Sharess the bouncer

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One week shy of 5 years. And I suspect she had acromegaly before she was diabetic. We noticed a tearing eye 6 months before FD diagnosis, and I think that was from soft tissue growth in her eye duct.
 
Hello again group!

I wanted to give news about Sharess. After 17 days of doxycare, the vet recommended a PCR and we are waiting for the results to see if we need to change the antibiotic. Even if she is not totally ok, Sharess seems to have gotten better from her cold, and her glucose numbers are not as high as before, but they are still very high. In fact, we have noticed that, during the day, the curve is more pronounced but it has almost no drops at night. Do you know why that is? Is there something we should do? With the drop on day 6 and day 9 we cannot increase the dose, but I don't know if it is an option to increase the dose at night and lower it in the morning. Advices? Thanks a lot!!
 
Hi there. I’m glad to know that she is okay, even though she’s not totally better. I would actually increase her dose if she were my cat. I was uncomfortable with the dose reduction before, but technically she was supposed to get it because she dropped below 90. I would change to the Modified ProZinc method (MPM) which would allow you to have nadirs that are lower without requiring a dose reduction. The dose would only be reduced if she dropped below 50 on your human glucose meter. The MPM would allow you to hold the dose for less time than 14 cycles. Her nadirs on this dose have not been unsafe (97 is the lowest one that I see) so you have a little “wiggle room” to do an increase. As long as you are testing her she can be kept safe. I do not understand the evening numbers. What is different about her evening routine from the day? Can you think of anything? What is she eating? When is she eating? I am really hoping that she will recover soon and get better regulated. Does she still have green discharge from her nose? What other symptoms does she have? Will you have her retested for acromegaly soon? Maybe at the end of this month? She does look very insulin resistant.
 
Hi @Suzanne & Darcy

Thank you very much for your advice. I am definitely going to switch to the Modified ProZinc method (MPM) to see if she can improve her numbers. I really don't like the fact that she has high numbers plenty of hours :/

Regarding Sharess behabiour, she is much more animated, except for specific moments when she has glucose skipes. she plays, she fights with the little one as usual, she chases us everywhere and she loves cuddles. She still sneezes, but much less than before, and she has almost no green discharge from her nose. The only strange symptom that I see on her, is that she seems to have a few nauseas and the vet has recommended that we start with Cerenia, and if she doesn't improve, give her omeprazole.

With regard to agromegaly, the veterinarian told us that it is better to wait for 2 months and do the IGF test together with the pancreas test, so it would be at the end of April, but if you think it should be earlier, I can bring the test forward .

Regarding evening numbers, I have no clue to be honest, I don't recall that she does something diferent from mornings. She eats wet food. Normally we switch from "Animonda", to "My Star is a foodie" and now to "MjAMjAM" because she gets tired of the same food all the time. and she doesn't have a specific time to eat because she is a bit special in regard of timings.

I really can't think on anything that caused those changes in glucosa. The "good part" is that she started to have more 400 spikes rather than 600. I hope this is a good thing...
 
Vicky & Sharess said:
Hi @Suzanne & Darcy

Thank you very much for your advice. I am definitely going to switch to the Modified ProZinc method (MPM) to see if she can improve her numbers. I really don't like the fact that she has high numbers plenty of hours :/

Regarding Sharess behabiour, she is much more animated, except for specific moments when she has glucose skipes. she plays, she fights with the little one as usual, she chases us everywhere and she loves cuddles. She still sneezes, but much less than before, and she has almost no green discharge from her nose. The only strange symptom that I see on her, is that she seems to have a few nauseas and the vet has recommended that we start with Cerenia, and if she doesn't improve, give her omeprazole.

With regard to agromegaly, the veterinarian told us that it is better to wait for 2 months and do the IGF test together with the pancreas test, so it would be at the end of April, but if you think it should be earlier, I can bring the test forward .

Regarding evening numbers, I have no clue to be honest, I don't recall that she does something diferent from mornings. She eats wet food. Normally we switch from "Animonda", to "My Star is a foodie" and now to "MjAMjAM" because she gets tired of the same food all the time. and she doesn't have a specific time to eat because she is a bit special in regard of timings.

