My Introduction - Kitty Just Diagnosed

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RE: Daylight Savings Time

My job requires that "we do not change our clocks until we are done with our work". Soooo....I will be getting up for work at 10:30PM EST on Saturday night....will give feed & give shot at 8:00PM EST. I will be back home on Sunday morning at between 9:15AM DST and 9:30 DST.

Help me figure this one out!!! confused_cat AGAIN !!! LOL
 
BTW....don't try to click on my signature link. It did not work. Will try to figure it out tomorrow. Have to do some things around the house. :roll:
 
And normally you would shoot at 8pm? If so, you could shoot at 8:30 Saturday night and 9:15 Sunday morning. He might be a little high both days, but you can get him back on track. This is assuming you are not getting unusually low numbers, so I would plan to have some data by then. That would get you to possible shot times of 9:30am and 9:30 pm. Would that help?
 
Since tonight will be the first time I am dosing and my vet said I do not have to test BG's.....but I want to test ..... when do I test????

Test - Food - Shot
Food - Test - Shot


OR WHAT !???!?!?

Thank You confused_cat
 
I would try a test before it's shot time. People are not always successful the first time. Remember to heat the ear at least a minute or two and aim for those capillaries that run off the vein to the edge of the ear. If you have trouble, come on and ask for help. You don't want to be trying to test and having your shot time go by.

Then, once you are confident, it is always test, feed and shoot. Lots of us shoot while the cat is eating and they usually don't notice. Food raises bg levels so you want a test that is not influenced by food.

Do you have all your supplies? The rice sack or pill bottle and the larger size lancets.
 
Sue and Oliver (GA) said:
And normally you would shoot at 8pm? Yes If so, you could shoot at 8:30 Saturday night and 9:15 Sunday morning.I will try this. He might be a little high both days, but you can get him back on track. This is assuming you are not getting unusually low numbers, so I would plan to have some data by then. I will see what her numbers are like over the next few days That would get you to possible shot times of 9:30am and 9:30 pm. Do you mean these times every day? If yes, will my sleep for work schedule be messed up. Even though I am home all day, I cannot sleep during the day ... maybe a quick power-nap....but my body won't sleep any longer that an hour....so I normally stay up until 6:30-7:00PM Would that help?
Click to expand...


All 7 of my kitties are ready to tear my head of right now....since I am waiting to feed them when it is time for Rumpelteazer to eat. YIKES!!!!

I sure have a lot of 'life-adjusting' to do from now on.

BTW......I absolutely HATE Daylight Savings Time.....always did & always will. I am probably in a very small minority on that. LOL
 
I'm confused. What would your ideal shot times be?

I know it's hard when they are hungry. You could take your diabetic in a room alone with you, give him a couple treats and try the testing. (a few treats won't mess up the number)
 
Normal shot times would (should) be 8AM & 8PM. 7:30 and 7:30 would be better. I know I will have to adjust 'my' schedule for her....but that is something we do for the ones we love. Just hope I hear the alarm and get my butt out of bed .... would not be a good thing if I missed her evening shot.

Maybe I will take her into my den and feed the others downstairs. I can then feed her later in time for her shot. Awwww....it's almost 7:00....they can wait 45 more minutes. Believe me....they are not undernourished. LOL
 
Finally got Rumpelteazer's SS in my signature. YAY !!! Her info for today is posted.

She is getting a little fed-up with me poking her ears. :roll: :YMSIGH: One more 'poke' tonight at 8:00 before her food+shot. I want to keep testing her during the day for a few days.....but.....maybe I should just do the AMPS + PMPS tests. Give poor kitty a break.

Any comments on her readings?
 
Other than adjusting for low readings mid-cycle (the nadir - about 5-6 hours after ProZinc is given), you'll want to just hang tight and let the dose 'settle'. This may take a few days. Some cats will fluctuate greatly when a dose is started or changed. We call it "new dose wonkiness" ;-)

A reading below 50 means its too much insulin was given. In that event, follow the instructions on How to Treat Hypos to manage the cat.

The next shot generally should be 0.25 units lower, unless the cat bounces sky high from going to low. Ask for advice then to see if you should 'shoot through the bounce' before taking the reduction in dose.
 
He got a big drop from the 400 to 188 - more than 50%. Continue to get a test around +8 and +10. He may continue to go down, or the 188 may be his lowest point. Yet to be seen. The insulin is definitely working, which is encouraging, and he got nice numbers after that high preshot, so that is good news.

