Smiffy's July/August progress

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Hello @Alexi and @MrWorfMen's Mom and @Capoo and @Woodywife

You know that Smiffy actually ate a bowl of Encore ocean fish and I as soooo excited but wondered if it was because it was in Pasha's bowl and Smiffy wanted to eat her food (because she gets jealou) ...

Well I tried Sheba chicken flakes today ....

Usually put dry food down for the cats in their biscuit bowls (on opposite sides of the room in our tiny open plan house) morning and evening and then give Pasha some wet food Felix at about 3pm in her wet food bowl.... Smifffy muscles in on it because she is jeaous and just licks off the jelly.

Yesterday after the Felix was done with I put some Encore ocean fish in Pasha's bowl and Smiffy ate the lot (:

Today I got a wet food bowl out for Smiffy on her side of the room and at 3 gave Pasha her Felix in her bowl and put the Encore in Smiffy's wet bowl ..... NOT INTERESTED! Only interested in nicking Pasha's bowl ..... even after the Felix was over she wouldn't take any interest in the Encore even when I moved the bowl closer to Pasha's bowl ...

Do you think it was the strong smell of the fishy one that attracted Smiffy to the Encore yesterday?

I am going to leave both the 'wet' bowls out alongside the dry bowls and see if I can get Smiffy used to the idea that she gets wet food too so doesn't have to nick Pasha's ... this is how the bowls got separated in the first place

I am not sure how to train her to use her own bowl after all these years for wet food ..... she doesn't eat the Felix - only licks it.

Will get some Sheba fish flakes .... think there is going to be a lot of wasted food here .....

Any bright ideas?!
 
Oh the tales I could tell of musical bowls in my house. What's in the other cat's dish is always more interesting and appetizing. I have also had the joy of introducing a new food and having happy campers the first day only to have them turn their noses up at it the next. There is no telling what is going through their minds when they engage in this activity but I personally think it likely has something to do with the pecking order. Like a pride of lions, the head honcho (or the one who wants to feel like head honcho that day) gets to eat his fill first and will pilfer other bowls to do so. Our kitties are generally a little beyond that instinctual behaviour but my middle "child" came from a feral colony and I can tell you he is definitely the worst offender at nicking other kitty dishes. I have always chalked it up to a little more remaining wild DNA! Wish I had some words of wisdom but alas other than being lunchroom monitor, I've yet to find a solution. :woot:
 
No wisdom here either. All three of my cats pilfer from each other. Only one gets something in the 5% carb range. When she is done then Tux eats what left, the Smokey gets to lick the bowl, if he is lucky he might get a crumb. Tux and Smokey get the same thing. And Tux and Tripper eat the same thing. Tripper will not eat Smokey food. All the food I buy is food appropriate for Smokey except the one for Tripper. She will only eat one flavor of one brand, the Purina Smart Blend beef pate.
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
Oh the tales I could tell of musical bowls in my house. What's in the other cat's dish is always more interesting and appetizing. I have also had the joy of introducing a new food and having happy campers the first day only to have them turn their noses up at it the next. There is no telling what is going through their minds when they engage in this activity but I personally think it likely has something to do with the pecking order. Like a pride of lions, the head honcho (or the one who wants to feel like head honcho that day) gets to eat his fill first and will pilfer other bowls to do so. Our kitties are generally a little beyond that instinctual behaviour but my middle "child" came from a feral colony and I can tell you he is definitely the worst offender at nicking other kitty dishes. I have always chalked it up to a little more remaining wild DNA! Wish I had some words of wisdom but alas other than being lunchroom monitor, I've yet to find a solution. :woot:
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Yes Smiffy is definitley topo cat - always have to feed her first!

It's good that she actually ATE some fishy encore food - a whole bowl - but it would seem it was more to do with eating it before Pasha got a chance to eat it!

I will not give up ... have put some fishy (though why she suddenly likes fish all of a sudden I don't know!) low carb sachets on the shop list and see how we go ...

At least it is one step in the right direction - even if today was a couple of steps backwards ....

