Zoozey: Numbers are still high, but I think he's improving?

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emchic

emchic

Member Since 2012
See previous condo about Zoozey's high numbers here: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=100589

Zoozey's pmps tonight was 291, so FINGERS CROSSED, this is the beginning of a downward trend, but of course I won't know for a few days. He hasn't been in the 200s for 10 days. He had an antibiotic shot on Thursday, and the vet said it would take 5-6 days for his bg to come down if he does/did in fact have an infection of some sort (he's exhibiting absolutely no signs of infection other than high bg). I'm waiting for my test strips to come in the mail from DCIN (according to USPS they'll be here tomorrow), so I'm planning on doing a curve on Tuesday and I'm hoping with all of my hope to get better numbers in the next couple of days. I'm running low on test strips, so I didn't do any am mid-cycle checks because I wanted to do two mid-cycle checks tonight since he's generally lower in the pm. I'm curious to see how low he'll go.

I'm leaving for a week long conference in California on Thursday, so I really really hope he's getting lower numbers before I go.
 
Re: Zoozey: Numbers are still high, but I think he's improvi

Thank you so much for linking in Zoozey's previous condo/post/thread. It helps to have that continuity to read back through. Thanks! :smile:

Are you seeing some improving signs in Zoozey? What we call the WCR or Whole Cat Report. This includes the appetite plus the 5 P's of purring, playing, preening, pooping and peeing. How are all of those doing now?

Hopefully, you will see some improvement soon if you have not already.

Hope you have a good trip to CA and Zoozey is fine in your absence.
 
Re: Zoozey: Numbers are still high, but I think he's improvi

Deb, he never stopped eating, playing, pooping, peeing, or preening (himself and the other cats), which is why this has been so strange. I've kept a close eye on him. He's acting like he's happy and healthy, and the increase in his bg hasn't seemed to affect him at all. If he's sick, then he's doing an excellent job at hiding it. Right now his highness is having a post-head butting me for petting/post-dinner snooze on my bed with his brother.
I'm going to check him in about an hour and see what his +2 is. And I'm going to stay up to get his +4.

I'm going to try and get my mom to do am mid-cycle checks while I'm in California. Alas, she's not tech savy enough to post them online or even text them to me, but she can at least update me on the phone.
 
Re: Zoozey: Numbers are still high, but I think he's improvi

My signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools lists a number of less direct observations you may use to assess Zoozey.
 
Re: Zoozey: Numbers are still high, but I think he's improvi

Zoozey is eating a can and a half of FF classic twice a day. He eats it all at one time and he finishes it every day, and that hasn't changed. And he LOVES FF a lot. Zoozey has never been much of water drinker, even before I put him on an all wet diet. Now Zoozey actually doesn't drink water (at least I don't see him drink any), he hasn't since I put him on an all wet diet 9 months ago. However, I did see him drink water twice in the last few days, which is a bit concerning. I don't know if it's because he thinks my parents' cats' water fountain is really cool. He does like to look at it. He is pooping regularly, and his bm's look normal. I am seeing him pee regularly and I haven't noticed any increase or decrease in the amount of times he's urinated, and with six cats here and no way to give Zoozey his own box there's no way of knowing how much he's actually urinating. All the clumps are fairly the same in size though and I haven't noticed an increase or decrease in the number of clumps in the litterbox. He was checked for a UTI two weeks ago, he was negative. He's negative for ketones too. I don't have a baby scale, and it's going to be a couple of months before I'll have enough spare cash to buy one. However, he weighed 15 pounds at the vet on Thursday and he's gained six pounds since November (he was down to 9lbs at the end of the year because of a severe dka in November). He's engaged and interacting with the other cats, and he gets up and moves around (something he didn't do much of when he was sick). In fact, he's on the prowl right now. He grooms himself regularly. He grooms Pepper regularly. He loves grooming. He plays every day (his favorite game is magic lump under the covers) and he loves to playfight (he was doing that with Pepper about a half hour ago). He purrs lots and lots. He head butts me for attention frequently.

His +2 this evening was 295. I'm going to check him again in a couple of hours.
 
Re: Zoozey: Numbers are still high, but I think he's improvi

Zoozey's +4 is 225, so that's encouraging. If I'm awake in a couple of hours, I'll get +6.
 