He may bounce from that 188 - a bounce is when his body senses a lower number than he is used to and it releases extra sugar. It can mean he will bounce high back into the 400s later in the cycle. The only way to get rid of bounces is time. His body eventually gets used to the low numbers and quits panicking with extra sugar.

He may have a long cycle and have a lower number at pmps than he did this morning. If this is what happens - if he continues to go down - then you will need to be careful with your pm dose. You want to be sure his numbers are headed up (and the cycle of insulin is finished) before you give more insulin.

Let's see how the rest of the cycle looks. But the blue mid cyle is certainly enouraging.

Good job on the poking. You can put a thin smear of neosporin with pain relief on the place where you poked. Also, holding the spot for a few seconds after the poke will help with the bruising.
 
maybe try this for the cats that wont eat fancy feast http://www.catinfo.org/docs/TipsForTransitioning1-14-11.pdf

For JaRul it sounds like scarf and barf to me.. she likes it so much she eats it too fast. Try smearing it on a flat plate for her to force her to eat it more slowly. Or smaller more frequent portions.
I put out a ton of food in the morning and night and they munch all day.

Good job on the spreadsheet! I agree with the others, i dont see the point in going back for another curve. You can do that at home and save yourself some $

Wendy
 
I see a pattern now. Was high at amps...then went lower until +8.....then started back up for pmps time. This shows me how the ProZinc went through her system.....correct? I looked at some other members SS's, but actually being able to see Rumpelteazer's pattern is very interesting.

Well...everyone is fed (including my Betta fish) and it is time for bed. Sweet Dreams to all the SugarCats. I-)
 
Hi,
If you see this before you head to bed, is there any way you can test her again in 3 hours or so?

The reason I ask...
Today she got a really nice drop in BG from that 1u dose, from 400 to less than 200. Her number technically was "rising" from the 188 you saw, but not a whole lot to that 204 at test and shot time. I'm not sure what sort of reaction she'll have to that dose when she's only starting out at 204 tonight.

Did she eat well when you gave that shot?

If you do see this, and test her and you see a lower number, it would probably be a good idea to feed her again to make sure the number doesn't keep dropping. I won't be awake, I have to get up for work at 4:30, but if you do test and see a lower number, post it here. If it's really low, add a "911" icon to the top post in this thread so that people will see that you need assistance if you do need any.

Carl
 
Yes, that is a good curve for ProZinc with the nadir a little late.

I am going to try to send you a private message. The one unit at pmps should be fine, but it is so early in this sugar dance and you got a 50% drop from one unit today. If you get a 50% or more drop tonight, he might drop low. If you can, I would try to check sometime during the night just to be sure he is in safe numbers (about 50) If he is below 40, copy off the Hypo thread and follow the directions. Post here also. There are sometimes people on late at night.
 
misty1477 said:
Since tonight will be the first time I am dosing and my vet said I do not have to test BG's.....but I want to test ..... when do I test????

Test - Food - Shot
Food - Test - Shot


OR WHAT !???!?!?

Thank You confused_cat
Click to expand...

My human does it the first way. That's the way the vet told him to do it.

He tests me, and I HATE that ear stick. Then he rewards me with food. And then I get the shot.

He cheats a little. A lot of times, he will put the food down, and when I start to lap at it, he gets my blood sample. It takes time for the food to digest so it won't mess up the readings when it's done that quickly. Then he lets me eat, and then I get the shot.
 
DAMN IT ----- Must have been a "fur shot" this morning. 343 @ +8. angry(2)_cat angry(2)_cat

Now I have to start all over again.....she is getting very tired of me poking her ears. They are getting quite red. I use Neosporin with pain....the cream kind and hold her ear for a little bit....just like I am supposed to. Running out of areas that are not 'red'. I am sooooo stressed and so is Rumpelteazer. I am trying so hard to make this process easy for both of us, I have many personal issues going on also....it is making it so difficult.....but.....I HAVE TO KEEP TRYING.
 
No, you don't have to start all over. This happens to everyone at some point. You just expect a higher number than normal at the next shot time, and you put today in the rearview mirror is all. It's just one day, one number.

What was her number this morning when you gave the shot, and how much was the dose?