I have to remember if she won't eat it then there is no point bashing myslef up about it but I WILL keep trying to juggle with the bowls to see if I can at least begin to develop a taste for the fishy ones in Smiffy (:
 
Woodsywife said:
No wisdom here either. All three of my cats pilfer from each other. Only one gets something in the 5% carb range. When she is done then Tux eats what left, the Smokey gets to lick the bowl, if he is lucky he might get a crumb. Tux and Smokey get the same thing. And Tux and Tripper eat the same thing. Tripper will not eat Smokey food. All the food I buy is food appropriate for Smokey except the one for Tripper. She will only eat one flavor of one brand, the Purina Smart Blend beef pate.[/QUOTE

We all seem to have the same problem ....... Pasha will eat all the food that I try on Smiffy so it won't go to waste .....

I do the same - Pasha has to eat Smiffy's Diabetic biscuits too ..... she is already used to a mix of biscuits and wet though it is a shame that she has to eat biscuits as she would happily eat wet all the time ...

If I were to give Pasha wet food and give Smiffy biscuits in the morning and evening, Smiffy would just get distracted and I bully Pasha away and then I would have one cat with nothing to eat (Pasha) and Smiffy with no shot .... mmmmm
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Smiffy ate some more fishy Encore today in HER bowl and HER side of the room today but got distracted by Pasah eating so left her fishy food and went off to bully Pasah away from her felix which Smiffy doesn't eat but just licks ....

Promising though .. going to have to wait for DH to go shopping to get some fishy sachets and feed both cats the same at the same time to see how that works in the afternoon then if successful could then bring that back to breakfast time ....

I will always leave some biscuits out for Smiffy to snack on in case her BG gets too low at her Nadir ...

Small steps (:
 
@Alexi @MrWorfMen's Mom @scoobydoox @Nederland @Kako & Tux I am giving Smiffy 1.5 units now in the evening now if she is over preshot 12 instead of over preshot 14 now to see if I can affect her daytime figures ...

Also as you can see from the posts above experimenting with different flakey wet foods - tried the chicken one by Sheba and she was not interested at all but once again seems to like the very fish Encore one but that only comes in a small tin so I am going to try the Shebay fishy flakes sachet once DH has gone to the shops (:

As I say perhaps then I can feed both Smiffy and Pasha the same food and there won't be the dilmena of Smiffy rushing over to Pasha's bowl because she is jealous ... I want her to stick to her own bowl on her own side of the room!

Once again if you have any tips or suggestions for this bowl and dominance dilemna I would be very glad to hear from you (:
 
No new insights into the bowl and dominance dilemma however just a thought about the food itself. Smiffy was eating dry food only aside from licking some soft food so if her diet changes to include some wet food, you should remain conservative with her dose and monitor closely as the removal of dry food even in part could affect her BG levels for the better.
 
So the latest with Smiffy and her bowls and wet food is that I tried Smiffy on some chicken flakes today in her bowl on her side of teh room and fed Pasha her felix in her bowl on her side of the room.

Smiffy headed straight for Pasha's bowl and bullied her away from it so that she could lick the jelly off the top (she really won't eat the chunks of meat in foods like felix and whiskas).

I gently picked her up and put her in front of her own wet food but she was having none of it ....

Don't know what to do unless when the shopping is done tomorrow and we have some of the flakey fish that Smiffy seems to like, i can give both cats the strong smelling fishy food and hopefully Smiffy won't try to eat out of Pasha's bowl.

I don't want to feed Smiffy in the bathroom (the only separate room we have downstairs) and I already have to feed Smiffy in the bedroom upstairs in the evening which is also not ideal.

Smiffy doesn't seem to want to eat at her normal eating place anymore unless I am somewhere else in the house or not watching - she has come to associate it with the place where I first used to inject her ....

She has trained me to follow her around the house with her bowl to get her to eat ....

Then she comes back to eat when I am not looking!

Tricky little tinker ......

Any more bright ideas?
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
No new insights into the bowl and dominance dilemma however just a thought about the food itself. Smiffy was eating dry food only aside from licking some soft food so if her diet changes to include some wet food, you should remain conservative with her dose and monitor closely as the removal of dry food even in part could affect her BG levels for the better.
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Yes I appreciate that ...... I manage to test her everyday day now before I give her her shot ...... even if I get her onto wet (early days yet - see post below or above - still not sure how this site lays itself out! had problems with her today) .... yes so even if I get her onto wet I would still leave out some diabetic biscuits for her to eat at her Nadir if she felt her BG getting too low ....
 