Re: Zoozey: Numbers are still high, but I think he's improvi

I haven't booted up my computer yet to update Zoozey's spreadsheet, but things are still looking good. Last night his +5 was 207 (yay!). His amps this morning was 274. So far so good. He does appear to be responding to the antibiotic shot he got on Thursday. My fingers are crossed for a blue reading soon.

I do wonder though, if he did in fact have some sort of infection, then what was it? He was exhibiting absolutely no signs of illness other than elevated bg.
 
Re: Zoozey: Numbers are still high, but I think he's improvi

Maybe you caught it before it was overtly symptomatic.
 
Re: Zoozey: Numbers are still high, but I think he's improvi

I guess so. And that's a good thing. Yet another reason it's good to home test.
If he is in fact on a downward trend, my next concern is him going too low with the increased dose of 3u. I can't just suddenly start giving him 1.5u again. What can I do to prevent him from going really low? I can't decrease his dose until he gives a bg below 50 at any point in his cycle for several days in a row right?
 
Re: Zoozey: Numbers are still high, but I think he's improvi

Dropping drastically is another way to say giving a token dose. This means giving some, but not all, of the dose that had been given. When you need to do this for safety concerns, you monitor for ketones and other signs the diabetes is not well controlled - excessive hunger, thirst, and urination. Reduced energy, grooming, play, etc. Those plus your test data then guide you to adjust the dose following your insulin's protocol.

When you look back over your spreadsheet, you'll notice shifts in the colors as the glucose ranges shifted. (shrink it down to about 50-75% to see it really well). At 1.5 units, Zoozey was doing pretty well.


You've got your spreadsheet, your profile, you're ready to start reading up on Lantus and decide if you want to move to the Tight Regulation forum, or the Relaxed forum.

TR has the best chances of getting to a diet controlled state (ie Off The Juice, OTJ, off insulin) and involves pre-shot testing (always do this). Plus, on days you can do it, curves, and/or mid-day testing around +5 to +7 hours after a shot to evaluate the insulin's effectiveness.

For those of us with very erratic schedules, or testing difficulties, Relaxed Lantus is where to post.
 
Re: Zoozey: Numbers are still high, but I think he's improvi

Relaxed regulation is probably the best choice for me. Once school starts next month, I'll be teaching seven college classes, and I'll be gone a lot. And my schedule changes every five months. I'll do ps readings, I always do. And check him when I get home in the afternoons, and when I get home in the evenings from my night classes.

But he's not going to go really low next week is he? What do I do if 3u is too high and he gives really low numbers?
 
Re: Zoozey: Numbers are still high, but I think he's improvi

Snag mid-cycle tests where and when you can. If values around the nadir start going below 100, you might back off 0.25 every 3 days or so, before they get down towards the 50.

Note that vets get pretty nervous about lay folk getting or keeping the glucose levels below 100.
 
Re: Zoozey: Numbers are still high, but I think he's improvi

I'll tell my mom that. I'm going out of town on Thursday, and I won't be back until the 12th. It's just a lot for my mom to handle because she doesn't have as much experience as I do with this, so she gets nervous. I just want to be prepared in case she runs in to a problem. But who knows if she'll have to worry about that? Zoozey's +4 was 333 and his +6.5 was 324. But I'm hoping he'll be back down in the 200s by his pmps reading.

In the meantime, I'm checking him four or five times a day since I'm home with him (until Thursday at least), and I'm doing a curve tomorrow.
 
Re: Zoozey: Numbers are still high, but I think he's improvi

I wonder how low he dropped last night but doesnt look like he is bouncing. Perhaps the over enthusiastic dose increase caused glucose toxicity and insulin resistance. You might need to increase dose to break it if thats the case.

Do you want to post over on tight regulation to see what they think there? http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewforum.php?f=9 They have a lot of experienced dosing people over there and I would love their eyes on Zooey.

Wendy
 
Re: Zoozey: Numbers are still high, but I think he's improvi

I checked him at +5 last night, and he was at 207. That was probably at or around his nadir.
 
Re: Zoozey: Numbers are still high, but I think he's improvi

Its not on the sheet - and never assume as nadirs wander a lot and vary by cat - I have no idea when Tiggys is. Bailey is around +5 but sometimes he likes a +3 or a +9.. Hence the need for spot checks.
 
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