What would you do?

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k kitty

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So, Ive lowered Morax's dose and i dont know if I should just stay at 1 for longer until he evens out or go lower or what. The numbers seem wacky to me still and I often just stare at them for long periods and think I will eventually make sense of them. Let me know what you think. I know im obsessed but hopefully I wont check him as often after i start seeing normal numbers. Our average is lower so I am happy with that but Im still unsure about what is going on. Thanks for the great advice everyone because now that I took him down Im not seeing such crazy high numbers.
Kathy
 
I once dropped Charlie's dose to check for chronic rebound, and the advice I was given was that it could take up to 72 hours for the rebound to clear out of his system. So once you hold this dose for that long, I would say it's perfectly safe to increase to 1.2 (or 1.25 if you're using u-40 syringes and can eyeball that amount). Im sure others will have more input than I can offer. Don't get discouraged that you're not seeing awesome results yet. You may need to increase the dose to see good progress. But it's good that you're checking for this. You're doing a great job!!
 
It seems to me that you're seeing some better numbers (and certainly not worse) so if I were in this situation, I'd hold for another couple of cycles and see how it plays out. It's still early days for you, and like everyone is fond of reminding me, it's a marathon, not a sprint. :mrgreen: (See how I pass wisdom on?)
 
Hi Kathy,

Did I read the SS right that he is eating a mix of wet/raw and dry food? If I got that right, there is a good chance the dry food is driving his BGs up. Any chance of eliminating that? If that is too challenging, I would try to be sure you are feeding the dry evenly - i.e. each meal has the same amount of dry relative to other food. Otherwise it could be adding to the confusion, if maybe one meal is dry and another isn't, that could be changing his insulin needs from meal to meal, making it harder for you to balance it with the right amount of insulin.

Generally speaking, the BG#s you are seeing suggest to me the insulin dose is too low. My first line of suspicion is the possible dry food though. If that is something you can eliminate, I would do that 1st, and then see how the #s look.
 
BTW don't get discouraged if you remove the dry food and don't see an immediate improvement. It can take up to a week for the 'carb toxicity' to just begin to work out of their system. But also be ready too for an immediate drop in insulin needs - it can happen right away too.
 
Kathy I think it would be ok to get the ps's and just 1 or 2 mid cycles at this point. we really like to get those ps #'s.
seeing a bit of pink was nice. hold on for another 2 cycles and see how Morax does. Than you can decide how much of a raise you want to give him, .25 or .5 at a time if needed.
Try to relax, I'm sure Morax will be getting better hon.
Lori
 
I know, Im super obsessive, it hard for me not to test it. he just had 366 before his shot. And about the dry food. Im trying to cut that down and I really dont see him eating much of it but this is a four cat household so its a work in progress. the natures instinct seems pretty good for dry food, not exactly sure what the carb count is tho. Has anyone just skipped a dose and to get a better idea about what is going on with their cat?
 
NOOOOOO. Do not skip a dose...not in this case. Morax is having high enough #'s as it is, we don't want to let him flounder.
 
Well, it's all about the carbs for diabetes. So as soon as you can eliminate it it should make your life much easier to deal with the diabetes. And wet food is much better for all kitties too - so all your kitties can eat the same good canned [or raw] food. Many here recommend adding water in their wet food for various reasons. If you do this it should be definitely much softer but not soupy. Adding water also help to leave the wet food out longer so that it does not develop crusties as quick. There are other tips and tricks to getting the wet food only going. Please ask if you have any issues or would like more tips.
 
okey dokey. ill get rid of the dry food. The other kitties love the canned stuff anyway, but not the raw. And how much should I let Morax eat? He would probably eat a whole chicken if a would let him. i was just wondering about the dosing because he still seems to have that inverse thing going on. Maybe it is the dry, I dont know.
 
I have a SS that you can download then re-upload into your google to use to calculate how much a cat should eat:
viewtopic.php?p=290591#p290591

However it is only approximate and it really comes down to how much they need to eat to maintain their ideal body weight. So weighing cats is important.

It sounds like you might have a "hoover" kitty on your hands - many here use timed feeders to ensure that their kitty only gets a limited food supply and to try to spread the feedings out as smoothly across time as possible. There is a 5 position feeder that Nancy frequently talks about.
 
Hi..just checking in to see how you guys are doing Kitty K,your post on health had moved down, and was hoping things were good.

Looks like you are seeing that slow but steady descent, mixed with wonky numbers, I was referring to, by dropping back the dose. This is very good. I have seen rebound take up to 4 days to clear out before the true levels really start to show themselves.

I hope you are also trying to get a ketone test?