She seems to be handling the 1.5 units just fine and I'd try sticking with this the next few days to see what her morning and mid cycle numbers do. As for musical bowls - I have a cat that will shove the others out of the way one by one to eat out of their bowl instead of his - exactly the same food in each. With him it is just greed and I sometimes have to play musical cats putting each of them back in front of their own bowls to eat. Smiffy has you well trained. You may need nerves of steel for this one but how about giving them both the same food, in the same room, at the same time, stand back and wait, and wait, and then wait a bit longer - leaving the room and doing something else for a little while. Eventually Smiffy may get the message that her food is for her to eat at meal times and no alternative will be offered.
 
Alexi said:
She seems to be handling the 1.5 units just fine and I'd try sticking with this the next few days to see what her morning and mid cycle numbers do. As for musical bowls - I have a cat that will shove the others out of the way one by one to eat out of their bowl instead of his - exactly the same food in each. With him it is just greed and I sometimes have to play musical cats putting each of them back in front of their own bowls to eat. Smiffy has you well trained. You may need nerves of steel for this one but how about giving them both the same food, in the same room, at the same time, stand back and wait, and wait, and then wait a bit longer - leaving the room and doing something else for a little while. Eventually Smiffy may get the message that her food is for her to eat at meal times and no alternative will be offered.
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Hi Alexi :)

OK I will stick with the 1.5 units in the evening as long as she eats ....

Musical bowls is a good way of putting it!

We are all open plan in our house - just a door to the tiny bathroom downstairs and two tiny bedrooms with barely any leg room upstairs.

DH is going shopping tomorrow and I have asked him to get Sheba fish flakes so that I can do exactly as you suggest which is to feed both Smiffy and Pasha the same food and as you say stand back for a bit.

At the moment I am just experimenting with them in the afternoon with the wet food ...... Pasha always has some wet food at about 3 with breakfast and supper biscuits with Smiffy.

If Smiffy likes the food I get then I will try it out in the afternoon at 3 .....I want to try to train her to eat out of her own bowl in the afternoon first before I put it out at her main meal and shot time .... I don't know if she is going to like this food yet. The fishy one that she really liked was just from a tiny tin - so not a full meal's worth and I am a bit food tin phobic as I have had some nasty cuts from the ring pull type (happened again yesterday) so prefer her to eat a meal size portion from a 85g sachet ..

Will let you know how I get on ...

Thanks Alexi :)
 
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@Louise1989 Welcome to the FDMB and Smiffy's thread ....... if you read through this thread you will find some of the very lovely people that have helped and are still supporting me (:
 
@Alexi @MrWorfMen's Mom @scoobydoox @Nederland @Kako & Tux @Chris & China @Wendy&Neko @Marje and Gracie

Hi some of you that already follow Smiffy and some new people that have been recommended by an old friend of yours .... some of you with personal experience with Caninsulin ...

Would you have a look at Smiffy's spreadsheet - here numbers are running higher than they were with not much of a Nadir ...

If you are not familiar with Smiffy then please look at the top of this thread as it gives you a run down of the detials of her last trip to the Vet ...

PS I was talking to someone on the FB site today that gives their puss Caninsulin shots every 8 hours which I had never heard of before ..... I am not suggesting this for Smiffy as her numbers have pretty much shown that Caninsulin lasts the full 12 hours in her but am curious to know what you think about that.

No further luck with the wet food today but I now have sachets of Sheba fishy flakes that I can experiment with on Smiffy and Pasha tomrrow at 3pm - feeding them both at the same time with the same food to see if Smiffy will stick to her bowl instead of going over to Pasha's bowl. I don't know if Smiffy is going to like this particular fish food yet so will not use it at her main meal time yet but fingers crossed

I know that if Smiffy's takes to the new food I will have to adjust her doses and be very careful but if she doesn't (and there is a distinct possibility that she won't but I'm going to give it a good go), I am not sure what my next course of action is as far as dosing is concerned.

