Update and Hello - 1st BG Curve!

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When he reaches Day 14 without a shot, we say they are OTJ. It's always so exciting when a kitty (and bean) are freed from all of this!
 
I am looking forward to that day! Do I still check AM and PM preshot everyday? Or just occasionally?
 
After 14th day of no insulin, here's something I wrote up *It's nothing official!*

From other trials I've read about (other kitties), 14 days you still do AMPS and PMPS, maybe 1 mid cycle (one day take a day reading, another day take an evening mid)

Week 3 - 4: Test a couple days out of the week.

Month 2: Test once every couple weeks.

Month 3: Test once a month

Month 6+: Some will only test once a month every couple months

Personally, I'd probably stay between Month 2 and 3
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What Yong posted is a pretty typical pattern. I have a slightly different version for kitties who were only on insulin for less than a month. I think after 7-ish days, you could safely go to one test/day for the remaining days until you reach 14. Especially since you haven't had a single number above 80 since you stopped the insulin. If you do see a blue number, start testing a little more again though. After the 14 days, I would test once or twice/week for another month or two, and then I would say to test once every two weeks for the rest of his life. That comes from having a kitty who fell out of remission very very quickly. Sam was fine on every single test for over a year, and then about a week after a totally normal test I noticed he was drinking a lot, and a few days later that he was peeing a lot, and when I finally grabbed a test he was 302. Two weeks from normal tests to diabetes. It can happen fast and you want to catch it as soon as you can because it is much harder to reach remission the second time around.

So basically there are no hard and fast rules about what happens now. You kind of decide what you feel comfortable with, and what you think is best for Coby. The only big rule is to never ever feed high carb food, and keep an eye on him.

Oh, and the other rule is that you have to pop in and give us updates sometimes :smuggrin:, and maybe hop over to the Main Health or Welcome forum to encourage new folks that they really can learn what they need to know to manage this. :)

And definitely keep posting until you've reached the 14 day mark because we want to celebrate with you!
 
Thanks Yong! I think I will still test him fairly regularly just to make sure his BG numbers are stable.

I have to say I am lucky that Coby has responded to diet control and insulin at low doses. I have been following some threads on the board (main and PZI) and they make me hypertensive and scared. It is just crazy to see some of the problems other kitties and their beans have to go through. It makes me really sad. I can't imagine the mental, physical, and financial challenges they face. A couple of nights of no sleep for me during this journey was really nothing comparing to others.

I also lucked out on the vet who started the dose low, didn't want me to do the curve at the clinic as he understood stress level of the cat would skew the result, wanted me to home test, and didn't care which meter I used (although he did recommend to buy food from the clinic and, of course, it was Science/Hill crap).
 
Djamila said:
What Yong posted is a pretty typical pattern. I have a slightly different version for kitties who were only on insulin for less than a month. I think after 7-ish days, you could safely go to one test/day for the remaining days until you reach 14. Especially since you haven't had a single number above 80 since you stopped the insulin. If you do see a blue number, start testing a little more again though. After the 14 days, I would test once or twice/week for another month or two, and then I would say to test once every two weeks for the rest of his life. That comes from having a kitty who fell out of remission very very quickly. Sam was fine on every single test for over a year, and then about a week after a totally normal test I noticed he was drinking a lot, and a few days later that he was peeing a lot, and when I finally grabbed a test he was 302. Two weeks from normal tests to diabetes. It can happen fast and you want to catch it as soon as you can because it is much harder to reach remission the second time around.

So basically there are no hard and fast rules about what happens now. You kind of decide what you feel comfortable with, and what you think is best for Coby. The only big rule is to never ever feed high carb food, and keep an eye on him.

Oh, and the other rule is that you have to pop in and give us updates sometimes :smuggrin:, and maybe hop over to the Main Health or Welcome forum to encourage new folks that they really can learn what they need to know to manage this. :)

And definitely keep posting until you've reached the 14 day mark because we want to celebrate with you!
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Thanks Djamila! I have been following your thread and Sam's progress. Testing is definitely important as you never know what is going to happen!

I have to say the main forum is a bit stressful to read sometimes because of the acute/chronic problems I have been reading. Even here (i.e. Victoria/Buttons) is :nailbiting:.

But I will definitely check in to say hi and keep reading here to learn! Probably won't be able to give too much dosing advise but to offer support for others :D.
 
