Tommy

[Sandy&Tommy]

We are back. It's been a long and crazy week.
We went to our friend's home for Thanksgiving and brought Tommy with us. He did very well. He stayed in my bedroom. I brought a new litter box and being the good boy he is, he used it for the duration of our stay. No little surprises to be found :mrgreen: . The only problem was the first morning after arriving when I gave Tommy his shot and food. We were heading for the stores and returned 6 hours later to find that he didn't eat but a few bites of his food. Panic set in and I called for him. He came out from his hiding place where he felt safe while there and quickly tested. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the number 37 on the meter. I took a deep breath and really observed him for about 15 seconds. He truly didn't show hypo so I sat down and hand fed him (he loved that, lol) the food he was suppose to eat earlier. A short 30 min later and he was up to 204. If I had observed classic hypo I would have tested in 15 min, and would have started with some honey. As it was he was doing okay. The rest of the stay I waited for him to finish eating before leaving him. Later that evening he came out of the room and joined us for movie time. He stayed with us but I thought that was cool, as they have a dog and two cats that roam the house!

We are struggling with his BGL's again. I test as often between shots as I can. I've been working extra hours to catch up from our vacation. Last night I couldn't get home as I was snowed in with about 6-7 inches of snow at work. (I supervise at a group home so I just stayed there.)DH shot without testing both last night and this morning. I tested as soon as I got home and again at +6 to make sure he was okay. With the numbers I have been getting, I thought 1unit would be a safe dose. All the data would take too long to post here so please go to his ss. Could Tommy have been on a honeymoon and is now coming out of it? I test for ketones and they are always neg so far. I will be home tonight and tomorrow so I can test more often. I'm a bit of wary of tight regulation as I'm not always able to test at nadir, but would like him to be in lower numbers. I've been trying a sliding scale to see if this would work for him. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. (Sorry this is so long). Thank you so much!

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

Glad the Thanksgiving went well. He is very adaptable if he will live comfortably at someone else's house with other animals.

Re his numbers - it is really hard to tell, Sandy. The only thing I can offer is to try to get more midcycle numbers. (If you can't get daytime, then get a before bed test and sometimes a midcycle at night when - if you are like me - you wake up for other neeeds. :mrgreen: )

He could definitely be bouncing - especially for the red amps numbers. If he is low at night and doesn't eat much, he could bounce for the am number. Giving more insulin if that is the case could mean he would dip too low. Today the mid cycle numbers look kinda flat. Wish we knew what the starting number was - that would really fill in the picture. If it was in the 400s, then he dropped more than 50% so the insulin is definitely working.

If he were mine, I think I would stick with the one unit, giving a before shot test always and mid cycles whenever you can. After you have more data, it should be easier to decide whether he needs to go up or down. It really isn't tight regulation. Tight regulation is getting numbers 4+ times a day and shooting low numbers because you can monitor. Dealing with ProZinc does mean midcycle numbers are needed at least when you are seeing strange amps numbers or when you are first starting out. Once things get on an even keel, with the preshot numbers staying pretty stable, they are not as important.

 

[Sandy&Tommy]

Thanks, Sue. I will try to get a few more numbers this weekend starting tonight. I know this is frustrating to all of us when trying to regulate our sugar babies. We want the best for them. I'm really surprised that there are so many more people out there who have sugar babies just blindly follow the vet's protocol of eating "diabetic dry food" and blindly shooting a dose of insulin. I have learned so much in the short time I been a part of this awesome group of people that are even willing to stay up with a newbie all night to make sure our sugar babies are safe!! I'm not one who completely believes the so called "professionals" and I will research things because I want to know that I am doing ALL I can to ensure the best quality of life I can give to all my loved ones, furry or not. It is frustrating that I can't always be there to test Tommy when I know that if I could he would most likely become better regulated. I know this isn't a perfect science as every cat has different bodies and have different needs. And I know that I am definitely giving Tommy a better quality of life. I thank all who have helped me through this so far.

Okay, now back to Tommy. I will keep you posted these next days of his numbers. I will do as you suggest about the dosing. A question; at times my DH has given the boys meat snacks during the day. Usually it is chicken, but sometimes beef and pork. he understands about the carbs, but will too much affect his sugar readings later on? I know that anything and everything we eat breaks down into glucose though not all raise the BGL's sharply. I've asked him to make sure that it is a treat, not a meal. Sometimes he just forgets. Thanks!

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

Plain chicken is fine - not so sure about beef or pork. And you'd want it plain, no spices. How about getting some low carb commercial treats and encouraging DH to feed those? PureBites makes a nice dried treat, so does Wellness. You can get the PureBites in the dog size and it's cheaper. It might be easier for DH to remember to count out, say 5 treats for a snack per cat?