Smiffy had two hypos on 2 units twice daily so I am reluctant to go up to 2 units ... certainly not in the morning when I am not around for her Nadir (that's why I give her the higher dose of 1.5 units in the evening when I AM around for her Nadir) ......

Do you think if I continue to give her 1.5 units for her evening cycle she might eventually come down to her nice blue numbers again?

She is really well in herself - as if nothing is wrong with her and all clinical signs are good and no keytones and little glucose in her urine.

Thanks in advance :)
 
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Hiya - looking at your spreadsheet, its good that before the evening dose you are starting with a lower number, however the nadir still has room to drop even at the 1.50u of an evening and that is consistent that Smiffy has room to drop slightly so I personally would be tempted to increase the morning to 1.5 aswell on an occasion that you do get to do a check on the nadir? have you ever considered a sliding scale?

With two doses of 1.50u that could be the push required to hold those numbers down more often and longer... but with a sliding scale gives you the option to give a tiny booster when you can see smiffy rising but not too high?

Obviously this is only of my personal experience just something I would consider and maybe someone more "expert" can confirm/reject my suggestion xx
 
@Alexi @Mr Worfmen's wife ...

Smiffy's preshot this morning is 17.8 do I dare to give her a 1.5 unit if she eats this morning and not be around for her Nadir ...... her numbers are getting higher ...

Thanks @Louise1989 for you comments ...... I am not sure what you mean by a sliding scale but if that means more than two shots a day then I am reluctant to do that especilly withoug consulting her Vet .....

Will see how much she eats this morning before I give her her shot this morning ....

There's a small bubble in the cartridge that I haven't noticed before ... I charged the pen in frot of the Vet so I am surprised to see it .... would that make the doses I am giving her as significantly different as her spreadsheet shows?
 
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no not advising you give more than 2 shots at all, your quite right you should consult a vet. Smiffys numbers I would agree don't seem high enough for more than 2 shots generally, each cat is individual. I have been known to give shots at +6 before but strictly under plenty of monitoring and observation - My vet is only round the corner and does 24hour service. For any one curious on the extra shots im more than happy to share my experience as I am who Looby refers to as giving shots early :)

A sliding scale means you adjust the number based on what the reading is for example

(I am using totally irrelevant numbers (you would never dose on the numbers I am giving its example only) I don't want to be seen to be looking like im giving specific dose advice just trying to show you what a I mean)

If you had a number between

0 and 4 - you gave x amounts of units
5 and 7 - you give y amounts of units
8 - 10 - you give z amounts of units

:) xxx
 
Louise1989 said:
no not advising you give more than 2 shots at all, your quite right you should consult a vet. Smiffys numbers I would agree don't seem high enough for more than 2 shots generally, each cat is individual. I have been known to give shots at +6 before but strictly under plenty of monitoring and observation - My vet is only round the corner and does 24hour service. For any one curious on the extra shots im more than happy to share my experience as I am who Looby refers to as giving shots early :)

A sliding scale means you adjust the number based on what the reading is for example

(I am using totally irrelevant numbers (you would never dose on the numbers I am giving its example only) I don't want to be seen to be looking like im giving specific dose advice just trying to show you what a I mean)

If you had a number between

0 and 4 - you gave x amounts of units
5 and 7 - you give y amounts of units
8 - 10 - you give z amounts of units

:) xxx
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Smiffy's sliding scale is on Caninsulin is:

0-10 no shot
10-14 one unit
over 14 one and half units

Her numbers have never been much over 15 preshot so that's as far as the sliding scale goes ...... if she is 13ish in the evening and eats plenty then I may give her one and a half shots.

I won't give her two units as it has proved in the past to be too much ...
 
@Alexi @MrWorfMen's Mom @BJM

I have been thinking about the two little bubbles in the cartridge - they are about 2-3 millimetres diameter.

If they had affected her dose just after the cartridge was changed on the 13th I don't see why I would have got the blue numbers on her spreadsheet.

I am not sure that they are big enough to reduce the dose that have been giving Smiffy - what do you think?

