Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin
Very Active Member
Here's why I use it. I work retail. I have to work 2 closing shifts a week, which I try to schedule together, I've found doing 1 late shift in the middle of the week and the other a few days later after a couple of earlier days does not maintain BGs for Gandalf as well as keeping the late shifts/late shots together.
Shot times seem the easiest way to explain this.
Normal days I shoot between 7:30AM and 7:45AM so can do same for PM.
Later days I won't be home until 10PM.
Shot times on those days are 8AM with a half dose and 10AM with the other half dose.
Then full dose at 10PM.
I have tried doing the opposite to readjust the schedule back to the 8AM time, as follows:
8PM give half dose, then 10PM give half dose. That can result in a low number for the next 8AM shot at which I would need to give a full shot rather than splits. So I try to adjust by 1 hour at a time and give full doses but that can also result in a low AM BG. And low in like 60s.
For example Saturday he gets full dose 10PM, then Sunday 9AM if I give full dose and Sunday 8PM I give full dose it usually results in lower number Monday AM. What I've found works OK or acceptable at least is to lower the dose by a drop or so (would depend on your dose) for the 8PM dose.
Doing those changes can and usually does result in higher numbers at some point because it's simply too many changes. I should probably experiment a bit more with the splits in reverse to get back to the earlier shot times because that eliminates the time changes better and seems to cause less of a reaction come Monday morning than changing the time of 1 single full dose.
But if I don't do the splits, what happens is what happened yesterday when I had to work an unexpected double shift and he went to +14 for his PM shot. 300s were the result for PMPS but because we're at a good dose right now he was 208 this AM.
So the keys to making this work are being at a good dose and keeping the time changes to a minimum. I don't see an issue with reducing dose to get back to the earlier shot times, as long as it's a small reduction. No more than .25U unless cat is on a 2U or more dose is my suggestion. Our dose, 1.2U, is so small I only reduce by a drop or so, .1U = 1 drop in my best estimation.
I've been doing this for almost a year now and it's reduced his # of 400s quite a bit. His pancreatitis flares have caused his doses to become a bit unpredictable, especially when he won't eat. So having regular feeding times in conjunction with shot times is important.
Any questions or particular situations someone has, please ask and I'll try to help you figure out how this might work for your situation. Check out Page 3 of our spreadsheet because before pancreatitis he did really well and I believe the split doses helped a lot.
Shot times seem the easiest way to explain this.
Normal days I shoot between 7:30AM and 7:45AM so can do same for PM.
Later days I won't be home until 10PM.
Shot times on those days are 8AM with a half dose and 10AM with the other half dose.
Then full dose at 10PM.
I have tried doing the opposite to readjust the schedule back to the 8AM time, as follows:
8PM give half dose, then 10PM give half dose. That can result in a low number for the next 8AM shot at which I would need to give a full shot rather than splits. So I try to adjust by 1 hour at a time and give full doses but that can also result in a low AM BG. And low in like 60s.
For example Saturday he gets full dose 10PM, then Sunday 9AM if I give full dose and Sunday 8PM I give full dose it usually results in lower number Monday AM. What I've found works OK or acceptable at least is to lower the dose by a drop or so (would depend on your dose) for the 8PM dose.
Doing those changes can and usually does result in higher numbers at some point because it's simply too many changes. I should probably experiment a bit more with the splits in reverse to get back to the earlier shot times because that eliminates the time changes better and seems to cause less of a reaction come Monday morning than changing the time of 1 single full dose.
But if I don't do the splits, what happens is what happened yesterday when I had to work an unexpected double shift and he went to +14 for his PM shot. 300s were the result for PMPS but because we're at a good dose right now he was 208 this AM.
So the keys to making this work are being at a good dose and keeping the time changes to a minimum. I don't see an issue with reducing dose to get back to the earlier shot times, as long as it's a small reduction. No more than .25U unless cat is on a 2U or more dose is my suggestion. Our dose, 1.2U, is so small I only reduce by a drop or so, .1U = 1 drop in my best estimation.
I've been doing this for almost a year now and it's reduced his # of 400s quite a bit. His pancreatitis flares have caused his doses to become a bit unpredictable, especially when he won't eat. So having regular feeding times in conjunction with shot times is important.
Any questions or particular situations someone has, please ask and I'll try to help you figure out how this might work for your situation. Check out Page 3 of our spreadsheet because before pancreatitis he did really well and I believe the split doses helped a lot.
