Please meet Hobbs, Calvin, and Me

[HobbsMom]

He looks very much like he is ready to go off the juice (OTJ).

The drop method of dosing:
fill a syringe to 0.5 units with some colored water.
Practice squeezing out equal sized drops until you can get the same number all the same size.
Then, when you want to dose drops, you can fill to 0.5 with insulin, then squeeze out what you need to lower the dose further.

WOW!! Thank you VERY much!!! I was wondering how to get less and less... this is GREAT. I will definitely practice! (He needed a very little last night... and I couldn't figure out how.. but I knew that I couldn't just stop... ) THANK YOU!!!

 

[KPassa]

Yep, I agree with BJ that Hobbs really looks like he's making his way down the dosing scale and hopefully into remission. At this point, I might even go so far as not shooting if he's below 150 and see if he can maintain those numbers on his own. 14 days of no insulin with numbers between 40 and 150 with the majority in double-digits means he'll be considered officially OTJ. It still might be too early to go completely off insulin, but BJ's suggestion of using the drop method is a great way of getting him there if the .25u proves to be too much.

 

[HobbsMom]

Thursday, April 4, 2014 UPDATE

Hello all.... thank you so much for all your input... Hobbs is surfing (if I have the term right)... his last injection of .25 was on Sunday 11:53pm... and since then his glucose numbers are telling me not to shoot - which I am VERY happy to listen to.

His average blood glucose (tested) score yesterday was 98 with a mean of 102, Tuesday was 114 and 109 respectively, and Monday was 117 and 123 respectively.

I'm not sure how I am supposed to chart this...but... I did my best.

Thank you again for all your help and PLEASE do whatever mantras we as a group do (I'm playing the Beach Boys) to support him and all your fur balls with glucose surfing.

Hobb's Mome

 

[KPassa]

That's fantastic news! His numbers are looking great and it seems they're still coming down, too. :thumbup If you want, you can start a new post, announcing Hobbs' OTJ Trial and update us each day on how he's doing. :mrgreen: 10 more days!

 

[Deb & Wink]

If you do decide you want to start an OTJ trial for Hobbs, here are the instructions.

OTJ Trial instructions

Here are the instructions for an OTJ trial:

• Test at your normal AMPS and PMPS times. Feed multiple small meals throughout the day as much as possible (small meals are less likely to overwhelm a newly functioning pancreas). The morning test is now called the AMBG. The evening test is now called the PMBG.
  
• If your cat is green (0-99 mg/L human meter, 0-130 mg/L pet meter, 0-5.5 mmoL) at your normal test times, no need to test further until the next "PS" time, just feed small meals and go about your day. If the numbers are blue (100-199 human meter, 130-230 pet meter, 5.5-11 mmoL), feed a small meal and test again after about 3 hours. Food raises BG's. So if the number is lower 3-4 hours after a meal, then the pancreas is working!
  
• After 2 weeks, if everything is looking good, we have a party! And boy, do we party hearty.

Sometimes, the trial doesn't work the first time and we have to give a little more support by starting the cat with a tiny dose of insulin again. I had to do that with Wink. We simply start the cat back on a tiny dose of insulin to support the pancreas with healing for a bit longer. Our goal is a strong remission and it's better to be safe now then sorry later that you rushed it. With just a little more time we will probably get that strong remission we are looking for.

So on those days when you get BG readings in the blue range, you want to be sure to test at the +3 to +4 hour range after the meal to see how the pancreas is working.

 

[HobbsMom]

If you do decide you want to start an OTJ trial for Hobbs, here are the instructions.

OTJ Trial instructions

Here are the instructions for an OTJ trial:

• Test at your normal AMPS and PMPS times. Feed multiple small meals throughout the day as much as possible (small meals are less likely to overwhelm a newly functioning pancreas). The morning test is now called the AMBG. The evening test is now called the PMBG.
  
• If your cat is green (0-99 mg/L human meter, 0-130 mg/L pet meter, 0-5.5 mmoL) at your normal test times, no need to test further until the next "PS" time, just feed small meals and go about your day. If the numbers are blue (100-199 human meter, 130-230 pet meter, 5.5-11 mmoL), feed a small meal and test again after about 3 hours. Food raises BG's. So if the number is lower 3-4 hours after a meal, then the pancreas is working!
  
• After 2 weeks, if everything is looking good, we have a party! And boy, do we party hearty.

Sometimes, the trial doesn't work the first time and we have to give a little more support by starting the cat with a tiny dose of insulin again. I had to do that with Wink. We simply start the cat back on a tiny dose of insulin to support the pancreas with healing for a bit longer. Our goal is a strong remission and it's better to be safe now then sorry later that you rushed it. With just a little more time we will probably get that strong remission we are looking for.

So on those days when you get BG readings in the blue range, you want to be sure to test at the +3 to +4 hour range after the meal to see how the pancreas is working.

That is AWESOME to know. THANK YOU sooo much!! (It would be great to feel comfortable testing two times a day if he's green... and of course, easy to test when blue... I can hardly imagine not stopping and making certain his breathe is the way I expect, his temperature is what I believe is in the "should" category, his energy and eyes are not telling me something deeper, etc. I know it's been 43 days.. but seems like the habits will stay a lot longer. I know after the first two week Hobbs would just walk up to me to get tested every two hours like his little internal timer went off.)

 

[Elizabeth and Bertie]

... I know after the first two week Hobbs would just walk up to me to get tested every two hours like his little internal timer went off.

Aw, bless 'im! cat_pet_icon
Keeping fingers and paws crossed for your OTJ trial.
Go Hobbs! :RAHCAT

Eliz

 

[Wendy&Tiggy(GA)]

How's things going now?