Obviously the less insulin there is in the cartridge the more effect two little bubbles would have on the dose and I am wondering if that is why Smiffy was a highest ever number recorded at home of 17.8 this morning! At first I only gave her one unit but then as she ate a good amount I gave her another half and now at +4 she is a much better 11.5.

The other news is that she ate a quarter of a sachet of the new fish flakes I have bought for her - just gave her a bit as she is not really hungry. I fed both Pasha and Smiffy at the same time and remarkably Smiffy ate out of HER bowl on HER side of the room and didn't try to nose on into Pasha's bowl so promising :) She ate less than a quarter of it but if she were hungry I am wondering if she would have eaten a whole sachet .... maybe :)

I have sent a copy of her spreadsheet to her Vet and asked for her to give me a call and I have ordered a new cartridge for Monday so I can charge a new one up properly even though I put the current one in in front of the Vet and the Nurse ...

I would still appreciate a fresh look at Smiffy's spreadsheet from you here to see what you think ..

Smiffy is very well in herself ...so not worried yet ...
 
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Looby, can you change the dose you gave this morning to 1.5 units because otherwise it looks like the 1u took her down when in fact it was the higher dose. ;)

Part of what you are seeing today could be the different diet because I assume with Smiffy eating the soft food, she'd be into the biscuits that much less. This may just be demonstrating how much difference the canned diet will make.

As for the bubbles, I'm afraid that I don't know the pen so can't help with that. Any bubbles in a syringe or pen will affect the dose to some degree but what that degree is, would depend on the size of the container itself. Alexi's opinion would much more valid/valuable than mine. I would check the threads on the pen when you change the cartridge next week to ensure that there aren't any stripped threads that might cause inconsistent dosing as Alexi suggested previously.
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
Looby, can you change the dose you gave this morning to 1.5 units because otherwise it looks like the 1u took her down when in fact it was the higher dose. ;)


As for the bubbles, I'm afraid that I don't know the pen so can't help with that. Any bubbles in a syringe or pen will affect the dose to some degree but what that degree is, would depend on the size of the container itself. Alexi's opinion would much more valid/valuable than mine. I would check the threads on the pen when you change the cartridge next week to ensure that there aren't any stripped threads that might cause inconsistent dosing as Alexi suggested previously.
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Gotcha - done that - thanks it was a bit hectic this morning :)

She has had her normal amount of biscuits today and just a quarter of a sachet of wet food (same as on the other occasions this past week) so it is probably not enough to bring her numbers down yet ....

Sorry I don't understand what you mean "Part of what you are seeing today could be the different diet because I assume with Smiffy eating the soft food, she'd be into the biscuits that much less. This may just be demonstrating how much difference the canned diet will make"?

Surely any wet food would contributing to her figures would bring them down if it is enough to supplement her intake of biscuits (which it isn't really - she hasn't had much wet food)?

I will check the pen when I change the cartridge ..... Physics and logic would tell me that the bubbles might not make much difference when the cartridge is full but now it is only less than half full - the bubbles are taking up a larter percentage of what is left - what do you think @Alexi ?

It was Capoo that mentioned the thread might be damaged ... we are getting a new cartridge tomorrow so hopefully I will be able to recharge the pen for the evening if husband gets back in time and the order has arrived if not Saturday ...

Thanks Linda :)

PS the Vet told me to turn the dial on the pen and shoot out the insulin until I had a good flow to recharge this pen to get rid of the bubbles but they are still there ..... do you remember how the pen works @Alexi ?
 
Looby & Smiify said:
It was Capoo that mentioned the thread might be damaged ...
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You're right, (memory hiccup!) but hopefully Alexi might be familiar with it as a Caninsulin user.

All I meant by the food comment is that if Smiffy usually eats biscuits for breakfast but today ate some soft food, her intake of biscuits would be less and therefore her overall intake of carbs would be less. Just supposition on my part but you'd have to judge that knowing just how much of each Smiffy has consumed.
 
I am not familiar with the pen but you might try this to get rid of the bubbles, hold the pen upright with the needle end pointing upwards and give it some sharp flicks with the finger to encourage the bubbles to come right to the top, then fire a dose out with the pen with it still upright, flick again a few times and shoot it out again, hopefully air will shoot out with the insulin and clear the bubbles. Repeat as many times as necessary.
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
You're right, (memory hiccup!) but hopefully Alexi might be familiar with it as a Caninsulin user.