I suspect that dry food , while keeping levels higher also warded off a hypo concern at that higher dose.
Now he is on this start over approach with 1 unit, it is a great time to wean off the dry :)

For how much he should eat right now-an unregulated diabetic cat is unable to fully utilize all the calories and nutrition in its food, so it is actually starving. I would certainly wait until the levels come down more, before limiting any food and offer several meals over the course of the day to help his hunger.

Dr. Lisa has suggested most cats need about 15-20 calories a pound, per day. Therefore a 10 pound cat, would need about 150-200 calories a day. Janet and Binky's food charts lay out how many calories so you can figure it out, once he is not starving all the time.
I fed my sugar kitty Abby, 2 fancy feast cans a day, spread out over 4 meals, totaling about 190 calories, she was 10 pounds. Then we switched to raw.

Great job you are doing :) Really happy to see your SS with more of those 300s popping up throughout the cycle, and no 500s for three cycles now :)

Keeping paws crossed for good things for you guys.
 
Thanks guys. morrey is so grateful for all of you. He is looking and feeling so much better. I love my kitty cat. cat_pet_icon
 
Sounds like you are on track - even just a few pieces of the kibble, from what I understand, can really drive their BGs up. I never ran experiments with it, but I know with Bix a few bites of higher carb food would send him right into the 300s. Think of the dry as M&Ms (as I understand it, even lower carb dry for some reason seems to drive up the BGs more than canned), and you can imagine what it does, even a small amount. Hopefully if you can get that out of the picture entirely you will see the BGs come down a little more, and then you can assess the dose more easily.

I am a fan of letting them eat as much as they want to eat, with the possible exception of a cat who really needs to lose weight.
 
Seems like we are getting steady in the 300s. the last 5 tests have been in the three hundreds! And I took away the dry food. He definatly does not need to lose any weight. He has never been a fat cat and I can feel the bones in his spine :(. He does have a bloated belly, is this unusual? He has been tested for worms and was negative and the vet doesnt think its wierd but what do you guys think.
 
I would give the lower dose a few more shots; your numbers are lower than you were getting. Only low carb diet works overnight for some kitties but may take awhile for others.

No ideas about the belly. Maybe others will know.
 
Didn't Beth have an issue with Bud where her tummy was kind of bloated? Turned out not to be anything that the vet could determine, if I recall.

I agree with keeping up the lower dose and completely ditching the dry. A day or two of that and I'd love to see how the numbers are.
 
Gas maybe? Is it something he has always had, or something new?

I would give the dry food effect at least 24 hours to clear. It can take several days to fully clear, but if you don't see improved #s in another day or so, I'd consider bumping the dose up to 1.2. You may need a little extra insulin just to break down through these #s. But on the good side, today's PS and nadir are both over 100 points lower than at the same time yesterday, so hopefully that is a sign of more to come!
 
He has had the bloated belly since he got diagnosed. Maybe it will go down now that I am feeding him right. We had a bit higher (410 PMPS) tonight but maybe that was from the turkey and giblets which was 10 calories from carb. What do you guys shoot for with the wet food?
 
we always shoot for the same thing. a nice curve. i like to hit greens no matter what, everyone else like a nice gentle curve with similiar amps and pmps. choose your poison :lol:
it's nice to be able in the beginning to find a dose to ride for awhile.
i have to go look at the ss and i'll come on back k?
 
ok morax has been better but not good enough and flat. if tomorow amps is not below 350 i'd up the dose by .25
glad he is showing signs of improvement kathy. we are on the right track.
 
me too! if it wasnt for you guys, my kitty would be in big trouble and I would be in a mental ward. :mrgreen:
Thanks guys. u r awesome.
 
:lol: maybe this is the mental ward!!!! i think YOU are doing awesome.
 
it is gator...and you are head of the welcoming commitee! we are crazy...crazy about our little furries and obsessed with their dire beasties.... ;-)
 
I was just watching It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and thought some good parallels between Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney trying to land the plane, being guided by ground control and the crazy here.

Ground controller to Mickey Rooney: "that's all we gotta do is keep calm!"

A little clip:
[youtube]i415QwSj0Og[/youtube]

:lol:

Good movie.
 
Hi Kathy--maybe i read your last post wrong, but when you asked "what are you aiming for with the wet food?", you meant carb-wise, right? I personally try to stay below 5 or 6%, but the general recommendation is below 10%. You have J&B's list right? I'm sure tons of people have linked you to that by now. You are doing an awesome job!
 
wow claudia, i did'nt even get that! i thought she meant what was she aiming for dose wise.
thank you for finally answering her question ohmygod_smile
 
Thanks for answering that question. I gave him 1.25, we will see how he does. I am really looking forward to getting those numbers down and also not going through so much cat litter everday and of course, seeing my baby happy. He does seem so much happier now, he was relaxing last night and I was almost worried because it has been so long since he just chilled out. SO AWESOME!
Kathy
 
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