Merry 05/17 - Too many yellows

Hi guys,

Merry was doing so well since the beginning of the year, earning lots of reductions & looking great in blues & greens. Unfortunately, since around the beginning of April yellows started to appear again & I started to increase his insulin & he's now in yellow most of the time after a few increases. I think it's time for a vet visit & full bloodwork & urinalysis to see if there's something else going on.

I did rule out other causes, thinking maybe one of his food formulations may have changed so I cut them out & no improvement, I cut out a couple supplements just in case & no improvement, so I think there must be something going on with his health.

Unfortunately, I owe almost $3000 in vet bills right now (mostly for my 16 yr old Beau who I just had to say goodbye to on Monday ) so it's bad timing but I don't think I should wait much longer.

 

I’m so sorry for your loss of Beau.

I hope nothing medically is going on with Merry, but it’s good to have the peace of mind and rule out what you can. The SS could be explained by holding doses too long. When you start seeing those yellows creep up in the absence of an obvious low, I would increase there. Vetty vines for Merry, keep us posted.

 

Are you following SLGS or TR? (please add which one to your signature) If SLGS you are following the protocol with increases. I'm sorry for your loss of Beau

 

I was holding doses longer after following TR for a while because he was doing well in the blues & greens since January & I didn't see the need to increase unless he went higher & he was earning reductions even when I was holding doses longer. I felt TR was too aggressive at the point when he started hitting a lot of greens & with other cats with special needs as well, I just wanted Merry to be safe & to feel good with the least amount of stress (on me because it can be overwhelming looking after all these furbabies, giving sub-qs to one or two each night, different meds, different foods, etc & working full time during the day & also part time pet sitting). I'm looking after 10 cats & 2 dogs and it's not easy to have to keep hovering over Merry & continually adjusting his dose so unless he was showing me he needed a different dose, I wasn't changing it. I'm fine if he stays in the blues/greens at whatever dose keeps him there but as soon as he started getting more yellows I started increasing again. I do think there must be a health reason for losing those nice numbers & have needed increases. He's going to need another increase again. I was talking to the vet & we're going to start with a urinalysis & culture to see if he has a UTI & if that's clear we'll do blood work.

 

Dental issues are often an issue too. Glad you are getting Merry checked out by the vet. How old is the insulin?

 

I'm sorry you lost your Beau.

 

I completely understand and respect your dosing strategy, you explained it in your previous condos and it’s perfectly clear in your signature (although you may want to add something like “custom dosing strategy” if you don’t want to get the TR or SLGS question every time you post ). I’m just saying the numbers were trending up around the 19th and as soon as the yellows started arriving in full force on the 23rd, that would have been an ideal time for an increase. He also started feeling off around that time too. It’s so tricky to know what is the right call when they aren’t feeling well regarding insulin, it’s always good to support them over the hump with increases, but worrying and not so much an option if their appetite is iffy. Hope Merry is feeling better soon and keep us posted on what the vet says.

 

Thanks guys! I started a new vial of insulin on April 5th even though his other one wasn't finished because I wanted to make sure it wasn't the insulin causing issues. Merry did have a dental Sept 12, 2017 & he had a couple bad teeth out but it didn't improve his blood sugar, unfortunately. The vet is going to see Merry sometime this coming week, it's a long weekend so she's closed Monday. He's eating fine & not acting like he's ill but they hide it way too well when they aren't feeling good. If I weren't checking his BG daily I wouldn't know something might be up so this is another case when checking BG at home makes so much sense (as we all know). I increased him again tonight so he's at 4.25u now, this after being down to 2.5u since Jan. So frustrating.

 

The important numbers are the blood glucose, not the dose.