? [7 Aug] Jai Jai - AMPS:446, PMPS:508 (Considering increasing to 1 / 1.25 u, advice please!!)

TGIF. Jai Jai is now on 0.75 units and the dose is held for 6 cycles. His BGs are high, probably because I give him more food to increase his calories.

I am considering increasing his dose to 1 unit in the next shot, given that I will be with him tomorrow all day to do the tests. I am also going to get the PM +6 figure 4 hours later to make sure he does not drop too fast.

Would you please peer review for me regarding the increase?

 

I think the increase is appropriate. Monitor him carefully as he has a history of pretty low numbers at this dose.

 

Hi, @Meya14 , thank you for your support on my views. Will keep you posted Jai Jai's progress.

 

With where his nadir is and that you test frequently, you could increase Jai Jai's dose by 0.5u. When nadirs are over 3oo, you can increase by a larger amount if you want.

Just a concern. I looked up the Thrive food. Some of the flavors don't contain Taurine. Taurine is absolutely essential in a cat's diet. Without it, blindness and an enlarged heart can result. If you're going to continue to use the brand of cat food you're using, please talk to your vet about adding a taurine supplement to Jai Jai's diet.

 

Hi, @Sienne and Gabby, thank you for your reply. Some members are concerned about Jai Jai's previous hypo episode, and are unsure if he is ultra-sensitive to insulin. I am not also sure about this, because I do not have much experience in managing his DB.

But I take your point given that 1 unit is not sufficient to make his BGs under control, and I will not be home to test him on weekdays for another increase......So, increasing by 0.5 units is a good suggestion.

Any further views? Any are welcome. Thank you very much, and once again, your help makes my day.

 

I need to bump it up, because I have less than 1 hour to decide the dose, thanks.

 

Is there any way you could get some kind of dose between .75 and 1.00? Many people here use digital calipers to measure these micro amounts [about $10, there's a link here on how to use them by Marge & Gracie], maybe something like .85/.90 would be useful here? The 18 scares me from the 1 unit dose.

 

I wouldn't do fat or skinny doses just yet. That's a technique people go to after a while when they are fine tuning a dose that is already seeing some green. Right now Jai Jai needs to get into much better numbers first. If you are going to be around to monitor, I'd follow Sienne's suggestion.

 

I think the 1U should be ok, since he's getting lots more food. I'd be hesitant to increase to 1.25U because it's hard to guess how he will react. He did have some pretty scary lows.

 

Even with those severe hypo #'s? Just curious how a .25 dose can make such a difference, yet alone .5.

 

Jai Jai was getting about 130ish calories in the food at the time of the lows. That's a pretty low calorie intake, even for a small cat, so the past few days now I believe he's getting closer to 200calories a day or more. Much better amount. I think the severe hypos/swings were on account of calorie deficiency.

 

Hi, all, thank you very much for your views and sharing. This help me go through every difficult decision. And I am getting to learn more and more from you since I am on this FD community.

To play safe, I will increase Jai Jai's dose to 1 unit. This dose will be held for one week, unless I am able to take a day-off on weekdays. Fingers crossed.

 

Hi, @Sienne and Gabby, about the Thrive Complete Canned Food, I add extra taurine to Jai Jai and my cats every meal. I have a bunch of vitamins storing at my fridge because initially I was planning to give homemade meals.......but they didn't like it

I once heard that there is no such "taurine overdose" for cats, correct me if I am wrong, thanks.

 

I presume you're talking about the 18 on 7/25 (and the 25 on 7/19). I have a couple of thoughts.

Usually insulin sensitivity lasts for a few days -- maybe a week. It's been two weeks and it doesn't look like he's overreacting to insulin. Other than when he was getting 1.0u, his mid-cycle numbers are in the 400s or higher. That said, I understand not wanting to increase by 0.5u It's fine to stick with 0.25u. At the time of the very low numbers, you weren't testing as much, either.

From what I can find, there isn't an issue with giving too much taurine.