I really can't think on anything that caused those changes in glucosa. The "good part" is that she started to have more 400 spikes rather than 600. I hope this is a good thing...
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I would say that the improving glucose numbers are “progress.” I was encouraged when I looked at her spreadsheet yesterday. Let’s just see if we can make more progress with dose changes being more frequent.
 
Oh, as far as the acro test, I agree with the vet. Let us hope she will continue to improve and if she needs another antibiotic that whatever is happening will be healed.

Regarding the night time high numbers, you might want to try keeping a food diary where you would record which food she is eating at night to see if there is any correlation between the food and her higher numbers. Some cats seem to be sensitive to different foods. For example, beef is an ingredient that causes a lot of cats to have higher glucose numbers. It could be fish. Or it may not even be the meat, but something else in the food that is causing the higher glucose numbers. Or, it may improve on its own as we get her closer to the dose of insulin that she needs. She has been in high numbers for quite a while now, and she has some level of glucose toxicity perhaps, which means it will be a little bit harder to get her numbers down. With the modified ProZinc method, you will be able to do this by adjusting her doses more frequently.
 
Again, thank you very much. The truth is that I am very worried, even though she seems to be fine. I'm going to record everything she eats. I know that "My Star" is not one of the best weet food,, but it is the one she likes the most. She only eats "MjAMjAM" or "Animonda" if I mix it in the blender. :(
 
Vicky & Sharess said:
Again, thank you very much. The truth is that I am very worried, even though she seems to be fine. I'm going to record everything she eats. I know that "My Star" is not one of the best weet food,, but it is the one she likes the most. She only eats "MjAMjAM" or "Animonda" if I mix it in the blender. :(
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I totally understand. The number one most important thing is that she eats!!
 
Hello again. we have switched to the Modified ProZinc method (MPM) and Sharess numbers have started to do some very strange things.

After a horrible night and horrible morning today, her numbers started to drop and the FreeStyle sensor went crazy beeping and pointing to numbers below 50. Luckily we used the glucometer and we found that FreeStyle wasn't very accurate. However, the nadirs have been low and outside of normal hours, so we are now waiting a bit for the next puncture (without feeding her).

The problem is that we don't want to miss a shot, because her numbers get worse every time we do it, so we are here waitting... I am wondering which is a safe number to shot. :nailbiting:
 
Are the numbers on your spreadsheet for today from your meter or the Libre sensor?

We have found that the Libre sensors are not very accurate in the lower numbers (read lower than a manual glucometer.)
 
Is she feeling any better? Maybe her infection is better? Did you ever get any more blood results (PCR test) from the vet? I'm trying to remember.
 
the manual numbers are all those that appear in the +7 and the +8 in her spreadsheet from today. I can test her blood sugar now, because the FreesTyle shows 179.

She sneezes less and the PCR tests will be given to us tomorrow. We don't know the results yet. She is happy and she plays, and the only bad thing we noticed is that sometimes she doesn't seem to have her normal strength in her hind legs and also that, whenever she walks, her legs crunch like little "crick crick" in her joints.

Also she doesn't want to eat wet food very much, but she begs us for dry food or our food when we are eating all the time :/
 
Vicky & Sharess said:
the manual numbers are all those that appear in the +7 and the +8 in her spreadsheet from today. I can test her blood sugar now, because the FreesTyle shows 179.

She sneezes less and the PCR tests will be given to us tomorrow. We don't know the results yet. She is happy and she plays, and the only bad thing we noticed is that sometimes she doesn't seem to have her normal strength in her hind legs and also that, whenever she walks, her legs crunch like little "crick crick" in her joints.

Also she doesn't want to eat wet food very much, but she begs us for dry food or our food when we are eating all the time :/
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If she is having hind leg weakness, it's probably diabetic neuropathy from being in the higher numbers too much of the time. For that, you need to get Zobaline, which is methylcobalamin and folic acid. If that's not available in your area (or too expensive) then you can purchase a methylcobalamin supplement that really does help a lot with diabetic neuropathy.

Waiting for the number. I was looking at the SS and it looked like she was trending upward in her BG numbers.
 
Yes, this forum has already recommended methylcobalamin to me and she has been taking it for more than a month and a half. It has been miraculous because before she couldn't climb on things or jump, and now we just see a little bit of weakness. I can't thank you enough for that! <3

Numbers since to rise now. The FreeStyle shows "240↑" I think now is safe to shot, right?
 
