Re: 3/20 Tommy amps~473,+3 427, +5 438, +9 445, +11 460

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Lauren&Tommy (GA)

Lauren&Tommy (GA)

Member Since 2010
Not a good start today, I will keep everyone posted. I will make sure i post for dosing advice again this evening. I'm pretty sure he's gonna need to go up again.
Have a great Sunday everyone!
 
Re: 3/20 Tommy amps~473

There are a lot of cats who need more insulin in order to break through a numbers barrier. The mantra here is every cat is different (ECID). The most frustrating part is that we're not in charge -- our kitties are -- and some of our cats like to cling to these high numbers. I'm glad your testing regularly for ketones. You've been at this dose for 3 cycles (and could you update Tommy's SS). You can consider increasing the dose tomorrow AM if nothing changes.

When you have a chance, could you complete a Profile on Tommy? In part, I'm wondering if there's anything that could be contributing to his numbers -- for example, does he need any dental work? The Profile is a summary of Tommy's history and that way, we don't keep plaguing you with the same questions.
 
Re: 3/20 Tommy amps~473,+3 427

photosquirrel14 said:
Ok, first things first, you all are wonderful people with how much you care and take the time to respond. Let me answer the questions you have asked and then i have some questions i would like to ask also.
Tommy came with the property i was building a house on some 14yrs ago. He was approx 2yrs old then. He remained an outside kitty for many of those years until he had one too many an encounter with a raccoon and my husband and i decided that was enough. He needed to be inside to heal from the wound to his leg so we took that as a sign to try and make him and indoor kitty.. That didn't take long. Fast forward, He has never had dental cleaning done. When i took him in for his UTI, the vet checked him over and found that one of his teeth was infected. He started Tommy on antibiotics for the UTI also hoping that would take care of the infection on the tooth. He suggested we get the UTI under control and then address the tooth if it was still bad. I have not taken him back to have the tooth looked at. I will do that.
A urine culture was done to pinpoint what kind of antibiotic to combat the problem but the culture came back negative. His ketones have consistently come back negative as well.
Tommy drinks a lot of water and his P's are mostly always very big.

That was posted on the 17th.. to give an idea of How Tommy came about to be my Boy!
I'm sorry i haven't done his profile yet.. I will get that done and also up his dose again by .5u tomorrow a.m if the numbers don't change.
Click to expand...
 
Re: 3/20 Tommy amps~473,+3 427, +5 438

oh, Tom Tom...that red can't feel good...
lower, please!

celi & binks
 
Re: 3/20 Tommy amps~473,+3 427, +5 438

Thanks for the info. I thought I remembered reading something about an infection. (And do you want us to call you Photosquirrel?)

My thinking is that if Tommy needs a dental, it may be a struggle to get his numbers down. Any sort of infection or inflammation (e.g., gingivitis) can raise BG numbers. I know some vets seem to have issues about doing a dental until a cat is regulated whereas others seem to have a better grasp of the dilemma (i.e, the cat is much harder to regulate until the teeth aren't a part of the problem). Is this something you can pursue with your vet?
 
Re: 3/20 Tommy amps~473,+3 427, +5 438, +9 445

I'm sure he's not liking the red numbers.......... Neither is his mother angry(2)_cat
As for the Dental, I believe that my vet and I could come to an agreement on Tommys teeth situation.
My concern is his age and putting him under for the procedure. I worry about that with all of my critters who have gotten up there in age.
I just got done looking at his teeth and they don't look bad, but i will call my vet tomorrow and discuss it with him.
My nickname is Squirrel, so feel free to call me that, the reason for the (photo) reference is well, kind of obvious.. I am a photography nut.. Birds, lightning, eagles, critters, sunsets... pretty much any thing in nature..
Will update everyone at the pm hour. We'll go from there.
It was my understanding to give 4.5u again tonight and up the dose tomorrow morning correct?
 
I do have an odd question about name usage. Is it ok to use our names? To be honest many of you have very beautiful names for your cats and i can't tell if it's a human name or a cat name. Just wondering the protocol for that. :-D
 
some people here use their real names (or a variation of their real names), others use fictional names. It *is* the Internet, so whatever makes you comfortable works for us. We just like to know what people want to be called. :smile:

Tommy has had 4 cycles on this dose, so using the more aggressive version of the protocol would allow you to increase to 5 units tonight. He hasn't gotten out of red yet, so you should be plenty safe to increase.

I would definitely have a talk with your vet about a dental. Infection could contribute to these high numbers.
 
I will have a talk with the vet about Tommy's Dental. I will go up to 5u starting with tonight's shot. I agree that it will definitely not hurt.
 
there is something else you can discuss with your vet. When a cat starts to get into higher doses without much response, we start to consider whether something else might be going on besides just the diabetes. Lots of times there isn't - my Lucy was at 4.25 units before she turned around and went back down the dosing scale, and we've seen cats on 6-7 units have a similar breakthrough.

However, some of our cats do have other conditions that cause them to need a higher dose of insulin. My Jazzy has acromegaly. Read this page and see if anything sounds familiar to you. You can show it to your vet, and if you think it is relevant then you can ask your vet to draw some blood to send to MSU to test for Acromegaly and Insulin Auto Antibodies (IAA). The tests aren't terribly expensive and knowing the results (whether positive or negative) can help you feel a lot more confident about how you are dealing with Tommy's numbers.

If you have any questions, just ask. I don't mean to scare you but I do think everyone should have any information that could be relevant to their cat. Jazzy's acro diagnosis was almost a relief to me because it helped me understand why I was having trouble regulating her. It removed the handcuffs, so to speak, and freed me to give her the higher doses she needed.
 
Tommy is a very lucky boy to have been taken in. Good luck with the dosecrease. I hope he starts to bring the numbers down. Of course, I'm sure you are hoping that too. Have a good night. TOMMY: please come down a few floors. The colors would be better. You are such a pretty boy.
 
To be honest, you really can't get an accurate idea of what's going on in a cat's mouth when their awake. Gabby's last dental was supposed to be a "no problem" procedure. The vet needed to do 2 extractions.

FWIW, most vets want to do pre-dental blood work. If your vet is going to get blood, unless there's a dramatic change in Tommy's numbers, it may be expedient to get extra blood and send some off to MSU for the acro/IAA tests.

As far as names, sometimes it is hard to know who's the bean and who's the kitty! I actually use my initials for my "name" -- C.N. = Sienne.
 
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