Update on new vet visit

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Darlene & Jack

Darlene & Jack

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So I took Jack to the new vet today and she was just wonderful. In addition to treating diabetic cats, she has had personal experience in having had her own diabetic cat. She did a glucose check, drew blood from the leg and checked it on her pet meter and I had brought mine to check for accuracy. Her reading was 261, and my Relion read 265! I was quite impressed with that. Right before we left for the vet I had checked Jack at home and he was 87. We talked about the different kinds of insulin and she said she usually starts cats on Lantus just because it is easier to obtain, can be filled at any pharmacy and is cheaper. But she said they have 18 vets who work they and they all have different opinions on insulins. She said for now stick with the PZ and if we want to switch in the future we can. I brought the spreadsheet and she was not too concerned with the highs for the pre shot readings, she said she would expect that for now. Her concern more is for the lows. She wants us to stick with the current dose for a few weeks and email her the spreadsheet in 2 weeks, or before if I had questions or concerns. She was pleased with the home testing and said we were doing a great job with that. So overall we really liked her and were very happy with the visit.
Jack on the other hand, was not too happy. He peed in the crate as soon as we got in the car to go home, then seemed so embarrassed. He just put his head down and seemed so sad. Got him home and cleaned him up, gave him some treats and he seems to have forgotten about it now. :-)
 
Please remember that the reading at the vet's will not be accurate. "Vet stress" or any kind of stress will boost numbers. That said, to see your reds and greens in the same cycle would indicate that your dose may be too high. If it were me, I would lower it a bit and try .5 units next.
 
Thats why I checked the bg right before we left, to actually see the difference. The vet also agreed and said that's why she wouldn't even suggest doing a curve at the vet's office since we get much better readings at home. :-)
 
SaraJaye said:
Please remember that the reading at the vet's will not be accurate. "Vet stress" or any kind of stress will boost numbers. That said, to see your reds and greens in the same cycle would indicate that your dose may be too high. If it were me, I would lower it a bit and try .5 units next.
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Well, I would say it's 'accurate'...that is the meters are telling the correct number.

BUT, BG can be elevated at the vet by as much as 100 points, due to vet stress,
so numbers taken at home are much more REAL for basing doses upon.

I guess kitty was stressed since he peed in the carrier after the vet visit.

Keep on testing at home....those are your best guideline numbers.
 
The old vet and new vet are definitely like night and day. Though the reading at the vet was elevated as was expected, i was very glad to see how accurate the little $9 WalMart Relion meter was!

I have told Jack we will not speak of the pee incident again, and we gave him treats when he got home because he was a very good boy for the vet.

So now tonight his PMPS reading was 269. I gave him the .8 un, but then worried that i should have gone down on the dosage. I took Rachel and her boyfriend to the movies and treated as a thank you for all her testing she has been doing, then was worried all through the movie that he was going to drop too low. Got home and he was alert and ran to the door to greet us. Checked him and he was 50 (at +3.5) Gave him a can of the emergency high carb wet food and will keep checking him tonight. Not sure why he was so much lower at his PMPS tonight.
 
Darlene & Jack said:
Checked him and he was 50 (at +3.5) Gave him a can of the emergency high carb wet food and will keep checking him tonight. Not sure why he was so much lower at his PMPS tonight.
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This is great, as he seems to be responding to the insulin and it's helping to get his pancreas get working on it's own again... I am no vet but that's how it would seem. Glad you had the high-carb handy. Are you thinking about dropping the dose down for tomorrow?
 
Dearest Darlene, this is a mom moment...

Darlene & Jack said:
The old vet and new vet are definitely like night and day. Though the reading at the vet was elevated as was expected, i was very glad to see how accurate the little $9 WalMart Relion meter was!
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You were looking for night and day. You needed night and day. Welcome to good karma vet!!! Okay, so technically our meters aren't supposed to read vein blood; but, apparently they do. I still remember whipping out my meter and asking for a bead of blood from Gizzie's ER vet. Her meter read 495 and mine read 487 for our once again every friggin Sunday +6 visit on N. (Neither number is good at +6 which is why I have an aversion to N and learned about vet stress...) I have no clue why I remember these particular numbers; but, remember them, I do. Oh, it's because that was the very first moment this wondrous vet, who I dearly loved, suddenly scooped up all those lovingly hand-written BGs and put them into Gizzie's file and said she'd see us in a month! Karma has a way of shifting...


Mum's the word.


