? Newly Diagnosed. Feeding and Gait Questions

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Jenna Josie

Jenna Josie

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What a great community -- so glad I found you all! I've been lurking and learning for about a week, and now feel I know enough to ask a few informed questions. And we did our first curve yesterday -- yay! -- and so hopefully that data (esp. as we continue to gather it) will be helpful in giving advice.

Q1. Josie is so scrawny right now! I don't want to deny her food if she wants it, but I am also a little confused about how that effects her numbers. Right now, we are transitioning her from high-carb FF to low-carb FF by alternating 3 oz cans: first we did HC FF in both am/pm with shot and LC FF at +4 (we have a food timer for day); and we've just switched to 1/2 a can of each at both am/pm with shot and LC FF at +4. But if we're feeding at +4, wouldn't that raise her numbers at the +5 to +7 we would expect for her nadir?

Q2. I've read to pick up all the dry food as even a little bit can skew her numbers, but I've also read to leave a bit out in case her BG drops when no one's home as it's a measure of safety b/c most cats will seek it out. So those things seem contradictory . . . ? :confused:

Q3. Josie has started jumping up on things a little bit again. (I only realized she had stopped when she started back up :( ) But her gait is definitely off over the last couple of days. She is sometimes walking like she is on a balance beam (or doing a sobriety test!), both front and back paws crossing over to go one in front of the other. And her back left high leg is definitely "giving" a little bit, like she has a slight limp. She is still "up on her toes." I have read here about neuropathy from the high BG, but her numbers aren't too terrible (right? granted we don't have a whole lot of data right now), and so I would have expected her gait-symptoms to be decreasing rather than increasing. So that seems backwards.

Thanks for any insight/ideas/advice. I really appreciate it!

P.S. FWIW, her at-the-vet diagnosis number was 468. (Good, knowledgeable, feline-only vet.) No way to tell how much of that may have been stress-induced, but it sure makes those "yellows" look good! :)
 
Hi Jenna and Josie, and welcome!

Congrats on your first curve! (and getting your spreadsheet set up already!). That was a lovely curve yesterday and is hopeful for Josie's responses to Prozinc. And some great questions. I don't have a lot of time, but I'll see what I can respond to before company arrives:

1. We don't worry about the mid-cycle numbers and food at this point in the journey. You can play around with that more once she's overall in better numbers and you're fine tuning. So for now, feed her whenever you'd like and just take the tests at face value. As her numbers/patterns become known, we can start to tweak it a bit. The lower carb the food, the less it will impact her numbers, so as you get her all onto the LC foods, it will matter less (for most cats).

2. Yes, get rid of all the dry food. I always recommend leaving food out if the cat is able to graze and not just inhale it all at once. But I leave out wet food, not kibble. It is a safety measure, but it needs to be a healthy safety measure.

3. If you're seeing signs of neuropathy, get some Zobaline. There are several types of B12 and they each work a little differently. Zobaline is the best one for neuropathy. My cat shows signs of neuropathy in the high blue numbers, so some cats are just extra sensitive to it. And it may not be that it's getting worse, it might just be that you're noticing it more now. In the early stages of this journey, we become much more aware of our cats' patterns in ways we never had to notice before. Between the B12 and getting her numbers under control, you should indeed start to see this improve.

The vet number was likely on a pet specific glucometer which gives numbers that are much higher than the human meters do. So that 468 was likely a little inflated from stress, and also just from the different calibration. It's most likely roughly equivalent to those pinks you're seeing at home. There isn't any way to actually convert though, so don't worry about it too much.

Oops: edit to #1: do make sure she isn't getting food in the two hours before AMPS and PMPS. Those numbers we do want to see with less food influence. But don't worry about it the rest of the day. :)

I hope I didn't miss anything there, but if I did, please feel free to ask again - or add any new questions that come up for you!
 
Hi Jenna and Josie! Welcome to our little forum. We’re a small, friendly group. We’re generally most active in the AM and PM but we try to check in during the day when we can.

Let me try to get your questions answered.
1. Food does affect BG but that’s okay. You only want to restrict food 2 hours before shot time so you’re shooting a true number. Beyond that you want to feed as you normally would so you’ll have a real idea of what happens on a normal day. Many of us feed several times a day as it’s really best for our kitties.
2. Some people leave dry out. We generally suggest no dry if you can manage it. Depending on your situation you can leave wet food out too. I let mine free feed on wet all day. Some freeze a bit of wet so it’ll defrost and be available later or use a timed feeder. If you’re home it’s not a big deal but if you’re out at work during the day it’s an option. Not everyone does this...depends on the cat.
3. Her numbers seem good! It could be the beginning of neuropathy...I don’t have much experience with that. I’d give it a few days and see if it improves or gets worse and then we can talk about treatment if it is neuropathy. I’m sure others can weigh in more on that. :)

With that I have a few questions too. Was the 468 at the vet BG or a fructosamine? When did you start insulin? What dose did you start at? Does Josie have any other medical conditions?

She’s looking great! Those blues were sure pretty. The info above will help us help you in dosing.

Please continue to ask all the questions you have! We’re glad you found us!
 
Thank you both! The consistency is actually quite comforting :)

I'm so relieved to hear we don't need to worry right now about mid-cycles and food -- there's so much to learn already! -- and thanks for the clarification on the "grazing" option. It's probably not workable for us right now (since she's scarfing everything up), but we'll definitely keep it in mind for when her appetite is normalized, being sure to pick it up 2 hrs pre-shot testing.

And will definitely look into getting the Zobaline. The little reading I've done suggests it would take a while to have an impact, and so the earlier the better as far as I'm concerned!
 
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