Morning test 553! What is happening?

[Susan and Timmy]

I am very confused with Timmy's numbers. For the last two nights his +2 after his PMPS has been higher.
He didn't eat two hours prior to the shot. Then this morning his number skyrocketed to 553! He had two numbers that were in the blue yesterday. He is on wet only all day. He has the dry Glycobalance to graze on when I go to bed. I haven't changed anything. What is happening? I posted last night, but with the high number this a.m. I thought a new post would be better.

 

[Nan & Amber (GA)]

Hi Susan!

Yikes! That's not a nice number at all this morning-- down, Timmy, please!

First order of business: very glad Timmy continues negative for ketones, but definitely keep an eye on that with such high numbers.

To answer your questions: the higher readings at +2 aren't necessarily higher-- with the allowed variance in meter readings, they aren't all that different than the pre-shot. That said, you would expect the Vetsulin to be starting to work by +2, so it is a little concerning, but interpretation is complicated by what I"m about to say about the very high number this morning.

For the 553 this morning: I think what you are seeing is a "bounce" from the blue numbers you got yesterday. What is happening is that Timmy isn't used to those lower numbers, and his body has set in motion some countermeasures to try to raise his BG back up. It's normal, something that just has to be dealt with when getting a cat regulated. If you look back on his spreadsheet, you'll see that pretty much every time he's hit blue, he gets a black number the next morning. It's very frustrating, of course-- seems like every time you take a step forward, you take two steps back! Eventually he will settle down, once his body gets used to lower numbers, but in the meantime we just have to deal with this phenomenon as it is. We try to interpret the spreadsheet data with this in mind, and look for overall trends in the numbers.

It's great that the 2U is starting to get him into blue!!!!

 

[MrWorfMen's Mom]

I agree with Nan. Looks to me like what you are seeing is a bounce. Those beautiful blue numbers on the day cycle for the first time in a while are likely what triggered the bounce. A bounce can take up to 6 cycles to clear so you just have to ride it out.

The Glycobalance dry is likely adding to the bounce. I believe it is roughly 20% carb content which is much higher than the wet food he is eating during the day. Looks like his AMPS is typically higher than his PMPS so the dry food is likely influencing the numbers you are seeing to some degree too. Could you try freezing some wet food and leaving that out in place of the Glycobalance overnight? He can nibble on that as it thaws out. That said, removing the dry food from his diet will also lower his insulin requirements so you should do the transition slowly and monitor him closely especially at night since that's when he's been eating the higher carb food and many cats tend to have lower BGs at night.

 

[Susan and Timmy]

Okay. When I saw that number this morning. I literally cried. This is so confusing. I will definitely check his urine as soon as I can get him to go. I will continue to test him throughout the day so I can get as much data as possible. How long will the bounce last? Is there anything that I can do to help support him through the bounce?

 

[Susan and Timmy]

I agree with Nan. Looks to me like what you are seeing is a bounce. Those beautiful blue numbers on the day cycle for the first time in a while are likely what triggered the bounce. A bounce can take up to 6 cycles to clear so you just have to ride it out.

The Glycobalance dry is likely adding to the bounce. I believe it is roughly 20% carb content which is much higher than the wet food he is eating during the day. Looks like his AMPS is typically higher than his PMPS so the dry food is likely influencing the numbers you are seeing to some degree too. Could you try freezing some wet food and leaving that out in place of the Glycobalance overnight? He can nibble on that as it thaws out. That said, removing the dry food from his diet will also lower his insulin requirements so you should do the transition slowly and monitor him closely especially at night since that's when he's been eating the higher carb food and many cats tend to have lower BGs at night.

Should I wait for the bounce to go away and then do the switch at night to the wet. If you think I should do it now, I will, no doubt. I'm really concerned about a hypo event. Scared actually. If the Glycobalance is causing this then it's gone, I'm just wondering if I should change things during a bounce. Bear with me because I just now learned what a bounce was, I don't have an understanding of it completely yet.

 

[Nan & Amber (GA)]

The key question about when to change the food is: when are you going to be able to monitor closely? With the bounce in the mix, you don't know when that bounce will "break", so that means that even if you did a cold-turkey stop of the dry food (not necessarily what you want to do), you would have to be prepared to keep a very close eye on things for several more days until you are sure that you are back at the (new) baseline. You're already doing a great job getting lots of mid-cycle tests, but this means always being prepared to drop everything and just monitor for several hours on any given day during the process-- so no unavoidable trips or social events! I'd do the switch whenever that kind of restriction was the least inconvenient for you, and probably do the switch gradually over a few days anyway.

The main complication of starting the process during a bounce would be that it will be harder to tell what kind of effect the food switch will have until both it and the bounce are complete, so you'd have a few days of uncertainty where you'd likely be just waiting... and waiting... for something to happen.

 

[Susan and Timmy]

It sounds like I need to wait to completely switch to the wet food at night until the bounce breaks and I can get a better baseline. As far as trips and a social life, those are on hold until Timmy is under control and I am more seasoned with what I am doing...and he is entirely on wet food.

Just tested and he came down to 404. His urine was negative, thank goodness!! So I guess I keep testing and riding out the bounce storm.

 

[MrWorfMen's Mom]

I agree with Nan. I'd wait to change the food until the bounce has cleared. A bounce can potentially last 6 cycles (3 days) but every cat is different. When you do start to withdraw the Glycobalance, I'd do it slowly by leaving less of it out at night and replacing the difference with wet until the transition is complete and only doing so when you can monitor closely as it's likely withdrawal of the dry food will lessen Timmy's insulin requirements.