Joanna & Bix (GA)
Very Active Member
I'm not sure where to go with it, but I'm thinking maybe Alex's crisis should be a wake up call to all of us to reevaluate - are we giving good advice? Are we covering the basics successfully? Are we helping guide people to resources so they can learn what they need to? I am as guilty as anyone else might be, so my intent is not to throw stones or place blame, but just to throw out the questions so we can collectively brainstorm what we can do better. I know we have discussed things like this before and our sticky came out of that, and perhaps it's time to check in and refine things.
Random musings:
- Personally I think the sticky is overwhelming - not any issue with the info in it or with Gator's heroic effort to compile everything, but just with the presentation. One thing I noticed on Lantus is they have some topic-specific stickies that they post or bump every day to catch people's eye (since stuck stickies tend to get forgotten quickly). We could have a small number of those, or some other idea to help people digest some of the key sticky points without getting too overwhelmed?
- A while back someone pointed out that any time a cat is not eating well, we should all be shouting for daily (or more often) ketone tests, and a trip to the vet if not eating lasts for more than 24 hours. I have to admit I haven't been reading everything closely this week, so I can't even say if others were advising those things or not for Alex, but I know I missed it when I should know better.
- One thought I have is that some of those who like to hang out here but may feel like they don't have a huge amount to contribute, could kind of have their own little checklist to help make sure things don't fall through the cracks. Like maybe make something be your focus, so everytime you check in on a cat, see when they last tested for ketones, and if you don't see a test that is recent, remind them. Just a thought, I don't want to push anyone into something that doesn't grab them, or end up having people annoyed by daily ketone reminders, lol. Just trying to brainstorm.
- I think there are a handful of things that generally get covered really really well - home testing, diet changes for instance. Other basics like ketone testing sometimes seem to be hit or miss - if one of us thinks of it, it gets mentioned, but if it slips our mind that day, it doesn't. I've certainly seen that one come up on other threads as something that should have been mentioned but got missed. Another is to actually have a hypo toolkit stocked, and to have the hypo plan from Health printed out for easy access. Another is to guide people to places like the Wiki where they can really learn about things themselves - on the old board those links were a lot easier to find since they were right up top, here you have to hunt for them - I can barely even find them when I am looking for something, so I don't see how a newbie in a panic is likely to find them.
Anyhow, I really don't have any answers, and of course it is always a struggle as everyone here is giving their time and hearts to help, and no one is a vet or anyone with that kind of expertise. So it's kind of a bind in a way - newbies think we are experts when we are not, and look to us for answers and reminders of what they need to do. Which is great when we get it right, but really s*cks when we don't. :evil:
So.... if anyone has suggestions, musings, post away!
[ETA and I'll add that we do get a lot of things *right* a lot of the time, so I don't mean this to beat up on ourselves, just a recheck to see where we can improve]
Random musings:
- Personally I think the sticky is overwhelming - not any issue with the info in it or with Gator's heroic effort to compile everything, but just with the presentation. One thing I noticed on Lantus is they have some topic-specific stickies that they post or bump every day to catch people's eye (since stuck stickies tend to get forgotten quickly). We could have a small number of those, or some other idea to help people digest some of the key sticky points without getting too overwhelmed?
- A while back someone pointed out that any time a cat is not eating well, we should all be shouting for daily (or more often) ketone tests, and a trip to the vet if not eating lasts for more than 24 hours. I have to admit I haven't been reading everything closely this week, so I can't even say if others were advising those things or not for Alex, but I know I missed it when I should know better.
- One thought I have is that some of those who like to hang out here but may feel like they don't have a huge amount to contribute, could kind of have their own little checklist to help make sure things don't fall through the cracks. Like maybe make something be your focus, so everytime you check in on a cat, see when they last tested for ketones, and if you don't see a test that is recent, remind them. Just a thought, I don't want to push anyone into something that doesn't grab them, or end up having people annoyed by daily ketone reminders, lol. Just trying to brainstorm.
- I think there are a handful of things that generally get covered really really well - home testing, diet changes for instance. Other basics like ketone testing sometimes seem to be hit or miss - if one of us thinks of it, it gets mentioned, but if it slips our mind that day, it doesn't. I've certainly seen that one come up on other threads as something that should have been mentioned but got missed. Another is to actually have a hypo toolkit stocked, and to have the hypo plan from Health printed out for easy access. Another is to guide people to places like the Wiki where they can really learn about things themselves - on the old board those links were a lot easier to find since they were right up top, here you have to hunt for them - I can barely even find them when I am looking for something, so I don't see how a newbie in a panic is likely to find them.
Anyhow, I really don't have any answers, and of course it is always a struggle as everyone here is giving their time and hearts to help, and no one is a vet or anyone with that kind of expertise. So it's kind of a bind in a way - newbies think we are experts when we are not, and look to us for answers and reminders of what they need to do. Which is great when we get it right, but really s*cks when we don't. :evil:
So.... if anyone has suggestions, musings, post away!
[ETA and I'll add that we do get a lot of things *right* a lot of the time, so I don't mean this to beat up on ourselves, just a recheck to see where we can improve]
