Salem #2

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I would say I'm more cautiously optimistic lol. :cat: I'm really hoping it will be! He's doing so much better than I ever expected so I'm just taking it one day at a time and letting him do what he's doing.
 
He shot up to 159 this morning. :( I wouldn’t think he would be bouncing at all? So I’m not sure what to think. I’m going to just give the .1 again and see how he does just in case.
 
My guess is that he still needs that little teensy dose to keep him in good range and that AMPS is just a product of the missed dose last night. He's so close so just hold the course for now. :)
 
Yeah that’s the plan. I double tested against the Relion and he was 111 on it. So maybe the AT2 was running high. I need to find somewhere to order a small amount of syringes bc I’m running low and I don’t want to buy from the vet because they sell like 100 of them at a time and I don’t want that many.
 
Can you buy syringes without a script in Tx? I think you can but there may be a limit on them without a script. Some states limit it to 10 syringes, but a trip to a couple of pharmacies would get you through another week and half roughly if that's the case.
 
Walmart's .3 U-100 syringes have half unit markings -- those are about as cheap as you can get, approx $12 plus tax if required

also see the PM I sent you
 
An update: I tested Salem on the Relion at +6 and he was at 66 down from 111 this morning so at least he’s dropping. I’ll see what he is tonight. I’m almost out of AT2 strips again and of course amazon can’t have them here until Friday.
 
Here’s to hoping he’s not super high tonight. I think I’m going to try and get some U100’s tomorrow because eyeballing the .1 makes me nervous. I’m trying to make it the same every time but it’s difficult when it’s such a small dose.
 
Welp I just tested on the Relion and he's at 53. Not sure what to do honestly. Maybe this morning was some kind of bounce or something?
 
No panic! He's at about +11 now right? While the duration of ProZinc can be as much as 14 hours, it's unlikely Salem is going to go hypo. Give him a bit of LC food and he'll be fine. Obviously you won't be giving him any insulin tonight. I'm personally loving this..... YEAH for Salem and you Amy, You've have done wonders with him. :joyful:
 
No I'm not worried lol. He just got fed so hopefully he'll eat a bit. He's been kind of running around being excited which is fun. He's really keeping me on my toes! Honestly I couldn't have done all this without your help and this site. I'm just so glad I educated myself on all of this but I can't imagine having done anything else with him. My cats are my babies lol.
 
Yeah he's doing so well, I just hope this continues. I'm scared he's going to run high again tonight but we'll see I guess.
 
I hope so! I just worry I'm not helping with the occasional giving insulin but his numbers are so low I can't give it all the time. I also think he's lost a little bit of weight which will also help.
 
Amy, insulin is a hormone Salem is producing himself. You have been supplementing while his pancreas has been on hiatus and not working up to snuff. Not giving it when numbers are low is the only thing you can do......it means his body is taking care of business and he doesn't need the additional supply. You are doing exactly what you should be doing.
 
Yeah, that makes sense. I guess I still get confused on how exactly it works and I just don't want to create some kind of imbalance? I should probably read up some on insulin. I know human diabetics can have different amounts but the vet kept talking about how you can't do that with cats. Either way, I'm not giving it when he's low so here's to hoping he'll stay low.
 
If you give insulin when Salem's body is able to make enough to function properly, you *would* be creating an imbalance. My kitty appears to be in remission with just a change in diet. I'm very excited to see another kitty show remarkable progress to green! The folks here have made that possible.
 
Okay just tested using the Relion and he's at 80. I tested at +3 last night after no shot and he was at 63. I'm concerned his pancreas just isn't working enough. Should I go ahead and give the .1 today?
 
Just tested again and he’s at 76 on the Relion so I’m just going to hold off and see what he does today. He might go high but I can deal with that if it happens.
 
I think 80 is way low to be shooting. Salem might go too low and then you worry about hypoglycemia, which is much worse than a bit higher insulin. When you are dealing with numbers in yellow and pink, you are less likely to cause hypo with insulin. But when you start getting into blues, you need to have some curves to know that Salem isn't going to go too low. I liked the phrase I saw "It's OK to go too high, but never a minute too low".
 
it gets easier once you have enough data to know how Salem reacts to food and to insulin doses .. at this point I'm guessing his pancreas is "trying it out" so encourage it by skipping doses when it looks like he can manage on his own
 
Yeah I'm still not sure how he's reacting to the food? I'm worried he's not processing it on his own, but he doesn't seem to go up much from eating so who knows. He just kind of slowly gets higher.
 
Amy, Salem is in totally normal range. No insulin should be given at those low numbers because he just doesn't need it. He IS producing his own and using it well or he wouldn't be in such good numbers.

With some longer lasting insulins you can shoot those low numbers because those insulins are better at holding BG than pulling it down. ProZinc while an excellent insulin for cats, is still an In & Out insulin that works a bit quicker and can drop BG a bit swiftly. Giving insulin when Salem is holding those great numbers without it, would not be safe. IF his numbers increase then you can re-visit the situation but he's staying in dark green which is perfect. It doesn't get better than this! Enjoy, celebrate.....he looks terrific.