Just read through your entire thread and it's awesome! Gives me hope for my Sam. Trying to dial in on her optimal dose currently and hoping for OTJ sometime in the future. Congrats to both of you!
 
Catdaddy87 said:
Just read through your entire thread and it's awesome! Gives me hope for my Sam. Trying to dial in on her optimal dose currently and hoping for OTJ sometime in the future. Congrats to both of you!
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Thank you! It hasn't been easy as I am sure you know that already! There are so many wonderful people here with a vast amount of knowledge. I couldn't have done it without them. Now just want to keep the remission going :joyful:.
 
PPCW said:
Thank you! It hasn't been easy as I am sure you know that already! There are so many wonderful people here with a vast amount of knowledge. I couldn't have done it without them. Now just want to keep the remission going :joyful:.
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Coby made quite an abrupt turn to remission. That's awesome! He's lucky to have you looking after him.
 
Hi Djamila,

Thanks but it maybe jinxed :banghead:. This morning's number was 133. Although it maybe caused by the transition from the regular dry food to Clean Protein since the regular dry food has a higher amount of carb. He only gets about 1/9 of a cup but it is still more than he has had since May. I think I may just stop the dry food transition all together since Cory has diarrhea for two days now (it is a pain to clean her back end because of the long fur) and Cody threw up last night and this morning :banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:. And it is a slow transition!!!!!

Or his mouth is starting to really bother him as he has feline stomatitis :(. Since a full-mouth teeth extraction is the last resort, I am going to try some holistic treatments first because many cats don't get any better after teeth extractions.

:confused:
 
Hi Everyone!

Just want to drop in and give an update on Coby. He is still doing very well. His weight has returned to 14.1 lbs with soft and shiny fur :cat:. He is his usual lazy self and still retains the alpha cat status in the house (but the 1-year-old baby has been challenging him a lot). Although I don't post much but I continue to read the posts as they are very educational.

Hope everyone and kitty is well!

Patricia and Coby :cat:
 
Wow! It's so great to see how well he's doing! Thanks for stopping in and giving an update! Do you have a picture of the two of them together? I bet they are so fun to watch!
 
Oh my gosh what a cutie!!! That last photo cracked me up! There is nothing cuter than cuddling kitties. :) Thanks for sharing!
 
Forgot about cat #4 - Coffee, he unilaterally decided that he was adopting us as his slaves. He is FIV+ and very territorial (chased away all the feral cats :arghh::banghead: I feed and fights with raccoons and skunks :nailbiting: but he adores people and craves attention), so he has to stay outside as an outdoor cat. I don't think Coffee and Cody will like each other very much. I can't think of any safe ways to bring Coffee into the house.

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Does Coffee let you handle him enough to go to the vet?! He looks like a pretty tough kitty, and those eyes are so orange!
 
Coffee is the friendly cat I have ever met! He purred the whole time at the vet's office while been prodded and handled. Didn't even flinch a muscle with the needles. Of course this was when we found out he is FIV+. We even sent the blood out for a Western blot to make sure he is indeed FIV+ :(. Since very few cats (said the vet) are vaccinated for FIV, a positive Western blot means he is infected.

When he adopted us, he is already TNRed. So the working theory is that Coffee was probably someone's pet since he is so close to people then abandoned due to his FIV+ status. He really wants to come in but I just don't know how to do that without putting Coby, Cory, and Cody at risk. Coffee is so strong physically, he can easily overpower any of the weak

He is a happy cat and now a whopping 15 pounds with shiny black fur and deep golden eyes :).
 
I don't know much about FIV+. When you say keeping the other kitties safe, are you worried about them getting infected? Or because Coffee is so territorial? Can they get vaccinated? There are some tricks to introducing an aggressive cat. It does require a lot of patience, but if you really want him inside, you could try it. It took weeks to get my kitties together, but it worked eventually.
 
The transmission of the virus is through deep bites. Given his record e.g. Fighting with other cats and raccoons, I don't know how he will react with the inside ones. I don't think vaccination is a guaranteed thing. The vet said it is better to keep him outside to minimize the risk. I sure hope the vet knows more about FIV than feline diabetes .
 
Ah, that makes sense. It's too bad that learning to take care of our FD kitties teachers not to trust vets! That makes sense to try to keep the other kitties safe from possible infection.
 
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