't think the carrier bothers her. it's not the one she came in, and it's extra big. she and rocky have met through the door a crack.

her +6 is 385. i turned the meter on and off four times to make sure i'm remembering it right. there have been no introductions this morning and a second small feeding at 8am (not atypical of this week) so not sure where this is coming from. also, i have not done any ketone testing. last it's probably not going to give a reading until the really high numbers like the 500's? what is your take on this?

there will be no introductions today though!

it seems like each time there is a noticeable drop there is a noticable increase in the BG's.... is this common overall? also, doesn't that then mean that the pancreas is doing some of the work? just very akwardly? that could be good, right?

thanks!

 

[tuckers mom]

Jen,

DCIN cats are different from other cats. They come from homes where they knew love and all of a sudden they are tossed away, or some like Luna have several homes and don't get good treatment.

In January of this year Luna was dx as FD. She was started on 5 units of Prozinc BID, that's 10 units each day for a starting dose. It was not until August 30th she went into the DCIN foster program because it took us that long to find a foster. For eight months she was treated without hometesting, who knows what that did to her body.

My experience with my own Kiki, she hypo'd a few times at the shelter and was not tested. Today, almost a full year later, her liver still kicks into overdrive when her numbers start to go below 150. I have finally decided no more Lantus for Kiki, she must be on Levemir because it's gentler, only by a smudge, but it is from what I've seen with my cats.

Luna is not Kiki and Lantus should be fine for her, but she may be similar in that her liver may be going into protection mode, we do not know if Luna hypo'd. When she was in her owner's care they are their owner's cat, we have no control. DCIN tries very hard to get owners onto boards like this, but Luna was not a DCIN assisted kitty so we could not force the issue.

So, the point I'm trying to make is we may have a very sensitive liver with a cat that's used to the dry and huge doses for a while. The sugar dance Luna is embarking on may take some time to figure out so just know that for today she is safe and in your good hands and we will start to see a difference soon but don't beat yourself up over not seeing immediate changes. We'll find the right dose for her.

Regarding ketones, she can get them at any number, they don't have to be high BGs to cause ketones so if you can check her urine, please do.

I hope this made some sense, I want others including yourself to understand why Luna is a little bit different. Thank you again for taking such good care of her.

 

[fredrika]

ok, try this one on for size....

2pm is 328. and then it dawned on me that this time i used the neosporin pain relief. i also used it this morning, can't remember about the 11am, but there could be residue.

i took a test strip and put neosporin on my hand with the control liquid and moved it a bit to make sure it wasn't just sitting on top. i got a reading of 218. i normally get a control reading of 127. i did another control reading on a clean hard surface and did get the 127 again. then i retested Luna in an apparently "naked" spot and got a 321???? i'm just sayin'...

the neosporin has only helped once with the 'beading' action, so i''m not going to use it anymore. i could try vaseline though, that should be ok, right?

i cleaned her litterbox and put two ketone strips in and left the room. knowing how they can't stand an 'unscented' box, i returned to find my first strip in the pee spot.... just at the wrong end of the stick. oh well. next time. if i need to i'll try the saran wrap thingy.

and ps: she came to me with some paperwork, one is from a vet dated 11/22/2010 that indicates FD, it does appear to be an initial diagnosis, but it's only a summary... and the Tufts report from her hosp. in 7/11 says she was diagnosed in 2008. there is nothing to indicate where that came from though....

thanks Jen and everybody!!!!

Jen n Luna

 

[Blue]

I test on the inside of Oliver's ears because outside is too hairy. Shadoe's ears on the outside are not that hairy, and light grey. I just poke on the inside in the same spot as I would on the outside of the ear.

 

[Venita]

When my first diabetic Max was newly DX, I had the vet shave the outside of his black ear so that I could better see where I was pricking. I usually prick on the outside of ears, but when I tested Bastian (Stefani's diabetic foster, now OTJ), he was accustomed to an inside prick so that is what I did.

 

[fredrika]

inside of the ear is working. you have to be more patient for the blood to come and now i can see the red mark from her 11am test... but it's working.

thanks all !