Merlin's Lowest PS Number - 148 AT, 138 RO

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Kelley and Merlin

Kelley and Merlin

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He was at 148 AT and 138 RO for his PMPS. He just had a 1/2 can of Purina DM Selects. I'm very worried about giving him his usual dose. Don't know what to do.
 
If you can test tonight and have some honey/karo and some high carb food, I would give the full dose.
And get a +2 so we can see what is happening. And give a snack at +2
 
I don't feel like I fully understand all of this. The vet says something different than I read here. But all of you have so much experience. I'm just terrified of making the wrong decision.
 
It is always scary to give a dose with a lower than normal preshot, but that is the way to get Merlin into better numbers.
If you are testing, you are in control and you have the honey or Karo and the higher carb foods you can give if needed.
Do you have an alarm you can set? Do you sleep through alarms?
I used to set the alarm every night for Sheba to test her. Sometimes multiple times a night if she was low..
 
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What did I the vet say?
Four days ago you gave the same dose with a 197 preshot. That is not really that much higher.
I will be around for the next 8 hours and you can tag me anytime. And I will watch out for you.
Remember you are in control if you are monitoring the BGs.
Do you wake up with the alarms?
 
Kelley and Merlin said:
She said if under 150 to give 1 unit. At what number should I give karo or high carb food?
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You don’t need to give Karo until the BG drops under 50 but let’s see how he goes. If you can get a+2 and then we can go from there.. If he is dropping faster than we like we can give him some food to slow him down. The key is to monitor him closely so we know what is happening, not test late after the BG has dropped low.
You forgot to answer if you can wake up with the alarm?
And will he eat for you?
 
I just gave him the full 2.25. I was a little nervous. I always pet him after to make sure I don't feel any wetness, and I thought I felt something. It wasn't much. I also tested him again right before and his numbers had gone up to 201 on the RO. Setting an alarm for 2 hours.
 
Kelley and Merlin said:
I just gave him the full 2.25. I was a little nervous. I always pet him after to make sure I don't feel any wetness, and I thought I felt something. It wasn't much. I also tested him again right before and his numbers had gone up to 201 on the RO. Setting an alarm for 2 hours.
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WELL DONE KELLY!
Did you give him a snack with the insulin?
I’ll see you in 2 hours.
 
On our first round of diabetes before remission, this didn't worry me. Maybe I just was too stupid to be worried. But also the ER he was in this time freaked me out because they weren't giving him any insulin at crazy high BG levels and ketones bc the vet was afraid he'd go hypo. I think that is stuck in my brain.
 
Kelley and Merlin said:
On our first round of diabetes before remission, this didn't worry me. Maybe I just was too stupid to be worried. But also the ER he was in this time freaked me out because they weren't giving him any insulin at crazy high BG levels and ketones bc the vet was afraid he'd go hypo. I think that is stuck in my brain.
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I can relate to that. I got Sheba into remission in 3 months with my vet who was good and she was in remission for 2 1/2 years and I never worried about low numbers the first time really because I was probably ignorant of all things feline diabetes. When she fell out of remission she was always bouncing and diving low and I was lost until I found this forum.
 
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@Kelley and Merlin I agree with Bron — good job shooting a lower-than comfortable number; it’s especially important to keep insulin on board given the recent DKA.

It’s scary to shoot lower numbers at first but it becomes easier the more you do it, learn your cat’s response, and prove to yourself that you have the tools (Karo, honey, higher carb food, someone online to hold your hand and cheer you on) to manage the situation.

I’m heading offline for awhile not just wanted to pop in and say hi. It’s a standard around here that if we encourage you to shoot low, we’ll stick around and “have your back” — and you’re in great and experienced hands with Bron. So take a deep breath and hang in there. :bighug:
 
Hi Kelley can you put the 201 into the PMPS spot please.?
The 162 is a bit of a drop so I would give him a good snack of normal low carb food now and then get a +4 BG test. I’ll see you back here at +4
 
My alarm just went off. I just realized what I did. Instead of a +4 (adding 2 hours), I set it for 4 hours from when we last talked. :banghead:. I just took it and he's at 215.

I can't believe I made that mistake!
 
Kelley and Merlin said:
My alarm just went off. I just realized what I did. Instead of a +4 (adding 2 hours), I set it for 4 hours from when we last talked. :banghead:. I just took it and he's at 215.

I can't believe I made that mistake!
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Well all’s well that ends well. At least you got a good sleep. And with that +6 215 you can stop testing for the night.
Kelley and Merlin said:
Now I have no idea how low he went @ +4. This is +6.
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no, that’s a shame but you’ll have plenty more times to get that +4 and he is safe and that is the main thing. And hopefully now you will feel more confident shooting lower numbers!
 
And to what number would you continue shooting the 2.25 full dose? Is there a PS number where you would stop and think twice?

And would you take +2 numbers up to the +6 point each time before you stopped testing? Is +6 the point where you would feel like he will not go lower, or is it more the number because he's over 200?
 