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The joint clicking is probably arthritis, don't you think? Do you have Solensia injections there. I believe they've been using it in Europe for a while now (I know they have in the UK.) Or Adequan (not sure of name in Spain? Cartrophen?) I hope she's not in pain. I actually have a senior kitty who walks around and clicks sometimes (sometimes a lot) and it doesn't seem to bother her at all... I mean, she still jumps up on things and does not act as if she is in pain. But you could see if your vet thinks it's arthritis. Who is the vet now? I hope you are staying with the newer vet who actually is trying to help her and you. You have been through several vets recently.
 
Oh, also, I think that with the Methylcobalamin you can expect to see continued improvement. I remember now that she was having a very hard time. It's so great to hear that this has improved.
 
the shot was 1'5h hours later, which is super weird. we will have to adjust the timing a bit for a while ^_^!

Regarding Solensia we started on February 10th, and we put her second injection 5 days ago. I dont know if it's arthritis because it started really fast right after being diagnosed. I dont know if it was a coincidence but i was really afraid it was Acro. The clicking doesn't seem to bother her at al lindeed.
 
and yes! we used to live in Paris and we moved here around 1 year ago, so it was difficult for us to find a good vet (we were really used to our Versailles vet). Now we founded a clinic specialized in cats, witch is really awesome but they are ALWAYS busy, so sometimes it's hard to get an appointment ^_^!
 
Here is graph of Libre 2 sensor and Relion Prime meter for my Merle that I obtained in Feb 2023.
Merle Feb 2023 BG Comparison.png

As time went on Libre BGs were closer to Prime BGs.
 

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Hello again!

The vet has given me the results of Sharess' PCR and she was negative in all: BORDETELLA BRONCHISEPTICA, CHLAMYDIA FELIS, FELINE CALICIVIRUS, FELINE HERPESVIRUS and MYCOPLASMA FELIS. The vet says it's better to wait a bit because she seems to be sneezing less, her sugar is a little better, and a rhinoscopy to take samples is very invasive. Unfortunately, Libre2 fell on the second day, and we have not been able to measure all the time, but it is true that it seems that her numbers are better with the Modified ProZinc method (MPM) :)

Here it is impossible to get Libre3 for months (it is always out of stock). I hate the Libre 2 because it's bigger and it doesn't measure glucose in real time (you have to bring the phone close to her skin every time you want to know the numbers)... hopefully they'll bring Libre3 back soon.
 
Hello Vicky! I’m very happy to hear that the PCR tests for all of those viruses were negative. That’s great news. So she doesn’t seem congested anymore? But she sneezes a little? Have you ever tried giving her some L-Lysine as a supplement. I have a powder called Viralys (made by Vetoquinol) is an L-Lysine supplement that I mix into food. One small scoop mixed into food has really helped a lot of my cats with sneezing and eye weeping and that sort of upper respiratory stuff. It is flavored with chicken liver, as I recall.

I’m sorry that your Libre sensor died. I have heard that the manufacturer will replace the ones that fail prematurely if you contact them.
 
Hello @Suzanne & Darcy !! Thank you very much for your reply. The truth is that Sharess has gone from sneezing a lot to sneezing once a day or less and she doesn’t seem congested, so we think she is healing (finger crossed). I have never heard of Viralys, but I am giving her L-Lysine TVM, I don't know if it will be similar. in fact, they're like little balls that you can mold, so I use them to put cerenia inside them, or even the methylcobalamin pills. it's super practical, but if you tell me that Viralys is better, I will give it a try :cat:

Oh! I also give her Impromune and probiotics every day, so she looks like a granny with thousands of pills. :woot:

Regarding Libre2, you're right! I contacted Abbot not saying it's for pets and they will send me a new one. We put our last Libre 2 today on her... I hope this one doesn't fall :D
 
Vicky & Sharess said:
Hello @Suzanne & Darcy !! Thank you very much for your reply. The truth is that Sharess has gone from sneezing a lot to sneezing once a day or less and she doesn’t seem congested, so we think she is healing (finger crossed). I have never heard of Viralys, but I am giving her L-Lysine TVM, I don't know if it will be similar. in fact, they're like little balls that you can mold, so I use them to put cerenia inside them, or even the methylcobalamin pills. it's super practical, but if you tell me that Viralys is better, I will give it a try :cat:

Oh! I also give her Impromune and probiotics every day, so she looks like a granny with thousands of pills. :woot:

Regarding Libre2, you're right! I contacted Abbot not saying it's for pets and they will send me a new one. We put our last Libre 2 today on her... I hope this one doesn't fall :D
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I have a sneezy sugar cat too! I was able to figure out that he has eosinophilic granuloma from allergies! His congestion was so severe when I first fostered him I thought he was drowning in mucus! Now the congestion has calmed down I'm doing food trials. The thing that really helped was chlor tabs. You have to make sure there's no comorbidities like high blood pressure or glaucoma and all medications are safe to be given together because its strong. I also didn't give it everyday. Now it's figuring out the allergy causing it and he'll be fine! Hope this helps!
 
I hope your sugar cat gets better. I have never heard of chlor tabs. I'm going to discuss your suggestion with my vet to consider more options. Thank you so much! <3
 
Hello everyone!

I bring news about Sharess again. She's been a little better, at least she hasn't been "Hi" for a long periods of time these past few days, but today I gave her insulin shots in the morning and she still hasn't come down at all after 6 hours. This is the first time it happens, and she makes me wonder if I've injected her wrong (although I don't think so). What do you do in these cases? Do you wait 12 hours for the next shot, or do you give the injection ahead of time? I don't like seeing her for so many hours with sugar through the roof :(

btw, she will go to the vet on Tuesday to repeat pancreas and IGF test. Figers crossed!
 
Vicky & Sharess said:
Hello everyone!

I bring news about Sharess again. She's been a little better, at least she hasn't been "Hi" for a long periods of time these past few days, but today I gave her insulin shots in the morning and she still hasn't come down at all after 6 hours. This is the first time it happens, and she makes me wonder if I've injected her wrong (although I don't think so). What do you do in these cases? Do you wait 12 hours for the next shot, or do you give the injection ahead of time? I don't like seeing her for so many hours with sugar through the roof :(

btw, she will go to the vet on Tuesday to repeat pancreas and IGF test. Figers crossed!
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If you suspect a fur shot (or otherwise missing the shot) you just need to ride it out and wait for the next shot. You don't know if or how much you gave her, so you don't know what a safe dose would be.

When you give the shot, are you able to see the needle going into the skin? I switched up my technique so that I could see bare skin and watch the needle go in. That way I know for sure Pumpkin got her full dose.
 
Thanks, I also decided to wait because the same reasons you mention. This is the first time it happens, but a fur shot is possible. Sharess has a really long hair and it's dificult to see how the needle go in. I will try to see more carefully from now on. Next shot is in 1'5h, but I think is safe to shot her in 1h. The good news are that, despite everything, she didn't go higher than 500, so I see an improvement in her :)
 
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By the way, I had a look at Pumplin's spreadsheet and I am a little worried about her numbers. Is her an acrocat? Is she better? has she stopped vomiting? I hope she is ok <3
 
Vicky & Sharess said:
By the way, I had a look at Pumplin's spreadsheet and I am a little worried about her numbers. Is her an acrocat? Is she better? has she stopped vomiting? I hope she is ok <3
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She got an acro test on Thursday, so we'll find out sometime next week probably. There's nothing obvious in the regular bloodwork. Vet also thinks we should do an abdominal ultrasound. She's had much better weeks especially with the sprained hind leg :-(. Numbers are trending in the right direction but it's way slower than I'd like. Everything else seems to be slowly sliding downhill....
 