Carl
 
Maybe not a fur shot. She was below 200 for her morning shot and you gave one unit. It is possile that she went lower at +5 -+7 and the number tonight is a bounce. Or it could have been a fur shot but usually you can feel wetness where you shot. There is really no way to know yet. Every test you take at different times helps us see patterns and decide how she reacts to lower numbers and higher numbers. Think of this process of gathering data. She didn't become diabetic overnight; she won't settle into the insulin overnight. It will take a while. But every test you take gives you more confidence and gives us more information.

I really think I would give one unit tonight. The other day you shot one unit on the 433 and she went down more than 50%. If you possibly can, I would get a test before bed to see how things are heading.
 
Ooops, nevermind.. I did the logical thing and looked at her spreadsheet for the data!

OK, I don't think this was a fur-shot necessarily.
What might have happened....
You gave 1u on a AMPS number of 199.
What could have happened is that her BG dropped low about 5-6 hours later. Low enough to cause her system to "panic". A diabetic cat is not used to low BG numbers. So when they happen, it can trigger an instinctive reaction that we call a "bounce". Her pancreas and liver will release "sugar" into her bloodstream, because they think the BG is too low for comfort. That results in a much higher BG number right after it happens. IF this is what happened, then the 384 is just a bounce.

What this could be telling you is that 1 unit on a number around 200 is actually too much insulin.

If you look at the AM cycle on 3/7. You see how she dropped from 433 all the way down to 188 on a 1 unit dose? Well, today, if she dropped that much, her number would be negative, and she'd have had a hypoglycemic crisis that can actually be fatal. Not trying to scare you, but trying to illustrate what could have happened. I'm thinking that her BG got to a critically low number, and her body reacted in "self-preservation mode".

What this means is that if you want to give insulin on a 200 or so preshot, then you will need to give a much smaller dose. Like .25 units, or maybe .5 units. I know it's hard to even see that in the syringe, but do you think that would be possible to do? If not, we can look at maybe having you switch to a different type of syringe, and using a conversion chart to figure out how to draw up tiny doses under 1 unit more accurately.

Carl
 
Sue and Oliver (GA) said:
Maybe not a fur shot. She was below 200 for her morning shot and you gave one unit. It is possile that she went lower at +5 -+7 and the number tonight is a bounce. Or it could have been a fur shot but usually you can feel wetness where you shot. There is really no way to know yet. Every test you take at different times helps us see patterns and decide how she reacts to lower numbers and higher numbers. Think of this process of gathering data. She didn't become diabetic overnight; she won't settle into the insulin overnight. It will take a while. But every test you take gives you more confidence and gives us more information.

I really think I would give one unit tonight. The other day you shot one unit on the 433 and she went down more than 50%. If you possibly can, I would get a test before bed to see how things are heading.
Click to expand...


I did feel wetness on her fur this morning....that's what made me think I did the 'fur shot'. Her SS is now updated. Any comments are truly appreciated. I will be going to sleep soon....please EM me to let me know you posted. Thank You So Much!
 
Carl & Bob said:
Ooops, nevermind.. I did the logical thing and looked at her spreadsheet for the data!

OK, I don't think this was a fur-shot necessarily.
What might have happened....
You gave 1u on a AMPS number of 199.
What could have happened is that her BG dropped low about 5-6 hours later. Low enough to cause her system to "panic". A diabetic cat is not used to low BG numbers. So when they happen, it can trigger an instinctive reaction that we call a "bounce". Her pancreas and liver will release "sugar" into her bloodstream, because they think the BG is too low for comfort. That results in a much higher BG number right after it happens. IF this is what happened, then the 384 is just a bounce.

What this could be telling you is that 1 unit on a number around 200 is actually too much insulin.

If you look at the AM cycle on 3/7. You see how she dropped from 433 all the way down to 188 on a 1 unit dose? Well, today, if she dropped that much, her number would be negative, and she'd have had a hypoglycemic crisis that can actually be fatal. Not trying to scare you, but trying to illustrate what could have happened. I'm thinking that her BG got to a critically low number, and her body reacted in "self-preservation mode".

What this means is that if you want to give insulin on a 200 or so preshot, then you will need to give a much smaller dose. Like .25 units, or maybe .5 units. I know it's hard to even see that in the syringe, but do you think that would be possible to do? If not, we can look at maybe having you switch to a different type of syringe, and using a conversion chart to figure out how to draw up tiny doses under 1 unit more accurately.

Carl
Click to expand...


I did feel wetness on her fur this morning....that's what made me think I did the 'fur shot'. Her SS is now updated. Any comments are truly appreciated. I will be going to sleep soon....please EM me to let me know you posted. Thank You So Much!
 
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