Kelley and Merlin said:
And to what number would you continue shooting the 2.25 full dose? Is there a PS number where you would stop and think twice?
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The idea is to shoot a little lower each time the opportunity presents itself. You can always post and ask us or you can stall, don’t feed and test again in 20 minutes to see if the Preshot is rising.
Kelley and Merlin said:
And would you take +2 numbers up to the +6 point each time before you stopped testing? Is +6 the point where you would feel like he will not go lower, or is it more the number because he's over 200?
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Getting a +2 is a good idea when your shoot a lower than normal Preshot as it will give you an idea what Merlin has in mind. If the Preshot is lower than the Preshot it will most likely be an active cycle meaning the BGs will most likely drop lower. Looking back at his SS the nadirs seem to be around +6or+7, but they always like to keep us on our toes so that is not set in concrete. Once he starts to go back up after nadir it is safe to stop testing.
All data you can get is good data and you will get to know his cycles in time and what he is most likely to do.
Make sure you are looking after yourself because you won’t be any good to Merlin if you get sick. And I know how exhausting you can get if you are always having broken sleeps.
 
Ok, thank you again for going through this with me tonight. You've been here consistently for us since we started posting again, and we greatly appreciate it! :bighug:. It is nice that our time zones are so different. At night is when this seems to feel much more scary to me.
 
Kelley and Merlin said:
I guess he's bouncing, because after such good PS numbers last night, this morning the AT was 723 and the RO was just reading HI.
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Yes I would say that is a bounce from the lower than normal preshot you had last night.
Can you put in the PMPS column for last night 138 @+12; 201@+13 (or whatever time it was). That will show he was lower than normal at PMPS. It would be better to either stick to AT or RO meter because it is confusing for everyone who is helping and it can make a difference sometimes as to what we suggest if we think we are dealing with RO numbers but are dealing with AT numbers …if that makes sense.
 
It makes sense. I will add those numbers to the SS like that. I've placed RO after any numbers on the SS that were with the human meter. Otherwise everything on the SS is the AT. This morning's 723 was AT also. It was my last strip and I was saving it for shot time.

I have the AT strips now and tonight will be able to go back to using both meters, but I'll keep just AT numbers in the SS cells. Maybe after our next visit on 1/3 I can use just one meter.

I told the vet last time that I'd like to transition solely to the RO for money reasons, but she would like me to get a little more data before doing so. She wants to see how the meters compare at lower numbers, so we have a good idea of how to translate to an approximate AT number.

Also his food has changed in the last 2.5 days bc I ran out of baby food. He's been on the Purina DM selects. Idk if that could account for any of the number changes, but I figured I would use that since I have it and it is legitimate cat food, rather than buy more baby food.
 
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You need to make sure the food you are feeding is nutritionally complete. I doubt baby food is.
Are the DM selects low carb?
Is he eating well for you now?
 
Yeah, I'm sure the baby food doesn't have what a cat needs in it. The vet sold me the Purina DM Selects. I just looked it up. It looks like it is 10% carbs. The regular DM is 6%, but they didn't have that at the vet. Yes, he is eating very well.
 
Kelley and Merlin said:
Yeah, I'm sure the baby food doesn't have what a cat needs in it. The vet sold me the Purina DM Selects. I just looked it up. It looks like it is 10% carbs. The regular DM is 6%, but they didn't have that at the vet. Yes, he is eating very well.
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You don’t have to use the food supplied by the vet. Any low carb food is ok to use, as long as Merlin will eat it.
Here is the FOOD CHART. Look for 10% or under carbs
 
@Bron and Sheba (GA) I hope you are having a good holiday. Today Merlin dipped low for him during the day. The lowest was 70 AT and 62 RO @ +6. I gave him about a 1/3 can of his low carb food and retested in one hour (I was watching him but time got away from me, I was planning to retest at 30 min). Anyway, his numbers had come up at one hour, then an hour and a half after that they had come up some more. His PS numbers this morning were 230 AT and 191 RO, so he had come down a lot at +6.

I'm going to be doing his PMPS testing in about 15 minutes. I have a funny feeling this is going to be a long night. Of course, I'm down to one RO strip (more coming tomorrow). So if I have to do a lot of middle of the night testing it will be AT numbers only.
 
Kelley and Merlin said:
His PMPS was higher than I expected - 282 AT, 267 RO. He ate a big meal and got his 2.25 units. Do you think I need to stay up testing him?
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Sorry I am just seeing this now
The 70 @+6 this am cycle was close to a reduction point (68) so I would definitely get a couple of tests in during the pm cycle.
There is no need to test with both the pet and human meters all the time. It is confusing for people helping you and it is a waste of money.
Do you test at all for ketones now?
 
I just tested at +5.25 and he's 376 AT. So I'm calling it a night.

I'm doing the AT and RO until our next vet appointment on 1/3. The vet asked me to bc she wants some good data on how they compare with the lower numbers before I just use the RO.

No, I want to get a blood ketone monitor for home. It's a pain to get a urine test from him. Suggestions for a good blood monitor? I've been having the vet do a blood ketone check each week. Last visit (12/17) he was at 0.3.
 
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