9/26 Kopie AMPS 86 dosage question

Kopie's numbers have been pretty good lately. My concern is that he seems to be low in the morning. I can usually wait and test in another half hour because I work from home most days. This morning he tested at 86 and a half hour later 86 again. I will be testing again but my concern is on the days that I need to leave to get into work. This is pushing his shot time later. Should I decrease his insulin?

One hour after his usual shot time he is only 89. Should I give him insulin?

 

Hi, I answered on FB. I just looked at your spreadsheet and the ranges are a little off. Do you know why it is lime green for 40-99 and nothing below 40? It is usually dark green 50-99, and lime green 0-49.

Are you following a particular protocol (TR/SLGS)? I see you change doses in 0.5 units. We recommend you increase in 0.25u increments so you don't miss the good dose. It's good to see you testing more now.

 

I'm still trying to figure all of this out. I was increasing by 0.5 earlier because his numbers were still so high. He bounced when I went to 4.5 so that's why we are at 4.25. I didn't give this mornings dose because I wasn't sure if I should. He's been all over the place so it's hard to figure him out. He has just started to show consistently lower numbers. I'm not sure why he tends to be lower in the morning though. I'm not really following a protocol. I'm not sure about the spreadsheet colors. Someone in the Feline Diabetic Support Group on Facebook started the spreadsheet for me.

 

I am going to tag @Marje and Gracie to check out your spreadsheet to see if she can change the colors so it's similar to everyone else's SS on here.

I think you should follow SLGS because with TR, you cannot give dry food. With SLGS, you would have skipped if you saw a number below 90 so you did good this morning! With SLGS, you stay with one dose for a week then do a curve (every 2 hours for 12 hours or 3 hours for 18 hours) before increasing or decreasing, unless you check more often daily. BUT if you see anything below 90, you immediately decrease by 0.25u for the next dose.

You are doing well!

 

@MrWorfMen's Mom @Kris & Teasel @Wendy&Neko @Tuxedo Mom

Tagging some of those who are experienced to help with dosing questions.

 

Your signature doesn't say whether you are following Tight Regulation or Start Low Go Slow Method for dosing. As the others have suggested, those are the two dosing methods we follow here. The answer to which dosing method changes our dosing suggestions.

Since you are feeding dry, we'll assume you are following SLGS, and that means a reduction whenever he goes below 90. That means 4.0 units is your next dose. Congrats on the reduction.

Lately you have almost zero tests at night. We determine what dose to give based on how low it takes the cat. Many cats go lower at night. That means getting a least one test at night, maybe before you go to bed, can be key to determining when to change the dose.

 

Kopie is such a cutie-face!

 

Ok, I'll give him 4 units tonight. I was testing before bed until 2 weeks ago. He has been getting bumps on his ears and cries when I prick him now so I was trying to give him a break. I have been using Neosporin on his ears but the bumps are still there.

 

Do you apply pressure to stop the bleeding after you test Kopie? I apply pressure until I get a number on the meter. Are you testing the "sweet spot" instead of the vein? The vein prick is painful, instead of the sweet spot where there are almost no nerve endings.

 

Every other day, we use the little alcohol wipes on Zeke's ears followed by neosporin with pain relief. I always hold a little pressure to the test spot afterwards. The area that we have learned that Zeke minds the least is actually on the very edge of his ear. Instead of holding a cotton ball/pad on the back of the ear and then poking beside the vein, we hold the edge of his ear between two fingers and poke that very edge. He tends to bleed even easier this way, but warning, it is easier to poke yourself this way. My daughter laughed at me getting his test one day because of course I am talking to him telling him to be still cause I don't need my blood lol. He moved just right so I got pricked too lol. I had to make sure I was keeping my blood off him so I could get only his blood! Not easy when it is one of the holding fingers that is bleeding, heheh.

 

Yes, I apply pressure after the prick. He usually runs away, shakes his head and I end up with blood splatter on the wall

I try to get the "sweet spot". I think that sometimes I miss.

 

Yes, that's how I do it and sometimes it get myself too

 

What gauge of lancet are you using? We use the 26 gauge but going to be trying the 31 gauge again since he bleeds so easily on the edge. I like catching that outer edge between my fingers because it keeps us away from the vein. We have had to use quik stop before because of accidently hitting that.

 

I am using 26 gauge and I try to get that outer edge.

 

I would also recommend keeping plenty of testing supplies on hand. We used to not buy more strips until we were on the last container and were down to maybe 20 strips or less. Now I buy more when we get under 200 strips. Same for the lancets which has been a good thing because our walmart has been out of them and we are about to open our last box. Luckily was able to order them online from walmart. Ordered 4 boxes so I don't run out anytime soon.

 

Yes, I always have an extra bottle of testing strips.

 

That is good.

 

The reason the SS isn't working is because it's the wrong SS. It looks like one of the old ones that was corrupted and so we stopped using them.

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