I wish you the best of luck and I hope Pumpkin gets better. Sharess also has her second acro test on Tuesday (we were told the first one could be a false negative). I hope that our little ones test negative in their respective tests and that their numbers improve until remission. I will follow your baby girl <3

btw, after the PM shot, Sharess started to drop her numbers. I guess it was my fault after all. I am happy that it was only that :)
 
Vicky & Sharess said:
I wish you the best of luck and I hope Pumpkin gets better. Sharess also has her second acro test on Tuesday (we were told the first one could be a false negative). I hope that our little ones test negative in their respective tests and that their numbers improve until remission. I will follow your baby girl <3

btw, after the PM shot, Sharess started to drop her numbers. I guess it was my fault after all. I am happy that it was only that :)
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Thanks! I'm very conflicted about the acro test. An acro diagnosis would not be good, but at least it would be something we can get to work on. Maybe she's one of the cats cabergoline works miracles on. But, the odds are against cabergoline working, and none of the other options are great. If she's negative for acro though, we've already eliminated a lot of the obvious potential issues, so we might just be stuck with a mysteriously insulin resistant cat. :nailbiting:

But, with Sharess's dose it would definitely be a blessing for her to not be acro, so I'm sending negative (for acro) thoughts her way!

I'm glad Sharess is giving better numbers this afternoon! I'm really nervous about the point where we hit the breakthrough dose for Pumpkin. It must be so nerverwracking watching those numbers shoot down every day.
 
Jacques and Pumpkin said:
I'm very conflicted about the acro test. An acro diagnosis would not be good, but at least it would be something we can get to work on.
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I would get the IGF-1 test done. At least you know the cause of the high BGs/high dose and then take appropriate action.
Jacques and Pumpkin said:
If she's negative for acro though, we've already eliminated a lot of the obvious potential issues, so we might just be stuck with a mysteriously insulin resistant cat.
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I would get the insulin resistance test, IAA (Insulin AutoAntibody) test done. In the USA, Michigan State University (MSU) is the only place that does these two tests. IDEXX lists these two tests in their test catalogue but IDEXX just sends the sample to MSU for the actual tests. Insulin resistance may be harder to deal with since it can vary fast and thus you have to watch for the resistance going down with the result is BG goes down with same dose. Getting both tests done at same time adds little cost compared to only doing the IGF-1 test since packaging and shipping should be the same and only the actual test cost would be added. I looked the IGF-1 MSU price is $68 (#20005) and IAA (#20031) is $21. Note that you would also have to pay the sample preparation, your vet fee and shipping cost. MSU sells a UPS, prepaid, insulated mailer for $25 (#99220)


https://vdl.msu.edu/Bin/Catalog/Catalog.exe
 
Larry and Kitties said:
I would get the IGF-1 test done. At least you know the cause of the high BGs/high dose and then take appropriate action.

I would get the insulin resistance test, IAA (Insulin AutoAntibody) test done. In the USA, Michigan State University (MSU) is the only place that does these two tests. IDEXX lists these two tests in their test catalogue but IDEXX just sends the sample to MSU for the actual tests. Insulin resistance may be harder to deal with since it can vary fast and thus you have to watch for the resistance going down with the result is BG goes down with same dose. Getting both tests done at same time adds little cost compared to only doing the IGF-1 test since packaging and shipping should be the same and only the actual test cost would be added. I looked the IGF-1 MSU price is $68 (#20005) and IAA (#20031) is $21. Note that you would also have to pay the sample preparation, your vet fee and shipping cost. MSU sells a UPS, prepaid, insulated mailer for $25 (#99220)


https://vdl.msu.edu/Bin/Catalog/Catalog.exe
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Yep, the tests are in progress. We've kind of hijacked Sharess's thread though.
 
Jacques and Pumpkin said:
Yep, the tests are in progress. We've kind of hijacked Sharess's thread though.
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Hahaha no problem at all. I am learning too since i didn't know about the posibility to do a IAA test (i dont know if it would be a good idea on Sharess too).

I can see the diferences in prices depending of the country. 2 months ago IGF-1 cost me 143€ here in Spain, but I guess that included the vet cost and the sample preparation... anyway I think is super expensive :/
 
Hi again! I have a question regarding Sharess. She is having a really good numbers recently compare with the past, and we had to postpone the shot in several occasions due the low numbers. Is this the right thing to do? Or it’s better to lower the doses?I am a little bit lost here (not complaining at all. She seems prety happy and ok in general) :cat:
 
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Vicky & Sharess said:
Hi again! I have a question regarding Sharess. She is having a really good numbers recently compare with the past, and we had to postpone the shot in several occasions due the low numbers. Is this the right thing to do? Or it’s better to lower the doses?I am a little bit lost here (not complaining at all. She seems prety happy and ok in general) :cat:
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Are you doing tight regulation with prozinc?
 
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