All I meant by the food comment is that if Smiffy usually eats biscuits for breakfast but today ate some soft food, her intake of biscuits would be less and therefore her overall intake of carbs would be less. Just supposition on my part but you'd have to judge that knowing just how much of each Smiffy has consumed.
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I am not feeding Smiffy wet food for her main meals yet until I am sure she is going to like it and eat it all so today for example she had her biscuits for breakfast and had a snack on her biscuits around her Nadir, then at about +5 after I took the +4 reading of 11.5 I divided an 85g sachet of the fishy flakes between Smiffy and Pasha ....

The good news is Smiffy ate about half of hers instead of just licking it (like she does meat Felix) and kept to HER bowl on HER side of the room instead of muscling in on Pasha's bowl as she usually does.

The not so good news is that she only ate half of it (probably not hungry after eating her biscuits) so she had only 20g at the most of the wet food so I doubt it would have affected her readings.

Once I have got the new cartridge in (hopefully some time tomorrow if it is ready at the Vets) and I am sure I have no air bubbles this time and have checked the thread of the pen as Capoo suggested, then I will try and see if Smiffy will eat the wet food as a main meal ...... I will probably do that one evening (as long as both cats are in - complicated!) so that I am around for her Nadir can do a test on her at +3 and +4 .....

I was surprised at her 17.8 this morning after I had given her 1.5 units last night - that's the highest ever number she has got at home which is why it made me think that the bubbles might be diluting so to speak the dose I gave her last night especially now as there is not a lot of insulin left in the cartridge (so the percentage space the bubbles take up is greater than when there is more insulin in there) Does that make sense? (:
 
Alexi said:
I am not familiar with the pen but you might try this to get rid of the bubbles, hold the pen upright with the needle end pointing upwards and give it some sharp flicks with the finger to encourage the bubbles to come right to the top, then fire a dose out with the pen with it still upright, flick again a few times and shoot it out again, hopefully air will shoot out with the insulin and clear the bubbles. Repeat as many times as necessary.
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You are right that is how one charges the pen in the first place .... just tried flicking it and the bubbles won't budge - really annoying tried three shots as you suggested and the bubbles won't budge ......

mmm I can't repeat it too many times and shoot out too much insulin as there is not a lot left ....

DH is hopefully picking up a new cartridge tomorrow morning or Saturday so I can start all over again.

The less insulin there is in there the more diluted my shots or what I think I am giving her will be don't you think? Same principal as a syringe I imagine?

Thanks Alexi

At least I can be confident to give her 1.5 units tonight if really the amount I am giving her is a bit less than that .....

Humph
 
OK I understand about the food now. Timelines blur with the written word so I thought perhaps it was breakfast when she had eaten the wet food.

Your hypothesis about the bubble makes sense to me.
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
OK I understand about the food now. Timelines blur with the written word so I thought perhaps it was breakfast when she had eaten the wet food.

Your hypothesis about the bubble makes sense to me.
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Her evening preshot is 13.7 which is much more in line with her numbers recently so I am now thinking may have stressed out this morning that I don't know about to have got that 17.8 reading ....

I will see how much she eats now before I decide on what shot to give her ...... she was 13.7 so gave her a 1.5 unit shot ... will do a +3 reading

Her +2 reading is 12.3 and ..... oh I feel asslep for her +3 and +4 ...... nevermind ...

Thank you Linda (:
 
Smiffy's 1.5 units seemed to have the dersired effect despite the bubbles ..... not such good news on the wet food front but will keep trying (:
 
@Deb & Spot you seem to appear a lot on the Caninsulin/Vetsulin Forum ..... I would be very interested to know what you think of Smiffy and her progress ...

@Alexi and @MrWorfMen's Mom my Vet just e-mailed to tell me not to worry about a couple of small air bubbles in the cartridge - she said it is quite normal!
 
