Silverado's numbers.....

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Jane & Boo (GA)

Jane & Boo (GA)

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Greetings from snowy Maryland. Wooo, that was a big one, both of them. The good part about being snowed in, it gave me time to get some interim BG tests done. I just don't know what they mean. Could someone take a look at Silverado's spreadsheet and tell me why they think his numbers are being so stubborn? Is it simply because I have not hit the right dose yet?

Silverado went from what appeared to be OTJ to 300+ for no reason. My vet says he's fine, but I plan to schedule a dental just to be on the safe side. In the meantime, I have been practicing the start low and go slow method, but nothing seems to be budging. Am I just getting impatient?

Also, since the dental requires me to withhold food for 12-hours before his appointment, does that mean that I don't test and shoot that AM? Should I expect anything out of the ordinary after the procedure? Is there anything that I should discuss with my vet prior to the procedure?

Jane & Silverado
 
Hi Jane! You guys sure did get hit with the snow, huh? I have a friend who lives in Alexandria and he's said it's unreal. I hope you thaw out soon and can get back out and about. Sometimes it's nice to be snowed in, as long as you have food and supplies. But it gets old after awhile.

I'm not too good at looking at SS, and I don't really have any advice for you. I did look at it, but no revelations struck me. ;) Since you started the PZIR on 11/22, and it's barely been 3 months, I am assuming the problem isn't with the insulin. I am not sure if ProZinc differs from Idexx PZI in that respect or not. Ruling out infection or some other medical issue (pancreatitis springs to mind, but ONLY because of the unexplained high #s and not because of anything else), I'm not really sure what could be going on. You could always cross-post this on Health to get more eyes on it and see if anyone else has any ideas, and also to see if anyone has any info on your "don't feed or shoot after a fast" question. I would think, just from common sense, that if you can't feed, you wouldn't want to give insulin either. But I have no experience in that arena.

I'm not saying that people here in PZI won't have ideas or info, just that if you are having to wait longer than you'd like, you can cross-post. :)
 
Hi Jane, I hope you get better weather soon. Snow & cold can get old pretty quick.

I looked at your spreadsheet and it looks to me like you've gone up slowly and methodically. I suppose that doesn't necessarily mean there's no rebound, but it doesn't look like it to me. I hope the dental will get Silverado back into low numbers. Until then, you might try a higher dose or use a sliding scale. My Blackie went from low doses and good numbers to much higher doses after several UTI's. It can be very frustrating and worrying when we don't know why their insulin needs go up. I think you should post on Health about your questions around the dental. I know that many members cats have had dentals.

I hope Silverado gets better soon.
 
Maybe I'm not understanding, but your sig says indoor kitty then in your SS it talks about finding kibble elsewhere at a neighbors?

Honestly your numbers don't look like the typical kibble kitty [or even infection kitty] that I've seen though. I'm pretty much able to control H's numbers when he gets the "low carb" dry - but his numbers DO go up - but they don't get all whacky like some kittties do.

Anyway, you guys were doing good. I'm not a dosing pro by any means but it look like to me that you may need to keep pressing onwards and upwards. But with the amount of insulin you are giving the go slow is probably warranted and be ready for no shoot if things get below whatever you have set or feel comfortable with.

My last thought are that something must correlate with this [not the most insightful thought I know...].
 
Gator, I believe (and I could be wrong) that Silverado used to go outside but now he stays indoors precisely because of the kibble issue. A neighbor has a stash (or someone else does) that he kept getting into, but Jane didn't know exactly where it was.
 
With Bix, I found sometimes I needed a higher dose to break down through the higher #s, and then not as much after that. You have a decent curve, so that's a good thing. I think if you keep raising the dose every couple days like you are, you should see blue #s soon. Or you could probably do a BAM dose if you wanted (not sure how you determine what dose to shoot though, sorry). I did that some with Bix when I panicked over higher #s and it worked well, but sometimes I overshot :oops: Thankfully he's a pretty forgiving kitty & it all worked out just fine. But I couldn't advise you really on what dose to try, but just mentioning it, i.e. you can go faster than you are in the increases if you want to, but I think you are on a good track either way.

Did your vet already look at his teeth and say dental is not needed, or you just meant your vet isn't worried about the higher #s? I don't know that I would do a dental if their teeth checked out ok in an exam - anesthesia is a scary thing to me, so I avoid it except when it's absolutely necessary.

For the dental though, I have read that they can be more sensitive to insulin because of the anesthesia I guess, or maybe the change in eating pattern? For Bix I skipped his shots the day of the dental, but he was already showing a working pancreas so I wasn't too worried about his #s w/o insulin at that point. I found his #s went up (from blues to yellows) a day or two after the dental and I had to shoot a fair amount more insulin for a week or so to keep him in decent #s. I don't know if that was from the stitches maybe bugging him, or the ABs, or what. I thought it would be the other way around, BGs going down, but my vet said with the stress and all that might cause higher #s for a while, and she was right!

You can probably get more info on dental precautions on Health - I know it has come up several times and I think they always say to shoot lightly that night, but I don't recall exactly what all the details are.

p.s. I used to live in MD, SOOOOOOOOO happy to be gone now, hehe. Sorry for the gloating. :lol:
 
Thanks for all of the encouragement. I was getting discouraged because the process seemed to be taking forever. Silverado is eating me out of house and home again and I'm hauling saturated litter out of her by the ton. He isn't showing ketones, so I haven't felt the need to panic. I will do as recommended and keep up the gradual increases until things settle down.

Gator, Silverado was originally an indoor/outdoor cat. In fact he wasn't even my cat. He was one of my neighbor's full-time, outdoor barn cats. He became my indoor/outdoor cat by his choice. In fact, if I hadn't taken him in, he would probably be dead now. He had to be confined to strictly indoors because he was getting into kibble someplace. I have farming neighbors with outside dogs & cats. Silverado could have been going to any of the area farms for his carb fix.... so I made him a strictly indoor cat in order to control his diet. He has adapted well to being a strictly indoor cat... at least for now. When Spring rolls around it might be a different matter, but I'll deal with that then.

As for the dental, my vet says his teeth need cleaned, but she says she can't say for sure that there are any FORLs until she gets Silverado anesthetized and gets in there. For what she can see, Silverado doesn't seem to have any obvious problems. Of course, we all know how these sweet and cuddly creatures can mask the most horrific ailments.

I shall continue with the gradual increases to his dosage and hope for the best.

Thanks for the input.
Jane & Silverado
 
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