Spreadsheet - additional info

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Megan and Boots (GA)

Megan and Boots (GA)

Member Since 2015
While I'm on a posting roll tonight...

On the spreadsheet, I've been pretty sparse with notes. I am jotting down an occasional note about litterbox-related activities, and sometimes about nighttime behavior, but not much else. I do, though, have a notebook that I keep with everything that's on the spreadsheet and more (it stays down by the BG kit where we do all our monitoring and injecting, which is not near this computer). So that has all the readings, plus litterbox notes (when we catch something noteworthy), but it also has information about his feedings - how much and what time, in relation to BG checks.

So my question to the wonderful advice givers is this: what other information do people put on spreadsheets that YOU find helpful in assisting with advice and dosing suggestions? What is NOT helpful? (I can't imagine knowing the gory details of Boots' poop habits has a lot of bearing in a discussion about diabetes treatment, but maybe it does). I want to not only take notes that I find helpful to look back on, but more importantly I want notes that could help YOU provide me guidance in the best way. Do people add notes/comments about feedings throughout the chart? Notes about food in the Remarks column? Maybe a separate column with times noted (in "+x" format)? Maybe there's something that I haven't even mentioned or thought of that would be useful to add.

If anyone has any thoughts on what makes a SS as complete as possible to get a full picture of the kitty in order to give advice, please let me know, and I can try to start doing that. Thanks!
 
Things that can help explain blood glucose numbers include constipation, diarrhea - so yes, extraordinary LB habits are noteworthy! As are hairballs and pukus. :p I'd include any special medicines that are started/stopped (such as antibiotics). If you change the feeding times or types of food, that is also interesting. Several people will put a little * in the spreadsheet square where they feed. I don't vary Neko's food times much, so I just have that info in her profile document, but I do rotate her proteins. If you have to feed higher carb food/karo/syrup/honey - it's useful to know how much and when so you can get an idea what does or doesn't work. It's also worth noting any special stressers, such as vet appointments, storms etc.
 
Great ideas, thanks! We actually have a vet visit next week (shhhh... don't tell Boots!), so I'll be sure to include that. I actually noted Tuesday night's CRAZY storm we had, but he was pretty unphased by it. He's always been a cool, calm and collected kitty. We actually had to pull him away from the sliding glass door when it started really whipping around outside.
 
In addition to the things Wendy mentioned, I like to see if people shoot early or late, skipped a shot or shot a 18hr cycle.

Personally, I'm not going to read the 2 Tb of 3%, 1 Tb of 4%, and all the names of each of the foods that the cat ate. Unless the cat is sick or dealing with low numbers, I'm not going to analyze the food - it's too cumbersome. That's something that the caregiver can pay attention to if their cat is very carb sensitive. I just breeze over that part if it's in the ss.

I like to see details if a cat is sick, though. That's probably the most important to me. It's also important to put in when you change something, like you start a new pen or vial of insulin, or you change meters. Some people put in a horizontal line across the whole ss and put that type of info there. That's really helpful.

The "Whole Cat Report" suggests that reporting on a cat's behavior is important when you have a post, and if one of those things is off, then I'd mention it in the spreadsheet comments. The WCR includes the "5 P's": purring, peeing, pooping, preening and playing. Any change in those behaviors can signify something may be off, so they become worth reporting. Take a look at the post I linked above and it might be helpful for you.

By the way, you can ask these kinds of questions in the same post as your daily update, just use the "Thread Tools" in the top right corner to edit the subject line and ask a new question. :)
 
Things that are handy to see in an overview like vet visits and meds in the SS and I put Tess's weight in the comments column. I also put in 2 extra columns, one for the numbers of days on a pen for a quick check and one for the url of the days's condo. If you want to go back to a certain condo to review the day it makes it easy. I also put in a detailed recap of food in the condo (too much reformatting when you put anything other than a plain number in a cell, even an *)
 
I put in a link to the daily condo on punkin's ss anytime there was something unusual going on. If you link your daily threads, which is suggested and is really helpful, then having the link in the ss even once a week or so will let you find an old post if you want to.
 
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