Looby, I know it's difficult sometimes but if you could snag a couple of readings at +5 and +6 during the day cycle, I'm wondering if her nadir may be a little lower and a little later some days. Just a thought because a good portion of your blue numbers in the past have been after +4. While most cats on Caninsulin would nadir around +3/+4 or so, some do metabolize the insulin slower. The nadir is not necessarily at exactly the same time everyday either. Those tests might not show anything but could be a pleasant surprise too. :)
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
Looby, I know it's difficult sometimes but if you could snag a couple of readings at +5 and +6 during the day cycle, I'm wondering if her nadir may be a little lower and a little later some days. Just a thought because a good portion of your blue numbers in the past have been after +4. While most cats on Caninsulin would nadir around +3/+4 or so, some do metabolize the insulin slower. The nadir is not necessarily at exactly the same time everyday either. Those tests might not show anything but could be a pleasant surprise too. :)
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OK .......... Yes I see what you mean .... I used to do a +5 every day and recently I have been doing +4 so I will go back to the +5 readings and try to do a +6 as well and see if she is getting closer to those blue numbers after all - good idea (:

Her evening Nadir seems to be a bit earlier than +5 .... normally between +3 and +4 but that could be because she eats less in the evening for her shot most of the time.
 
@MrWorfMen's Mom @Alexi

I think you may be right Linda about Smiffy having her Nadir in the daily cycle at +5 as she was a nice 9.8.

Now I am wondering if her evening cycle is the same.

@Capoo, J'ai changee la cartouche aujourd'hui et les dents du piston ne sont pas abimes :)

Don't know what to call it in English? The screw thing in the pen does not have any broken 'teeth' so the reading we have been getting for the past month have been as accurate as they can be with a Vetpen.

Pleased about the 9.8 at +5 but not very happy with her preshot this morning of 16.9 but then she didn't eat much last night so I only have her one unit ..

A small improvement on the wet food issue - she ate some chicken flakes in jelly this afternoon instead of licking it but still left a lot .... not sure if she likes it or just wanted to seem to eat it because Pasha had some!!!
 
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Jill & Alex (GA) said:
@Capoo
@Looby & Smiify

Since the FDMB is a peer-reviewed message board based in the US, please translate remarks made in French to English for those of us who do not speak the language.
Thank you! :)
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Of course .....

Actually I did translate the French in this last post and will do in the future ....

We wrote in French earlier on because it was a technical issue with the Vetpen and it was easier for me to understand what @Capoo was trying to tell me in her native language ... it is unlikely to occur again as her English is on the whole more or less perfect ...... technical jargon is always a bit tricky :)
 
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MrWorfMen's Mom said:
YEAH! What a nice surprise that is! :D The higher AMPS is likely because of the lesser dose last night so not to worry.

Yes nice surprise and yes higher AMPS because of the one unit only last night .... taken her food away a bit earlier today so that she is a bit more hungry tonight and I can give her 1.5 units.

New cartridge in the Vetpen tonight ...

I think sometimes it's just to prove they CAN to the other cat but you'll never know for sure so keep trying!
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Smiffy is top cat and has always been jealous of Pasha .... she will always go to Pasha's bowl for food rather than her own to eat and has to be told "No" and I gently move her to her own bowl ..... this is how we got to having their bowls on opposite sides of the room as poor Pasha was being bullied ......

Had to play musical bowls again today with the chicken flakes but at least Smiffy ate a bit of it (:
 
@MrWorfMen's Mom @Alexi

Smiffy was only 13.3 preshot this evening but gave her 1.5 units ..... will try to take a +4 number tonight ...

Can Smiffy lead a long and happy life on the numbers she is on at the moment? She seems so much her old self now? But I do just have to think that she may not get her numbers lower not matter how hard I try .... I'm not saying I a going to settle for these numbers and give up on trying to get her to eat wet food but just say she never did get to the stage where she woulndn''t eat wet for her main meals - could she live happily for any length of time stabalised on her current numbers?

I know - big question ....
 