Darlene & Jack said:
So now tonight his PMPS reading was 269. I gave him the .8 un, but then worried that i should have gone down on the dosage.
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I actually thought it was pretty interesting he only went up 4 points from his 265 reading at the vet's... But, if you had reduced his dose, maybe he would have been higher than 408 this morning... Especially after the emergency high carb wet food; but, I'm jumping ahead...


Darlene & Jack said:
I took Rachel and her boyfriend to the movies and treated as a thank you for all her testing she has been doing, then was worried all through the movie that he was going to drop too low.
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Nice treat, Darlene! Now, we just have to work on you actually enjoying a night off...


Darlene & Jack said:
Got home and he was alert and ran to the door to greet us.
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YAY!!!


Darlene & Jack said:
Not sure why he was so much lower at his PMPS tonight.
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My dearest Darlene, you may never know. He's a cat...

Much love and countless encouraging, albeit enigmatic, hugs for you all,
Deb and Nikki -- and, Giz...
 
Will be interesting to see what today brings....so far 408 and 213 @ +3. Maybe he needs a vet visit (or just a car ride) more frequently to give him a little jump like this...maybe it scared his pancreas into working.

I did enjoy the movie, but it was still in the back of my mind, that worry about Jack dropping...

As for the sometimes demonic/sometimes cooperative auto feeder....it did not go off during the night last night. I tried to give it a chance, but today it will be cleaned off, packed up and returned for a new one. I will try to pick one with a more cooperative personality.

And Deb...I bought some Cadbury mini eggs yesterday in support of you and Nikki. They were right there in a basket at the register at CVS. How could I resist?
 
Dearest Darlene, darling Rachel with an attached Jordan -- unless you have a date, Best Fluffy Friend Tucker; and, of course, you too, colorful Jack,

Darlene & Jack said:
Will be interesting to see what today brings....so far 408 and 213 @ +3. Maybe he needs a vet visit (or just a car ride) more frequently to give him a little jump like this...maybe it scared his pancreas into working.
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He hit five color groups on his spread sheet today. He's actually had a great day! Love that 96 at +8 -- his new personal best! Love that 306 PS more... Sometimes less is, indeed, more...

Darlene & Jack said:
I did enjoy the movie, but it was still in the back of my mind, that worry about Jack dropping...
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So, what did you see?

Darlene & Jack said:
As for the sometimes demonic/sometimes cooperative auto feeder....it did not go off during the night last night. I tried to give it a chance, but today it will be cleaned off, packed up and returned for a new one. I will try to pick one with a more cooperative personality.
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We'll just call it tough auto feeder love. You gave it every chance in the book/manual. It's time to train a new candidate. Press on!

Darlene & Jack said:
And Deb...I bought some Cadbury mini eggs yesterday in support of you and Nikki. They were right there in a basket at the register at CVS. How could I resist?
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Ahh... The true breakfast of champions!

Much love and countless, continuing encouraging hugs for you all,
Deb and Nikki -- and, Giz...
 
Haha, yes we did hit all 5 colors today!! I liked those numbers this afternoon too, and was very surprised at the 96 at +8, and happy with the 306 PS.

The auto feeder was returned for a new one. I tested it out and so far so good, we'll see how it works once we put it to the real test overnight. I gave it a good pep talk already.

We saw "Arthur" at the movies. we liked it, it had a lot of funny lines. And I did wait until i had actually eaten a regular breakfast before eating any Cadbury eggs this morning.
 
Dearest Darlene, and, of course, you too, most colorful Jack,

It wouldn't be a Jack day unless he hit five colors... It's not supposed to be like this, Darelene; but, he's Jack. He has potential to define ECID -- Every Cat Is Different...

Regarding the new auto feeder: I'm in a wait and see mode... ;o)

Regarding the new "Arthur": Yeah, but did it top Dudley Moore and Sir John Gielgud?

Regarding Cadbury Mini Eggs: You told me it was breakfast food! You're a nurse, I believed you.

Much love and our continuing countless hopeful -- and probably confounded -- hugs for you all (the jury's still out on the new auto feeder),
Deb and Nikki (the furry smitten) -- and, Giz...
 
Sometimes the battery that you put in the timer feeder is already bad even though it just came out of a new pack. I would get two timer feeders and put a little food in both so that even if one does not open, then possibly the other one will. Just a thought.
 
So far so good with this new feeder, working like a charm so far!

The Cadbury eggs are a breakfast food...I just had them after some real eggs, but you can do them in the opposite order, or in place of real eggs.
 
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