For some reason I did not get alerts for your recent posts. HMMM? If you have questions, please tag me so hopefully I get the alert. Thx.
 
happy dance.jpg
 
So at this point should I start considering this an OTJ trial? My other concern is I'm still planning to take them out of town with me this weekend and I don't know if the stress will raise his BG at all. They're pretty used to traveling since I've taken them both on trips since they were kittens but it's still a bit stressful I'm sure.
 
Change can definitely elevate BG slightly for a period of time like in the car. Bet if you checked Nyx before and during the trip, his BG would be up too. If you know there is a stress factor and BG comes back down to those beautiful numbers then you can ignore it. It's not like that stress is going to knock a cat in remission out of it. That is temporary normal stress. An infection on the other hand is affecting the body chemistry in many different ways and can knock a cat out of remission....big difference.

I think I'd give it a couple more days before starting a trial to make sure you continue to get green pre-shots. The one reading that makes me say that is the AT2 159/Relion 111 AMPS on the 28th. That is a bit high on the AT2 for an OTJ trial. The very odd very low blue on the Relion is fine but if the pre-shots are still a bit high, you may need to do the mini dosing a bit longer. See how he does over the weekend. Take your supplies with you to head off MURPHY. If you continue to get green pre-shots for the next few days, you can include today in the OTJ trial count. If you get blues and aren't sure if it's stress or not, better to start the count when things are back to normal. You want a strong remission that's going to last.

If you do get a blue pre-shot this weekend it may be from stress so check him again once the stressful stuff is over and he's had some time to cool his jets.
 
So he’s at 78 this morning so I’m going to continue with the no shot. It’s a little higher than I’d like but I think he comes down a bit after eating so I’ll check this afternoon.
 
78 is a perfectly good BG. It's not high at all. BG goes up and down and we never know what our diabetic cats norms were before their diagnosis. He may just be up a teensy bit because he wants his breakfast. ;)
 
They’re only slightly spoiled. :cat: So if he runs a little higher this weekend due to stress should I still give any insulin? I’m nervous to do that bc he could drop down.
 

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UMMMMM! Slightly spoiled you say? Looks a bit more than "slightly" to me. :p They are so gorgeous. Saw some absolutely beautiful little black kittens last night at PetSmart and wanted to bring them home so bad. But I don't have room for 4 more (not enough laps and hands to go around) and I couldn't bear to split them up the way they were cuddling with each other. Getting too old for kittens anyway. My next adoption will be a senior kitty in need of a good home with lots of TLC, happy to lounge the time away getting snuggles and scritches and purring in return. :woot:

I would not jump back onto the insulin unless numbers increase substantially like over 120 for an extended period of time without dropping. Me thinks you are worrying far too much. Salem will be just fine and he'll do his Momma proud this weekend. ;)
 
So I feel as though either my AT2 runs high or the Relion on runs low. I got more strips for the Alphatrak and he's sitting at 100 on that and 60 on the Relion meter. Obviously I've been using the Relion the past few days and he's been following the same pattern of numbers so maybe he just runs a little high? I might test Nyx against the AT2 too to see. The one time I tested him in the middle of the day he was at 95 so maybe it's just the meter?
 
Amy there is nothing wrong with either meter. That difference is very similar to what I get with my Freestyle human meter and my AT2 sometimes. I've also had them read very close to one another. Salem is just fine and in good numbers. Remember at any time one meter could reading high while the other reading low within the variance allowance for all meters which can make the difference look larger than it really is.
 
those two meters will rarely agree -- they will each give you the same shape of "curve" but because of the way they check the blood, there will be a difference and the ReliOn will almost always give you a lower number -- but then what "normal value" for a cat is, is DIFFERENT for those two meters, actually different between one marketed "for animals" and one primarily sold to humans -- it's not apples and oranges, more like oranges and tangelos ... similar but not the same

it's confusing for us, and probably for you too, to go back and forth between the two types; unless your vet REQUIRES tests with the AlphaTrak, my opinion is, stick with the ReliOn, use the ReliOn scale of what is good BG -- and partly because the procedures we follow here were all worked out using human meters
 
Yeah I'm trying to look more at the overall pattern of what his BG is doing? As long as he's staying about the same on both meters I'm not going to be too concerned.
 
If you graphed the two sets of readings for an entire cycle curve testing every 2 hours the curve would look very very similar for both meters with the pet meter curve being higher overall. It has to do with blood composition and the algorithms in the meters that calculate the plasma BG.
 
So PS this morning was 73/121 which I’m not going to worry about bc it’s consistent with the last few days. Should I even bring the insulin with me? I’ll be gone until Monday night and even if he goes up I didn’t want to give any since it would likely be from stress.
 
So I haven't been on in the past two days, mainly bc I haven't been testing him since he was so stressed to be somewhere new. I managed to get one yesterday afternoon at about +3 and he was 65 on the Relion so I figured he was probably fine. PS tonight was 74 on the Relion/122 on the AT2. He might still be slightly elevated from the car ride home since he did not enjoy that. He had fun getting to explore a new house though and they were okay for most of the trip but I'm glad to be back home!
 
He had a fun time exploring underneath my parent's old house for about 10 minutes- stressing me out in the process. :D:D I'm going to go pick up some Revolution just to be safe bc who knows what critters were under there.
 
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