Looby, I don't think anybody can answer that question. Cats don't tend to not have the detrimental effects of hyperglycemia to the same degree as humans but then I think that would depend on just how high their numbers are and how long they have been that way. Obviously it's optimal to get them to as close to normal range as possible for as many hours per day as possible but a lot of vets don't aim for the low numbers we try to achieve here either. Maybe a good question to pose to Rebecca, Smiffy's vet.
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
Looby, I don't think anybody can answer that question. Cats don't tend to not have the detrimental effects of hyperglycemia to the same degree as humans but then I think that would depend on just how high their numbers are and how long they have been that way. Obviously it's optimal to get them to as close to normal range as possible for as many hours per day as possible but a lot of vets don't aim for the low numbers we try to achieve here either. Maybe a good question to pose to Rebecca, Smiffy's vet.
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Yes I will ask Roberta ...... just wondered if you had experience of anybody that has had a cat live for years on the sort of number that Smiffy is getting ..... at least her numbers are mostly 'yellows' and 'blues' .... certainly think Roberta is not like her first Vet who was as you describe not looking for low numbers .... she has a much broader perpective on the matter and seems to want to get Smiffy lower as low as we can get her ...... I just hope Smiffy's pancreas has not suffered too much to be able to start producing its own insulin again ..... I think Smiffy may have been diabetic for some time before she was diagnosed .... when I think of how poorly she was then for that week before her diagnosis - I thought I was losing her and now if you could see her - loving her little life and her bright eyes (:
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
If Smiffy was eating grass, maybe she has a hairball she 's trying to purge. I've seen that raise BG on occasion.
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It could be ....... that has happened before with Smiffy ...

Her +4.5 was 9.4 so she has come down.

Also just realised that both our neighbours are out and about today and Smiffy and I are trapped! There is a communal path between each of our two gardens out the back and we have an extra plot further down which is where Smiffy and I go to sit in the shade of the eucalyptus tree ..... one neighbour has a toddler and has her sister's two boys out there as well in teh passage we need to go down to get to our other garden and the other neighbour has a horrible little yappy terrier jack russell dog that is behind their top garden gate at the moment because of the children but on other occasions they let the dog out to run around Smiffy and my garden where it poos on our grass ...... they only look after it for their daughter but we have heard they are staying there for two months now before they go back on their boat so Smiffy and I are stuck ..... I daren't take Smiffy to our garden in case they later let the dog out and we get cornered .... Smiffy is not as fast as the dog by any stretch of the imagination .... I am stressed so Smiffy is going to be stressed .... hopefully the children will only be there for one day ..... poor Smiffy ..... and poor me! I will try to get her to our first bottom garden for a bit of fresh air ..... and see if she can relax there for a bit ....
 
Smiffy's numbers have calmed down now ... she as only 12.6 preshot tonight but she ate quite a bit so I gave her 1.5 units in the hope that she will be lower at her AMPS tomorrow (:

I managed to take her out for a walk and to sit in her favourite spot for a about an hour after all - managed to get her past the children but had to carry her past the dog behind the gate bless her (:
 
Smiffy's prehot this morning is again high at 16.5 which is again much higher than her nice evening preshot number of 12.6 last night ...

This time I think it might be because she peed outside her litter tray because unusually Pasah had done her poo at the back of the tray when she normally does it outside.

Would that be enough to stress her a bit with embarassment and raise her BG?

It is just that I have done nothing differenly and yet for the past week her morning preshot numbers are higher than usual before and after I changed the cartridge in her Caninsulin pen so there is nothing wrong with the pen.

She seems a bit lethargic today despite coming for a walk with me and sitting in the sun with her for a hour or so ...
 
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@Woodsywife @Alexi @MrWorfMen's Mom

Thank you for popping in to see Smiffy @Woodsywife - not had anybody else take an interest yet from the post I placed on the Caninsulin Forum - I really wanted to get some people with experience of Caninsulin to come here to the Main Forum to see Smiffy ... well there is a time difference so I need to be patient (:

I have already upped her dose by giving her a 1.5 unit shot in the morning as well as in the evening ... I am reluctant to give her 2 units as when she first went on Caninsulin she had 2 hypos on 2 units.

We seem to have reached a plateau now ... her AMPS today was better but her numbers didn't go down much but there was some disturbance going on in the gardens so maybe she is not as relaxed as she was yesterday ... still managed to sit out with her today and get her used to our neighbours bless her.

I am reluctant to use syringes - honestly I don't want to but I will mention it to her Vet at some point.

(:
 
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